Key drivers of automobile brand choice in sub‐Saharan Africa: the case of Ghana
| Published date | 26 October 2012 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/10610421211276268 |
| Pages | 516-528 |
| Date | 26 October 2012 |
| Author | Bedman Narteh,Raphael Odoom,Mahama Braimah,Samuel Buame |
| Subject Matter | Marketing |
Key drivers of automobile brand choice in
sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Ghana
Bedman Narteh, Raphael Odoom, Mahama Braimah and Samuel Buame
Department of Marketing, University of Ghana Business School, Accra, Ghana
Abstract
Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the determinants of automobile brand choice in Ghana. Specifically, the paper seeks to hypothesize that
consumers of automobiles make their purchases based on a multiplicity of factors.
Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative approach using questionnaires was adopted to survey 1,020 respondents drawn from various
workplaces, churches and homes. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.
Findings – The study established that the attributes of a car, emotional connection, external influences, awareness and accessibility make a strong and
significant contribution to automobile brand choice in Ghana.
Originality/value – The study is one of the few of its nature in sub-Saharan Africa. The new theoretical and empirical insights into factors influencing
consumers’ purchase decision of automobiles from the study will be significant to automobile manufacturers and dealers operating in developing
countries such as Ghana.
Keywords Automobiles, Brand choice, Ghana, Brand management, Consumer psychology, Brand awareness, Buying behaviour
Paper type Research paper
An executive summary for managers and executive
readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
In sub-Saharan Africa and specifically Ghana, market
liberalization has ushered in a new economic system where
companies compete for the attention of customers to their
brands. As such, consumers are daily presented with an array
of brands to meet their ever-growing needs. Scholars like
(Walker, 2008; Lim and O’Cass, 2001) assert that
consumers adopt products as conscious expressions of their
identities and the brands they select are often a symbolic
representation of their personality and lifestyles. As a result,
a lot of caution often predates the decision-making process
especially for high involving products like automobiles.
However, consumer brand choice has been made more
difficult, especially within an environment that is cluttered
with different products, promotions, price information in
addition to other economic indices (Huang et al., 2010;
Hennessy and Tol, 2011).
Interest in consumer brand choices has grown among
marketing practition ers and scholars in the pro cess of
understanding consumer brand selection (Hansen and
Christensen, 2007). In a Pakistani study for instance, Athar
(2006) noted that for the automotive industry, there are a lot
of brand choices of cars to compare and evaluate before
making a purchase decision. Hence, it is very critical for
companies to understand the customers’ requirements and
provide the products that satisfy their needs. Further studies
on consumer brand selection, spanning different products
could be found in the works of (Ross and Harradine, 2004;
Radder and Huang, 2008; Shabbir et al., 2009; Tang et al.,
2011).The results from these studies indicate that multiple
factors have underpinned consumer brand choices. However,
the results on the relative importance of these factors have not
been consistent. For instance, some scholars have found
awareness as a major determinant of brand choice (Keller,
2001; Srinivasan et al., 2010; Huang and Sarigollu, 2012)
while others found brand image (Erdem and Swait, 2004;
Freling and Forbes, 2005; Baek et al., 2010), or accessibility
(Lin and Chang, 2003; Van Auken, 2003; Kim, 2008), price
(Erdem et al., 2006; Chattopadhyay et al., 2009; Ching et al.,
2009) as the major determinants of brand choice.
Subsequently other external factors such as country-of-
origin (COO or CO) and impact of family and friends were
also found to influence consumer choice of brands
(Evanschitzky et al., 2008; Wang and Yang, 2008).
Moreover, studies on automobile choice have mostly
focused on developed country consumers (De Haan et al.,
2006; Diamantopoulos et al., 2011; Lieven et al., 2011, Tang
et al., 2011) with very little focus on automobile brand choice
in developing countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
Recent research indicates that the market for the automobile
industry is generally saturated in developed countries but
believed to be growing in developing countries (Simon and
Reed, 2007; Peters et al., 2011). Thus developing countries
could provide a major market for automobiles, hence
understanding their branch choice decisions is a strategic
necessity for automobile manufacturers and dealers. The
purpose of this study is to integrate the various factors
determining consumer brand choice of automobiles and to
empirically investigate them within a developing country
context. The study will thus, provide automobile
manufacturers and dealers with the critical factors
influencing consumer choice of automobiles in developing
countries and help to develop appropriate marketing
strategies for satisfying them.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
21/7 (2012) 516–528
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/10610421211276268]
516
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