1st chapter: Understanding Consumer Behavior and Consumer
Research
Consumer behavior entails all consumer activities associated with the purchase, use, and disposal of goods
and services, including the consumer’s emotional, mental, and behavioral responses that precede,
determine, or follow these activities.
Consumers: Individual versus Organizational
Individual consumers purchase goods and services to satisfy their own personal needs and wants or to
satisfy the need and wants of others.
Organizational consumers purchase goods and services in order to:
produce other goods or services
resell them to other organizations or to individual consumers
help manage and run their organization
Consumer Activities
Consumer behavior is broken down into purchase, use, and disposal activities.
Categorizing consumer behavior by type of activity is useful because consumers’ responses to stimuli
may differ depending on whether they are purchasing, using, or disposing of a single product or
service.
1. Purchase activities are those through which consumers acquire goods and services. Purchase activities
also include everything done leading up to the purchase, such as gathering and evaluating information about
the product or service and choosing where to make the purchase.
So too are factors unique to the situation, such as the atmosphere of a store, the design of a website, the
reason for the purchase, and the amount of time the consumer devotes to the buying decision.
2.Use activities describe where, when, and how consumption takes place. (e.g. do consumers immediately
consume the product after purchase, like an ice cream cone or a haircut, or do they delay consumption, such
as when they buy new clothing for a future occasion or an airline ticket?)
3.Disposal activities are the ways consumers get rid of products and/or packaging after consumption, and
include discarding products, recycling, reuse, and resale (e.g. sorting biodegradable trash, giving outgrown
clothing to charity).
,Consumer Responses
Emotional responses (also called affective responses) reflect a consumer’s emotions, feelings, and
moods.
Mental responses (also referred to as cognitive responses) include a consumer’s thought processes,
opinions, beliefs, attitudes, and intentions about products and services.
Behavioral responses include a consumer’s overt decisions and actions during the purchase, use,
and disposal activities identified earlier.
Why Study Consumer Behavior?
To improve business performance
To influence public policy
To educate and help consumers make better decisions
Consumer Behavior as a Field of Study
Consumer behavior is an applied social science that draws on theories and concepts of psychology,
sociology, anthropology, economics, and statistics.
A fairly young science, the study of consumer behavior emerged in the late 1940s when many firms shifted
from a selling orientation (selling consumers the excess inventory of what they produced) to producing goods
that consumers actually needed and wanted.
This change in focus was the beginning of the marketing concept, the idea that firms should discover
and satisfy customer needs and wants in an efficient and profitable manner, while benefiting the long-term
interests of society.
As a result, organizations are already focusing on delivering customer perceived value and customer delight.
Customer perceived value “is the consumer’s overall assessment of the utility of a product based on
perceptions of what is received and what is given.
Customer delight goes a step beyond customer perceived value, suggesting customer benefits that not only
meet, but also exceed expectations in unanticipated ways.
Thus, the overarching goal of a consumer-centered firm is to maximize long-term customer value and delight,
while also maximizing profits and doing so better than the competition.
The Evolution of Consumer Behavior Research
Three prominent approaches are examined here:
motivation research
behavioral science,
Interpretivism.
1.Motivation research applied psychoanalytic therapy concepts from clinical psychology to consumer
behavior research. Using in-depth interviewing techniques to uncover a person’s hidden or unconscious
motivations.
, In-depth interview (IDI) is a lengthy (sometimes several hours), probing interview, where a carefully
trained interviewer extensively questions a subject about his or her purchase motivations.
Motivation research left two important legacies to the field of consumer research:
(1) A focus on consumer motivations, i.e., trying to answer the question of why people behave as they do,
and (2) the technique of in-depth interviewing.
2.Behavioral science applies the scientific method, relying on systematic, rigorous procedures to explain,
control, and predict consumer behavior.
The primary methods:
Experimental approach—conducting controlled experiment.
Marketing science approach—employing computer-based simulations and mathematical models to
explain and predict consumer behavior.
Behavioral scientists who study consumer behavior tend to view consumers as largely rational; they seek
causes for behavior, conduct research to be used for strategic marketing decision making, and primarily use
quantitative research methods.
In quantitative research methods, empirical data are collected. Empirical data are numerical, based on
observation, experiment, or experience, rather than speculation or theory.
The steps of the scientific method include:
1. Observe and ask the question: Observations we make of the world around us are the basis for
formulating questions or problems we want to solve.
2. Form a hypothesis and make a prediction:
3. Test the hypothesis.
4. Theory generation.
3.Interpretivism (or Postmodernism) - An alternative research approach to behavioral science that relies less
on scientific and technological methodology. Researchers working from this perspective view consumers as
non-rational beings and their reality as highly subjective.
