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© 2017 by the authors; licensee Eastern Centre of Science and Education, USA 

Asian Business Research Journal 
Vol. 2, 1-7, 2017 
ISSN: 2576-6759  
DOI: 10.20448/journal.518.2017.21.1.7 
© 2017 by the authors; licensee Eastern Centre of Science and Education, USA 

 
 

 
 
The Impact of Psychological Influences on Consumer Buying Behavior of SMEs’ 
Products: A Case Study of the Manufacturing Sector in Zimbabwe 

 
Godwell Karedza1    
Mike Sikwila2     
T.B. Bhebhe3     

 

 
( Corresponding Author) 

 

 

1Department of International Marketing Chinhoyi University of Technology, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe  
2Department of Consumer Science Chinhoyi University of Technology, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe 
3Graduate Business School Chinhoyi University of Technology, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe 

 
Abstract 

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of psychological influences on the buying 
pattern of SMEs products in Zimbabwe. This study was motivated by the desire to establish the 
reason why SMEs products were failing to gain customers acceptance. Furthermore SMEs 
products have been observed to be occupying minimum shelf space in most of the supermarket in 
Zimbabwe as compared to foreign manufactured products. Zimbabwe has become an import 
destination, where almost every country is targeting to supply their products to the Zimbabwean 
supermarkets. The objectives of this study was to determine the effect of personality on the 
buying pattern of SMEs products in Zimbabwe, to determine the effect of customer perception on 
SMEs products and to determine the impact of attitudes on consumer purchasing behaviour of 
SMEs products. A sample of 100 respondents from customers and policy advocates were 
considered for this study. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select customers who 
buy SMEs products while policy makers were purposively sampled. The results revealed that 
personality greatly affects the purchasing behaviour of SMEs products in Zimbabwe, most of the 
respondents also revealed their negative perception towards any product from SMEs, while some 
revealed a negative attitude towards SMEs products as they articulated that they have a strong 
belief that SMEs are generally custodians of manufacturing poor quality products and due to this 
reason they choose to do business with big firms. The study concluded that psychological 
influences have an impact on consumer purchasing behaviour of SMEs products in Zimbabwe. 

 
Keywords: SMEs, Personality, Buying, behaviours, Perception. 

 
1. Introduction 

SMEs are considered as the main economic engine for the prosperity of the country since they provide 
employment to a number of people in a country, they provide basic components which are an ingredient to the 
functionality of many industries in an economy, thus more emphasis must be put on developing appropriate 
methodologies that ensure their sustainability and their continued existence. 
 

1.1. Background to the Study 
Zimbabwean economy has become more of an import destination especially goods from our neighbouring 

countries are dominating the markets. Since 2009 when Zimbabwe started recovering from hyperinflation, there 
was a situation where all products were coming from South Africa, including fruits, cooking oil, drinks (Sibanda, 
2015). The economy seems to be recovering from hyperinflation and the SME manufacturing sector is also 
rejuvenation from terrible economic hardships that rocketed Zimbabwe. The economy has also experienced the 
birth of SMEs who are effectively manufacturing quality products (Muleya, 2015). Despite these remarkable 
developments, the Zimbabwe markets have been flooded by foreign products and this has become a major barrier 
for the operations of local SME manufacturing firms.  During a buy Zimbabwe initiative tour held in Bulawayo 
Zimbabwe, the PPC managing director stated that South Africa has brought 1.3 million tonnes of cement in the 
country and is expected to bring another 1.5 million tonnes (Majaka, 2015), a condition which seems to suggest 
that the import habit is still continuing. Although, the Zimbabweans in general own manufacturing factories of 
cement that can adequately satisfy the local market. Again horticultural products are also among the foreign 
products that are currently flooding the local supermarkets (Muleya, 2016). The concern is that the same products 
are also produced in Zimbabwe; therefore these situations are trade barriers to local producers who are in various 
manufacturing sectors.  Besides the fact that the Zimbabwean market has been flooded by foreign products, some 
Zimbabweans decide to travel abroad to buy some products that are also manufactured in Zimbabwe (Muleya, 

