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CHAPTER 7
Consumer Buying Behavior
TEACHING RESOURCES QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
Resource
Location
Purpose and Perspective
IRM, p. 132
Lecture Outline
IRM, p. 133
Discussion Starters
IRM, p. 142
Class Exercise
IRM, p. 143
PURPOSE AND PERSPECTIVE
We begin this chapter by defining buying behavior and consumer buying behavior. We recognize and
describe the major stages of the consumer buying decision process: problem recognition, information
search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase, and post-purchase evaluation. We then examine how the
Chapter Quiz
IRM, p. 145
Semester Project
IRM, p. 146
Answers to Discussion and Review Questions
IRM, p. 147
Answers to Application Questions
IRM, p. 150
Answers to Internet Exercise
IRM, p. 152
Answers to Developing Your Marketing Plan
IRM, p. 153
Comments on the Cases
IRM, p. 154
Case 7.1
IRM, p. 154
Case 7.2
IRM, p. 155
Examination Questions: Essay
Testing CD
Examination Questions: Multiple-Choice
Testing CD
Examination Questions: True-False
Testing CD
PowerPoint Slides
Chapter 7: Consumer Buying Behavior 133
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. Consumer Buying Behavior
A. Buying behavior is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using
products.
perceptions of product utility.
II. Consumer Buying Decision Process
A. The consumer buying decision process is a five-stage purchase decision process which includes
problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase, and post-purchase
evaluation.
1. The actual act of purchase is only one stage in the process and is not the first stage.
3. Not all consumer buying decisions include all five stages.
B. Problem Recognition
1. This stage occurs when a buyer becomes aware of a difference between a desired state and an
actual condition.
C. Information Search
1. After the consumer becomes aware of the problem or need, he or she searches for information
about products that will help resolve the problem or satisfy the need.
2. There are two aspects to an information search:
a. In the internal search, buyers first search their memories for information about products
3. Repetition, a technique well known to advertisers, increases consumers’ learning. Repetition
eventually may cause wear-out, meaning consumers pay less attention to the commercial and
respond to it less favorably than they did at first.
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D. Evaluation of Alternatives
1. A successful information search within a product category yields a consideration set (aka
evoked set), which is a group of brands that the buyer views as possible alternatives.
2. Marketers can influence consumers’ evaluations by “framing” the alternatives—that is, by the
manner in which they describe the alternatives and attributes.
E. Purchase
1. Purchase selection is based on the outcome of the evaluation stage and other dimensions.
F. Postpurchase Evaluation
1. After purchase, the buyer begins to evaluate the product to ascertain if the actual performance
meets expected levels.
III. Types of Consumer Decision Making and Level of Involvement
1. To acquire and maintain products that satisfy their current and future needs, consumers
2. A major determinant of the type of problem-solving process employed depends on the
customer’s level of involvement, the degree of interest in a product, and the importance the
individual places on that product.
a. High-involvement products tend to be those that are visible to others (e.g., clothing,
furniture, or automobiles) and expensive, as well as issues of high importance, such as
health care.
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3. Involvement level and other factors affect a person’s selection of one of three types of
consumer decision making.
a. Consumers use routinized response behavior when they purchase products with little
search-and-decision effort; it is used for low-priced, frequently-purchased products.
4. Purchase of a particular product does not always elicit the same type of decision making; the
process may be different the first time consumers purchase a product, when they switch
brands, or when the purchase become routine.
5. Impulse buying, in contrast, is an unplanned buying behavior involving a powerful urge to
immediately buy something.
IV. Situational Influences on the Buying Decision Process
A. Situational influences are factors that result from circumstances, time, and location that affect
the consumer buying decision process.
C. Situational factors can be divided into five categories:
1. Physical surroundings include location, store atmosphere, aromas, sounds, lighting, weather,
and other factors in the physical environment in which the decision process occurs.
2. Social surroundings include characteristics and interactions of others who are present during
3. The time dimension influences the buying decision process in several ways, such as the
amount of time required to become knowledgeable about a product, to search for it, and to
buy and use it.
a. Time plays a role as the buyer considers the possible frequency of product use, the length
of time required to use the product, and the length of the overall product life.
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V. Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process
A. Psychological influences are those which operate in part to determine people’s general behavior
and thus influence their behavior as consumers. Psychological factors are internal, but are
affected by outside social forces.
B. Perception
1. Perception is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information inputs to
produce meaning.
2. Information inputs are sensations received through sight, taste, hearing, smell, and touch.
b. During perceptual organization, information inputs that reach awareness must be
organized by the brain to produce meaning.
(1) An individual mentally organizes and integrate new information with what is already
stored in memory.
5. Marketers cannot control buyers’ perceptions, but they try to influence them through
information. This approach is problematic.
a. A consumer’s perceptual process may operate so that a seller’s information never reaches
awareness.
C. Motives
1. A motive is an internal energizing force which directs a person’s behavior toward satisfying
needs or achieving goals.
a. A buyer’s actions are affected by a set of motives, and some are stronger than others.
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2. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs organizes human needs into five levels. Humans try to satisfy
these needs starting with the most basic. Once needs at one level are met, humans move on to
fulfilling needs at the next level:
a. At the most basic level are “physiological needs,” requirements for survival such as food,
water, sex, clothing, and shelter.
3. Patronage motives are motives such as price, service, or friendly salespeople, which
influence where a person purchases products on a regular basis.
D. Learning
1. Learning refers to changes in an individual’s thought processes and behaviors caused by
information and experience.
2. The learning process is strongly influenced by the consequences of an individual’s behavior;
behaviors with satisfying results tend to be repeated.
