Various bases of consumer behaviour
Bases of Consumer Behaviour
Chisnall (1975), listed the following main areas of knowledge which contribute to the understanding of marketing, looking in particular at those ideas which are commonly used by marketing executives or appear in the literature and examining the models used by marketing practitioners, such as:
1. Cognition: This covers mental processes such as perception and learning and as such has been of particular interest in advertising. One concept which enjoyed great favor was cognitive dissonance, associated with Festinger. The aspect of the theory which was used in marketing suggested that when we make a decision, dissonance occurs because we are not certain that we have made the right choice. We indulge dissonance reduction activity, trying to convince ourselves, as it were or rationalize. The theory of cognition could explain why people who have bought a brand are more likely to pay attention to advertisements for that brand than non-buyers. Other uses of cognition theory have concentrated on learning process; complex models have not on the whole produced widely used results.
2. Motivation: Motivation is fundamental in buying behavior. Unfortunately its success relied mainly on the aspiration of the practitioner concerned and was not reproducible. The theory which has lasted best and is still used, is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Maslow believes that human beings are motivated by a series of needs; when a basic need is more or less satisfied, the next level comes into operation. A.H. Maslow identified the eight (8) levels of need priority as follows:
a. Psychological: hunger, thirst, bodily, comforts, sex, etc;
b. Safety/Security: out of danger;
c. Belongingness and love: affiliate with others, be accepted;
d. Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition;
e. Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore;
f. Aestatic: symmetry, order and beauty;
g. Self actualization: to find self fulfillment and realize one’s potential; and
h. Self transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential.
3. Interpersonal Response Traits: Personally, as we might more normally express it, has been a rich sources of investigation for marketing. There have been many attempts to discover personality types associated with product and brand buying. The typical pattern is for a few studies to claim success and many to be partially or totally unsuccessful.
4. Attitude: Of all the areas listed, attitude research has been adopted more than any other in marketing. Perhaps, this seems to be an intuitive reaction: marketing-men measure attitudes to their brands anyway and communication strategies are often complaint tactfully in attitudinal terms. Incidentally, even in the psychological literature, the concept of attitude is the subject of disagreement, and most marketing measurement is rather loose. The main problem, however, is the connection between attitude and behavior.
5. Culture:“Culture” means the whole complex of traditions, myths, beliefs and values which form a society. The notion has become more important in marketing as its international dimension has grown. It has become clear that although in some ways people in western countries are becoming more similar to each other, they are still different in many ways which cannot be explained in terms of superficial variations.
6. Social Class: This factor has been used in Britain for many years (much more so than in USA and in Asia) to measure and explain consumer behavior. It has become progressively less useful, however, and there are now few markets in which it is a valid discriminator.
7. Group Influence: The use of the theories about group influence falls under three main items:
(a) The reference group- It is that group of people to whom we consciously or unconsciously refer in our actions and thoughts. There many be number of such groups – friends, workmates, groups to which we aspire
(b) Opinion Leadership-It is a seductive idea: that within all groups there is a small number of people whose opinions are important and influential.
(c) The family-It is clearly a special sort of group and is highly influential in many situations (though perhaps becoming less so). Interestingly, industrial marketing ideas on buying center and the roles of influencer, decider, etc. can be applied to the family.
8. Innovation: The theories on how innovation spreads are of significant interest in marketing, both consumer and industrial users. If we could explain and predict how new products and new ideas would be adopted, many errors could be avoided.
