Consumers’ Attitude towards Foreign and Domestic Chocolates
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Date
2012
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Abstract
Globalization has exposed consumers in Ghana to a wide range of foreign chocolates on the market than ever before and these are competing with the domestic brands. The main purpose of the study was to investigate the Ghanaian consumers’ attitude towards foreign and domestic chocolates and make recommendations for enhancing patronage of the domestic chocolates. A non-probability, convenience sampling technique was employed to gather the data through a structured questionnaire from 226 participants in the Greater Accra Region. The Fishbein attitude model and Consumer Ethnocentrism Tendencies Scale (CETSCALE) were used to measure the consumer attitudes and ethnocentrism respectively. The importance of country of origin of chocolates was also determined on a seven point likert scale. The relative importance of some attributes: brand name, price, packaging and the type of chocolate were determined using the conjoint analysis. The studies revealed that majority of the consumers had a positive attitude towards foreign chocolates (mean=164.03) than domestic chocolates (mean=153.97). Consumers however, showed ethnocentric tendencies (mean=5.8, on a scale of 1 to 7) towards the Made-in-Ghana chocolates. Chocolates from Ghana were also more important to the consumer than chocolates from the United Kingdom or Switzerland. These tendencies seem to be rooted more in morality, rather than it transcending economic and functional considerations. Brand name was the most important attributes of chocolate (38.10%). The best cue combination that affect the purchasing decision of the consumer was a Goldentree milk chocolate packaged in laminated flow wrap that sells below GH¢ 5.00 per the 100g bar. It can be concluded that consumers have greater attitudes towards foreign chocolates than domestic chocolates. It is recommended that the manufacturer of the domestic chocolate finds more effective ways to reduce their cost of production in order to reduce the prices of their chocolates to levels competitive with those coming from abroad. The domestic brand should also be rebranded for it to be competitive. Government on their part should provide conducive environment for the local manufacturers to thrive.
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A thesis submitted to the Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of COMMONWEALTH EXECUTIVE MASTERS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION,