Consumer behavior

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the consumption patterns of women in the United Arab Emirates. It focused on several key determinants that were thought to affect women's consumption as suggested by Consumer Behavior Theory. Little to no marketing research has been done on the consumption of women in this region, so studies that focus on determining how women consume are very necessary.

Chapter I is an overall preview of the project. It gives the background of women in the Gulf as well as the overall purpose of the study and the key determinants that will be looked at. Product selection and research methodology will also be briefly introduced.

Chapter II is an overview of Consumer Behavior Theory. It focuses on the Marketing Concept, Models of Consumer Behavior, the psychology of Consumer Behavior, the Law of Demand and the concept of Utility.

Chapter III is a review of literature. It breaks down each determinant one by one and discusses previous studies that have been done, that were useful precedents to the study done here in the United Arab Emirates.

Chapter IV is an explanation of the research design. It discusses the research question and then the hypotheses that will be tested in the study.

Chapter V goes into detail on the research methodology and data. It discusses how the research was collected, the research tools that were used and how the data was organized. It also gives brief descriptions on MANOVA and multiple regression techniques that were used to analyze the data.

Chapter VI is a data analysis and description of the results that were obtained in the study. It states which results were significant using the MANOVA and regression techniques.

Chapter VII is a discussion of the results. It was determined that many of the determinants that were thought to be significant were in fact not significant. It gives possible reasons as to why these results may have been obtained.

Chapter VIII discusses the limitations of the study. It gives a discussion as to why there may have been error in conducting the research and what could have been done differently to obtain better results, such as the sampling procedure and data collection techniques.

Chapter IX finally discusses the conclusions and recommendations for conducting similar research in the future. Because the results in this study were not the expected results, similar studies should be conducted making modifications on the sampling procedures and data collection methods. Because women are important consumers it is important to continue research that gives insight into their consumption patterns.