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2015). Products like furniture, cooking oil, blankets, and soap are produced in Zimbabwe, but it is quite amazing 
that some Zimbabweans actually travel to Botswana, South Africa and other countries to buy such products. This 
scenario has forced the Zimbabwean Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) to exclude most of these products on the 
travellers rebate. Goods that are no longer included on the travellers rebate include; products imported for 
commercial purposes; excess alcoholic beverages, stoves, refrigerators, blankets, cooking oil; and laundry bar soap 
(Majaka, 2015). This action by ZIMRA has been done to protect local firms and to stimulate Foreign Direct 
Investment (FDI).   Zimbabwean consumers are shunning local produce and prefer foreign products, a condition 
which is quite shocking. Similarly, the SMEs in the manufacturing sector have not been spared. It is envisaged that 
psychological factors are among the potential factors fuelling the rejection of certain product by consumer and 
these factors include; perceptions, attitudes, personalities and beliefs. Some people can be described as „high‟ in 
consumer ethnocentrism, for example the willingness to accept a foreign product (Schiffman, 2010). Kim and 
Chung (2011) argue that attitudes are among the salient factors that influence consumer behaviour. It is believed 
that individuals will be more interested to do a certain activity especially if they are inclined favourably towards it.  

There is a clear cut between psychological influence and consumer purchasing behaviour and the researchers 
envisaged that this might have contributed to the shunning of SME locally manufactured products. This study 
focused on perceptions, attitudes, personality and beliefs as psychological influences associated with rejection of 
SME local produced products. Blythe (2011) assets that personality is a combination of various factors that 
determine who we are. Schiffman (2010) also highlighted that personalities are inner psychological factors that 
inclusively determine and reflect how an individual responds to the environment. Individual‟s personality cannot be 
easily changed as compared to an attitude. Perception on the other hand is all about how we make sense of the 
world and beliefs are generally mapped by the culture of an individual. Relating these factors to the scenario 
describe above, it seems to suggest that there is a link between psychological factors and consumer buying pattern 
of SMEs locally manufactured products. 
 

1.2. The Research Problem 
Local manufactures especially SMEs are facing a threat of foreign manufactured products and as such, most 

customers preferred to buy foreign products as compared to local products. This has impacted negatively both on 
the SMEs manufacturing industry and the economy in general. Productivity from locally manufactured products 
by the SMEs has been drastically going down and demand of these products by local consumers was becoming so 
unfavourable, thus negatively affecting Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country as more customers 
channelled their foreign currency towards the importation of foreign products thereby making the local SMEs 
products uncompetitive in the local market, hence affecting the nation at large. In this sense, the researchers were 
keen to establish whether the purchasing habits of consumers were associated with the psychological influences or 
not?  
 

1.3. Research Questions 
1. What is the impact of personality on consumer purchasing behaviour of SMEs locally manufactured goods 

in Zimbabwe? 
2. What is the impact of customer perception on consumer buying pattern of SMEs manufactured products in 

Zimbabwe? 
3. What is the effect of attitudes on consumer purchasing intentions of SMEs manufactured goods in 

Zimbabwe? 

 
2. Literature Review 
2.1. The Impact of Personality on Consumer Purchasing Behaviour 

Personality can be referred to as the dynamic organization of psycho physiological systems that shapes an 
individual‟s characteristic pattern of behaviour, feeling, and thoughts (Lin, 2010). The paradox of personality in 
marketing assets that „we all have a personality, but we do not know how it is systematically related to our 
behaviour as consumers‟ (Boddy and Croft, 2016). Consumers are therefore likely to use a brand in line with their 
personality traits (Lin, 2010). In this instance, marketers effort should focus on creating programmes and activities 
that encourages consumers to believe and recognise a brand personality and ensuring effective communication 
between the brand and the consumer (Govers and Schoormans, 2012). Consumers buy brands not for their 
functionality purposes only, rather they purchase these brands especially if they reflect their personalities. Thus, 
they tend to prefer brands consistent with their personalities (Banerjee, 2016). Most researchers who normally 
study „personality‟ in marketing usually focus much on individual personality on product usage, preference, and the 
decision process. Marketers impose human personality traits on their brands, and believe that consumers relate to 
those brands as they would do to partners or friends. However, it should be noted that human personality 
characteristics may not translate directly into brand personality traits. Therefore, marketers should ensure an 
accurate alignment between the personality of the consumer and brand personality if they want to be successful in 
marketing, as most of the consumer‟s personality traits are associated with the brand. Consumers have senses that 
decode the signals of a brand sends out to them and develop individual and subjective perceptions of the brand‟s 
personality especially if the brand is poor (Ivens and Valta, 2012). Consumers normally prefer brands with 
personalities similar to their own and often choose brands because they view themselves as the type of person who 
would use the brand (Huang et al., 2012). The higher the fit between human personality and brand personality, the 
higher is the consumer‟s tendency to choose that brand (Lin, 2010). 
 

