Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Welker, Kelly Sue
URN	etd-06282004-142228
Title	A Patronage Study of Small, Retail Apparel Firms
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	Textiles and Consumer Science, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Susan S. Fiorito Committee Chair Jeanne Heitmeyer Committee Member Jerome S. Osteryoung Committee Member
Keywords	Patronage Behavior Small Business Retail Apparel
Date of Defense	2000-06-19
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract The purpose of this study is to expand the body of knowledge in the area of retail patronage and small, retail apparel firm research. Consumers were approached as they entered one of the five stores in the survey (147 out of 150 usable surveys). The components of the proposed patronage behavior model derived from Darden's patronage model of consumer behavior (1980) and Shim and Kotsiopulos's apparel retail patronage behavior model (1992) were used for all hypotheses. Discriminant analysis with classification was used to categorize shoppers into light, medium, and heavy consumers of small, retail apparel firms. MANOVA and ANOVA were used to test for differences between each small, retail apparel firm. The patronage behavior model was satisfactorily described using Structural Equation Modeling. Findings indicated that the “local store shopper” was the best indicator of small, retail apparel firm patronage. Differences among the small, retail apparel firms existed among half of the components in the patronage model, which is attributed to the uniqueness of small, retail apparel firms. Further research is needed to examine the usefulness of this model to other store types.
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