CHP3: Slides - Consumer Behaviour and Decision-Making Principles
Factors Influencing Consumers’ Buying Behaviour
Situational Factors: Includes the social situation, time (day, year, or shopping duration), the reason for the purchase (emergency vs. planned), and the consumer's mood.
Personal Factors: Encompasses personality, self-concept, demographic variables (gender, age, stage of life), and lifestyle.
Psychological Factors: Includes motivation, perception, learning, and attitudes.
Societal Factors: Includes culture, subcultures, social class, reference groups, opinion leaders, and family.
Personal Factors and the Big Five Personality Traits
Personality & Self-Concept: Personality is often measured by the "Big Five" (OCEAN) traits:
Openness to Experience: Creativity and willingness to try new things.
Conscientiousness: Organization, responsibility, and discipline.
Extraversion: Sociability and assertiveness.
Agreeableness: Compassion and cooperation.
Neuroticism: Emotional instability and anxiety.
Self-Concept: How individuals perceive themselves and how they think others see them; influenced by age, education, culture, and relationships.
Psychographics: Combines lifestyle traits, personality, attitudes, activities, and values to group similar consumers.
Psychological Factors
Values: Fundamental beliefs categorized into Instrumental values (desirable behaviors like honesty) and Terminal values (desirable end states like freedom).
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Theory that people fulfill basic needs (food, water) before higher-level needs.
Perception: How interpreted information makes sense in the brain. Marketers manage perception through:
Selective Exposure: Filtering information seen or heard.
Selective Attention: Filtering based on relevance.
Selective Retention: Forgetting information that contradicts beliefs.
Selective Distortion: Misinterpretation of intended messages.
Learning: Changes in behavior resulting from information or experience.
Attitudes: Favorable or unfavorable evaluations; commitment levels range from Compliance (low) to Identification to Internalization (high).
Societal Factors and Culture
Culture: The shared beliefs, customs, and behaviors characterizing a society.
Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions:
Power Distance: Degree of expected equality/hierarchy.
Individualism vs. Collectivism: Priority of personal vs. group goals.
Masculine vs. Feminine: Value on competition vs. quality of life.
Uncertainty Avoidance: Comfort level with ambiguity and risk.
Long-term Orientation: Prioritizing future rewards over immediate results.
Indulgence vs. Restraint: Gratification of desires vs. social norms.
Reference Groups: Groups consumers identify with, including Membership, Aspirational, Dissociative, and Virtual groups.
Buying Decision Process and Involvement
Involvement Levels:
Low-Involvement: Routine response behavior; automatic or impulse buying with little risk.
High-Involvement: Extended problem solving; complex, high-priced items (e.g., houses, cars) requiring significant search.
Six Stages of the Buying Process:
Need Recognition: Recognizing an imbalance between present status and preferred state.
Search for Information: Using internal stimuli or external sources (reviews, friends).
Product Evaluation: Comparing evaluative criteria (price, features).
Product Choice and Purchase: The actual decision to buy.
Post-Purchase Use and Evaluation: Assessment which may lead to Post-Purchase Dissonance (buyer’s remorse).
Disposal of the Product: How consumers discard products, increasingly influenced by environmental concerns.