2.2. The Trait Theory 
The Trait Theory is a well known school of thought in personality psychology; many researchers‟ who studied 

human personality derived similar conclusions in their studies. Personality is the dynamic organization of psycho 
physiological systems that shapes a person‟s characteristic pattern of behaviour, thoughts, and feeling (Das, 2014). 



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Other personality trait researchers concluded that for the most part, personality traits are generated by nature and 
are stable, but some others indicated that personality traits will continue to evolve and may even change, although 
the natural-born temperament may never change (Mohammad, 2015). The Trait Theory may be categorised into 
two schools. The first school is of the opinion that people are believed to have the same set of traits, and the reason 
for the difference is due to the fact that the level of each trait is shown differently. Therefore, it is a fact that traits 
are there in every individual. The second thought is that, individual variance is as a result of the trait combination, 
which varies from one person to another, and as such everyone has his/her own set of traits (Anant and Verma, 
2014). Mohammad (2015) categorized traits into three types: cardinal traits, central traits and secondary traits. 
The traits are relatively long lasting styles of thinking, feeling, and acting, which makes individuals to be different 
from one another (Das, 2014). A lot of theories have been advanced to explain the personality principle, however 
evidence from literature suggest that there seems to be no single commonly accepted definition that exists. Das 
(2014) defines personality as the distinctive patterns of behaviour, including thoughts and emotions that 
characterize each individual‟s adaption to his or her life situation. This definition has been widely accepted among 
marketing researchers. Other researchers have categorised personality  into two groups; the first group classifies 
personality as a set of internal traits that dictate a person‟s consistent and characteristic response to stimuli which 
explain a person‟s behavioural tendencies (Kotler, 2011). The second group relates personality as an interaction of 
the individual and the external situation he/she is in (Jani and Han, 2014). Both of these focuses mainly on 
examining issues that will enable researchers to predict, modify and control human behaviour, relying greatly on 
knowledge from psychology, sociology and psychiatry (Lin, 2010). The personality theories have received wide 
acceptance in explaining consumer behaviour and have been termed trait-based theories (Hawkins et al., 2010). The 
trait-based theories of personality try to describe human being in one or more series of traits (Das, 2014). 

 

2.3. The Big Five Model 
Ekhlassi et al. (2012) classify personality traits into five factors which are extroversion, agreeableness, 

conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. These factors above are normally referred to as the Big Five Model, 

which is commonly used to explain human behaviour. Jani and Han (2014) highlight that the five broad-level 
personality traits vary in degree, from low to high, among different individuals. Firstly, „agreeableness‟ is described 
as an individual‟s concern for working together in  social harmony, and the behavioural characteristics include 
being considerate, friendly, helpful, generous, and willing to forgo other things for others. In this instance, a score 
which is high shows adaptability and value getting along with others, while a low score indicates scepticism, 
challenging others‟ ideas, and reluctant to get involved (Mulyanegara, 2010). Secondly, „conscientiousness‟ is 
described as the way individuals‟ regulate, control, and direct their impulses in decision-making behaviours. High 
scores indicate focus, being careful, reliable, and well organized, whereas low scores indicate distraction, 

disorganization, having flexibility, and being causal (Jani and Han, 2014). Thirdly, „extraversion‟ is described as 

being assertive, action oriented, and typifies individuals who enjoy opportunities for excitement, attention drawing, 
and talking. Low scores indicate introversion, a person who likes to stay in the background, is less talkative, 
reserved in speech and less action oriented (Mohammad, 2015). Fourthly, „neuroticism‟ is described as excessive 
worry that causes mental distress, emotional suffering, and an inability to cope with day-to-day life activities. High 
scores indicate emotional-reactive behavioural related to negative feelings such as anxiety, anger, or depression, 
whereas low scores indicate resilience, calmness and ability to control urges and stress (Mulyanegara, 2010). 
Fifthly, „openness to experience‟ is described as being intellectually curious, open to new ideas, involves 
imaginative and creative cognition styles. A score which is high signifies an intellectual curiosity which is broad, 
whereas low scores show a preference for familiarity, narrow, and conservative intellectual focus. Mulyanegara 
(2010) observes significant relationships between some of the Big Five dimensions (e.g., extroverts prefer sociable 
brands) and brand preference type. Therefore, one can conclude that consumers prefer a specific brand when the 
brand resonates with their behaviours.  

