SHS Web of Conferences 74, 01018 (2020) https://doi.org/10.

1051/shsconf/20207401018
Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

Consumer perception of global branded

products quality
Pavol Kral1,*, Katarina Janoskova2
1 University of Zilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communication,
Department of Economics, Univerzitna 8215/1, 010 16 Zilina, Slovak Republic
2 University of Zilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communication,

Department of Economics, Univerzitna 8215/1, 010 16 Zilina, Slovak Republic

Abstract. The brand plays the key part in consumer decision-making on

products, and it is crucially important to both producer and consumer. The
long-term globalization process has significantly influenced international
brand policy. A successful brand in the domestic market is not a
prerequisite of success in global markets. Successful global brand reflect
on the rational as well as emotional customer expectations and desires that
may change over time. The consumers generally consider branded product
to the significant of quality, and they are likely to opt for the proven brand
rather than even considering also the other brands available. The aim of
this paper is to evaluate the relationship between selected socio-
demographic characteristics (gender, age, education) and the subjective
perception of selected global brands (branded products) quality by current
consumers using selected mathematical-statistical methods. We realized a
large-scale marketing survey was conducted on a sample of consumers
(total 2002 respondents) with a minimum age of 15 years in 2018. The
analysis results show relationship of different nature and intensity between
socio-demographic characteristics of respondents and their attitudes
towards quality of branded products. Conclusions and findings of analysis
can be considered appropriate to apply to current consumer markets. The
findings of the survey proved that effective branding strategies shall
respect, inter alia, pursue the also socio-demographic trends consumers
markets. The socio-demographic characteristics of consumers shall be
considered the reliable selection criterion for determining both attractivity
and potential of the brand in terms of the success of the brand.

1 Introduction
Brand is considered the effective marketing tool since the concept first appeared. The brand
plays the key part in consumer decision-making on products, and it is crucially important to
both producers and consumer. The consumers find the brand to be the significant quality of
the product, and they are likely to opt for the proven brand rather than even considering

*
Corresponding author: [email protected]

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
SHS Web of Conferences 74, 01018 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207401018
Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

also the other brands available. Thus, the brand shall be considered the attribute of great
importance when it comes to the consumer decision-making about the product.
This research is to identify the correlation between selected socio-demographic
characteristics (gender, age, education, income) and quality perception of branded products
(global brands) by Slovak consumers, using a mathematical and statistical apparatus. The
socio-demographic characteristics of consumer markets shall be considered the key
determinants that effective branding strategies have to reflect. A comprehensive marketing
survey has been carried out involving Slovak consumers. The results of the survey shows a
direct correlation, but varying in character and intensity, between selected socio-
demographic characteristics of respondents vs quality perception of branded products.

2 Literature review
Customer satisfaction is considered as a significant determinant of business success.
Entrepreneurs are aware of this and therefore try to find out which factors affect customer
satisfaction. Brand name plays crucial roles in consumer perceptions and evaluations [1]. A
brand is a very broad concept. It is a combination of everything that a customer takes into
account in the purchasing decision-making process. It is not only a trademark but also the
associations that arise in the minds of consumers when remembering a specific brand. The
brand strikes an emotion in consumers. This is a combination of consumer experience with
the brand since the very first „touch“ of the product [2].
The brand strikes an emotion in consumers. This is a combination of consumer
experience with the brand since the very first „touch“ of the product [3, 4, 5, 6]. Brands
have a different meaning for each consumer, which helps develop the purchasing trends. In
relation to the consumer, the brand consists of important elements. Mostly, it is the
significance of a brand expressing the way the consumer perceives the brand within its
rational and emotional advantages [7]. All brands aiming at building a strong competitive
position in the market need to be able to reinforce their image. This is the reason why
managers have stressed brands engaging in activities such as advertising and public
relations [8].
The brand is in fact a factor that significantly affets the buying decesion of the
consumer and their satisfaction [9]. An important criterion that is usually associated with a
brand is quality. It is important to say that consumers infer the quality of the product based
on the displayed signals such as qualaity labels, certification marks, or seals approval
[10,11]. Many studies deal with the issue ofcusomer satisfaction in the context of
customers´ personal charactersitics. Research realized by [12] is based on the assumption
that personal characteristics influence satisfaction as well as how the customer views
satisfaction. The main personal characteristiscs used in their research were gender, age and
income.
Many authors have shown that customer positive feelings, emotions toward a brand
have a positive impact on certain brand outcome variables, such as brand loyalty, brand
equity, brand trust, positive brand market share etc. [13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. There are two main
constructs in which literature consider the main factors to position a brand [12]:
1. the consumer perceptions of the quality of the brand
2. consumer perceptions of the price of the brand in firm’s portfolio.
Morgan & Rego [19] posit that achieve both positions (quality and price)
simultaneously for all the brands in a firm’s portfolio may also be difficult and relatively
rare in practice. For example, consumers often use price as a quality cue, making it difficult
to achieve perceptions of both high quality and low price. In addition, achieving strong
quality perceptions among consumers is often expensive because it may involve using

