Research Article: 2019 Vol: 22 Issue: 3
Nwanneka C. Ghasi, University of Nigeria
Ben Etim Udoh, University of Nigeria
Lovlyn E. Kelvin-Iloafu, University of Nigeria
Joy I. Enemuo, University of Nigeria
Citation Information: Adeleke, B. S., Ghasi, N. C., Udoh, B. E., Kelvin-Iloafu, L. E. & Enemuo, J. I. (2019). Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) Re-Examined: Its Implications In The Telecommunication Services Consumption Among Youths. Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences, 22(3), 296-307.
This work examines youths’ consumption behaviours and patterns in telecom industry taking cognisance of the analysis of consumer style inventory (CSI) dimensions. To guide the research, eight research questions and eight hypotheses were formulated. The study further focused on youths and hence the undergraduates of the Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Lagos, were selected for the study. The eight scales of the construct showed the relevance of the model in telecommunication industry vis-à-vis youth buying patterns and decision. Thus, the variables of high quality consciousness, novelty and fashion consciousness, recreation and hedonistic, brand consciousness, price consciousness do affect youths’ buying behaviours while impulse consciousness affects youths’ buying patterns and decision.
Consumer Style: Buying Decision, Telephone Services, Hedonistic Consciousness
In a recent release by the US based research institute-PEW Research Centre, millennial is described as anyone born between 1981 and 1996 which makes age range to fall between 22 years and 37 years in 2018. The study adds that the foremost factor that characterizes the millennial is the association of the age group with the digital age and the influence of internet explosion and social media on their behaviors. Pew center (2018), explains that generational cohorts give researchers a technique to analyze and assess the changes in views over time. These tools can provide a way to understand how different formative experiences (such as world events and technological, economic and social shifts) interact with the life-cycle process to redirect and shape people’s perception of the world. Relatedly, the trend in the Nigerian population growth has confirmed that half of the 182 million people are less than 30 years of age according to Mbachu & Alake (2016). Thus, the study find it imperative to focus on the youths in the society (Universities’ undergraduates) based on the influence of telephone usage (digital age) on their day-to-day activities.
The uncertainty ranging in consumer complexity and unpredictability plays fundamental efforts in the rational theory of decision making which shows that, before consumers make preferred choice, several attributes is reduced to a scalar value of "utility”. Many purchase decisions are unpredictable and sometimes predictable; consumers also have the options to make a purchase decision or not to. In the real world, youths’ decision-making exercise is as a result of many of different purchase options which include gathering more information on available alternative option and finding out for new alternatives. Subsequently, behavioral patterns involves process through which youth consumers choose, buy, use, evaluate and dispose the products with the objective of satisfying needs, wants and desires (Belch and Belch, 2005). Mobile telecommunication industry in Nigeria in the recent has been very competitive. There was an increasing promotion and price war between MTN, GLO, ETISALAT and AIRTEL. MTN intensified its marketing and introduced excellent services to attract more subscribers. Rival firms like GLO and ETISALT retaliated by launching new products and by lowering the prices of its products. This marketing war lead to the customer’s brand choice in Nigeria, making the country telecom sector the fiercest in Africa with the four companies competing to retain and even generate more customers and to grow their market share. Currently, the National Communications Commission (NCC) has so far licensed four mobile operators which are MTN, AIRTEL, GLO, and ETISALAT Nigeria. These firms have all rolled out their networks operation to customers. There are other smaller firms operating within specific niches. This increasing numbers of firms in the sector shows that the operators’ increased their focus to offer competitive and innovative products and services to attract customers. The business activities of telecom operators in Nigeria are not without some inhibiting problems emanating from their various environmental actors. Today, these problems are posing serious challenges to their operational capabilities, survival and performances. A cursory analysis of some of these problems prompted the crucial need for embarking on this proposed study. The environment actors in the telecommunication industry in Nigeria tend to be harsh on telecom firms and their operational activities nowadays due to intense rivalry among the competing firm on how to gain a formidable market share. This has brought such consequences as increasing risks, low profitability, tensed competition, and heavy investment on equipment, increased operational cost, litigations and many other threats.