 
 

2.4. Empirical Evidences on Personality and Consumer Buying Behaviour 
Migliore (2011) conducted a research on the buying intentions of sports shoes by the college students‟. The 

idea was to find if there was a relationship between personality trait and brand personality. The researcher 
classified the brands into two categories namely; the ones preferred by college students and the ones actually being 
purchased, the study revealed that the students from the college have significant differences in their brand 
preferences. Govers and Schoormans (2012) further probed whether consumers‟ preference would be influenced 
when their self-concept is in conformity with product personality. Anant and Verma (2014) investigated the 
influence of brand personality on consumers‟ brand preference, loyalty, affection and purchasing intention. The 
results showed that brand personality has a positive influence on brand preference, loyalty, affection, and purchase 
intention. It might be that consumers like the brands having more distinct brand personality or consumers choose 
brands they are more familiar with. Xiaoling et al. (2011) investigated the relationships among the personality 
traits of openness and extroversion, hedonic value, brand affection and brand loyalty. The results revealed that 
openness and extroversion have a positive correlation on the loyalty of the brands or products with hedonic value. 
 

2.5. The Impact of Attitudes on the Buying Behaviour of Consumers 
Consumer attitudes usually include beliefs about, feelings about, and behavioural intents concerning something 

(Tanner and Kast, 2010). These components are grouped together as they relate and influence how individuals 
react to the objects. Nepomuceno and Porto (2010) assert that personal values influence most of the individual 

behaviours. Values are goals that guide our lives and influence our behaviour. The following forms component 
parts of attitudes namely; beliefs and affects. Firstly, beliefs are components of attitudes. Consumers may have both 
positive beliefs toward an item as well as negative beliefs (Mulyanegara, 2010). Furthermore, some beliefs might be 
neutral, and others may differ depending with the person.  The beliefs that consumers have a need may not be 
accurate (e.g. that pork contains little fat), and other beliefs might upon close examination be contradictory (e.g. 



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that a historical figure was a good person but also owned slaves). It might often be tough to get down to a “bottom 
line” concerning whether an item is good or bad since a consumer holds many beliefs about a particular product 
(Cohen and Reed, 2011). Secondly affect is also a component of attitudes for example; sometimes consumers may 
also hold some feelings to a product.  These feelings may be based on the beliefs (e.g. a person feels nauseous when 
thinking about a hamburger because of the tremendous amount of fat it contains), but there may also be feelings 
which are relatively free of beliefs. 
 

2.5.1. Behavioral Intention   
The behavioural intention is usually what a consumer planned to do. As with affect, this is sometimes a logical 

consequence of beliefs, but may sometimes reflect other circumstances (Mulyanegara, 2010).The image depicted by 
a company and its products is of supreme importance, because this image is congruent with human values. 
Therefore, a customer may select a product simply because it portrays values that may be negatively or positively 
related to his/her personal values.  One‟s attitude is an important mediator on the relationship between personal 

values and behaviour.  Attitudes are defined as an enduring set of beliefs about an object that predisposes people to 
behave in particular way toward the object (Gupta and Ogden, 2009). Evidence has shown that personal values can 

influence attitudes, which in turn influence behaviour (Nepomuceno and Porto, 2010). Attitudes are quite malleable 

(Cohen and Reed, 2011) and may be influenced by the experience with a product. This poses some questions as to, 
what would be the relationship between values and attitudes after an individual had experienced a negative incident 
with a service? Will this incident decrease their relationship, indicating that the attitude is no longer expressing 
one‟s values? More importantly, the service recovery efficiency may increase if one aligns the response to the 
customer‟s value system. The relationships that exist between attitudes values and behaviour would be weaker for 
people socialized in an interdependent self-schema culture, for example, the collectivists‟ countries. Moreover, the 

increasing role of global markets, financial institutions need to understand how to sell their products to different 
markets (Mooij, 2009).  
 