E. Attitudes
1. An attitude is an individual’s enduring evaluation of, feelings about, and behavioral
tendencies toward a tangible or intangible object or idea.
2. Attitudes remain generally stable in the short term, but they can change over time.
3. An attitude consists of three major components:
138 Chapter 7: Consumer Buying Behavior
6. Seeking to understand attitudes has resulted in two major academic models:
a. The Fishbein Model (the attitude toward the object) can be used to understand a
7. Several methods help marketers gauge and influence consumer attitude:
a. Asking direct questions of consumers. The Internet and social networking sites have
become valuable tools to ask consumers questions and receive feedback.
F. Personality and Self-Concept
1. Personality is a set of internal traits and distinct behavioral tendencies which result in
consistent patterns of behavior.
a. Personality arises from unique hereditary characteristics and personal experiences.
2. Self-concept, or self-image, is a perception or view of oneself.
a. Buyers purchase products that reflect and enhance self-concept.
G. Lifestyles
1. A lifestyle is an individual’s pattern of living expressed through activities, interests, and
opinions.
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5. The VALS program developed by SRI Consulting Business Intelligence is one of the most
VI. Social Influences on the Buying Decision Process
A. Social influences are the forces other people exert on one’s buying behavior.
B. Roles
1. Every person occupies a position within groups, organizations, and institutions.
C. Family Influences
1. An individual’s family roles directly influence their buying behavior.
5. Within a household, an individual may perform one or more buying-decision roles.
a. The gatekeeper is the household member who collects and controls information—price
and quality comparisons, locations of sellers, and assessment of which brand best suits
the family’s needs.
D. Reference Groups
1. A reference group is any group—large or small—that positively or negatively affects a
person’s values, attitudes, or behaviors.
2. There are three major types of reference groups: membership, aspirational, and dissociative.
a. A membership reference group is one to which an individual actually belongs; the
individual identifies with group members strongly enough to take on the values, attitudes,
140 Chapter 7: Consumer Buying Behavior
3. A reference group is an individual’s point of comparison and a source of information.
4. How much a reference group influences a purchasing decision depends on the individual’s
susceptibility to reference group influence and strength of involvement with the group.
E. Opinion Leaders
1. An opinion leader is a reference group member with knowledge or expertise who provides
information about a specific sphere that interests reference group participants.
F. Social Classes
1. A social class is an open aggregate of people with similar social rank.
2. Criteria used to group people into classes vary from one society to another.
3. In the United States, we group according to many factors, including occupation, education,
G. Culture and Subcultures
1. Culture is the accumulation of values, knowledge, beliefs, customs, objects, and concepts
that a society uses to cope with its environment and passes on to future generations.
2. Culture includes:
3. Because cultural influences affect the ways people buy and use products, culture affects the
development, promotion, distribution, and pricing of products.
4. International marketers must take into account global cultural differences.
a. People in other regions of the world have different attitudes, values, and needs.
Chapter 7: Consumer Buying Behavior 141
5. Subcultures are groups of individuals whose characteristic values and behavior patterns are
similar and differ from those of the surrounding culture.
a. Subcultural boundaries are usually based on geographic designations and demographic
factors.
b. Marketers recognize that the growth in the number of U.S. subcultures has resulted in
considerable variation in consumer buying behavior.
(1) African American Subculture
(a) Represents 12.6 percent of the U.S. population.
(3) Asian American Subculture
(a) Represents 4.8 percent of the U.S. population and is comprised of 15 different
ethnic groups.
(b) Individual language, religion, and value system of each group influences
VII. Consumer Misbehavior
A. Consumer misbehavior is behavior that violates generally accepted norms of a particular
society.
142 Chapter 7: Consumer Buying Behavior
DISCUSSION STARTERS
Discussion Starter 1: Consumer Buying Behavior and Social Classes
To do this exercise which links consumer behavior tastes with various social strata, click on the hyperlink
below to access a PBS game on consumer and class tastes.
Discussion Starter 2: Level Of Consumer Involvement
Recommended as a group activity
In this chapter we have examined how the level of involvement in a purchase often determines the type of
behavior exhibited by consumers. In this exercise you are asked to examine how consumer behavior
changes as the level of consumer involvement changes.
You will be given a series of scenarios. After each one, write how your group would respond to the
purchase situation.
What type of gift do you purchase? How much do you spend? How much time do you take choosing this
gift?
What type of gift would you send? How much do you spend? How much time do you take choosing this
gift?
What type of gift do you bring? How much do you spend? How much time did you take choosing this
gift?
Chapter 7: Consumer Buying Behavior 143
CLASS EXERCISES
Class Exercise 1: Social Influences on Consumption
The objective of this class exercise is to help students understand how social influences affect their
consumption behaviors.
Prompt for Students:
Imagine that you are going out tonight. Which of the following social influences will determine what you
wear, where you go, what you do, and what you will buy or consume?
1. Your role as a student, family member, employee, church member, or fraternity or sorority
member.
2. Identification with a positive reference group. Disassociation from a negative reference group.
3. Membership within a particular social class. Aspirations to be in a different social class.
4. Cultural values that accept or reject certain types of behavior. Gender roles: expectations of how
men and women should act.
5. Membership in a subculture based on geography, age, or ethnic background.
6. Knowing how these factors affect your consumption behavior, how can marketers adjust their
marketing mixes to meet your needs?
Answers:
1. As fraternity or sorority members, students may be influenced to stay out late for social reasons,
which may conflict with their roles as students, employees, and church members. The demands of
6. Some possible examples include the following:
• Promotion: Show upper-class individuals in luxury car ads.