AFTERMARKET DISC BRAKE PADS: FACTORS ...

AFTERMARKET DISC BRAKE PADS: FACTORS DRIVING DEMAND

Mrs Shamola Pramjeeth MANCOSA Academic Lecturer 26 Samora Machell Street, Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, 4000 Tel: +27 31 3007200 Email: [email protected]

and

Mr Vikash Rajkumar Federal-Mogul Corporation Sales and Supply Chain Manager OE/OES/Exports Friction Products (Pty) Ltd Prospecton, Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa Tel: +27 31 9133557 Fax: +27 31 9025168 Email: [email protected]

KEY WORDS: Price, Branding, Advertising, Social-cultural, Corporate Image

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors which influence buying behaviour and consequently demand for aftermarket disc brake pads in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. A cross sectional causal ex post factor research design survey was undertaken, in KwaZulu Natal, to explain the effect the independent variables of pricing, advertising, brand characteristics, manufacture / consumer relationships and social cultural factors had on the dependant variable, demand. The results of the study indicate that corporate image, brand characteristics and social cultural factors had the largest and most significant influence on consumer behaviour. Advertising, in particular, word-of-mouth was singled out as being the most dependable source of information acquisition and had the greatest influence in the consumer‟s decisionmaking process when compared to the other advertising mediums such as television, magazines and newspapers. The effect of country of origin and manufacturer / consumer relationships on the consumer‟s decision to purchase produced a neutral bias, while price had little or no significant effect on the purchase decision.

INTRODUCTION Given the current industry and economic environmental conditions where opportunities are in abundance and threats real, companies will need to take cognisance of factors that influence consumer decision making. Upon researching, it was ascertained that the local management at Smartbrake had limited knowledge of the actual factors influencing sales and affording them market leadership and formulate strategies to take advantage of the opportunities and protect it against the threats. When management was consulted to establish the reasons for this phenomenon, no convincing or substantiated answers were forthcoming, citing the brand, quality and good sales force as the reasons for market dominance. One way to perhaps achieve sustainability and market leadership is to begin to fully understand the decision making process that underlies the purchase of aftermarket disc brake pads, by its target market. The above insights could be lacking in the friction industry because the majority of the firms, including SmartBrake, are of the opinion that the target market, in most segments, purchase the cheapest pad on offer. It is paramount for management to understand the factors that influence successful decision making for attaining future growth and competitive advantage. Research undertaken by Aftermarket Business (2005 & 2006), established that 65% -75% of vehicle owners preferred to handle their own vehicle repairs, purchase their own service parts and have these service parts fitted by service centres.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The objective of the research was to identify the significant characteristics of the consumer, which influenced buying behaviour and consequently the demand for aftermarket disc brake pads in South Africa. The following factors were examined to ascertain the impact it had, in influencing purchase behaviour. 

To

establish

if

price,

advertising,

corporate

image,

country of

origin,

brand

characteristics, social cultural factors and manufacturer/consumer relationships plays a significant role in a consumer‟s decision to buy a set of disc brake pads. HYPOTHESIS 

H1:

It is hypothesised that the independent variables described in the objectives

play a significant role in the demand for aftermarket disc brake pads.

LITERATURE REVIEW Salvatore (2004) advocates that a firm‟s demand for its commodity is based on the price of the commodity, the size of the market, consumer‟s income, the price of related commodities, tastes, price expectations, the promotional efforts of the firm and competitors (Salvatore, 2004).

PRODUCT PRICE AND PRICING Nisel (2001) in his study on consumer characteristics and their influence on buying behaviour confirmed that price was one of the three major determinants for consumer purchases, the other two being product availability and quality. The results of the study revealed that availability and quality of a commodity was revered as the most significant factors for their decision to purchase. Surprisingly, price was found to be less significant as a source of the buying decision (Nisel, 2001). These findings could support SmartBrake‟s pricing structure, which is possibly based on the perceived value and psychological pricing models by Kotler and Keller (2005). This is particularly relevant to the friction industry, as premium brands tend to suggest an assured quality and performance guarantee, which then permits it to command a premium price, inferring a higher quality product. This trend was confirmed by research conducted by an independent market researcher, which revealed that SmartBrake‟s products were well received in the taxi market segment, and most consumers agreed that the company‟s brands are of an excellent quality (intrinsic) and were prepared to pay the premium price for the perceived higher quality product (intrinsic value) (Naidoo, 2004). Kotler and Keller (2006) indicates that the relationship between, price and demand is normally inversely related but concurs that on luxury and safety critical items, consumers sometimes correlate higher prices with a significantly higher quality product.

