Market-Tržište, Vol. 16 No. 1-2, 2004.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
The effects of price and brand image on perceived quality
Sunčana Piri Rajh
orcid.org/0000-0001-7715-1518
; Ekonomski fakultet-Zagreb
Edo Rajh
orcid.org/0000-0003-1916-5756
; Ekonomski institut, Zagreb
Sažetak
Consumer's perception of product quality is considered one of the most important determinants of buying behaviour and product choice. Perceived quality can be defined as the consumer's judgement of a product's overall excellence of superiority, or an evaluation of a product formed from intrinsic and extrinsic cues. Intrinsic cues are product-specific and involve the physical composition of the product (product color, flavor, degree of sweetness etc.). On the other hand, extrinsic product cues are outside the product; they are related to the product but are physically not part of it. Many of the studies have focused on extrinsic cues and their effect on product evaluation in consumers' decision making. Therefore, these cues become significant surrogate indicators of product quality. Price and brand are among the most important extrinsic cues and they are frequently associated with perceived quality in many research studies. Studies have shown that consumers use price to infer product quality when it is the only available cue in decision-making process. However, when the price is combined with other product cues, the evidence is less convincing. Namely, studies have shown that consumers select brand name more frequently than any other information to infer product quality.
The prupose of this study was to examine and compare the relative importance of price level and brand image in forming consumers' perceptions of product quality. Therefore, structural model of the effects of price level and brand image on perceived quality was specified. In order to test specified model, survey was conducted on the sample of 424 undergraduate students of the Graduate School of Economics and Business in Zagreb. Results indicate acceptable level of fit of the specified model. Resulting path coefficients indicate that brand image has stronger affect on perceived quality than price leve. Implications of research findings are discussed at the end of the paper.
Ključne riječi
price; brand; perceived quality
Hrčak ID:
21997
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.12.2004.
Posjeta: 3.228 *