An Analysis of the Applicability of The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) Inidentifying Consumer Decision-Making Styles of High School Students In Yogyakarta

Abstract

Edy Asrina Putra (2006) "AN ANALYSIS OF THE APPLICABILITY OF THE CONSUMER STYLE INVENTORY (CSI) IN IDENTIFYING CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING STYLES OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN YOGYAKARTA." Yogyakarta: Faculty of Economics, Department of Management, International Program, Universitas Islam Indonesia. AConsumer decision-making style, as Sproles and Kendall (1986:268) put it, is 'a mental orientation characterizing a consumer's approach to making choices." In general, there are three kinds of approaches in learning consumer decision-making styles. Those three approaches are the psychographic/lifestyle approach, the consumer typology approach, and the consumer characteristics approach. These three approaches possess the same assumption that consumers own basic decision-making styles related to shopping and buying. In 1985, George B. Sproles developed an instrument offifty items that were used to measure general orientations concerning shopping and buying. Sproles' study (1985) is regarded as the origin ofthe consumer characteristics approach. In 1986, Sproles and Elizabeth L. Kendall developed a forty-item instrument that was derived from the original fifty-item in Sproles' study in 1985. The forty-item instrument is called the Consumer Style Inventory (CSI). They conducted a research with a sample of America's high school students. As a result they identified eight mental characteristics ofconsumer decision-making. The current study's objectives are to identify decision-making styles of Yogyakarta city's high schools students, to investigate the applicability ofthe CSI in identifying decision-making styles of Yogyakarta city's students, and to compare their decision-making styles with their counterparts in America. The sample is taken from three public high schools in Yogyakarta city. The data are collected by using questionnaires that consist offorty items that have been used in Sproles and Kendall's study (1986). The data analysis techniques used in this study are similar to those used by Sproles and Kendall (1986). This study finds eight decision-making styles, five of them have been found by Sproles and Kendall (1986). Those five styles are perfectionistic, high-quality conscious; brand conscious; novelty-fashion conscious; price-value conscious; and habitual brand-loyal. However, price-value conscious style has a low Cronbach's alpha, indicating that this style may not really exist in the sample of Yogyakarta city's students. The study also discovers three newly identified decision-making styles namely careful; time conserving; and confused, value conscious. However, only careful style that has asignificant Cronbach's alpha. The fact, that some decision-making styles cannot be confirmed in the current study and the finding ofnewly identified styles, indicates that the CSI is not fully applicable to identify decision-making styles ofYogyakarta city's high school students.