2.5.2. Relationship between Attitude and Behaviour 
Consumer behaviourists have long stressed on the attitudes to predict peoples‟ actions. Attitudes have been 

shown to significantly predict behaviour when: the person ascribes to a specific personality type with a high need 
for cognition; when relevant attitudes are consistent with the beliefs; and when attitudes are based on high levels of 

issue specific knowledge and/or personal experience and others. Literature also reveals that  numerous 
methodological issues must be addressed if attitudes are to predict behaviour (Cohen and Reed, 2011). Attitude and 
behaviour should be measured at the same level of correspondence and at the same time among others (Tanner and 
Kast, 2010).  
 

2.5.3. Attitude-Behaviour Consistency 
The behaviour of the consumers usually lacks consistency with their attitudes for several reasons which 

include; the ability to do certain things, competing demand for resources, social influence (Hee and Chung, 2011). 
Measurement problems are also among the reasons.  It is hard to measure attitudes.  In most circumstances, 
consumers intentionally do not set out to count how positively or negatively they feel about a certain thing, and 
when a market researcher asks them about their beliefs about that thing, how significant these beliefs are, and their 
assessment of the performance of such item with respect to these beliefs, consumers usually do not give very 
reliable answers (Gupta and Ogden, 2009). Therefore, the consumers might act consistently with their true 
attitudes, which were never uncovered because a mistaken measurement was done. 
 

2.5.4. Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behaviour 
Alam and Sayuti (2011) assert that a number of theories have been put forward to advance knowledge on how 

attitudes predict behaviour. Firstly, the theory of reasoned action assumes that people consider the impact of their 
activities before they decide to engage or not to practice or embark on certain behaviour. As a result, people form 
intentions to perform behaviours which in turn stem from an individual‟s  attitude towards the behaviour as well as 
his or her perception of others‟ opinions. The model primarily argues that people engage in processes that lead to  
attitudes formation, intentions and norms prior to performing the behaviour (Alam and Sayuti, 2011). However the 
Reasoned Action Theory was criticised by some scholars as it failed to support the relationship between 
behavioural intention and planned behaviour and this was as a result of the inconsistency and the minimum control 
over a person‟s action (Cohen and Reed, 2011). Therefore, to address the limitations above, the Theory of Planned 
Behaviour extends the Theory of Reasoned Action through the addition of a new component namely the perceived 
behavioural control (Ajzen, 2009). This idea originates from the Self Efficacy Theory (SET) and is viewed as 
similar to Bandura (1982) concept of self-efficacy which refers to the belief that one can successfully execute a 
behaviour required to produce an outcome. This theory was designed to explain and predict human behaviour in a 

specific context.  Many researchers concur that, individuals may be likely to perform a specific type of behaviour if 
they are certain that the behaviour will result in particular favourable outcomes, if they have a reasonable belief 
that their referents will value the particular behaviour and have resources, abilities and opportunities necessary to 

conduct the specific behaviour (Kim and Han, 2010). In contrast with the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned 
Behaviour, Kim and Han (2010) have suggested that attitudes guide behaviour through an automatic and 
spontaneous process instead of a deliberate one as highlighted by the earlier two theories. Kim and Han (2010) 
opine that two conditions command the probability that behaviours will be consistent with attitudes, that is when: 

the attitude is accessed spontaneously by the mere presence of the attitude object; and the attitude influences the 
perception of the object so that when the attitude is favourable (or unfavourable) the traits of the object are also 
viewed as favourable (or unfavourable). 

Despite different theoretical reasoning presented on attitude-behaviour link, the attitudes are difficult to 
predict in the domain of environmental consumerism and this has remained debatable (Gupta and Ogden, 2009). 



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2.6. The Impact of Perceptions on Consumer Buying Patterns 
Schiffman (2010) states that perception can be viewed as how an individual organizes, selects and interprets 

stimuli into a coherent and meaningful image of the world. The aforementioned researcher highlights that 
individual consumers have perceived images of themselves; they also have perceived images of brands and products. 
Depending on certain situations namely; personal characteristics, experiences, and beliefs, consumers will interpret 
information and products differently from one another. Consumers‟ perception of a brand function is likely to be 
influenced by their cultural contexts since the brand is just a cultural vehicle (Kotler and Keller, 2013). 
 

