Correspondence: Ali Kara, Professor of Business Administration, College of Business Administration, Pennsylvania State University York Campus, York, PA 17403, USA. E-mail: axk19@psu.edu

¹is a professor of Marketing in the College of Business Administration at The Pennsylvania State University-York Campus. He holds a doctorate from Florida International University, Miami, Florida, and an MBA degree from University of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He has extensively published in scientific marketing journals such as Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and European Journal of Operations Research, Omega, Journal of Global Marketing and made several national/international conference presentations. Dr Kara currently teaches different marketing courses at Penn State York Campus.

²is an associate professor of International Business and Marketing at Sprott School of Business, Carleton University. He received his PhD in Marketing from Manchester Business School, England, and his MBA from University of Ottawa, Canada. His research interests include cross-cultural issues in business and international marketing. His work has previously appeared in journals like Journal of Business Research, The Journal of Advertising Research, The Journal of Global Marketing, Corporate Reputation Review, Latin American Business Review, and The International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior. Professor Rojas-Méndez has been invited to give talks and to teach international business and marketing related courses in countries such as China, Germany, France, Wales, Mexico, Perú, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Paraguay. Since 1999 he has received three awards for presenting the best paper in different academic conferences. In 2002 he was distinguished best professor at Universidad de Talca by Chilean national newspaper La Segunda.

³is a professor of Business Administration at Penn State York. He has been teaching mainly Statistics and Accounting over two decades and published over three dozen papers in well respected journals. His research interest is in the areas of forecasting, market segmentation and consumer behavior. His work has appeared in journals such as Decision Sciences, Journal of Business Ethics, European Journal of Marketing, Management International Review, etc.

⁴is an associate professor of Business Administration at Penn State University, Beaver Campus. His teaching focuses on Marketing, Business Statistics and International Business. Previously Dr Harcar has worked at Brandon University, Canada, University of Massachusetts Center for Business Research and Competitiveness, Bank of Boston, Met Life and Ontario New Home Warranty Program. Dr Harcar has published over twenty articles in different international and national journals. He received his PhD at the University of Istanbul, MBA at University of Massachusetts and MS at Istanbul University concentrated in Marketing Research.

Received 6 April 2009; Revised 6 April 2009; Published online 18 May 2009.

Abstract

Store brands play an important role in retail strategy and understanding store brand purchase behavior is a critical issue for marketers and researchers alike. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge in this area by examining different factors affecting consumers' purchase behavior of store brands. In this process, we investigate the decision to purchase a store brand using a conceptual model, which incorporates a number of variables hypothesized to influence store brand purchase decisions. Using a sample of 799 shoppers, we have analyzed the relationships assumed in the conceptual model. Results confirm the hypothesized relationships between store brand purchase and value consciousness, previous experience, and consumer perceptions. Managerial and academic implications of the study are discussed.