Global versus Local: Analyzing the Purchase Preferences of Young IT Professionals in India across High-Involvement and Low-Involvement Products

The shift towards globalization and digitalization has fundamentally altered the marketing environment, enabling both international corporations and local businesses to compete more equally. Concurrently, advances in information technology (IT) have changed how young consumers interact with brands and make purchasing decisions.This study aims to identify the key factors influencing brand preferences among young IT professionals, explore the relationships between these factors, and determine a model that differentiates preferences for global versus local brands.A survey using a self-administered structured questionnaire with a 7-point Likert scale was distributed to 554 randomly sampled young IT professionals. The data was analyzed for reliability and consistency, followed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to validate the factors affecting purchase decisions for both high-involvement products (smartphones) and low-involvement products (Marie biscuits). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was then applied to the validated factors.Key findings reveal that a variety of factors influence purchase preferences, depending on the product type:High-involvement products (smartphones): Factors include consumer ethnocentrism, brand trustworthiness, affordability, brand familiarity and comprehension, environmental concerns, and brand affiliation and allegiance; Low-involvement products (Marie biscuits): Factors include brand familiarity and reliability, brand publicity, brand charm and fascination, brand crush and attachment, and brand engagement. The study concludes that marketing practitioners need to be aware of these distinct factors when developing branding strategies targeting IT professionals.