2010 - Public Relations Society of America

evealed significant differences for respondents with only a high school diploma when compared
to respondents with some college (p = .003), with a college degree (p = .004), and with education
beyond a bachelor’s degree (p = .006). No other comparisons resulted in significance, indicating
that level of education is positively correlated to the impact of company reputation on consumer
decisions to invest. The number of respondents not having earned a high school diploma was
extremely small (15), rendering statistical analysis of that cell inappropriate.
Table 3
Impact of Corporate Reputation on Purchase and Investment Decisions as Affected by Education Level
Response means for level of education
Survey
question 0-11 years
High school
graduate Some college
College
graduate
Decision to
purchase
2.92 2.88 2.51 2.63 2.54
Decision to
invest
3.67 3.22 2.46 2.50 2.49
Note. N=837 for purchase question, 836 for investment question.
Beyond
college degree
Table 4 reveals a similar pattern for ethnic identity: results suggest a significant
difference among categories for investment decisions, but not for purchase of goods and
services. For goods and services purchase decisions, all groups within this variable reflect mean
responses between “occasionally” and “frequently” when asked whether company reputation
impacts those decisions. The same is true for investment decisions with one exception:
respondents in the “other” category (dominated by Latinos) reflect a mean between “always” and
“frequently,” pointing to an even more pronounced reputation impact for this segment of the
sample. When responses by ethnic identity were compared using a one-way ANOVA, no
significant difference was found for intent to purchase (F(2, 819) = 1.166, p = .312), and Tukey’s
HSD post-hoc test confirms that this is true for all cross-comparisons among ethnic identity
groups. Differences within this variable are significant, though, for intent to invest (F(2, 818) =
5.070, p = .006). To identify specific differences between groups, a Tukey HSD post hoc test
showed significant differences when Latino respondents were compared both to African
American respondents (p = .014) and to Caucasian respondents (p = .004).
Table 4
Impact of Corporate Reputation on Purchase and Investment Decisions as Affected by Ethnic Identify
Response means for level of education
Survey question African American Caucasian Other
Decision to
purchase
2.63 2.36 2.61
Decision to
invest
2.61 2.65 1.87
Note. N=822 for purchase question, 821 for investment question.
The final demographic comparison reported is gender. Means for goods and services
purchase decisions for both male and female respondents fell between “occasionally” and
“frequently,” with females (m = 2.71, sd = 1.26) reporting a less pronounced reputation impact
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