2.6.1. Gestalt Principles 
Gestalt psychologists opine that certain features in visual perception are universal. One might say they are 

innate; they do not necessarily need to be taught. In this case these theories are known as sensual theories. These 
sensual theories are of a lower order of thinking than perceptual theories, such as semiotics, perceptual theories 
take into account the meaning we attach to what we see (Guo et al., 2011). Gestalt theory states that an individual 
see through incorporating a combination of light and dark on objects, contours and edges into a whole image 
without mere thinking about it. The statement, “the whole is different from the sum of its parts”, sums up the way 
we recognize figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines, shapes and curves. Gestalt theory 
states that the brain operates holistically, with self-organizing tendencies. Gestalt states that we perceive the whole 
without knowing of the connection of the parts, and that the essence of the whole does not change when we reverse 
it. Gestalt psychologists have outlined important and universal principles of perceptual organization. The following 
are the principles by Gestalt theorists. Firstly, „proximity, according to this principle, objects close together are 
viewed as perceptually organized as a unity. Consequently, objects that are not closer are viewed as separate. It is 
important to keep this principle because when designing print & web based materials one should always focus on 
how the intended audience will interpret the graphics that will be employed. Secondly, the „closure‟ principle 
involves an individual response to missing information when viewing an object that seems to be incomplete. People 
automatically try to make sense of the image and supply the information that is missing to give the complete 
image. When used in advertising, marketers usually supply only limited information in an advert seeking to 
encourage viewers to be drawn in and fill in the missing parts. Thirdly, the „figure and ground’ principle is 
premised on the notion that due to the confrontation by visual images, people try to separate a dominate shape, 
from a background. There is need to establish which part of the visual image is the background and what part 
stands out in the foreground. Both pictures can be held simultaneously. Figure-ground relationships influence how 
customers interpret images and make decisions based on what they would have interpreted. An individual will 
interpret a printed message differently according to which part of the image interpreted as the message and which 
part as the background. Fourthly, the ‘similarity’ principle, the principle has it that, the objects that are similar are 
grouped together. Customers usually interpret new information in a similar way to the information they already 
have and this have an impact on how consumers select the products to purchase. 
 

3. Research Methodology 
3.1. Research Design 

Shajahan (2014) define research design as a theoretical plan for the gathering, measurement and analysis of 
data. It can also be defined as a process that permits a study to observe certain phenomena so as to give the 
researcher full information relating to the matter of concern. Creswell and Clark (2011) state that research designs 
are procedures for collecting, analysing, interpreting and reporting data in research studies. Generally, research 
design is categorised into three namely; the descriptive, the exploratory and the causal. Among these, the 
researchers made use of descriptive and exploratory research designs. Christensen and Johnson (2010) state that 
the primary objective of descriptive design is to enable an accurate description or picture of the status of a situation 
or phenomenon. Thus, this research design central objective was to describe the impact of psychological influence 
on consumer buying pattern and this necessitated the use of a descriptive research design. Alternatively, 
explorative research design was also employed in the study as the researchers wanted to get an in-depth 
understanding of the phenomena under study, as it allowed for probing on a one to one basis, fostering interaction 
between the interviewer and respondent. 
 

3.2. Population, Sample and Research Instruments 
Descombe (2010) states that population refers to all items in the group of objects being researched. In this 

study, the target population was the SMEs in the manufacturing industry in Harare. Statistics show that Harare 
has got 541 456 SMEs of which only 11% of this number are in the manufacturing industry (Mugano, 2015). 
However it is argued that SMEs tend to enter and exit their businesses, thus the researchers estimated that the 
SMEs population in the manufacturing sector to be approximately 59560 SMEs inclusive of 4 policy advocates. 
Thus, based on this population, the following formula by Yamane (1967) was adopted to determine the sample size 
for the study:  

n=
 

       
 

Where: n=necessary sample size 
 N=estimated population size 
 e=margin of error 

n=
     

             
=99.83238351≈100 

Source:Yamane (1967) 

 
Using the margin error of 10%, the formula above, gave a sample of 100 respondents inclusive of customers 

and policy advocates. Stratified random sampling was then used to select customers of SMEs products while 
purposive sampling technique was used to select policy advocates. Questionnaires were used to gather information 
from customers while an interview guide was used to gather data from policy advocates. 