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SHS Web of Conferences 74, 01018 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207401018
Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

higher-quality raw materials or better-trained service operatives, superior manufacturing or

operations technologies, and greater marketing communication expenditures.

3 Methods
Anextensive marketing surveywas carried out to determinethepreferences and attitudes of
Slovak consumers towards brands, i.e. to indicate key endogenous and exogenous factors
determining the consumers’preferencesfor the brand within athoroughsector structure of the
national economy and also to identify the triggers determining theconsumers’ attitudes
towards the brand, using individual marketing mix tools.
The survey sample (hereinafter the target group) involved Slovak consumers, regardless
ofgender, social status, monthly income or place of residence. The collection of the data
took place in March 2018. The only restriction in terms of the socio-demographics was set
on the age of the respondents, i.e. the minimum age of 16.
The survey questionnaire consisted of 34 questions, mostly the closed-ended (selective)
questions, which tend to be more preferred by most respondents. The questionnaire was
divided into three parts from the point of view of the context, and which are as follows: the
first part dealing with consumer preferences and attitudes towards brands in general, the
second part addressing specific cost-saving scenariosin4selected areas: automobiles, banks,
cola drinks and sportswear; and the last one mapping the socio-demographic characteristics
of consumers, i.e. respondents, which are as follows.
- gender
- age
- place of residence
- other persons living in the common household
- education
- social status
- net monthly household income
The Table 1 below provides on the socio-demographic characteristics of the target
group.
Table 1. Selected Socio-Demographic Data Frequency Overview.
Gender male female
Frequency 985 (49%) 1017 (51%)
Age 16-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 55-65 over 66
Frequency 438 (22%) 423 (21%) 377 (19%) 381 (19%) 293 (15%) 90 (4%)
Education primary/vocational secondary university
Frequency 1071 (53%) 687 (34%) 244 (12%)
self- maternity
Social Status student employed unemployed retired
employed leave
Frequency 330 (16%) 965 (48%) 128 (6%) 123 (6%) 314 (16%) 142 (7%)
Net Monthly
Household
<500 501-1000 1001-1500 1501-2000 2001-2500 >2500
Income
(EUR)
Frequency 342 (17%) 692 (35%) 558 (28%) 255 (13%) 88 (4%) 67 (3%)

The acquired primary data enabled us to carry out the formulated statistical hypothesis
test with the goal to identify mutual causations between the selected socio-demographic
characteristics of respondents and their opinions regarding brands or their behaviour
respectively. The analysis and processing of primary data of the survey in this form
provides new facts that have not been evaluated yet.
For the purpose of formulating of the conclusions and further recommendations the
following statistical hypothesis have been put forward:

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SHS Web of Conferences 74, 01018 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207401018
Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

H1: There is no statistically significant correlation between gender of consumers and their
attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded product.
H2: There is no statistically significant correlation between age of consumers and their
attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded product.
H3: There is no statistically significant correlation between education of consumers and
their attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded product.
The verification of the hypothesis was carried out using the Chi-Square test (IBM SPSS
Statistics, ver. 25). The Pearson’s chi-squared test of independence is tested at the
significance level of 0.05. The question had to be answered on the rating scale1 to 5 (1 -
completely disagree, 3 - rather neutral, 5 - absolutely agree; where 1 to 2 imply rather
negative attitude, and, otherwise, 4 to 5 imply rather positive attitude towards the branded
product), which was to benchmark the statistical hypotheses, that were tested afterwards,
using the independence test.

