Exploring the Impact of Traditional Communication Channels on Customer Purchase Decision: A Case Study of University Students in Ghana

Abstract

Purpose- Marketers want to know the best advertisement medium which can make their advertising more effective. This study seeks to find a linkage between television advertisement, radio advertisement, newspaper advertisement, and outdoor advertisement towards customers’ purchase decisions in Ghana. Design/Methodology- Using University students in Ghana as a population, the study employed a simple random sampling approach and collected data from University students in UCC and KNUST. Seven hundred and fifty (750) responses were gathered from participants, but only seven hundred and thirty-two (732) responses were deemed suitable and were adopted to justify the proposed relationships. Data were analyzed using partial least squared built on Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Findings- The findings revealed that television advertisement has the greatest impact on customer purchase decision and was statistically significant at p< 0.01. Practical Implications- This finding provides helpful suggestions for advertising professionals, market researchers, existing and emerging organizations to see television advertisements as an opportunity to increase awareness of goods and services as it tends to appeal to viewers’ visual and sound senses, influencing customers’ purchasing decisions and increasing sales of goods and services.