Brand Personality And Customer Purchase Decision Of Smartphone By Masters’ Students In Selected Public University Campuses In Nairobi Central Business District, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Brand personality is an emerging modern marketing differentiation marketing strategy which enhances business competitiveness. The general objective of this study was to investigate the influence of brand personality on customer purchase decision of Smartphone in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to; establish the influence of brand personality sincerity on customers purchase decision, determine the influence of brand personality excitement on customer purchase decision, assess the influence of brand personality competence on customers purchase decision, establish the influence of brand personality sophistication on customers purchase decision and determine the influence of brand personality ruggedness on customers purchase decision. The study further investigated the influence of product involvement as moderating variable on the relationship between brand personality and customer purchase decision. This study was underpinned by three theories and one model; Personality trait theory, Self concept theory, Involvement theory and brand personality model. The study used mixed design of descriptive and explanatory research design. The target population for study was students pursuing various Masters Degrees from three selected public university campuses in Nairobi CBD, Kenya. Purposive sampling was used to select the three public university campuses from the nine public Universities accredited to operate within Nairobi CBD, Kenya. Stratified random sampling was used to select 310 students pursuing various master degrees from 1380 master students from the three schools in the three universities Campuses. The study used primary data which was collected using semi-structured questionnaires. A Binary Logistic Regression analysis was also conducted to test how well the brand personality influences customers purchase decision. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The study findings showed that the four brand personality dimensions (sincerity, excitement, competence and sophistication) had a positive significant influence on customer purchase decision, therefore the study concluded that the four brand personality variables have influences on customer purchase decision of Smartphone. Brand personality ruggedness had negative insignificant value, therefore does not influence customer purchase decision. Product involvement does not moderate the relationship between brand personality and customer purchase decision since it had negative and insignificant value. The study recommends that Smartphone marketers to incorporate brand personality strategy in their marketing differentiating strategies. They also need to hire branding professionals to inculcate brand personality traits into Smartphone products. Smartphone companies through Communication Authority need to engage the government to formulate strict policies to curb business malpractices which are detrimental to application of this strategy. The study recommends future researchers to use longitudinal survey and study product involvement as predictor variable of customer purchase decision. This study contributes to empirical literature by revealing that brand personality has a positive significant relationship with customer purchase decision.