Relationship between perceived quality of branded bottled water and consumer choice of selected institutional consumers in Kericho town, Kenya

Abstract

Bottled water is becoming one of the fastest growing markets in the beverage industry globally. Most people perceive bottled water as safe, of better quality and as an alternative to other packaged beverages. This perception has seen an increase in demand for bottled water, a situation which has resulted in cut-throat competition, infiltration of sub-standard and smuggled goods into the market and non-disclosure of water sources, among other challenges.This dilemma is further confounded by lack of clarity on what determines consumer preferences. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between perceived quality of branded bottled water and consumer choice amongst institutional consumers in Kericho town. The study sought to achieve three objectives: to determine the relationship between brand and consumer choice of bottled water, to establish the relationship between customers’ expectation and consumer choice of bottled water, and to assess the relationship between price and consumer choice of bottled water. The study was informed by consumer behaviour theory, theory of planned behaviour, benefit theory, self-perception theory, Gronroos model and black box model. The location of the study was Kericho town. The study adopted correlational survey research design and utilized quantitative data.The target population for the study was 74 selected institutions with 237 respondents.Purposive and stratified random sampling techniques were used to sample the institutions and respondents respectively.Sample size of 146 respondents wascalculated using Krejcie formula. Questionnaires were administered by the researcher since it was deemed suitable instrument for the study. The validity and reliability of the instrument was determined by expert opinion of my supervisors and through pilot testing that was done to respondents in a different town that were not part of the respondents in this study. Data was analysed usingdescriptive and inferential statistics with aid of SPSS and findings presented using frequency tables, bar charts and pie charts.The findings of the study were; brand has positive significant relationship with consumer choice (P < 0.05).Customer expectation has positive significant relationship with consumer choice (P < 0.05).It was also found that price has positive significant relationship with consumer choice (P < 0.05). Among the independentvariables investigated price had the highest effect on consumer choice followed by customer expectation and brand respectively. The findings further revealed that there was significant strong relationship between perceived quality and consumer choice (P < 0.05). Brand, customer expectation and price were all significantly related with consumer choice (P < 0.05). The study concluded that brand recalling, brand awareness and brand loyalty should be considered while branding since it contributes to consumer choice. Consumer expectation based on standard and satisfaction had considerable influence on the choice of branded bottled water. Finally, consumers are price sensitive when choosing productstherefore affecting consumer choice of branded bottled water significantly. The study recommended that, manufacturers of bottled water should bemore consumer oriented through conducting consumer survey in order to enable them to brand bottled water based on customer expectation and consider setting affordable prices for all players in the market while making the bottled water products. The study may be significant to entrepreneurs of bottled water, government agencies and research community.