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WORD-OF-MOUTH (WOM) Research has consistently shown the importance of consumer word-of-mouth in a purchase decision-making context. It has largely been recognised as a powerful force affecting consumer choice, loyalty and switching behaviour. Further studies have also illustrated the influence it has to enhance and reduce the risk associated with the buying decision (Wangenheim and Bayόn, 2004). These inferences are consistent with surveys conducted by the Aftermarket Business Research Company where it was found that WOM to be the number one reason given by the target market for purchasing a particular commodity. This behaviour is also positively correlated with research conduct by Naidoo (2004) where it was established that the mode of information acquisition, in particular WOM, was significantly correlated to the decision to purchase the commodity in question, taxi disc brake pads.

SOCIO – CULTURAL FACTORS Kotler and Keller (2005) established that purchase decision is influenced by social factors such as reference groups, family and social roles/status and individuals rely a great deal on society to shape their beliefs, values and norms and ultimately their behaviour. This behavioural characteristic maybe pertinent in the purchase decision for disc brake pads as this product is regarded by society to be a safety critical component and stopping a moving vehicle when the need arises could be life saving such that interpersonal influence can greatly affect the purchase decision for this commodity. This statement is consistent with a study conducted by Naidoo (2004) on the buying behaviour of taxi disc brake pads in South Africa, which revealed that 39.9% of the respondents agreed and 42.5% of the respondents strongly agreed that they would be influenced by their social groups and community leaders to purchase a certain brand of product if it is recommended by them.

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING Researchers have continually confirmed the correlation between satisfaction and repeat buying, greater brand loyalty and spreading a positive opinion of the product (Dubrovski, 2001). This construct of relationship marketing may play a significant role in the friction industry as recent focus group studies conducted by SmartBrake revealed that the consumer held customer value at a higher cognition level than first believed by the organisation (Nainaar, 2006). It was discovered that consumers used this construct greatly in their decision to buy. It was revealed that the company‟s brand, when compared against the competitor‟s brand, in the same market segment, offered no extra peripheral or extrinsic benefit for the premium price that it commanded. Participants of the focus group stated that the competitors‟ brands offered more tangible value for a considerably lower price (Nainaar, 2006).

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CORPORATE IMAGE According to Ricks Jr (2005) research by Keller and Aaker (1995) revealed that corporate image has a direct effect on perceptions of product quality, while Brown and Dacin (1997) confirmed that corporate associations, which includes corporate ability and corporate social responsibility, also affects a products evaluation, which may subsequently result in changes to a consumers buying actions (Abratt and Mofokeng, 2001). This is consistent with the findings of Netemeyer et al., (2001), which established a positive correlation between the organisational association of being a “good corporate citizen” and the consumer‟s related willingness to pay a price premium for a related brand.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN Wang and Chen (2004) found that products from developed countries are perceived as more superior to products from undeveloped and developing countries. The existence for this phenomenon could be attributed to consumers societal group influence, “country of origin image”, WOM etc (Laroche, et al., 2005). It was found that for both well-known and unknown brands, unfavourable country-of-manufacture information produced a significant effect on both product beliefs and global product evaluations (Hui and Zhou, 2003).

BRAND CONSTRUCTS Brands signal quality levels to consumers, and can be effectively used to gain a competitive advantage and secure financial returns (Grace and O‟Cass, 2002). To the consumer, a brand identifies the source of the product, which in turn, assigns responsibility to the product maker and provides a promise or bond with the maker of the product. In addition, brands reduce consumer search costs and the consumer‟s perceived level of risk. It also signals the quality of the product. The brand, therefore, becomes the purveyor of advantages to the consumer, in terms of both economic and symbolic value (Grace and O‟Cass, 2002). In respect of brake pads, a survey by Naidoo (2004) revealed that 78.6% of the respondents strongly agreed that they would be willing to purchase a brake pad brand that demonstrated the products acclaimed benefits and their defined image.