Youths and Telecommunication Consumption
It is assumed that how youths make their preference decisions and finally patronize telecom firms can be independent of or dependent on how much knowledge of the product attributes and information they possess in terms of their search for satisfactions. Kotler and Keller (2009) opine that “customer satisfaction is a person feeling of pleasure or disappointment about the perception of the product performance as well as expectations”. Youth consumers may use different criteria to measure how they assess telecom operators to determine their patronage for such a firm. Different telecom service companies have unique attributes that make them different from that of the others and this unique attribute could be in terms of product quality, service reliability, corporate social responsibility, price affordability, product availability, promotion inducement, brand name, packaging on the part of the telecom companies. Generally, consumer attributes such as cultural-social, personal and psychological factors form intrinsic variables affecting buying decision. Other variables such as social class, occupation, lifestyle, economic situations, personality, perception, beliefs and attitudes, income, family size, age, flavor, texture, price, appearance etc. play undisputable roles in consumers’ product acceptability and patronage. These differences result in the unique characteristic determination for the youth buying decisions for telecom firms.
The buying decision of youths tends to be dependent on several factors of which include the features of their traits and other environmental factors that determine their buying activities. Some youths favor quality beyond any other things while others would evaluate price. Still, others would build their decision making on fashion just to satisfy the needs of the peer groups they belong. All these are various dimensions of consumer style inventory (CSI) that determines what youths are well-disposed to in a particular given environment.
Hence, it is hypothesized that:
H1: Telecommunication services demand among youths is a function high quality consciousness.
H2: Telecommunication services demand among youths is a function of brand consciousness.
H3: Telecommunication services demand among youths is a function of price consciousness.
Youths Definitions, Characteristics and Behavioral Patterns and Dimensions
Youth is seen as a stage of transition from the childhood dependency to adulthood’s independence and awareness. It is a major category than a fixed age-group. However, age is the simplest method to categorize and explains this group, especially in relation to people’s education and employment. Youth is often indicated as an individual between the age where individual may forgo compulsory education, and the age at which such person secure first employment. This latter age limit has been growing, as higher levels of unemployment and the cost of setting up an independent household puts many young people into a prolonged period of dependency.
The time of life when one is young is generally regarded as youth, but sometimes it indicates the time between childhood and adulthood (maturity). It is also seen as the appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit, etc., characteristic of one who is young (Gisela, 1973). This explanation of age range changes, as youth is not defined chronologically as a stage that can be tied to specific age ranges; nor can its end point be linked to specific activities (Andy, 2013).
An individual's level of dependency is shaped by youth exposure and experience. This are built in various ways according to different cultural views. Individual’s cultural norms and traditions influence individual personal experience, though youth's dependency level means the extent to which he still hope on his immediately family physically and economically (Andy, 2013).
term youth in African context is seen as young men from 15 to 30 or 35 years of age. In Nigeria particularly, youth includes all members of the Federal Republic of Nigeria aged 18- 35 (Adeola, 2005). The girls in African experience youthful life from the onset of puberty and marriage and motherhood. But in cities, poor women are often considered youth much longer, even if they give birth to children outside of marriage. Culture differs on what youth means. The gender constructions of youth in Latin America and Southeast Asia differ from those of sub- Saharan Africa. Vietnam for instance, sees widespread notions of youth as socio-political constructions for both sexes between the ages of 15 and 35 (Dalsgaard et al., 2008). Thus, the hypotheses that:
H4: Telecommunication services demand among youths is a function of impulsive consciousness associated with youthfulness.
H5: Telecommunication services is a function of confusion over the choice commonly experience among youths.