These researchers’ goal is to collect data to describe and interpret this reality.
They also tend to reject the quantitative approach of behavioral science in favor of qualitative research
methods.
In qualitative research methods, descriptive, nonempirical data are collected that describe an individual
consumer’s subjective experience with the product or service.
Because qualitative research methods typically do not include large, representative samples from the
population of interest, their results cannot be generalized.
Consumer Behavior Research
Marketing research is a systematic process of planning, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data and
information relevant to marketing problems and consumer behavior.
, Another area of concern in studying consumer behavior is the unethical and/or unintended manipulation of
research data or results. Firms sometimes manipulate, alter, or misinterpret—intentionally or
unintentionally—research results, often to their own advantage.
Basic versus Applied Research
Basic research looks for general relationships between variables, regardless of the specific situation.
The key benefit of basic research is that conclusions drawn from it generally apply across a variety of
situations, and researchers can use these generalizations to guide strategic planning and develop
marketing tactics.
Basic research variables studied can include those related to the consumer, such as personality or
demographic variables; they can also relate to the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion).
Applied research examines many of these same variables, but within a specific context of interest to a
marketer. Applied research is more common than basic research because consumer researchers want to
solve particular business-related problems of immediate interest.
Correlations and Causal Relationships
When a statistically testable and significant relationship exists between two variables, we say the variables
are correlated. A variable is simply any factor that that can potentially change.
In a positive correlation, the two variables increase or decrease together.
A negative correlation means that as one variable increases, the related variable decreases.
A zero correlation means that there is no predictable relationship between two variables.
One limitation in identifying correlations is that they tell us nothing about which variable influences the
other. This means that even if we know that two variables (A and B) are correlated, we still do not know
whether variable A influences variable B; B influences A; or A and B influence each other.
A causal relationship between two variables means that the variables are correlated and that one variable
influences the other, but not vice versa (see Figure 1.4).
Causal relationship exists if the following requirements are met:
1. the two variables are correlated
2. the cause must precede the effect
3. Other potential causes are ruled out..
Secondary versus Primary Data
Secondary data is data that already exist and is readily accessible. One source could be internal
organizational sources, such a company’s sales history records, customer database, sales force observations,
or even previous company research projects.
The advantages of secondary data:
readily available,
rich in detail,
May not cost any more than the time and effort it takes to search the Internet or go to the library.
Research
Consumer behavior entails all consumer activities associated with the purchase, use, and disposal of goods
and services, including the consumer’s emotional, mental, and behavioral responses that precede,
determine, or follow these activities.
Consumers: Individual versus Organizational
Individual consumers purchase goods and services to satisfy their own personal needs and wants or to
satisfy the need and wants of others.
Organizational consumers purchase goods and services in order to:
produce other goods or services
resell them to other organizations or to individual consumers
help manage and run their organization
Consumer Activities
Consumer behavior is broken down into purchase, use, and disposal activities.
Categorizing consumer behavior by type of activity is useful because consumers’ responses to stimuli
may differ depending on whether they are purchasing, using, or disposing of a single product or
service.
1. Purchase activities are those through which consumers acquire goods and services. Purchase activities
also include everything done leading up to the purchase, such as gathering and evaluating information about
the product or service and choosing where to make the purchase.
So too are factors unique to the situation, such as the atmosphere of a store, the design of a website, the
reason for the purchase, and the amount of time the consumer devotes to the buying decision.
2.Use activities describe where, when, and how consumption takes place. (e.g. do consumers immediately
consume the product after purchase, like an ice cream cone or a haircut, or do they delay consumption, such
as when they buy new clothing for a future occasion or an airline ticket?)
3.Disposal activities are the ways consumers get rid of products and/or packaging after consumption, and
include discarding products, recycling, reuse, and resale (e.g. sorting biodegradable trash, giving outgrown
clothing to charity).
,Consumer Responses
Emotional responses (also called affective responses) reflect a consumer’s emotions, feelings, and
moods.
Mental responses (also referred to as cognitive responses) include a consumer’s thought processes,
opinions, beliefs, attitudes, and intentions about products and services.
Behavioral responses include a consumer’s overt decisions and actions during the purchase, use,
and disposal activities identified earlier.
Why Study Consumer Behavior?
To improve business performance
To influence public policy
To educate and help consumers make better decisions
Consumer Behavior as a Field of Study
Consumer behavior is an applied social science that draws on theories and concepts of psychology,
sociology, anthropology, economics, and statistics.
A fairly young science, the study of consumer behavior emerged in the late 1940s when many firms shifted
from a selling orientation (selling consumers the excess inventory of what they produced) to producing goods
that consumers actually needed and wanted.
