CONSUMER PERCEPTION OF PERSONALITY AND KNOWLEDGE IN THE ACQUISITION PRIORITY OF HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study evaluated the personality and evaluation criteria, financial knowledge, decision making process and the perception of personality and knowledge of consumers in the acquisition of household appliances in Abuja. The survey research design was adopted and instrument was formulated which comprised forty nine (49) questions administered to 200 respondents and a Likert scale covering the independent and dependent variables. It was validated and the reliability of the instrument was determined at 0.801Chronbach’s alpha. The aggregate mean of the Likert scale was 4.01 and the mean decision was determined at ≥ 3.000. Findings revealed that for most consumers, personality factor of social [males 10%, females 4%], psychological [males 4%, females 0%], financial anxiety [males 42%, female 21%] and the functionality of the product [males 10%, females 18%] donot seem to add to the personality of consumers in the acquisition priority of household appliances. Similarly, most males and female consumers have similar evaluation criteria when acquiring household appliances. However, price [males 11%, females 15%] and quality [males 21% and females 20%] stand out as top priority criteria in the acquisition of household appliances. More males [30%] than females [42%] seemed to be more influenced by knowledge about household appliance before acquisition. They used experiential sources [males 33%, females 13%] more than personal sources [males 31%, females 23%] as sources of information before acquisition. Generally, consumer perception on the influence of personality and financial knowledge in the acquisition priority of household appliance was ranked in the order of highest influence: durability, satisfaction and financial status. The consumer’s acquisition of household appliances and implications in other socioeconomic factors are discussed