Telecom Market and Youth Buying Behaviours
Youths are gaining more and more consumer discretion and autonomy as compared to adolescents who are still constrained to limited disposable income (Palan et al., 2010). These individuals are characterized by high spending power. Youth consumers are described by Martin & Turley (2004) as a moonlight clan who spend money as soon as they get it. Further, youth are fully aware of their personal identity so they like to establish their own rules, values, behaviors, and attitudes as well as consumption patterns (McNeal, 1992). In addition, youth are conversant with what is trending and have full awareness of information source and more influence from their friends and peers (Moschis & Moore, 1979; McNeal, 1992). They also have an important impact on the wider society and its culture because their behaviors are usually rooted in family and social environments. Youths’ culture has been generated and diffused from the West to the whole world. The driving forces of globalization and global flows have been the major factors responsible for this. The youths are immersed in a more advanced technological and digital world, which makes the exchange opinions from each of them to other without any territorial boundaries, hence they have becoming more and more homogenous and cosmopolitan and they are carrying the international citizenship. History, culture and economic differences still makes many youths adhere to their local values. The youth have a global identity, due to the fact that translated, appropriated, and creolized global concerns to fit local social structures and issues.
The relevance of youth consumers cannot be overemphasized in the Nigeria telecom industry since 60% of the subscribers are youth (NCC, 2006). Youths, are defined in this study as consumers aged 18-30 years, who have increased spending independency compared to younger ones. They are in the process of becoming more autonomous from their parents attitudinally, emotionally, and functionally. They have formed their own buying behavior styles by forming their own identity and social learning. The buying decision of most of these youths tends to be asymmetric depending on different psychology of inventory styles they considered in decision making. Thus it is hypothesized that:
H6: Telecommunication services demand among youths is a function of recreational and hedonistic consciousness prevalence in the age bracket.
H7: Telecommunication communication youths is a function of novelty and fashion consciousness that prevail among the age brackets.
H8: Telecommunication service demand among youths is a function of habitual and brand loyalty prevalence in the age brackets.
Consumer Style Inventory and Its Dimensions
According to the literature related to consumer decision-making in the field of marketing and consumer behaviour (Maynes 1976; Miller 1981; Sproles 1979; Thorelli et al., 1975), Sproles (1985) was the first to developed a 50-item measuring instrument reflecting six different consumers’ decision-making style dimensions. In a further study, Sproles & Kendall (1986) employed related methods with a minor revised model of consumer decision-making. This comprised eight dimensions and 40 items. The Sproles & Kendall’s (1986) CSI dimensions includes Perfectionism or high-quality consciousness-characteristic that explains a high-quality conscious consumer who look for the very best quality in products, and is not satisfied with the “good enough” product; Brand consciousness-a feature that identifying those consumers who buy more expensive, well-known national brands. They believe that a higher price means better quality, and prefer best-selling advertised brands; Novelty-fashion consciousness-characteristic showing those who are fashion and novelty conscious, and look out new things. For them it is important to be up-to-date with styles; Recreational, hedonistic shopping consciousness-a characteristic identifying those consumers who search for shopping pleasant and shops for the fun; Price consciousness-a dimensions that explains those consumers who search for sale prices and are very concern of lower prices; Impulsiveness-a dimensions that identify those who do not plan their shopping, and are not concerned about the amount they spend; Confusion from over choice-a feature that explains those consumers who have problems making choices, and found themselves in information overload; Brand-loyal orientation towards consumption-a dimension that identify those consumers who have favorite brands and stores and buy only from such. They stick with their brands and go shopping each time they shop.
The underlying rationale for these consumer characteristics approaches is that consumers have several cognitive and affective orientations that determine their decision-making styles (Sproles & Kendall 1986). This means that when making a buying decision the consumer will at the same takes into consideration key attributes such as the value of information that would be gathered about the product (the extent of the information search)? The time to be spent on evaluating and searching (time and effort)? The amount to be paid for the product to be purchase (cost)? The product brand that would be bought (evoked set)? Lastly the attention level that would be given the goods quality? Answers to the raised questions above will provide different response because of consumers' difference and their unique characteristics. Hence, Sproles & Kendall’s (1986) eight factors dimensions model can be used to evaluate the general orientations, views and motives toward consumers buying.
