The effect of age, gender and level of education on the consumer’s expectations towards dairy product packaging

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to have two main research goals: to identify and analyse the elements of dairy product packaging which influence customer purchase decisions, according to these elements’ compliance with their expectations; and to analyse the relations between final customers’ expectations towards elements of dairy product packaging and their three chosen demographic characteristics including age, gender and level of education. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is theoretical and empirical in nature. In the theoretical part, the cognitive-critical analysis of the world’s literature on marketing and marketing management was applied. In the empirical part the following research methods were used: questionnaire survey for gathering primary data and statistical analysis (factor analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis independence test) for the analysis of the primary data and for statistical reasoning, which formed the basis for the final conclusions. Findings – On the basis of the research, one can conclude that the analysed demographic characteristics of the respondents (age, gender, level of education) influence the structure of their expectations towards dairy product packaging, thereby determining their purchase decisions. The dependence does not exist only between the growth of pro-environmental expectations and the increase of the respondents’ level of education. However, this does not change the fact that level of education correlates with expectations related to other features of dairy product packaging, thus determining their structure. Originality/value – The original contribution of this paper to theory is the identification of Polish customers’ expectations towards elements of dairy product packaging and the description of their structural diversity, depending on the recipients’ demographic characteristics in terms of their purchase decisions taken thanks to the fact that their expectations concerning the features of packaging are fulfilled. This knowledge can make it easier to effectively manage dairy product packaging as a tool of influencing on customers and properly shape their marketing potential by offerors. It determines the applicability of the research results and the conclusions drawn from them.