Factors influencing the consumption of male cosmetics products in South Africa

Abstract

The consumption of male cosmetic products is an emerging market that cannot be overlooked as it exhibits potential growth for manufacturers of related products. Although studies relating to the consumption behaviour of women towards cosmetic products are abundant, there are limited studies aimed at examining the consumption behaviour of cosmetics by men. It can be concluded that failure to understand the male consumption behaviour of cosmetics can lead to irrelevant marketing strategies that subsequently lead to poor return of investment to organisations. This research study explores factors influencing the consumption of male cosmetics products in South Africa. The study attempts to establish the influence of self-image, societal expectation, media (celebrity endorsement) and the perceptions of modern men (metrosexuals) on the consumption of cosmetic products by South African men. A questionnaire was distributed via the online survey programme, Survey Monkey to collect research data. The sample consisted of 301 respondents, which was collected using the snowball sampling method. Reliability of the measuring instruments was satisfactory because the Cronbach alpha value was above 0.8 for all variables. Validity of the constructs was also acceptable when exploratory factor analysis was tested. Path analysis and regression weights methods were applied to test the hypotheses using the SPSS computer programme. The results of the four hypotheses tested revealed that the growing consumption of male cosmetic products in South Africa is influenced by self-image and social expectation. The regression weight method discovered that the relationship between willingness to purchase the male cosmetic products and perception is not significant since the p-value was greater than 0.05. It was also established that the growing consumption of male cosmetic products is not a result of celebrity endorsement, which is contrary to similar studies in Europe, Japan and India. It is recommended that other variables such as reference groups (metrosexuals) be considered for future studies to fully investigate key factors that influence the consumption of cosmetic products by men. Keywords: consumption, male cosmetic products, self-image, social expectation, celebrity endorsement, perception, metrosexuals