4 Results and Discussion

The first socio-demographic characteristics subject to analysis was gender, which were to
determine the effect of the gender on consumer opinion: branded product is better quality
than non-branded product. The hypothesis is as follows:
H0: There is no statistically significant correlation between gender of consumers and their
attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded product.
H1: There is statistically significant correlation between gender of consumers and their
attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded product.

Table 2. Gender vs quality of branded products.

1 2 3 4 5 Total
Woman Count 96 207 345 265 90 1003
Sex Expected Count 75,1 200,9 328,2 306,6 92,2 1003,0
Man Count 54 194 310 347 94 999
Expected Count 74,9 200,1 326,8 305,4 91,8 999,0
Total Count 150 401 655 612 184 2002
Expected Count 150,0 401,0 655,0 612,0 184,0 2002,0

The survey sample is considered rather equally balanced when it comes to gender, thus
making the sound basis for generalising of the findings and formulating of the further
conclusions. The column Asymptotic Significance (2-sided) in the Table 3 includes the
resulting p-value of the independence test on correlation between gender of consumers and
their preferences (opinions). Upon the p-value, which is lower than the present significance
level standard value of 0.05, the H0 null hypothesis regarding the independence of the
variables is rejected and the alternate H1 hypothesis is accepted, i.e. the variables are
dependent. Therefore, it is possible to consider the consumer’s gender the socio-
demographic characteristic determining the preferences and attitudes of consumers towards
branded products in terms of their quality.

Table 3. Chi-Square Tests 1.

Asymptotic Significance
Value df (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 25,118* 4 ,000
Likelihood Ratio 25,310 4 ,000
N of Valid Cases 2002
* 0 cells (0,0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 74,85.

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SHS Web of Conferences 74, 01018 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207401018
Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

The Cramer’s V coefficient and the contingency coefficient (Table 4), bringing more
light on gender vs consumers opinion. Upon the quantified values of the coefficients
involved, it proves weak dependence, which is the coefficient significance test of the
variables is statistically significant, i.e. the dependence between the variables is weak,
though statistically significant (systematic), and thus shall not be considered the random
phenomenom (the approximate significance value is less than 0.05).

Table 4. Directional Measures 1.

Approximate
Value Significance
Nominal by Nominal Cramer's V ,112 ,000
Contingency Coefficient ,111 ,000
N of Valid Cases 2002
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.
b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.
c. Based on normal approximation.

The other socio-demographic characteristics subject to analysis was age; and the
hypothesis is as follows:
H0: There is no statistically significant correlation between age of consumers and their
attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded product.
H1: There is statistically significant correlation between age of consumers and their
attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded product.
The contingency table (Table 5) provides respondent answers frequencies for individual age
intervals.

Table 5. Age vs quality of brandet products.

1 2 3 4 5 Total
Age 16-25 Count 36 98 126 137 41 438
Expected Count 32,8 87,7 143,3 133,9 40,3 438,0
26-35 Count 37 88 121 133 44 423
Expected Count 31,7 84,7 138,4 129,3 38,9 423,0
36-45 Count 23 70 131 112 41 377
Expected Count 28,2 75,5 123,3 115,2 34,6 377,0
46-55 Count 24 72 134 119 32 381
Expected Count 28,5 76,3 124,7 116,5 35,0 381,0
56-65 Count 26 59 107 80 21 293
Expected Count 22,0 58,7 95,9 89,6 26,9 293,0
over 65 Count 4 14 36 31 5 90
Expected Count 6,7 18,0 29,4 27,5 8,3 90,0
Total Count 150 401 655 612 184 2002
Expected Count 150,0 401,0 655,0 612,0 184,0 2002,0

There were 6 age intervals set, each of them of the range of 10 years, and considered
large enough to analyse for the effect of the age on consumers’ preferences for branded
products.
The resulting p-value of the independence test is higher than the significance level
standard value (Table 6). The null hypothesis is acepted. Therefore, it is possible to
consider the consumer’s age the socio-demographic characteristic nondetermining the
consumer attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded
product.

