BRAND HEURISTICS AND BRAND CHOICE IN MOBILE FIRST MARKETS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA
BRAND HEURISTICS AND BRAND CHOICE IN MOBILE FIRST MARKETS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA
Ng’ang’a Waruguru - PhD Fellow, Business Administration Department, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Dr. Samuel Maina (PhD) - Senior Lecturer, Business Administration Department, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
This independent paper develops an integrative conceptual framework explaining heuristic-based brand choice in mobile-first consumer markets. Drawing on bounded rationality and information processing perspectives, the study positions brand heuristics such as price cues, social proof, brand salience, and origin signals, as adaptive cognitive shortcuts that simplify complex brand environments. In digitally dense and innovation-driven markets, consumers encounter information overload and attribute proliferation, conditions that intensify reliance on heuristic processing. The paper advances theory by conceptualizing cognitive processing as a mediating mechanism through which brand heuristics influence brand choice, specifically through cognitive ease, heuristic reliance, and reduced evaluative effort. Further, the framework incorporates consumer characteristics and first-market contextual conditions as moderating forces that shape the strength and direction of heuristic–cognition–choice relationships. By synthesizing fragmented streams of literature on heuristics, branding, and emerging market consumer behavior, the study addresses conceptual, empirical, contextual, and methodological gaps in existing scholarship. The proposed model enhances theoretical precision by distinguishing mediation from moderation effects and by modeling brand heuristics as a multidimensional construct rather than isolated cues. Overall, the paper contributes to marketing theory by offering a cognitively grounded, context-sensitive explanation of brand choice suitable for mobile-first environments, while providing a structured foundation for future empirical validation.
