Education
The Relationship Between Mind Styles, Consumer Decision-Making Styles, and Shopping Habits of Beginning College Students
Melissa W. Chase
Dissertation submitted to the faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy In Career and Technical Education
Daisy L. Stewart, Co-chair Lisa G. Driscoll, Co-chair Celia R. Hayhoe Irene Leech William T. Price
May 11, 2004 Blacksburg, Virginia
Keywords: Cognitive, College students, Consumer decision-making styles, Consumer Styles Inventory, First-year experience, Gregorc Style Delineator‰, Mind styles, Shopping habits, Ways of knowing Copyright 2004, Melissa W. Chase
The Relationship Between Mind Styles, Consumer Decision-Making Styles, and Shopping Habits of Beginning College Students Melissa W. Chase Abstract
The foundation for this study is based on prior research (Sproles & Sproles, 1990) that determined that learning styles are significantly related to consumer decision-making styles. Decision making involves a process of cognitive learning. Since the study was published, other studies have investigated these consumer decision-making styles. However, no additional studies have further investigated the relationship between learning styles and consumer decision-making styles for college students, especially firstyear, first semester college students. Numerous studies have documented that students enter college as consumers but may lack basic knowledge and skills to make consumer decisions and avoid potential debt. The focus of the current study was to determine whether a relationship exists between beginning college students’ self-reported mind styles, consumer decision-making styles, and shopping habits. To investigate this relationship, a purposive sample was targeted consisting of first-year, first semester college students. Three instruments were administered: the Gregorc Style Delineator‰, the Consumer
Melissa W. Chase
Dissertation submitted to the faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy In Career and Technical Education
Daisy L. Stewart, Co-chair Lisa G. Driscoll, Co-chair Celia R. Hayhoe Irene Leech William T. Price
May 11, 2004 Blacksburg, Virginia
Keywords: Cognitive, College students, Consumer decision-making styles, Consumer Styles Inventory, First-year experience, Gregorc Style Delineator‰, Mind styles, Shopping habits, Ways of knowing Copyright 2004, Melissa W. Chase
The Relationship Between Mind Styles, Consumer Decision-Making Styles, and Shopping Habits of Beginning College Students Melissa W. Chase Abstract
The foundation for this study is based on prior research (Sproles & Sproles, 1990) that determined that learning styles are significantly related to consumer decision-making styles. Decision making involves a process of cognitive learning. Since the study was published, other studies have investigated these consumer decision-making styles. However, no additional studies have further investigated the relationship between learning styles and consumer decision-making styles for college students, especially firstyear, first semester college students. Numerous studies have documented that students enter college as consumers but may lack basic knowledge and skills to make consumer decisions and avoid potential debt. The focus of the current study was to determine whether a relationship exists between beginning college students’ self-reported mind styles, consumer decision-making styles, and shopping habits. To investigate this relationship, a purposive sample was targeted consisting of first-year, first semester college students. Three instruments were administered: the Gregorc Style Delineator‰, the Consumer
References: ................................................................................................................. 116 Appendices ................................................................................................................ 124 Curriculum Vitae........................................................................................................ 175 x List of Tables Table 1 Comparison of Studies that Used the Consumer Styles Inventory .......................... 30 Table 2 Reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha) Analysis of the Gregorc Style Delineator‰ ........... 41 Table 3 Chi-Square/Goodness of Fit Analysis of the Usable and Qualifying Samples for the Demographic Variables.................................................................................... 54 Table 4 Frequencies and Percentages of Consumer Goods Purchases by Gender ................ 57 Table 5 Chi-Square Analysis of Beginning College Students’ Self-Reported Shopping Habits by Gender................................................................................................... 60 Table 6 Frequencies and Percentages of Consumer Goods Purchases by Perceived Family Income .................................................................................................................. 64 Table 7 Chi-Square Analysis of Beginning College Students’ Self-Reported Shopping Habits by Perceived Family Income....................................................................... 67 Table 8 Descriptive Analysis of Dominant Mind Styles by Gender..................................... 72 Table 9 Chi-Square Analysis of the Distribution of Self-Reported, Dominant Gregorc Mind Styles by Gender .......................................................................................... 74 Table 10 Factor Analysis of the Consumer Styles Inventory Statements Using Principle Components Analysis for the Current Study .......................................................... 75 Table 11 Descriptive Analysis of Responses to the Consumer Styles Inventory by Gender... 79 xi Table 12 Reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the Consumer Styles Inventory Statements ....... 82 Table 13 Mann-Whitney Rank Sum Test of the Recreational/Hedonistic Consumer Decision-Making Factor Composite Scores by Gender.......................... 86 Table 14 Pearson’s Correlations of the Recreational/Hedonistic Consumer DecisionMaking Style Composite Scores and the Gregorc Mind Style Scores ..................... 87 Table 15 Pearson’s Correlations of the Recreational/Hedonistic Consumer DecisionMaking Style Statements and the Gregorc Mind Style Scores ................................ 88 xii List of Figures Figure 1 Diagram of Variable Relationships ........................................................................ 12 Figure 2 Visual Representation of Mind Styles and Consumer Decision-Making Styles ...... 35 Figure 3 Statistical Analysis Flow Chart .............................................................................. 47 xiii