Importantly, each of the eight factors individually constitutes mental approaches of orientation to consumer consumption and is the factors which are used most frequent in previous literature. The methodology used in the development of the CSI was based on an exploratory study by Sproles (1985). This consisted of self-administered questionnaires which were distributed to 501 economic students in Arizona, the United States of America. This contains six Likert-scale items in which each characteristic was measured upon. Ultimately 482 usable responses were collected from the representative sample of the demographic, socioeconomic and cultural regions. Under the analysis of the CSI, the eight factors confirmed the previously proposed characteristics (Sproles & Kendall, 1986).
These eight factors showed to be unique and separate from one another, each measuring perfectly independent decision-making characteristics of consumers. A use of fewer characteristics sacrifices valuable data and submerges parts of the eight consumer styles. The CSI is a practical measurement tool, which serves as an applicable method for evaluating consumer decision-making styles in a standardized way. It provides a unique methodology for assessing consumer behavior and consumer style characteristics.
Furthermore, the methodology was the first tool combining styles and characteristics of consumers in decision-making. However, Sproles & Kendall (1986) have acknowledged some limitations of the CSI. There is a limited generality as consumers may display variations in consumer styles depending on the product category, which the CSI does not encompass. Furthermore, the original sample consisted of high school students, which made the findings difficult to generalize to all consumers. However, Sproles & Kendall (1986) argue that students are a valid sample group to investigate, as they are conscious of their consumption experiences and exhibits consumption eagerness. To broaden the generality of the CSI, Sproles & Kendall (1986) encourage future research to administer their framework to more diverse samples, which can further confirm the validity of the CSI. Later studies on CSI by Fan and Xiao (1998) limited the eight dimensions model to one with only five dimension and these dimensions include: brand consciousness, time consciousness, quality consciousness, novelty-fashion consciousness and price consciousness. The foundation for the study is the integration of Fan & Xiao (1998) with that of Sproles & Kendall (1986).
This study adopted survey method. The area of this study was Lagos state, Nigeria. The population of the work consisted of the undergraduates of faculty of management sciences, UNILAG, Lagos State, Nigeria. The populations of the students were 4382. A total sample size of 354 was drawn. Data for this study was collected from primary source through questionnaire that was self-administered. The answer options for the questionnaire were developed using 5 point Likert scale with: SA-Strongly Agree, A-Agree, U-Uncertain, D-Disagree, SD-Strongly Disagree.
Importantly, the existing work of Sproles & Kendall (1986) was adopted with integration of Fan & Xiao (1998) to create robustness for the questionnaire. Subsequently, the Fan & Xiao’s five dimensional model was used (Fan & Xiao, 1998). Since recreational and impulsive shopping share a common denominator, namely time, these two dimensions are discussed together. Furthermore, brand consciousness, over-choice confusion and habitual, brand-loyal orientation all share the concept of branding. Hence, these three concepts are adopted to create robustness. The choice of undergraduate students for the study is based on the fact to continue with the trends of the first study that gave birth to the CSI dimension which focused on college students (Sproles & Kendall (1986). Equally, the methods are informed by the previous works on consumer inventory in youths’ buying decisions and patterns (Hafstrom et al., 1992; Fan & Xiao, 1998; & Hiu, et al., 2001).
As explained in the methodology, the total sample size was 354. The researcher distributed a total of 354 three hundred and fifty-four questionnaires which covered the entire sample size being the students.
The Table 1 above shows that 340 (96%) of the administered questionnaire were properly completed and returned. This makes (96%) response rate upon which the analysis of this study is based. Eight hypotheses were formulated for the study and are tested using regression analysis.
| Table 1: Questionnaire Distribution And Responses | ||||||
| Responses | Questionnaire distributed | Percentage distributed | No of returned | Percentage returned | Number not retuned | Percentage not returned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students | 354 | 100 | 340 | 96% | 14 | 4% |
Source: Field Survey, 2018
All hypotheses were tested and analyzed using simple linear regression analysis.
