A perceptual exploration of women's golfing apparel qualities and its influence on the consumers' purchasing decision

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how consumer’s perception of women’s golfing apparel qualities influenced consumer’s purchase decisions. In fact Swinker and Hines (2006) pointed out that consumer perceptions of apparel quality are viewed as a multi-dimensional concept and should be evaluated on several levels. Numerous apparel quality studies have examined how perception of apparel quality has influenced consumer purchase decisions. However, there has been little or no research documented on how female consumers perceive women’s golfing apparel quality and how this may influence consumer purchase decisions in a South African context. Evaluation of apparel quality occurs at two stages during the consumer decision-making process. Apparel quality is evaluated in-store at the decision-making process stage and at the post-purchase evaluation stage. The apparel qualities that women golfers use during these stages may not be the same. In light of this a phenomenological approach was used to explore apparel quality for women’s golfing apparel which allowed the researcher to focus on the actual experience and perception of participants in their natural environment. Moreover, this approach allowed participants to describe their thoughts on physical (intrinsic) apparel qualities, extrinsic apparel qualities as well as behavioural (functional and aesthetic) apparel qualities found in women’s golfing apparel. Data were collected through means of a multi-method approach whereby different data collection instruments were applied. In this regard focus group discussions, design card sort and a sentence completion task were used which addressed the objectives set out in the study. A convenient sampling strategy was used to recruit participants for the focus group discussions. This sample consisted of women golfers from the Woodhill and Silverlakes Clubs situated in the East of Pretoria. From the results of the study on the perceptual exploration of women’s golfing apparel qualities and the influence on consumer purchase decisions, it was indicated that participants viewed apparel quality as a multidimensional concept. Physical, behavioural and extrinsic apparel qualities were used to evaluate women’s golfing apparel on which they based their purchase decisions.