ADVERTISING Consumers canvassed, revealed that from the eight main communication mediums used for advertising, television, magazines and the press were perceived to be most effective in communicating corporate and brand image. The Web was perceived to be the most reliable source for brand information,

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product information and two-way communication, while radio advertisements was alleged to be the most annoying and deceiving (Calisir, 2003). Researches have also investigated other factors that may have an influence on the advertising effect. Namely: relationship marketing and attraction programmes, socialcultural influences - country specific, execution style, consumer involvement and standardisation across borders. In line with the above statement, a study on consumer involvement and advertising effectiveness in the automotive components industry, Wu (2001) according to Naidoo (2004) found that: There is a positive relationship between the degree of consumer involvement and advertising content importance and there is a positive relationship between the degree of consumer involvement and the advertising effect.

OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A formal research design approach was adopted, incorporating a causal ex post facto design format (Cooper and Schindler (2005). Subjects‟ responses were acquired by using a structured questionnaire so that the proposed hypothesis could be empirically and statistically explained. To ensure a 95% level of statistical confidence and to eliminate non-response, 426 questionnaires were distributed to the 5 spares outlet identified in the sample frame and a total of 221 were completed and returned for analysis. A cluster sampling technique was chosen to collect data from the target population, i.e. the do-it-yourself (DIY) market segment and the professional mechanic of KwaZulu Natal. The province was divided into 3 regions - North Coast, South Coast and Inland. The 3 regions were further divided into 5 sub-regions and the busiest spares outlet from each of the 5 sub-regions was chosen so that data could be collected in a relatively short space of time. The instrument was pilot tested and feedback produced was used to amend and include questions to ensure greater content validity and collected data reliability. Factor analysis (KMO Measure of 0.714) and Cronbach‟s coefficient alpha, measuring 0.823, indicated that the measuring instrument employed, was both statistically valid and highly reliable. The data was analysed using SPSS computer programming. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data to determine the objectives.

RESULTS OF THE STUDY THE IMPACT OF PRICE ON PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR From Figure 1 below, it is evident that 49% disagreed and 28% strongly disagreed, while 16.3% were undecided, 1.3% strongly agreed and 4.6% agreed. Hence, there is strong evidence that the cheapest brake pad was not usually purchased. Also, according to the beta coefficients obtained in the multiple regression analysis Table1 below, product price attained the lowest value. This implies that, relative to the other variables, respondents deemed product price to have the lowest influence on their willingness to purchase disc brake pads. This is consistent with the findings of the Aftermarket Business Research

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Company (2006), which listed price as being a marginal determinate for the purchase of brake pads. From a list of 5 factors; price was listed as the 4

th

most important determinant for the purchase of a particular

manufacturers brand, while recommendation (WOM) was revered as the most important factor (Aftermarket Business, 2005 & 2006). The above finding is compatible with that of Agarwal and Teas (2002) and Naidoo (2004) where, research has revealed that consumers are willing to pay a higher price for a commodity if it is deemed to be a safety critical item or for its inherent perceived quality – price sacrifice (value for money). These surveys by Aftermarket Business Research Company and findings by Agarwal and Teas (2002) and Naidoo (2004) support the findings of this study that price does not play a significant role in the consumers decision to buy a set of aftermarket disc brake pads.

Figure 1

The Impact of Price Impact of Price - Percentage (%) Response 49

Percentage (%) Response

50 28.8

40 30

16.3

20

4.6

1.3

10 0 STRONGLY DISAGREE

DISAGREE

NEITHER

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

Measurement Scale

Table 1 Stepwise Multiple Regression Multiple R

0.9960

Multiple R Square

0.9930

Adjusted R Square

0.9930 0.0311

Std. Error of the Estimate VARIABLE

BETA

p

Brand Characteristics

0.364

0.000

Advertising

0.274

0.000

Social Cultural factors

0.271

0.000

Corporate Image

0.211

0.000

Manufacturer / Consumer relationships

0.179

0.000

Country of Origin

0.150

0.000

Price

0.089

0.000

THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR In response to questions based on the advertising media (Figure 2), 67.3% and 66.7%, of

Figure 2 The Impact of Advertising

Percentage Response

Impact of Advertising Media 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Television

Auto Magazines / New spapers

Any Magazine / New spaper

Medium7 Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither

Agree

Strongly Agree

respondents agreed that they would be persuaded to buy a certain manufacturer‟s brand if it were advertised on television, automotive magazines and newspapers. With respect to advertisements in any newspaper and magazine, respondents had a relative equivalent purchase bias. The results generated indicate that, 40% of the respondents will not be persuaded to buy a manufacturer‟s brand advertised in any magazine or newspaper, 31.2% indicated that they would be persuaded, while the remainder (28.8%) were undecided. The above results are consistent with research conducted by Goldsmith and Lafferty (2002), where it was established that from the eight main communication media used for advertising; - television, magazines and newspapers were perceived to be the most effective means of communicating the desired brand message, which consequently led to influencing the purchases decision. The Web was perceived to be the most reliable source for brand information, product information and two-way communication, while radio advertisements were alleged to be the most insipid advertising format.

