Consumer Cynicism towards The Service Sector: A Study in terms of Demographic Characteristics

Article Information
Journal: Business and Economics Research Journal
Title of Article: Consumer Cynicism towards The Service Sector: A Study in terms of Demographic Characteristics
Author(s): Gamze Akcay, Erkan Ozdemir
Volume: 12
Number: 4
Year: 2021
Page: 855-870
ISSN: 2619-9491
DOI Number: 10.20409/berj.2021.356
Abstract
Consumer cynicism reflects a general belief that businesses are malicious. In line with this belief, cynical consumers have negative feelings towards businesses, and as the severity of cynicism increases, they begin to exhibit very harmful behaviors for businesses. When the relevant literature is examined, it is seen that studies on consumer cynicism are limited, and consumer cynicism has not been adequately researched in terms of demographic characteristics in previous studies. On the other hand, almost no studies address consumer cynicism as a specific attitude towards service businesses or the service sector. Therefore, this study aims to reveal whether consumer cynicism towards the service sector differs according to demographic characteristics. This study was carried out on consumers who buy/use services in Bursa, and convenience sampling and face-to-face survey methods were used in the study. The data were analyzed with an independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA. As a result of the analysis, it was found that consumer cynicism towards the service sector differed significantly according to marital status but did not differ significantly according to gender, age, education level, and income. According to the marital status finding of the study, consumer cynicism towards the service sector is more common among married consumers than single consumers.

Keywords: Cynicism, Consumer Cynicism, Demographic Characteristics, Gender, Marital Status, Age, Education, Income

JEL Classification: M30, M31, M39

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