Chapter 03 – Consumer Behavior
B. Alternative Search
Once a need is recognized, the individual then searches for alternatives for satisfying the need.
The individual can collect information from five basic sources for a particular purchase
decision:
oInternal sources: For many purchases, consumers have had previous experience dealing
with particular needs and wants. Thus, consumers can usually “search” through their
memories for stored information and experience dealing with need satisfying
alternatives. This is quite common for routine or habitual purchases.
oGroup sources: A common source of information for purchase decision comes from
communication with other people. Group sources are often the most powerful influence
on purchase decisions.
oMarketing sources: Marketing sources include factors such as advertising, salespeople,
dealers, packaging, and displays. It provides a major means by which consumers learn
about purchase options.
oPublic sources: Public sources of information include such things as product ratings in
Consumer Reports; buyer reviews on websites like Amazon.com; and articles written
about the product in newspapers, in magazines, on independent blogs, and on other
websites.
oExperimental sources: Experimental sources refer to handling, examining, and perhaps
trying on or using a product.
Information processing is viewed as a four-step process in which the individual is:
oExposed to information
oBecomes attentive to the information
oUnderstands the information
oRetains the information
C. Alternative Evaluation
During the process of collecting information or, in some cases, after information is acquired,
the consumer evaluates alternatives on the basis of what he or she has learned. One approach
to describing the evaluation process is as follows:
oThe consumer has information about the number of brands in a product class.
oThe consumer perceives that at least some of the brands in a product class are viable
alternatives for satisfying a recognized need.
oEach of these brands has a set of attributes (color, quality, size, and so forth).
oA set of these attributes is relevant to the consumer, and the consumer perceives that
different brands vary in how much of each attribute they possess.
oThe brand that is perceived as offering the greatest number of desired attributes in the
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Chapter 03 – Consumer Behavior
desired amounts and the desired order will be the brand the consumer will like best.
oThe brand the consumer likes best is the brand the consumer will intend to purchase.
D. Purchase Decision
If no other factors intervene after the consumer has decided on the brand that is intended for
purchase, the actual purchase is a common result of search and evaluation.
Actually, a purchase involves many decisions, which include product type, brand, model,
dealer selection, and method of payment, among other factors.
Traditional risk theorists believe that consumers tend to make risk-minimizing decisions based
on their perceived definition of the particular purchase.
The perception of risk is based on the possible consequences and uncertainties involved.
Perceived risk may be either functional (related to financial and performance considerations)
or psychosocial (related to whether the product will further one’s self- or reference-group
image).
The perceived risk literature emphasizes that consumers generally try to reduce risk in their
decision making.
In general, the more information the consumer collects prior to purchase, the less likely
postpurchase dissonance is to occur.
E. Postpurchase Evaluation
In general, if the individual finds that a certain response achieves a desired goal or satisfies a
need, the success of this cue-response pattern will be remembered.
For some marketers this means that if an individual finds that a particular product fulfills the
need for which it was purchased, the probability is high that the individual will repurchase the
product the next time the need arises.
Although many studies in the area of buyer behavior center on the buyer’s attitudes, motives,
and behavior before and during the purchase decision, behavior after the purchase has also
been studied.
The occurrence of postdecision dissonance is related to the concept of cognitive dissonance.
This theory states that there is often a lack of consistency or harmony among an individual’s
various cognitions, or attitudes and beliefs, after a decision has been made.
It is more likely that the intensity of the anxiety will be greater when any of the following
conditions exist:
oThe decision is an important one psychologically or financially, or both.
oThere are a number of forgone alternatives.
oThe forgone alternatives have many favorable features.
Researchers have also studied postpurchase consumer satisfaction. Much of this work has
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Chapter 03 – Consumer Behavior
been based on what is called the disconfirmation paradigm.
Basically, this approach views satisfaction with products and brands as a result of two other
variables.
oThe first variable is the expectations a consumer has about a product before purchase.
oThe second variable is the difference between expectations and postpurchase
perceptions of how the product actually performed.
One implication of this view for marketers is that care must be taken not to raise prepurchase
expectations to such a level that the product cannot possibly meet them.
KEY TERMS
Belongingness and love needs: According to Maslow, the needs related to the social and gregarious
nature of humans and the need for companionship.
