Evaluation of factors affecting consumer purchasing behavior in car selection by DEMATEL method

Besides being a means of transportation Cars which is categorized as durable and featured goods has become a passion for its owners because of it offers comfortable, safe travel, practicality, technological possibilities, time savings, etc. For many people, the purchase decision is one of the most important and costly decisions in their lives. In the meaning of globalizing world and technological developments, car companies offer many car models with different specifications for the automobile consumers. Among so many criteria and many alternatives, it is long and difficult process for consumers to cherry-pick the suitable car. The aim of this study is to determine which factors affect the consumers to decide on car and how these factors affect consumers. Within this context, the factors that affects choice of automobile grouped under six main headings by the opinions of experts in the field of automobile were also taken into consideration and after the literature review, so the factors affecting the selection of car were determined as "Performance, Price, Comfort, Brand Image and Prestige, Safety, Post-Purchase Services". Criteria selection survey has been conducted to 108 experts working in authorized automobile service centers in Konya in order to assess these factors. The collected data was analyzed by Dematel Method which is one of the multi-criteria decision making methods. The total and net effects of the factors, the relationship levels between each other, which group belong to (Cause-Effect) and their ranking according to significancy of the criteria were determined by Dematel Method. According to the results of the analysis, the priorities of the criteria are Price, Brand Image and Prestige, Safety, Comfort, Performance and Post-Purchase Services.