H1: Telecom services demand among youths is not a function of high quality consciousness.
Hypothesis one shows how much of the variance in the dependent variable (high quality consciousness) is explained by the model, which is telecom services demand. The analysis shows how much of the variance in the dependent variable is explained by the model. R2 was 0.711; F value is 17.211 and a p=0.02. This indicates that there is a significant relationship between telecom services demand and high quality consciousness of the consumers. The null hypothesis (H1) is rejected and the alternate hypothesis (HA1) is accepted. Therefore, telecom services demand among youths is a function of high quality consciousness.
H2: Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of brand consciousness.
The analysis shows how much of the variance in the dependent variable is explained by the model. R2 was 0.724; F value is 16.121 and a p=0.01. This indicates that there is a significant relationship between telecom services demand and brand consciousness. Therefore, the null hypothesis (H2) rejected and the alternate hypothesis (HA2) accepted.
H3: Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of price consciousness.
R2=0.891, F value was 21.265 with a p value of 0.002; show that there is a significant relationship between telecom service demand and the price consciousness of consumers Therefore, the null hypothesis (H3) rejected and the alternate hypothesis (HA3) accepted.
H4: Telecom services demand among youths is not a function of impulsive consciousness.
Hypothesis one shows how much of the variance in the dependent variable (impulsive consciousness) is explained by the model, which is telecom services demand. The analysis shows how much of the variance in the dependent variable is explained by the model. R2 was 0.631; F value is 12.211 and a p=0.029. This indicates that there is a significant relationship between telecom services demand and impulsive consciousness of the consumers. The null hypothesis (H4) is rejected and the alternate hypothesis (HA4) is accepted. Therefore, telecom services demand among youths is a function of high quality consciousness.
H5: Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of confused over the choice consciousness.
The analysis shows how much of the variance in the dependent variable is explained by the model. R2 was 0.670; F value is 16.103 and a p=0.03. This indicates that there is a significant relationship between telecom services demand and confused over the choice consciousness. Therefore, the null hypothesis (H5) rejected and the alternate hypothesis (HA5) accepted.
H6: Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of recreation and hedonistic consciousness.
R2=0.817, F value was 15.131 with a p value of 0.003; show that there is a significant relationship between telecom service demand and the recreation and hedonistic consciousness of consumers Therefore, the null hypothesis (H6) rejected and the alternate hypothesis (HA6) accepted.
H7: Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of novelty and fashion consciousness.
The analysis shows how much of the variance in the dependent variable is explained by the model. R2 was 0.788; F value is 14.177 and a p=0.04. This indicates that there is a significant relationship between telecom services demand and novelty and fashion consciousness. Therefore, the null hypothesis (H7) rejected and the alternate hypothesis (HA7) accepted.
H8: Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of habitual and brand loyal consciousness.
R2=0.881, F value was 22.265 with a p value of 0.002; show that there is a significant relationship between telecom service demand and the habitual and brand loyal consciousness of consumers Therefore, the null hypothesis (H8) rejected and the alternate hypothesis (HA8) accepted.
