DETERMINANTS OF CONSUMER SOCIETY, ITS CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS IN CASE OF GONDAR TOWN CITY, AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

This paper mainly deals with the concepts and issues surrounding the contemporary notion of consumer society. The research was conducted with the end in the mind of the researcher to identify the driving factors behind consumer society, its challenges and prospects at Gondar city. The research design was cross-sectional (data wise) and descriptive and explanatory designs were employed to address the specific objectives and the specific research questions. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used to counter balance the limitation of each other. The population of the study was consumers who purchase luxurious products. Two stage samplings were used: in the first stage from the six sub cities four were randomly selected and in the second stage shops with luxurious products were identified purposively .Because of the difficulty of knowing the exact consumer who are customers of luxurious products, the sample size was determined by the rule of thumb method advised by Green(1991). But to balance the limitation the researcher doubles the minimum standard. Of the nine independent variables six (education, income, house hold size, globalization, group influence and advertising) were found statistically significant. The challenges were a shift from producer to consumer, environmental degradation, addiction, waste, etc. The prospects are employment opportunity, a base for meeting the basic needs and engine for the economy. Further research direction is forwarded to use longitudinal research design to see changes over time on consumer society and consumed consumer society.