The preceding findings according to the marketing experts could be based on the link between advertising and building brand value via its positioning and the medium in which it is advertised (Baca, et al., 2005). Baca, et al., (2005) established that the purchase decision could be significantly influenced for a particular brand if it creates mental and emotional associations, as well as perceived brand quality, with the target market. This could infer that the medium used to convey brand value could be vital in creating the desired brand image and therefore societal image, which could account for the results obtained in this study. These statements are corroborated by the research findings of Goldsmith and Lafferty (2002), where it was establish that commodities advertised on TV, in magazines and in newspapers produced more sales and awareness than other advertising mediums. These mediums (TV, magazines and newspapers) were also deemed to portray a higher hierarchical brand and societal image. The other important medium that also needs to be validated for its contribution to influencing the purchase decision is word-of-mouth (WOM), as it produced the highest agreement score for the factor - advertising.

WORD-OF-MOUTH AND ITS EFFECT ON INFLUENCING PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR Figure 3 below indicates that 61.75% of respondents agreed that they would be willing to buy brake pads recommend by friends and the sales assistants. A study by Naidoo (2004) produced similar results, where 92.4% of respondents indicated that their brand choice was acquired by WOM. This is consistent with results produced by the Aftermarket Business Research Company (2006), where WOM was listed as the number one reason for purchasing aftermarket brake pads.

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Figure 3

The Impact of Word-of-Mouth (WOM) Response % for WOM Influence

Percetage (%) Response

48.7 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

23.2 13.05

10.15 4.9

STRONGLY DISAGREE

DISAGREE

NEITHER

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

Scale

Research within this filed supports the above statements. Several researchers have discovered that people are more likely to trust ideas that come to them through their immediate circle of friends, family and colleagues (Wangenheim and Bayo´n, 2004:1177). From the above-presented literature and survey results, it can be concluded that advertising and in particular, its mediums, play a significant role in persuading the consumer to buy a certain manufacture‟s brand of disc brake pad.

THE IMPACT OF CORPORATE IMAGE ON PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

Figure 4

The Impact of Corporate Image Response Percentage (% ) for Corporate Image

Percentage (%) Response

58.5 60.0 50.0

30.8

40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0

0.9 STRONGLY DISAGREE

7.4

2.5

DISAGREE

NEITHER

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

Scale

Results generated from the analysis of this factor (corporate image) indicated that it was considered as the most important factor in their final decision to purchase a particular manufacturers‟ brand of disc brake pad. Eighty nine point three percent (58.5 % + 30.8%) of the respondents agreed that the constructs of corporate image would influence their purchase decision. There is ample evidence in the literature that supports the effect of corporate image on consumers purchase behaviour. Abratt and Mofokeng (2001) identified social responsibility, ethical behaviour and involvement in community affairs as the major constructs in developing and managing corporate image in South Africa. A study by Christensen and Askegaard (2001) complimented the above finding by discovering that an organisation‟s identity and its reputation in society are of utmost importance in building positive corporate image. Finally, Singhapakadi, et al., and Singhapakadi, et al., (1999), in comparing perceptions between Australian, Malaysian, South African and American markets research findings revealed that ethics and social responsibility of organisations were of critical importance to South African consumers.

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Hui and Zhou (2003) and Ricks Jr (2005) determined that corporate associations, which includes corporate ability and corporate social responsibility, also affects a products evaluation, which may subsequently result in changes to a consumers buying actions. Hence based on the literature findings, a significant amount of a consumer‟s purchase behaviour and their decision to purchase is reliant on the image portrayed by the respective organisations. This is consistent with the results generated from the analysis of survey, as illustrated in Figure 4, above.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN (COO) The influence of this aspect on the study‟s objective was small, as 58.3% of the respondents were undecided if brake pads manufactured in other countries will persuade them to buy.

