Engel, Kollat, Blackwell model (EKB model) A comprehensive model of consumer behavior that was elaborated by James F.

Engel, David T. Kollat and Roger D. Blackwell (1973). GRAFIK Each of the boxes in this "multimediation" model of consumer behavior represents a variable that may influence behavior. The arrows connecting boxes describe relationships between variables as well as emphasizing that consumer behavior is a dynamic ongoing process. The model shows that people are continually exposed to stimuli. A stimulus represents anything, generally inherent in the environment, that has the potential for triggering some kind of behavior. In general, marketing decision making can be viewed (at least in part) as putting together and controlling a set of stimuli intended to influence customer buying behavior. Any marketing offer represents only a fraction of the total stimuli to which buyers are exposed. Many other stimuli, some controlled by competitors, some controlled by noncompetitive organizations, some originating from other people, are also competing for consumers' attention. Stimuli provide information that consumers must process. This task includes the stages of exposure, attention, comprehension, and retention. Exposure refers to a stimulus reaching one of the senses, while attention indicates on which of these stimuli the consumer will focus. Comprehension is the process by which consumers attach meaning to stimuli. Because a consumer is attentive toward a marketing offer does not mean that the offer will be comprehended as intended. Retention refers to the memory process that determines which of the many stimuli that have gone through the initial three stages of consumer information processing will be remembered. Not all stimuli that have been comprehended will be retained in memory. In fact, the percentage of stimuli remaining in memory is generally quite small, particularly after a period of weeks has passed since exposure. An implication of the processing of stimuli is that consumers actively interact with some businesses while avoiding interaction with others. They are certainly not passively receiving information and being influenced accordingly. An offer that is filtered out anywhere during this process by a significant number of customers will not achieve performance goals. Since the consumer is an active participant in interaction between buyers and sellers, the characteristics that form an individual's psychological makeup have an important impact on the success of an offer. A set of stimuli comprising the marketing program must interact with one or more key individual characteristics before a consumer determines what response will be made. The Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell model depicts the individual as having a central control unit, which is the center for thinking, memory, and decision making all of which guide behavior. It is generally believed that the central control unit contains relatively few key variables that describe the uniqueness or individuality of a person: (1) personality traits, (2) motives (included in the model as a part of personality), (3) attitudes, (4) past information and experiences, and (5) evaluative criteria. The common thread running through these variables is the process of learning.

People have the ability to learn from their experiences, and so, the behavior that people will adopt in the future is at least partially dependent on what they have experienced in the past. At a given point in time all these variables summarize and describe what a person has seen and done to date, and more importantly, suggest the behavior that consumers will be likely to take in the future. The concept of motive refers to a tendency for people to behave in a general way in order to satisfy a need or drive. The fact that people do have buying motives indicates that consumer behavior is generally purposive or goal-directed. Closely related to the concept of motives are consumers' evaluative criteria which refer to the dimensions or performance characteristics desired from a product or service. These criteria are used by consumers to compare alternative products and brands and include such dimensions as economy, durability, reputation, and convenience. The performance characteristics desired in a product or service determine what that product must do in order to satisfy a consumer's purchase motives. Evaluative criteria are developed from a consumer's past experiences, personality traits and the influences of other people, and so, are more than just manifestations of consumer motives. Past information and experience refer to all the accumulated results of previous actions and occurrences that a consumer stores in memory for future use in similar situations. This ability to retain information from experiences over time is the basis for consumers' learning. In turn, learning helps to explain the considerable amount of regularity of consumer behavior. Of all the consumer characteristics shown in the exhibit, the greatest conceptual and empirical attention has been given to consumer attitudes. The combined buyer characteristics perform an important function for individuals. Attitudes, personality traits and motives, past information and experience, and evaluative criteria act as a kind of filter through which people process information (stimuli) continually coming from their environment. One of the important features of the Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell model is the depiction of consumer purchasing as a process comprised of several stages rather than a single act of buying or not buying. There is considerable variation in the processes consumers go through, but for conceptual purposes, these can be grouped into three basic types: (1) An extended decision process is the most complete type of decision making. It begins when a consumer recognizes a problem which might be solved by the purchase of some product. This encourages a consumer to search for product and/or brand information to evaluate how well each of several alternatives will solve the problem. Product and brand evaluations lead to a purchase decision, and then the outcome of the decisions is evaluated. Extended buying decision processes are most likely to occur when the product being considered has never been purchased before, is not repurchased very frequently, or is particularly important to the consumer (e.g., the product may be very expensive, a gift, highly visible to others, or used for a long time). (2) For less important or more routine purchases decisions, a consumer may only go through a limited decision process by evaluating only those product/brand

alternatives already known with no, attempt to search for new alternatives. (3) Habitual decision making is the least complicated type of process where a consumer, upon recognizing a problem, proceeds directly to making a purchase decision on a favorite brand. A variety of environmental variables also help to explain consumer purchases. The Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell model includes such environmental factors as income, culture, social class, and family influencing consumers activities at each of the decision process stages. The Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell model is an individual decision process model since it views a single consumer as the basic decision making unit. The model does recognize influences from other people, but the central focus is still on the individual.