Consumer preference for cement brands used in concrete production: the Ghanaian perspective

Figures & data

Figure 1. Methodology flow chart of research study.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the survey participants

Characteristics	Frequency (%)
Gender
Male	706 (95.3)
Female	35(4.7)
Age (years)
21–30	177(23.9)
31–40	416(56.1)
41–50	69(9.3)
51–60	32(4.3)
61 and above	47(6.3)
Educational Background
Tertiary Level	578(78)
SSCE/Technical/Vocational	125(16.9)
BECE	38(5.1)
No Formal Education	-
Consumer Type
Individual/Private developer	524(70.7)
Contractor/Estate developer	217(29.3)
Duration of cement usage
Under 1 year	52(7)
1–5 years	451(60.9)
Above 5 but less than 10 years	97(13.1)
10–15 years	60(8.1)
Above 15 but less than 20 years	29(3.9)
Above 20 years	52(7.0)
Note(s): SSCE = senior secondary certificate examination; BECE = basic education certificate examination.

Source: Authors field survey

Figure 2. Consumer awareness of cement brands in Ghana. Source: Authors field survey.

Figure 3. Consumer preference of cement brands in Ghana. Source: Authors field survey.

Table 2. Influencing factors on consumer preference of cement brands

Factors /attribute	ΣW	Mean (ΣW/N)	Std. Dev.	RII	Levene’s test for equality of variances
					F	Sig
Trusted brand name	2956	3.99	1.347	0.798	.053	.818
Durability of cement	2949	3.98	1.404	0.796	.371	.542
Most preferred by builders	2845	3.84	1.395	0.768	.195	.659
Recommended by professionals	2838	3.83	1.086	0.766	.456	.500
Easy to work with	2815	3.80	1.480	0.759	.357	.551
Good for all construction works	2815	3.80	1.459	0.759	.014	.905
Well packaged	2697	3.64	1.374	0.728	.920	.338
Available in nearby shops	2571	3.47	1.429	0.694	.280	.597
Recommended by friends/family	2571	3.47	1.047	0.694	.796	.372
Free delivery from shop/factory	2223	3.00	1.498	0.600	.081	.776
Most advertised cement	2022	2.73	1.292	0.546	.252	.616
Relatively less expensive	1978	2.67	1.442	0.534	1.209	.272

Source: Authors field survey

Table 3. Correlation matrix and prediction models of influencing factors against demographic variables

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
Gender	1	.027	−.024	.099^a	.017	.205^a	−.293^a	.220^a	.052	.012	−.008	.044	.107^a	.036	.025	.035	−.011
Age		1	.010	.531^a	−.009	−.130^a	−.163^a	.020	−.024	.271^a	.173^a	.160^a	.129^a	.223^a	.379^a	.086^b	.158^a
Consumer Type			1	−.008	−.167^a	−.015	−.011	−.034	−.043	.006	−.016	−.012	.013	.003	−010	−019	.010
Duration of cement usage				1	.025	−.220^a	−.300^a	−.195^a	−.043	−.045	−.062	−.086^b	.024	.127^a	.101^a	−.153^a	−.056
Educational Background					1	−.078^b	−.031	−.023	−.020	−.086^b	−.062^b	.022	.054	−.111^a	.026	−.005	−.068
Relatively less expensive						1	.666^a	.780^a	.543^a	.529^a	.517^a	.263^a	.286^a	.505^a	.301^a	.440^a	.544^a
Free delivery to shop/factory^d							1	.572^a	.174^a	.552^a	.514^a	.351^a	.175^a	.326^a	.379^a	.431^a	.508^a
Available in nearby shops^d								1	.757^a	.748^a	.704^a	.664^a	.446^a	.591^a	.607^a	.749^a	.754^a
Most advertised cement^d									1	.363^a	.389^a	.410^a	.335^a	.481	.334^a	.465^a	445^a
Most preferred by builders^d										1	.900^a	.755^a	.596^a	.773^a	.801^a	.807^a	.917^a
Trusted brand name^d											1	.731^a	.577^a	.799^a	.777^a	834a	.930^a
Well packaged^d												1	.701^a	.512^a	.875^a	.903^a	.772^a
Recommended by friends/family^d													1	.650^a	.726^a	.663a	.636^a
Recommended by Professional^d														1	.702^a	.646^a	.840^a
Easy to work with															1	.856a	.811^a
Good for all construction works																1	.889^a
Durability of cement																	1
R^2 Adjusted	.686	.577	−.002	.358	.038	.084	.191	.091	.000	.123	.062	.060	.025	.057	.153	.057	.051
F-Value	135.9^a	85.1^a	.898	35.4^a	3.4^a	14.5^a	36.0^a	15.8^a	.994	21.7^a	10.8^a	10.5^a	4.8^a	10.0^a	27.7^a	9.9^a	8.9^a

^aP < 0.01, ^bP < 0.05

Gender: male = 1(Negative coefficient), female = 2(Positive coefficient)

Age: Young consumer = 1(Negative coefficient), Older consumer = 2(Positive coefficient)

Consumer Type: Individual/Private developer = 1(Negative coefficient), Contractor/Estate developer = 2(Positive coefficient)

Duration of cement usage: short duration = 1(Negative coefficient), long duration = 2(Positive coefficient)