Regression analysis was utilized to evaluate if telecom services demand among youths is a function of high quality consciousness it I found out that telecommunication services demand among youths is a function of high quality consciousness as shown in the Table 2 above. The result of this work is similar with the outcomes of work done by Tarnanidis et al. (2015) which found out that six out of eight decision making styles were determinants of buying outcomes applicable to buying decision, i.e., high quality conscious, recreational consciousness, brand conscious, novelty conscious, impulsive conscious, and confused by over-choice. On other hand, the study negates the findings by Anic et al. (2012) which state that the original CSI presented by Sproles & Kendall (1986) was not found to be completely applicable in all buying situations by concluding that students in Bosnia and Herzegovina fell in one of the five segments, i.e., impartial, middle ground consumer; fashion-oriented, hedonistic consumer; traditional, pragmatic consumer; hedonistic consumer; and confused by over-choice, perfectionistic consumer as they did not consider quality consciousness. This study finding also contradicts the outcomes of Chen et al. (2009) who argue that students were more novel, habitual and confused by over choices in the US than price or brand consciousness in other countries. On the issue of brand consciousness, the study revealed that telecommunication services demand among youths is a function of brand consciousness as shown in the Table 2. The finding is similar to the study of Kamaruddin & Mokhlis (2003) which indicated differences between genders in decisionmaking styles because they see that males were found to be more brand-conscious and female were more recreational shoppers. Also the study sees teenage people living in the city to be brand-conscious and novelty-conscious when compared to rural kids. But the work negates Fan & Xiao (1998) submission who, having studied the college students in China and by assessing the applicability of CSI to Chinese consumers, found that the impulsive/careless and habitual/brand loyal decision-making styles were not typical of the Chinese people.
| Table 2: Hypotheses Result Test | |||||||
| Hypotheses | Tools | F-value | R Square | Std. Error of the Estimate | df | P-value | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H1-Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of high quality consciousness | Regression Analysis |
17.211 | 0.711 | 29.15 | (1339) | 0.002 | H1 rejected HA1 accepted |
| H2-Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of brand consciousness | Regression Analysis |
16.122 | 0.724 | 30.11 | (1339) | 0.001 | H2s rejected HA2 accepted |
| H3 ? Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of price consciousness | Regression Analysis |
21.265 | 0.891 | 30.46 | (1, 339) | 0.002 | H3 rejected HA3 accepted |
| H4-Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of impulsive consciousness | Regression Analysis |
12.221 | 0.631 | 57.91 | (1, 339) | 0.029 | H4 rejected HA4 accepted |
| H5-Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of confused over the choice consciousness | Regression Analysis |
16.103 | 0.670 | 55.95 | (1339) | 0.003 | H5 rejected HA5 accepted |
| H6-Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of recreation and hedonistic consciousness | Regression Analysis |
15.131 | 0.817 | 28.22 | (1339) | 0.003 | H6 rejected HA6 accepted |
| H7-Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of novelty and fashion consciousness | Regression Analysis |
14.177 | 0.788 | 27.22 | (1339) | 0.004 | H7 rejected HA7 accepted |
| H8-Telecom services demand among youth is not a function of habitual and brand loyal consciousness | Regression Analysis |
22.265 | 0.881 | 30.46 | (1339) | 0.002 | H8 rejected HA8 accepted |
Source: Spss Output, 2018.
On price consciousness among youths, the findings revealed that telecommunication service demand among youths is a function of price consciousness as shown in Table 2. The finding shares resemblance with the previous works. (Hafstrom et al., 1992; Durvasula et al., 1993; Fan & Xiao, 1998; Mitchel & Bates, 1998; Canabal, 2002; Kamaruddin & Mokhlis, 2003; Azizi & Makkizadeh, 2012). However, the finding of Anic et al. (2012) contrarily stated that students in Bosnia and Herzegovina fell in one of the five segments, i.e., impartial, middle ground consumer; fashion-oriented, hedonistic consumer; traditional, pragmatic consumer; hedonistic consumer; and confused by over-choice. Also, the finding contradicts the outcomes of Chen et al. (2009) who argue that students tend to be more novel, habitual in buying than price or brand consciousness. Table 2 reveals that youths’ demand for telecommunication services is a function of impulsive consciousness. Thus, the work support the finding of Fan & Xiao (1998) whose submission on students’ inventory styles in China reveals that the styles of decisionmaking of impulsive/careless and habitual/brand Loyal are not common to the Chinese behaviors. The finding also supports the outcomes of some previous studies (Hafstrom et al. 1992; Durvasula et al. 1993; Fan & Xiao, 1998; Mitchel & Bates, 1998; Canabal, 2002; Kamaruddin & Mokhlis, 2003). Table 2 analysis show that telecommunication services demand among youths is a function of confused over the choice consciousness in market. The finding bears the same imprints with the work of Walsh et al. (2001) who argue that consumer are often confused by over choice when making buying decision. The result also supports the study of Tarnanidis et al. (2015) which find out that six out of eight decision making styles were determinants of buying outcomes. These are high quality conscious, recreational consciousness, brand conscious, novelty conscious, impulsive conscious, and confused by over-choice.
