Resumo

Faced with the change in products, consumers every day make decisions about which brands to choose and which brands to renounce (Davvetas & Diamantopoulos, 2018). Electronic products, including Smartphones, play a fundamental role in the lives of most consumers, including young teenagers, students, and corporate executives (Kaur & Soch, 2017). Understanding how the attributes of electronic products influence the consumers’ purchasing decision remains an exciting area of academic research (Hew, Badaruddin, & Moorthy, 2017).

This study was developed with the purpose to answer the following research question: how does the generation Z consumer prioritize certain attributes in the decision to buy smartphones based on the configuration of his mental model? Hence, the objective of this study is to analyze the purchasing decision attributes of the generation Z consumers based on the construction of the mental model in the smartphone purchase decision.

The determining attributes in the purchase decision are those of great importance to consumers, and these attributes help them make the purchase decision. Research on the purchase decision process has increasingly focused on the effect of comparisons on consumer choice (Simonson et al., 2013). Consumers are willing to pay a high price for a product that may have benefits, which delight them (Woon et al., 2013). In research in marketing and purchasing decisions, Numerous scholars have emphasized the importance of peer influence on consumers’ purchasing behavior (Hahn and Kim, 2013; Lee, 2014).

This research is qualitative and exploratory, using Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA). The use of IQA is an innovative way of doing qualitative research (Davis, 2019), especially in consumer behavior studies. The selected participants used equipment with high technology, performance, and approximate prices (latest Apple and Samsung models launched on the market). In this way, the field research was carried out in 4 phases, being: 1st) research design; 2nd) focus group; 3rd) interviews; and 4th) report, which will be detailed in the topics that follow.

The determining attributes used by consumers participating in this high involvement product acquisition survey are: Price, Screen Size, Camera Quality, Influences, Hardware, Software, Advertising and Design. Two mental models were built, one shared (from the focus group) and the other individual (developed in the interviews). It is noteworthy that the same people participated in the construction of both models; however, they are different mental models. The groups affect aspects of behavior and information processing, influencing consumers when purchasing (Pryor et al., 2016).

Simulating a smartphone purchase decision process by generation Z consumers, what would be the determining and priority attributes of this decision? This questioning has not been answered in detail by the literature. Studying generation Z consumers who were born in the world of technology and remain connected with using an innovative method is already a significant contribution. On the other hand, no studies have analyzed the determinant attributes of the acquisition of smartphones jointly, only analyzing them in isolation.

Kaur, K., & Soch, H. (2017). Does Image Matter While Shopping for a Smartphone? A Cross-Cultural Study of Indian and Canadian Consumers. Journal of Global Marketing, 31(2), 142–153. Kim, J., Lee, H., & Lee, J. (2020). Smartphone preferences and brand loyalty: A discrete choice model reflecting the reference point and peer effect. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 52(1), 1–9. Lee, Y.-L., & Chen, L.-C. (2016). Using IQA to Extract Mental Models Concerning Quality Evaluation Factors for Social Networking Services on Smartphones. Social Networking, 5, 16–26.