Socio-demographic factors of fashion purchase. A case of apparel consumption among kenyan university students

Abstract

There has been a rapid growth of global fashion industry. Kenya like other developing nations is fighting for a slice of this growth and positioning itself as a competitive contributor to the same. In this regard, both the fashion marketers and the academia are becoming increasingly interested in variables of fashion consumption. This paper investigated the relationship between the socio-demographic characteristics of university students and apparel purchase. Demographic characteristics of students such as age, gender, marital status and religion play a key role in students’ apparel fashion consumption decision making. Targeting 4 public and 16 private universities, this study sampled 7 universities and 534 students. However, 503 questionnaires were completed hence used. Using a questionnaire to collect data, a chi square tested the null hypothesis; Socio-demographic characteristics of university students have no relationship with their apparel consumption. Results showed that there was no significant relationship between age and fashion need conceptualization (x2 = 7.905, df =5, p-value = 0.162) among university students. There was no significant relationship between students’ gender and evaluation of all information before making an apparel purchase (p-value = 0.066) though females were more likely to conceptualize a need before buying new clothes than males. The study revealed that there was a significant relationship between marital status of students and evaluation between possible alternatives (p-value =0.043). Religion of the students had no significant relationship with any stage of fashion consumption. Summatively, the study results showed that demographic characteristics of respondents had no significant relationship with apparel fashion consumption decision making among university students (chi-square = 15.000, df = 12 and p-value = 0.241).