SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS AND CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS FASHION CLOTHING

This study focused on sociological factors and consumer buying behaviour towards fashion clothing. It was carried out to determine the effects of family, peer group, reference group and culture on consumer buying behaviour towards fashion clothing. The study adopted cross-sectional survey research design. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain primary data from 185 consumers of fashion clothing. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, while hypotheses testing was done using multiple linear regression. Consequently, the findings of the study revealed that culture (? = .507; p-value = 0.000 < 0.05) had the highest significant positive effect on consumer buying behaviour towards fashion clothing, followed by family (? = .244; p-value = 0.000 < 0.05), reference group (? = .238; p-value = 0.000 < 0.05) and peer group (? = .085; p-value = 0.005 < 0.05). The study concluded that sociological factors are key determinants of consumer buying behaviour towards fashion clothing and made practical implications to that effect. Keywords: Sociological factors, Consumer Buying Behaviour, Fashion Clothing, Social Influence Theory.