Purchase Involvement in Consumer Decision Making: How University Students Buy Low- and High-risk Products

The goal of this research study is to map the consumer decision making processes and purchase involvement of university students for two consumer products, a visit to a cinema and a smartphone purchase, and to compare the processes with existing theoretical models of consumer decision making and with each other. The study has been conducted using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, employing 8 in-depth interviews and a questionnaire administrated to 197 students. The results show that the decision-making process for the cinema visit is high-pleasure – low risk, linear, straightforward and with limited variations depending on individual differences and consumer segmentation. For the smartphone purchase, however, the study reveals a high-pleasure – high-risk, complex cyclical process of iterative nature, highly dependent on individual differences and consumer segmentation, particularly based on behavioural characteristics. The cinema visit process is thus best represented by the McCarthy & Perrault model of consumer decision making, while the smartphone purchase process is best represented by the Consumer Decision Journey theory. Based on the findings, the study also offers managerial recommendations for marketing practitioners.