Study of Consumer Behavior
The Study of Consumer Behavior
MKT 6510
Does Gender Affect Product Color Preference and Will a Person Choose
Differently Due to His or Her Environment?
Final Report
Executive Summary
Businesses are generating an extra profit by exploiting a simple standard in society: gender specific colors. One product is offered in both feminine and masculine colors in order to boost sales for each gender class. It is questionable then if males and females actually purchase products in gender specific colors. This research project was performed to answers this question. It also goes further as to determine if consumers choose colors differently based on their environment. We hypothesized that males will indeed choose products with masculine colors and females will choose those with colors socially deemed as feminine. Additionally, we believed that this hypothesis would hold stronger in a public setting rather than a private setting. Our hypothesis is supported by many processes and relevant theories including the Consumer Decision Making Process, the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein model), and the Elaboration Likelihood model. Data collection was performed through the distribution of two consumer questionnaires. The surveys were brief yet thorough in order to determine the color preferences of each individual. Once the data was gathered, data analysis was performed in the SPSS program using Chi Square and ANOVA to produce the necessary crosstabulations. We were able to conclude that the main effect was supported: gender does have a large impact on color preference in product usage. While our interaction was also supported, the results were not what we had originally hypothesized. Males and females chose gender specific colors of the products in a public setting far more often than they did in a private setting. There were many limitations to our experiment including a lack of observation and
MKT 6510
Does Gender Affect Product Color Preference and Will a Person Choose
Differently Due to His or Her Environment?
Final Report
Executive Summary
Businesses are generating an extra profit by exploiting a simple standard in society: gender specific colors. One product is offered in both feminine and masculine colors in order to boost sales for each gender class. It is questionable then if males and females actually purchase products in gender specific colors. This research project was performed to answers this question. It also goes further as to determine if consumers choose colors differently based on their environment. We hypothesized that males will indeed choose products with masculine colors and females will choose those with colors socially deemed as feminine. Additionally, we believed that this hypothesis would hold stronger in a public setting rather than a private setting. Our hypothesis is supported by many processes and relevant theories including the Consumer Decision Making Process, the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein model), and the Elaboration Likelihood model. Data collection was performed through the distribution of two consumer questionnaires. The surveys were brief yet thorough in order to determine the color preferences of each individual. Once the data was gathered, data analysis was performed in the SPSS program using Chi Square and ANOVA to produce the necessary crosstabulations. We were able to conclude that the main effect was supported: gender does have a large impact on color preference in product usage. While our interaction was also supported, the results were not what we had originally hypothesized. Males and females chose gender specific colors of the products in a public setting far more often than they did in a private setting. There were many limitations to our experiment including a lack of observation and