Cognitive dissonance: A lack of harmony among among a person’s thoughts after a decision has been
made—that is, the individual has doubts and second thoughts about the choice that was made.
Current conditions: Situational influences such as momentary moods and conditions that influence
consumer behavior.
Disconfirmation paradigm: Approach that views consumer satisfaction as the degree to which the
actual performance of a product is consistent with expectations a consumer had before purchase. If the
product is as good as expected, then the consumer will be satisfied; if not, then the consumer’s
expectations are disconfirmed.
Esteem needs: According to Maslow, the needs that consist of both the need for awareness of
importance to others (self-esteem) and actual esteem from others.
Experiential sources of information: The information a consumer gets from handling, examining, and
perhaps trying a product while shopping.
Extensive decision making: Level of decision making that requires the most time and effort since the
purchase typically involves a highly complex or expensive product that is important to the consumer.
Family life cycle: Framework that divides the development of a family into a number of stages based on
the needs, assets, debts, and expenditures that change as a family begins, grows, and matures.
Group sources of information: A common source of information for purchase decisions that comes
from communication with other people, such as family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.
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Chapter 03 – Consumer Behavior
Internal sources of information: Stored information and experience a consumer has in memory for
dealing with a particular need.
Limited decision making: Level of decision making that requires a moderate amount of time and effort
to search for and compare alternatives.
Lower Americans: Comprise 16 percent of the population and have the lowest education levels and
resources; the bottom of the social class hierarchy.
Marketing sources of information: Include such things as advertising, salespeople, dealers, packaging,
and displays offered by marketers to influence consumer decision making and behavior.
Middle class: Middle social class; comprises 34 percent of the population and is concerned with doing
the right thing and buying what is popular. This class tends to emulate Upper Americans.
Need recognition: The first step in the consumer decision making process; the recognition by the
consumer of a felt need or want.
Physical features of a situation: The geographical and institutional decor, sounds, aromas, lighting,
weather, and visible configurations of merchandise or other materials.
Physiological needs: According to Maslow, the primary needs of the human body such as food, water,
and sex.
Product knowledge: The amount of information a consumer has stored in her or his memory about
particular product classes, product forms, brands, and models, and ways to purchase them.
Public sources of information: Publicity, such as newspaper articles about the product, and
independent ratings of the product, such as Consumer Reports.
Reference groups: Groups that an individual looks to (uses as a reference) when forming attitudes and
opinions.
Routine decision making: The most common type of decision making, involves little in the way of
thinking and deliberation. It is often habitual and is the way consumers commonly purchase packaged
goods that are inexpensive, simple, and familiar.
Safety needs: According to Maslow, things such as protection from physical harm, ill health, and
economic disaster and avoidance of the unexpected.
Self-actualization needs: According to Maslow, the desire to become everything one can become and
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Chapter 03 – Consumer Behavior
fully realize talents and capabilities.
Situational influences: All of the factors particular to a time and place that have a demonstrable and
systematic effect on current behavior.
Social features of a situation: Include other persons present in a situation, their characteristics, their
apparent roles and interpersonal interactions.
Task features of a situation: Include the intent or requirement to select, shop for, or obtain information
about a general or specific purchase.
Time dimension of a situation: The temporal dimension of a situation such as the time of day or season
of the year. It can also be relative to other life events such as the time since the last purchase or time
until payday.
Upper Americans: Social class that comprises 14 percent of the population and is differentiated mainly
by having high incomes. This social class remains the group in which quality merchandise is most prized
and prestige brands are commonly sought.
Working class: Social class that comprises 38 percent of the population; “family folk” who depend
heavily on relatives for economic and emotional support.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Hawkins, Del I., and David L. Mothersbaugh. Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy. 12th
ed. Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2013.
Hoyer, Wayne D., and Deborah J. MacInnis. Consumer Behavior. 6th ed. Mason OH: Southwestern,
2013.
Peter, J. Paul and Jerry C. Olson. Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy. 9th ed. Burr Ridge, IL:
McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010.
Schiffman, Leon G., and Leslie Kanuck. Consumer Behavior. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 2010.
Solomon, Michael R. Consumer Behavior, 10th ed. Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall, 2013.
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consent of McGraw-Hill Education.