Price vs. product brand image : which is the most influential in the buying behaviour of Maltese students?

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to understand if Maltese students are affected more by the price or by the product brand image. Design/methodology/approach - Different case studies were used to get a further insight of past findings about the different cues that affect consumer buying behaviour with a special focus on price and brand. Pertinent literature was analysed and used to design the different data collection methods. Findings - This study complemented other case studies concerning factors effecting consumer buying behaviour. Although cues such as product design and quality resulted as being very influential in the buying behaviour of students, the main interest of this study was price and brand. Results obtained show that price is far more influential than brand especially when it comes to low involvement products. Research limitations - Price and brand have been in the central to various case studies. Commonly these were jointly considered with a number of other factors which influence decision making. Since this study combined just price and brand, other cues could have had some bearing on the final research result. Practical implications - This research applies to businesses which target towards students such as outlets located on or close to the University campus. Originality/value - A number of authors have researched the buying behaviour of students, however none of these studies have divided the research sample according to age, gender and location of residence. These demographics were emphasized throughout the data collection process of this study.