Analysis of Sales Promotion Effects on Household Purchase Behavior

3.2.5 Education
Education links to thinking costs, but also to search costs (e.g., Raju 1980, Narasimhan
1984, Urbany et al. 1996). More educated people may be less likely to be mavens (Feick
and Price 1987), more pressured for time (Narasimhan 1984), and more likely to seek
variety (Raju 1980). The general assumption is that with experience (reflected in age,
female gender and better education), consumers are more efficient and have greater
capability to engage in search (Urbany et al. 1996). On the other hand, Lichtenstein et al.
(1997) found that consumers with less education are more likely to be deal prone. Table
3.5 shows the results that have been found in prior studies. A positive relation between
education and promotion response is expected, as the majority <strong>of</strong> the results found and
theories presented point in that direction.
Table 3.5: Summary <strong>of</strong> studies relating education with promotion response
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Sign Relationship Study
+ Narasimhan (1984)
Bawa and Shoemaker (1987)
Bell et al. (1999)
Robertson et al. (1984)
- Lichtenstein et al. (1997)
Hypothesis H6: Education and promotion response are positively related.
<strong>Promotion</strong> type could be interacting with the relationship between education and promotion
response. Out-<strong>of</strong>-store promotions need more search behavior, which could be carried out
more efficiently by higher educated households. We therefore hypothesize that the positive
relationship between education and promotion response is stronger for out-<strong>of</strong>-store
promotions than for in-store promotions (H6a).