However there was a

higher inclination towards COO effect than against, 26.8% versus 14.3%. Supporting the first statement above, research by Ahmed, et al., (2004) revealed that in the presence of other extrinsic product cues, the influence of COO is expected to be less pronounced than that of brand, price, corporate image etc., this is because brand price and corporate image have been found to have a greater influence than COO for high involvement consumer products. Brake pads are deemed to fall within

Figure 5

The Impact of COO Response Percentage (%) for Country of Origin 58.8 60.0 50.0 40.0

Percentage (%) 30.0 Response 20.0 10.0

22.9 12.6 3.9

1.7

0.0 STRONGLY DISAGREE

DISAGREE

NEITHER

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

Scale

this category, as discussed in the literature review. To support the later statement, research by Hui and Zhou (2003) have established that the COO concept does have an effect on a consumer‟s perception of products and hence consumption. Ahmed et al., (2004) believe that this can be accredited to the fact that consumers‟ use COO as an attribute in products, typically to infer the quality of the product. These conclusions are corroborated by (Balabanis, et al., 2002) where it was determined that the image of a COO has a significant impact on consumers‟ judgements of product quality and therefore their willingness to buy a particular brand of product (Speece and Nguyen, 2005 and Laroche et al., 2005).

BRAND CHARACTERISTICS

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Brand characteristics in this study incorporate the following constructs; - brand equity, brand image, brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty and brand identity. Figure 6 highlights that 69.8% (51.3 + 18.5)

Figure 6

The Impact of Brand Characteristics Response Percentage (%) for Brand Caharcteristics 51.3 60.0 50.0 40.0

Percentage (%) 30.0 Response 20.0

10.5

18.5

14.9

4.8

10.0 0.0 STRONGLY DISAGREE

DISAGREE

NEITHER

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

Scale

of respondents indicate that brand characteristics played a major role in the decision to purchase aftermarket brake pads. Research by Sui and Wong (2002) on perceived product safety concluded that products with familiar brand names are perceived as having a higher level of product quality and safety than those with unfamiliar brand names, which inadvertently influences the consumer‟s purchase behaviour (brand identity). Naidoo (2004) corroborates this finding with results form his survey, revealing that that 78.6% of the respondents strongly agreed that they would be willing to purchase a brake pad brand that demonstrated the products acclaimed benefits and their defined image. According to the Annual Consumer Attitude Study (2003, 2004, 2005) on brakes and buying habits, 68% to 70% of respondents indicated that they would be likely to purchase a brand of brake pads based on its long lasting reputation and performance (perceived quality). Also, results from a brake brand importance survey, conducted in the USA (Hampshire, 2004) indicated that when a desired brake pad brand is unavailable, 35% of respondents revealed that they would go elsewhere to look for it and 26.8% of respondents replied that they were willing to wait for it (Brand image and Brand loyalty). The literature and independent surveys therefore support the findings of this study where 51.3% of respondents agreed and 18.5% strongly agreed that brand characteristics play a significant and influential role their purchase behaviour and ultimately their willingness to purchase particular manufactures‟ brand of aftermarket disc brake pads.

SOCIAL CULTURAL FACTORS According to Figure 7, the impact of social cultural factors, positively accounts for 64% of the variance in the consumers‟ decision-making process, to purchase a certain manufacturer‟s brand, of disc brake pads. A study conducted by Naidoo (2004) on the buying behaviour of taxi disc brake pads in South Africa, which revealed that 39.9% of the respondents agreed and 42.5% of the respondents strongly agreed that they would be influenced by their social groups and community leaders to purchase a certain brand of product if it

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is recommended by them. This is supported by Kropp, et al., (2005), who revealed that this interpersonal influence could be used to shape consumer behaviours and ultimately their decision to purchase. Kotler and Keller (2006) share similar opinions and believe that this influence exists because individuals rely a great deal on society to shape their beliefs, values and norms. The literature and independent surveys therefore confirm the effect of social cultural factors on the willingness to purchase disc brake pads.