This change in focus was the beginning of the marketing concept, the idea that firms should discover
and satisfy customer needs and wants in an efficient and profitable manner, while benefiting the long-term
interests of society.
As a result, organizations are already focusing on delivering customer perceived value and customer delight.
Customer perceived value “is the consumer’s overall assessment of the utility of a product based on
perceptions of what is received and what is given.
Customer delight goes a step beyond customer perceived value, suggesting customer benefits that not only
meet, but also exceed expectations in unanticipated ways.
Thus, the overarching goal of a consumer-centered firm is to maximize long-term customer value and delight,
while also maximizing profits and doing so better than the competition.
The Evolution of Consumer Behavior Research
Three prominent approaches are examined here:
motivation research
behavioral science,
Interpretivism.
1.Motivation research applied psychoanalytic therapy concepts from clinical psychology to consumer
behavior research. Using in-depth interviewing techniques to uncover a person’s hidden or unconscious
motivations.
, In-depth interview (IDI) is a lengthy (sometimes several hours), probing interview, where a carefully
trained interviewer extensively questions a subject about his or her purchase motivations.
Motivation research left two important legacies to the field of consumer research:
(1) A focus on consumer motivations, i.e., trying to answer the question of why people behave as they do,
and (2) the technique of in-depth interviewing.
2.Behavioral science applies the scientific method, relying on systematic, rigorous procedures to explain,
control, and predict consumer behavior.
The primary methods:
Experimental approach—conducting controlled experiment.
Marketing science approach—employing computer-based simulations and mathematical models to
explain and predict consumer behavior.
Behavioral scientists who study consumer behavior tend to view consumers as largely rational; they seek
causes for behavior, conduct research to be used for strategic marketing decision making, and primarily use
quantitative research methods.
In quantitative research methods, empirical data are collected. Empirical data are numerical, based on
observation, experiment, or experience, rather than speculation or theory.
The steps of the scientific method include:
1. Observe and ask the question: Observations we make of the world around us are the basis for
formulating questions or problems we want to solve.
2. Form a hypothesis and make a prediction:
3. Test the hypothesis.
4. Theory generation.
3.Interpretivism (or Postmodernism) - An alternative research approach to behavioral science that relies less
on scientific and technological methodology. Researchers working from this perspective view consumers as
non-rational beings and their reality as highly subjective.
These researchers’ goal is to collect data to describe and interpret this reality.
They also tend to reject the quantitative approach of behavioral science in favor of qualitative research
methods.
In qualitative research methods, descriptive, nonempirical data are collected that describe an individual
consumer’s subjective experience with the product or service.
Because qualitative research methods typically do not include large, representative samples from the
population of interest, their results cannot be generalized.
Consumer Behavior Research
Marketing research is a systematic process of planning, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data and
information relevant to marketing problems and consumer behavior.
, Another area of concern in studying consumer behavior is the unethical and/or unintended manipulation of
research data or results. Firms sometimes manipulate, alter, or misinterpret—intentionally or
unintentionally—research results, often to their own advantage.
Basic versus Applied Research
Basic research looks for general relationships between variables, regardless of the specific situation.
The key benefit of basic research is that conclusions drawn from it generally apply across a variety of
situations, and researchers can use these generalizations to guide strategic planning and develop
marketing tactics.
Basic research variables studied can include those related to the consumer, such as personality or
demographic variables; they can also relate to the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion).
Applied research examines many of these same variables, but within a specific context of interest to a
marketer. Applied research is more common than basic research because consumer researchers want to
solve particular business-related problems of immediate interest.
Correlations and Causal Relationships
When a statistically testable and significant relationship exists between two variables, we say the variables
are correlated. A variable is simply any factor that that can potentially change.
In a positive correlation, the two variables increase or decrease together.
A negative correlation means that as one variable increases, the related variable decreases.
A zero correlation means that there is no predictable relationship between two variables.
One limitation in identifying correlations is that they tell us nothing about which variable influences the
other. This means that even if we know that two variables (A and B) are correlated, we still do not know
whether variable A influences variable B; B influences A; or A and B influence each other.
A causal relationship between two variables means that the variables are correlated and that one variable
influences the other, but not vice versa (see Figure 1.4).
Causal relationship exists if the following requirements are met:
1. the two variables are correlated
2. the cause must precede the effect
3. Other potential causes are ruled out..
Secondary versus Primary Data
Secondary data is data that already exist and is readily accessible. One source could be internal
organizational sources, such a company’s sales history records, customer database, sales force observations,
or even previous company research projects.
The advantages of secondary data:
readily available,
rich in detail,
May not cost any more than the time and effort it takes to search the Internet or go to the library.
