A Study of Factors Influencing the Automobile Purchasing Decision among the Employees in Industrial Business in Rayong

Abstract

Purposes of this study were: 1) to study purchasing behaviors among employees who work in industrial companies in Rayong and 2) to study the factors influencing automobile purchasing decisions among employees in industrial businesses in Rayong. Three hundred eighty-four participants in this study were randomly selected from the employees who worked in eight industrial companies which located in the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate. The data was collected with a structured questionnaire. Percentage, average, standard deviation, t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) method were used to analyze the data. SPSS program was employed for data processing. The hypotheses were tested at a statistic significance of 0.05.

            Gender, monthly income, marital status, educational level and terms of employment were included in the survey of this study. The results of this study revealed that most of the respondents were men aged between 18-30 years old, and their monthly income rates were between 15,001 – 30,000 THB. Most of the participants were single, their educational levels were lower than bachelor’s degree and most of them were permanent employees who had at least 5 years of services in their respective companies. The result of this study also pointed out that most of the employees who worked in industrial companies traveled by cars. The purchasing behaviors among them were: 1) they would select the cars match to their uses, and 2) the most important factor influencing automobile purchasing decision was the safety standard. Honda was the most interesting brand. The price of automobile was higher 600,001 THB. The engine sizes were between 1,600 – 1,800 cc. The participants of this study would purchase automobiles from showrooms or from representatives. Family members influenced the decision making of automobile purchasing. Most of them purchased automobiles by leasing, and they would take 4 or more months for making decisions. Moreover, the results also showed that the factors of marketing mixes influenced automobile purchasing decisions at a high level. The result revealed that purchasing gender, monthly income, marital status and years of services were related to automobile purchasing selection with statistically significant difference at 0.05 level.