On the variable of recreation and hedonistic consciousness, the study reveals that youths’ demand for telecommunication services is a function of recreation and hedonistic consciousness in market and this is shown in the Table 2. Thus, the finding is in line with the finding of Kamaruddin & Mokhlis (2003). Their findings indicate differences between genders in decisionmaking styles because males are found to be more brand-conscious while female subjects were recreational shoppers. However, Anic et al. (2012) discovered that the original CSI presented by Sproles & Kendall (1986) was not found to be completely applicable in some situation. The finding on fashion consciousness variable reveals that youths’ telecommunication demand is a function of novelty and fashion consciousness in market as shown in Table 2. The finding contradicts the outcomes of Chen et al. (2009) study that argues that students are more novel, habitual and confused by over choices than price or brand consciousness, thus fashion consciousness among students is not evident in their findings. Also, the finding is contrary to the outcome of Canabal (2002) who ascertains the suitability of the CSI on Indian college students and explained that Indian consumers’ impulsiveness was as a result of brand indifference and not as a result of novelty and fashion consciousness. The finding on consumers’ habitual and brand loyalty reveals that telecommunication services demand among youths is a function of habitual and brand loyalty in market as shown in Table 2. Pin-pointedly, the finding is in contract to the study of Tarnanidis et al. (2015) whose work does not recognize habitual and brand loyalty consciousness as a veritable factor on CSI dimensions but recognizes the six factors of high quality conscious, recreational consciousness, brand conscious, novelty conscious, impulsive conscious, and confused by over-choice. However, the work of Azizi & Makkizadeh (2012) includes habitual and brand loyalty as a determining factor among the CSI dimensions.
Comparing the present study with other studies, it can be inferred that prevalence of certain environmental factors might contribute to the differences in CSI dimension operations in different markets and economies. Also, it should be noted that the operations of CSI is different across consumers and youths responses to the styles of inventory. Specifically, the demand of Nigerian youths towards telecommunication services shows that youths’ style inventories uphold all the variables with the exception of price consciousness. Thus, to a large the CSI dimensions of Sproles and Kendall (1986) have influence on youth decisions when making choices relating to the consumption of telephone services in Nigeria.
Importantly, the study has largely thrown more light on the market behaviors of youths regarding demand patterns for the nascent telecommunication industry. With Nigerian population that is largely more of youths - latest statistics shows that youths below the age of 35 years constitute around 60% of the population, so it becomes imperative for the organization to lean on style inventories to enhance product development, branding strategy and essentially understanding of consumer psychology in youth marketing. With the findings, telecommunication firms’ operations should embrace the facts the demand for services patterns unambiguously fits into the dimensions of CSI. Thus, the following recommendations are made based on the findings vis-à-vis Nigerian youths demand peculiarities:
Both males and females tend to be perfectionists when selecting telephone services. Though, female are more perfection conscious than male. From these findings, telecommunication companies should put emphasis on female youths because they prefer excellent telephone services. Further, youths are highly “brand conscious” and tend to be price and quality conscious as well. Impliedly, telecommunication firms need to focus on their target market and must understand that right price for youths will stimulate more demand in the category because they are price conscious. Equally, based on the findings, it can be said that the expectation in market is that the higher the price of a service, the better the quality. Also, the youths are more careful and systematic and this influences their price comparison when buying in order to choose the product with the highest quality. Equally, youths’ consumption style is not always as a result of impulse buying decision, since there are brand-loyal consumers who repetitively choose the same favorite brands all the time when they are buying and who are not coerced by impulsiveness inventory when buying. They have favorite telecommunication firms and services; and they are habitual in choosing their products.