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3.2.1. Research Findings 
3.2.1.1. The Effect of Personality on the Buying Behaviour of Consumers 

60% revealed that personality affect buying behaviour of SMEs products. 25% showed that they have never 
purchased products from SMEs and have no information on SMEs products. However 15% of respondents were 
neutral about the issue. 80% of the policy advocates showed that personality indeed has an influence in the buying 
intentions of customers while 20% indicated that it varies with the capacity of SMEs ability to supply the right 
product where it is wanted. Generally, the results showed a positive relationship between individual personality 
and purchasing behaviour. This is inconformity with a research conducted by Banerjee (2016) who argues that 
consumers associate human personality traits with brands because they view brands as an extension of their 
behaviour. 
 

3.2.1.2. Effect of Customer Perception on Consumer Buying Behaviour 
75% of most respondents perceived SMEs products as of low quality and therefore showed that their 

propensity to purchase those products was very low. 15% revealed that they only purchase SMEs products if there 
are no alternatives available or substitute products, while 10% prefer to buy foreign manufactured brands only as 
these are more appealing and induce appetite as compared to locally manufactured products. 100% of policy 
advocates concurred that SMEs need to manufacture the right products demanded by customers and brand it 
properly so that customer perception towards those products is enhanced. The policy advocates have revealed that 
perception plays a critical part in marketing programmes, where pictures, images, spoken, & written language, 
color, noise, music, tastes and smells are used in such profusion, and that, an understanding of how it works is an 
absolute must for all managers that work in a business which requires customers‟ input.  
 

3.2.1.3. The Effect of Attitudes on Consumer Buying Behaviour 
55% of the customers revealed that they simply have a negative attitude with SMEs locally manufactured 

brands and therefore purchasing these brands is a waste of time. While 30% revealed that they experienced poor 
service delivery when purchasing SMEs products and indicated that if they discovered or report about a fault 
product or poor product, their complaints are not taken into consideration and sometimes they are never attended 
to either in time or simply get ignored. 15% revealed that they purchase any product as long as it is good to them. 
Furthermore, it was also noted that if consumer attitudes are not dealt with in time, then SMEs in the 
manufacturing sector might fail to be the preferred customer suppliers. This research is in line with Nepomuceno 
and Porto (2010) who argued that our personal attitudes influence most of our behaviours. 78% of policy advocates 
interviewed clearly concurred that negative attitudes by customers towards a product are quite ruinous and need to 
be attended to in time. 23% of policy advocates revealed that one way to make SMEs viable is to train them how to 
deal with negative attitudes from their customers and to advise them to be customer focused. 
 

4. Recommendations 
Considering the above views, the following recommendations were made: 

 Since customers are likely to use products that are in line with their personality traits, SMEs and other 
organizations must reinforce a customer believe and recognize a brand personality and reinforcing the 
communication between the brand and the consumer in order to enhance brand loyalty and equity. 

 Furthermore, organizations must impose personality traits on their brands such that consumers may relate 
to those brands as they would partner or friends with them. 

 Companies must consider associating their products with human attitudes, increasing the likelihood that 
consumers will perceive the products as a way to express their personal values, which ultimately increase 
the link between the values and attitudes. More importantly, one‟s value system does not change easily. 
Hence, a personal value is a stable trait that can be used to target many market-oriented activities, without 
the concern of being easily affected by time or other uncontrolled variables. 

 

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Citation | Godwell Karedza; Mike Sikwila; T.B. Bhebhe (2017). The 
Impact of Psychological Influences on Consumer Buying Behavior 
of SMEs‟ Products: A Case Study of the Manufacturing Sector in 
Zimbabwe. Asian Business Research Journal, 2: 1-7. 
History:  
Received: 15 March 2017 
Revised: 22 March 2017 
Accepted: 29 March 2017 
Published: 5 April 2017 
Licensed: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 

Attribution 3.0 License  
Publisher:  Eastern Centre of Science and Education 
 

Acknowledgement: All authors contributed to the conception and design of 
the study. 
Funding: This study received no specific financial support. 
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of 
interests. 
Transparency: The authors confirm that the manuscript is an honest, 
accurate, and transparent account of the study was reported; that no vital 
features of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the 
study as planned have been explained. 
Ethical: This study follows all ethical practices during writing.   

 

Eastern Centre of Science and Education is not responsible or answerable for any loss, damage or liability, etc. caused in relation to/arising out of the use 
of the content. Any queries should be directed to the corresponding author of the article. 

 

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