Gender Differences and Consumer Purchase-decision: The Moderating Effect of Income Levels among Mall-Consumers in Dar es Salaam - Tanzania.

Abstract

The field of gender has recently gained acceptability across the globe. While the concept of gender development has been widely studied, the link between gender attributes, income and consumer purchase-decision at the market place requires an extensive assessment. This work explores how income level moderates the relationship between gender differences and consumer purchase-decision. A cross-sectional research design was adopted and data were collected from 218 sampled consumers across 11 retail stores in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the conceptual framework. Findings revealed a moderating effect of income in the relationship between gender differences and consumer decision-making. Therefore, the study concluded that although consumers across gender might not be able to purchase what they want because of income, their preferences will not change: they will wait for their income to purchase their substitutes. It was recommended that while designing sales strategies, businesses should have a clear understanding of gender differences and income levels as they influence consumers' purchase-decisions and organizational sales performance