Academic qualification: Higher academic qualification = 1 (Negative coefficient), Low academic qualification = 2(Positive coefficient)

d: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree

Cell entries are the standardized beta coefficient

Table 4. Prediction models for preferences of cement brand

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

Relatively less expensive

1

.666^a

.780^a

.543^a

.529^a

.517^a

.263^a

.286^a

.505^a

.301^a

.440^a

.544^a

-.331^a

-.399^a

-.299^a

-.138^a

-.112^a

-.173^a

-.281^a

.093^b

Free delivery to shop/factory

1

.527^a

.174^a

.552^a

.514^a

.351^a

.175^a

.326^a

.379^a

.431^a

.508^a

-.105^a

.042

-.347^a

-.055

-.204^a

.279^a

.157^a

.207^a

Available in nearby shops^d

1

.757^a

.748^a

.704^a

.664^a

.466^a

.591^a

.607^a

.749^a

.754^a

-.368^a

-.459^a

-.236^a

-.266^a

-.093^b

-.244^a

-.327^b

-.102^a

Most advertised cement^ed

1

.363^a

.389^a

.410^a

.335^a

.481^a

.334^a

.465^a

.445^a

-.251^a

-.556^a

.207^a

-.037

-.149^a

-.346^a

-.354^a

-.056

Most preferred by builders

1

.900^a

.755^a

.596^a

.773^a

.801^a

.807^a

.917^a

.007

-.030

-.469^a

-.415^a

.185^a

-.215^a

-.255^a

-.419^a

Trusted brand name^d

1

.731^a

.577^a

.799^a

.777^a

.834^a

.930^a

.035

-.004

-.430^a

-.397^a

.226^a

-.236^a

-.266^a

-.418^a

Well packaged

1

.701^a

.512^a

.875^a

.903^a

.772^a

.087^b

.073^b

-.336^a

-.581^a

.374^a

-.303^a

-.332^a

-.509^a

Recommended by friends/family

1

.650^a

.726^a

.663^a

.636^a

.065

.022

-.295^a

-.447^a

.272^a

-.376^a

-.318^a

-.446^a

Recommended by Professionals

1

.702^a

.646^a

.840^a

.085^b

-.122^a

-.364^a

-.235^a

.181^a

-.295^a

-.318^a

-.406^a

Easy to work with

1

.856^a

.811^a

.048

.098^a

-.551^a

-.501^a

.270^a

-.354^a

-.349^a

-.517^a

Good for all construction works

1

.889^a

-.037

-.049

-.444^a

-.565^a

.215^a

-.332^a

-.343^a

-.483^a

Durability of cement

1

.052

-.069

-.448^a

-.442^a

.213^a

-.278^a

-.309^a

-.448^b

Dzata

1

.500^a

.125^a

-.243^a

.596^a

-.152^a

-.059

-.402^b

SOL

1

.030

.120^a

.334^a

.189^a

.225^a

-.073^b

Dangote

1

.593^a

-.131^a

.257^a

.410^a

.462^a

Supacem

1

-.575^a

.664^a

.617^a

.800^a

Ghacem

1

-.467^a

-.421^a

-.693^a

CIMAF

1

.841^a

.747^a

Savannah

1

.701^a

Diamond

1

R^2 Adjusted

0.24

0.37

0.33

0.35

0.29

0.45

0.28

0.25

0.51

0.41

0.40

.44

0.62

0.61

0.70

0.57

0.81

0.69

0.55

0.71

F-Value

30.5^a

55.5^a

47.7^a

50.2^a

38.9^a

75.5^a

37.5^a

32.0^a

98.6^a

66.3^a

63.9^a

73.2^a

100.5^a

97.5^a

147.1^a

83.8^a

271.8^a

137.8^a

77.2^a

148.4^a

^aP < 0.01, ^bP < 0.05

d: 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree

Cell entries are the standardized beta coefficients.

Appendix A. Consumer awareness of cement brands in Ghana

Cement brands	ΣW	Mean (ΣW/N)	Std. Dev.	RII	Levene’s test for equality of variances
					F	Sig
Ghacem	3527	4.76	0.428	0.952	17.374	.000^a
Diamond	3319	4.48	0.500	0.896	1.965	.161^c
Dangote	3267	4.41	0.493	0.882	.198	.657
CIMAF	2489	3.36	1.295	0.672	.405	.525
Dzata	2415	3.26	0.942	0.652	2.303	.130^c
Savannah	2267	3.06	1.259	0.611	.259	.611
SOL	2089	2.82	1.203	0.563	2.702	.101^c
Supacem	2037	2.75	1.148	0.549	.473	.492

^aP < 0.01, ^bP < 0.05, ^cP < 0.1.

Appendix B. Consumer preference of cement brands in Ghana

Cement brands	ΣW	Mean (ΣW/N)	Std. Dev.	RII	RANK	Levene’s test for equality of variances
						F	Sig
Diamond	4164	5.62	2.156	0.703	1st	.193	.661
Dangote	4038	5.45	2.410	0.681	2nd	1.261	.262
Ghacem	3697	4.99	2.831	0.624	3rd	.110	.741
Savannah	3334	4.50	2.084	0.563	4th	.890	.346
Supacem	3038	4.10	2.356	0.513	5th	.063	.802
Dzata	3030	4.09	2.413	0.511	6th	.002	.967
CIMAF	2808	3.79	2.365	0.474	7th	.323	.570
SOL	2534	3.42	2.671	0.428	8th	1.200	.274