Figure 7

The Impact of Social Cultural Factors Response Percentage (%) for Social Cultural Factors 51.8 60.0 50.0 40.0

Percentage (%) 30.0 Response 20.0

24.2 11.8

9.3 3.0

10.0 0.0 STRONGLY DISAGREE

DISAGREE

NEITHER

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

Scale

MANUFACTURER / CONSUMER RELATIONSHIPS Figure 8 below indicates that there is a fairly equivalent consensus on the part of the consumer with respect to manufacturer / consumer relationships and the influence it has in their overall buying decision of aftermarket disc brake pads. Thirty-nine point two percent (39.2%) is uncertain whether this factor plays a significant role in their decision to purchase. While 41.5% of the respondents agree that these factors will strongly influences their purchase behaviour, (19.4%) disagree with the majority. Research has continually shown that, the potential benefits for both, the manufacturer and consumer are greater, with the development of direct relationships. The benefits exhibit its self as, reduced waste; increased profitability and greater customer satisfaction, with the final outcome being repeat purchases (Endo and Kincade, 2005). Response Percentage (%) for manufacturer / Consumer Relationships

39.2 40.0 35.0 30.0 Percentage (%) 25.0 20.0 Response 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0

33.4

14.2

STRONGLY DISAGREE

Figure 8

8.1

5.2

DISAGREE

NEITHER

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

The Impact of Manufacturer / Consumer Relationships Scale

Supporting the above findings, research by Wirtz and Chew (2002) ascertained that companies who adopt this proactive stance on forming and managing customer relationships, produce positive influences towards their brand. This was confirmed by a study conducted by Naidoo (2004) where the relationship

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between manufacturer and end user was defined as being one where the manufacturer consults the end user to discuss likes and dislikes of the product, arranges demonstrations of brake pad performance and involves the end user in free brake pad testing. The following statistics were extracted from his survey of 330 taxi owners. Thirty point eight percent (30.8%) agreed and 64.9% strongly agreed that this defined relationship would persuade them to purchase the participating manufacturer‟s brand of disc brake pads. From the above-presented literature and survey results, it can be concluded that manufacturer / consumer relationships plays a significant role in persuading the consumer to purchase a certain manufacture‟s brand of disc brake pad.

Table 2, below, concurs that respondents considered the chosen variables to be significant with respect to the overall purchasing decision for aftermarket disc brake pads in South Africa. This is evident, because of the „mean‟ values, for the key variables, being in line with their individual descriptive statistics. For the price variable, the mean value tends towards the „disagree‟ option in the likert scale, while the mean values for other 6 factors, tends towards the „neutral‟, „agree‟ and „strongly agree‟ option in the Likert scale, confirming that country of origin and to a lesser extent, manufacturer / consumer relationships is held, at neutral bias towards it‟s effect on the decision making process, while price is still not considered to significantly contribute to the consumer‟s decision to purchase. These statistics indicates that corporate image followed by social cultural factors, brand characteristics, and advertising, play an important role in persuading the consumer to purchase a certain manufacturers‟ brand of disc brake pad, while price was deemed to have a limited effect in influencing the consumer‟s purchase decision. Finally, these statistics provide evidence of a clear stand taken by respondents in terms of agreement or disagreement to questions posed in respect of aftermarket disc brake pad purchases. To further corroborate this statement, inferential statistical techniques were employed to the key variables to test the stated hypothesis.

Table 2 Statistical Representations of the Key Variables Impacting on Consumer Buying Behaviour. MEAN

STANDARD DEVIATION

MINIMUM

MAXIMUM

CRITICAL RANGE

Price

2.01

0.87

1.00

5.00

1.87 - 2.15

Advertising

3.30

0.67

1.50

5.00

3.19 - 3.41

Corporate Image

4.16

0.52

2.50

5.00

4.07 - 4.24

Country of Origin

3.15

0.49

1.00

4.67

3.06 - 3.22


3.41

0.43

2.13

4.50

3.34 - 3.48


3.60

0.66

1.75

5.00

3.49 - 3.71


3.25

0.59

1.00

4.33

3.15 - 3.34

VARIABLE

INTER-CORRELATIONS AMONG KEY VARIABLES

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The analysis of the study concentrated on defining the individual relationship of the respective key variable and its effect on the consumer‟s willingness to purchase. However, a study by Naidoo (2004), investigating the impact of similar key variables on the purchase behaviour for taxi brake pads, revealed that besides the typical individualistic relationship, inter-correlations between the key variables also existed, which may as well significantly account for the variance in the consumers willingness to purchase a certain brand of disc brake pad, hence, an inter-correlation analysis was conducted on the key variable of this study to verify the above statement.