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SHS Web of Conferences 74, 01018 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207401018
Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

Table 6. Chi-Square Test 2.

Asymptotic Significance
Value df (2-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 22,339* 20 ,322
Likelihood Ratio 22,861* 20 ,296
Linear-by-Linear Association ,008* 1 ,930
N of Valid Cases 2002
* 0 cells (0,0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 6,74.

The other socio-demographic characteristics subject to analysis was education, i.e. the
effect of the level of education on consumers’ attitude that the branded product is of a
higher quality than the non-branded product. The hypothesis is as follows:
H0: There is no statistically significant correlation between education of consumers and
their attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded product.
H1: There is statistically significant correlation between education of consumers and their
attitude that the branded product is of a higher quality than the non-branded product.
The contingency table (Table 7) provides respondent answers frequencies considering
the highest level of education of the respondents.

Table 7. Education vs Branded Products Preferences.

1 2 3 4 5 Total
basic/apprentice Count 96 215 347 297 116 1071
Expected Count 80,2 124,5 350,4 327,4 98,4 7071,0
Education secondary Count 41 129 224 237 56 687
Expected Count 51,5 137,6 224,8 210,0 63,1 244
university Count 13 57 84 78 12 244,0
Expected Count 18,3 48,9 79,8 74,6 22,4 244,0
Total Count 150 401 655 612 184 2002
Expected Count 150,0 401,0 655,0 612,0 184,0 2002,0

From the point of view of education, there were 3 education intervals set, which are as
follows: primary/vocational graduates, secondary graduates and university graduates
respectively. The highest frequencies were identified with the primary/vocational graduates
(53.5%). The preferences within all the three intervals, however, are rather equally balanced.
The resulting p-value of the independence test is lower than the significance level
standard value (Table 8). The H0 null hypothesis regarding the independence of the
variables is rejected and the alternate H1 hypothesis is accepted, i.e. the variables are
dependent. Therefore, it is possible to consider the consumer’s education the socio-
demographic characteristic determining the preferences and attitudes of consumers towards
branded products in terms of their quality.

Table 8. Chi-Square Test 3.

Asymptotic Significance (2-
Value df sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 24,130* 8 ,002
Likelihood Ratio 25,026 8 ,002
Linear-by-Linear Association ,134 1 ,715
N of Valid Cases 2002
* 0 cells (0,0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 18,28.

Table 9 provides the Cramer’s V coefficient and the contingency coefficient values,
proving weak dependency between the variables.

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SHS Web of Conferences 74, 01018 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20207401018
Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2019

Table 9. Directional Measures 3.

Approximate
Value Significance
Nominal by Nominal Cramer's V ,078 ,002
Contingency Coefficient ,109 ,002
N of Valid Cases 2002
a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.
b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.
c. Based on normal approximation.

Upon the quantified values of the coefficients involved (Table 9), it proves weak
dependence, which is the coefficient significance test of the variables is statistically
significant, i.e. the dependence between the variables (education vs consumer opinion) is
weak, though statistically significant (systematic), and thus shall not be considered the
random phenomenom.

5 Conclusion
It is necessary to underline that preferences for branded products may differ significantly
with individual consumers. Moreover, it is not possible to define the branded product
explicitely, i.e. what some consumers would recognize the branded product, the others will
not, and would rather find it just the reference product of no added value. However, almost
each product on the market is associated with particular brand, and which are then
distinguished by the level of personification of the brand, brand characteristics, market
power and position of the brand in terms of competitiveness.
The findings of the survey proved that effective branding strategies shall, inter alia,
pursue the socio-demographic trends. The socio-demographic characteristics of consumers
(gender, age, education) we analysed, are considered the key determinants affecting the
attitudes and preferences of consumers for branded products.
The socio-demographic characteristics, however, differentiate the markets, including the
branded product markets; and thus the mono-brand market cannot satisfy all the consumer
needs of all the market segments. Research results should be used when designing
strategies for brands, focusing on the specific requirements and needs of individual
consumer groups, accepting their demographic differences.

This paper is an outcome of project APVV-15-0505: Integrated model of management support for
building and managing the brand value in the specific conditions of the Slovak Republic.

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