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 academia are becoming increasingly interested in variables of fashion consumption. This study investigated the relationship between the sociodemographic characteristics of University students and apparel purchase. Demographic characteristics of students such as age, gender, marital status, religion and residence (urban/rural) play a key role in students’ apparel fashion consumption decision. Targeting 4 public and 16 private universities, study sampled 7 universities and 534 students. However, 503 questionnaires were completed hence used to collect data, a Chi square was used to test 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 relationship between students’ gender and evaluation of all information before making apparel purchase (p-value = 0.066) though females were more likely to conceptualize a need before buying new clothes than males. 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 fashion consumption. In summary results of this study 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).