Price

Pearson Corrrelation (r)

Advertising

Pearson Corrrelation (r) p




Corporate Image

Advertising 1

p

Country of Origin

Inter-Correlation Amongst the Key Variables of the Study

Price

Table 3

0.157

-0.178*

0.100

0.227**

0.118

0.014

0.053

0.028 0.329**

0.217 0.211**

0.005 0.397**

0.145 0.636**

0.864 0.322**

0.000

0.009 0.274**

0.000 0.582**

0.000 0.354**

0.000

1

0.000 0.310**

0.000 0.190*

0.077 0.185*

0.000

0.019 0.397**

0.022 0.213**

0.000

0.157

1

Corporate Image

Pearson Corrrelation (r)

0.053 -0.178*

0.329**

Country of Origin

p Pearson Corrrelation (r)

0.028 1

0.000 0.211**

0.274**

0.001 1

0.217 0.227**

0.009 0.397**

0.001 0.582**

0.31**

1

0.005

0.000 0.636**

0.000 0.354**

0.000 0.190*

0.397**

1

0.008 0.171*

0.000 0.322**

0.000 0.143 0.077

0.019 0.185*

0.000 0.213**

0.171*

0.034 1

0.022

0.008

0.034

p Brand Characteristics

Pearson Corrrelation (r) p


Pearson Corrrelation (r) p Manufacturer / Consumer Pearson Corrrelation (r) relationships p

0.118 0.145 0.014 0.864

0.000

0.143

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01level (2-tailed) * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

The following results were obtained, confirming the previous statements. Table 3 illustrates that there is a negative association between price and corporate image at 5% level of significance but a positive relationship with price and brand characteristics at a 1% level of significance. Similarly, relationships exist for the following variables at a 1% and 5% level of significance: 

Advertising and Corporate Image, Country of Origin, Brand Characteristics, Social Cultural factors and Manufacturer / Consumer relationships



Corporate Image and Country of Origin, Brand Characteristics and, Social Cultural factors



Country of Origin and Brand Characteristics, Social Cultural factors and Manufacturer / Consumer relationships



Brand Characteristics and Price, Corporate Image, Country of Origin, Social Cultural factors and Manufacturer / Consumer relationships



Social Cultural factors and Manufacturer / Consumer relationships

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Therefore, it would be advisable to conduct a full review of the above relationships and ascertain if these inter-correlations between the key variables of the study, is supported by academic evidence, which accounts for the variance in the consumer‟s willingness to purchase a certain manufacture‟s brand of disc brake pad in South Africa.

Multiple regression analysis was used to test for statistical significance, that the key variables of the study, played a significant role in affecting demand, for aftermarket disc brake pads. The information presented in Table 1, earlier, indicates that 99.3% of the variance in the factors influencing demand for aftermarket disc brake pads in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) can be attributed to the 7 key variables of the study. The negligible difference of 3.11 % is due to factors that are not part of the jurisdiction of this study. The beta loadings are graphically represented in Figure 9; to illustrate the relative impact that each of key variables has on demand for aftermarket disc brake pads (AMDBP) in KZN and possibly South Africa. It is evident from the beta values in Figure 9 below that brand characteristics impacts the most on demand, followed by advertising, social cultural factors, corporate image, Manufacturer/Consumer relationships, Country of origin and lastly, price. The 6 factors as illustrated in Table 4 below are comprised of the following items because of their significant loading for each of the factors. These 6 extracted factors; accounts for 59.49% of the total variance in the measuring tool, as reflected by the cumulative % in Table 5 below.

Figure 9

Impact of each Variable on Demand for AMDBP BET A LOADINGS COMPARED BY KEY VARIABLES

0.50

0.364 0.40

0.274

0.271 0.211

0.30

0.179

0.150

0.20

0.089

0.10

0.00 Brand Characteristics

Advertising


Corporate Image


Country of Origin

Price

Key Variable Brand Characteristics

Table 4 FACTOR 1 2 3 4 5 6

Advertising


Corporate Image


Country of Origin

Varimax Rotation with KMO Normalisation VARIABLE Brand Characteristics Corporate Image Social Cultural Factors Advertising Manufacturer/Consumer Relationships Advertising and Brand Characteristics

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QUESTIONS 8, 9,10, 12,14,16 18,20,27,28 1,6,11,15 2,3,4,17 5,13,14 7 & 25

Price

From the Table 5 below, it is evident that 7 items loaded significantly on Factor 1, which accounts for 14.067% of the total variance. As illustrated in Table 5 below, five of these items relate to Brand Characteristics, therefore Factor 1 maybe categorized as the component assessing Brand Characteristics. Hence, as a measure of construct validity, the use of factor analysis, has established that the research instrument identifies and measures the responses to the key variables of the study, as intended. The validity test, hence demonstrates success for six of the seven key factors, implying that each variable, within a scale, does not measure unrelated constructs.

