Tuesday 14 August 2012

Demographic Variables and Ownership of Motor Car

Demographic Variables and Ownership of Motor Car

G.Suryanarayana Reddy and P.Govinda Reddy
Management Matters, Volume 1, Number 2, March 2001
The aim of this research work is to investigate if demographic variables such as family income, occupation of father, occupation of mother, religious affiliation and food habits affect in any significant way the ownership of motor car.
We sampled 300 students pursuing M.B.A. programmes in different colleges affiliated to Madras University for data collection.  A questionnaire was developed and data were collected from these students by administering questionnaire to them.
Ownership of motor car is most affected by family income.  People with family income equal to or greater than five lakh rupees consider motor car as a status symbol.  It is necessary for them to maintain class affiliation with their own group and class differentiation with lower income groups.  Among the religious groups, Christians seem to be fond of owning motor cars.  There is something in the sub-culture of Christians that goads them to own motor cars, which is missing in other religious sub-cultures.  Next dominant demographic response that affects ownership of cars is occupation of father as professionals or businessmen.  People with these two occupations are more prone to own motor cars, than people with service as occupation.  Also, our results point out that people with omnivorous food habits are more likely to buy cars than people with pure vegetarian food habits.