Table 5

Instrument Validity Test: Principal Component / Factor Analysis

QUESTION Q14 Q12 Q16 Q9 Q10 Q19 Q8 Q27 Q28 Q18 Q20 Q15 Q6 Q1 Q11 Q4 Q2 Q3 Q17 Q13 Q24 Q5 Q25 Q7 Eigen Value % of Varience Cumulative %

1 0.689 0.672 0.666 0.661 0.660 0.569 0.563

COMPONENT / FACTORS 2 3 4 5

6

0.769 0.722 0.572 0.569 0.710 0.706 0.700 0.568 0.788 0.772 0.702 0.465 0.735 0.489 0.438 0.683 0.631 3.376 14.067 14.067

2.697 11.236 25.304

2.626 10.941 36.244

2.533 10.553 46.797

1.530 6.374 53.171

1.517 6.323 59.494

RECOMMENDATIONS The sample that was utilized to conduct this study was drawn out of only one geographic region in South Africa, i.e. KwaZulu-Natal, hence this may render the results biased. It is therefore recommended that a similar study be conducted in each of the other 8 provinces, to ascertain if consumers exhibit similar behavioural characteristics and if the key variables account for similar variances in their decision to purchase a particular manufacturer‟s brand of disc brake pad. There exists significant inter-correlations amongst the key variables of the study, it is therefore recommended that a full review of the relationships be investigated to ascertain if these inter-correlations between the key variables of the study, are supported by academic evidence, which accounts for the

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variance in the consumer‟s willingness to purchase a certain manufacture‟s brand of disc brake pad in South Africa. Having determined that word-of-mouth (WOM) has had the greatest influence on the target markets‟ decision to purchase (48.7% agreed, and 13.05% strongly agreed that WOM influenced their decision to purchase); the organisation should therefore aggressively peruse this medium to leverage its brand characteristics. Currently, SmartBrake positions its brands as being the most effective in stopping a vehicle, inferring the safety characteristic of its products, which was discovered to be held in high esteem by its target market, as a reason for purchasing a particular manufacturer‟s brand of product (57.5% agreed, and 38.6% strongly agreed that a reputation for safety will influence their decision to purchase). This characteristic is currently only conveyed by means of the print media, which could account for the marginal sales growth, as discussed in the literature review. To leverage the effects of WOM, it is suggested that the organisation actively involve its target market by having open days where the public and its distribution network is invited to tour its manufacturing plant, where the organisation details its policies in respect of its research and development facilities, its brake pad manufacturing process and associated approved global quality system. This type of initiative is more likely to create greater brand identity and equity than the current marketing programmes, which focuses on advertising in the print mediums (magazines, billboards and newspapers).

CONCLUSION The findings revealed that corporate image, brand characteristics and social cultural factors had the largest and most significant influence on consumer behaviour. Advertising, in particular, word-of-mouth was singled out as being the most dependable source of information acquisition and had the greatest influence in the consumer‟s decision-making process when compared to the other advertising mediums such as television, magazines and newspapers. Response to questions testing the effect of country of origin and manufacturer / consumer relationships on the consumers‟ decision to purchase produced a neutral bias, while price had little or no significant effect. Finally to empirically and statistically prove the hypothesis (H1), multiple regression analysis proved unequivocally that 99.3% of the variance in the factors influencing demand can be attributed to the 6 key variables of the study and it is statistically significant at the 1% level. Brand characteristics, advertising, social cultural factors, corporate image, country of origin and manufacturer / consumer relationships respectively, had the greatest impact on demand, while price was found not to have a significant impact. Hence, the findings of this study, with the aid of the descriptive and inferential techniques clearly identify the significant characteristics of the consumer, which influences their buying behaviour and ultimately demand for aftermarket disc brake pads in South Africa.

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