CHAPTER NINE

INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
 CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
n Differentiate between customer behavior and
consumer behavior
n Explain how marketers classify behavioral
influences on consumer decisions
n Identify the interpersonal determinants of
consumer behavior
n Identify the personal determinants of consumer
behavior
n Outline the steps in the consumer decision
process
n Differentiate among routinized response
behavior, limited problem solving, an extended
problem solving
 CUSTOMER VS.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
n Customer behavior: a broad term that
covers both individual consumers who buy
goods and services for their own use and
organizational buyers who purchase
business products
n Consumer behavior: the process through
which the ultimate buyer makes purchase
decisions
 Simplified buyer behavior model
Marketing All other
mixes stimuli
Stimulus

Black Person making

Box decisions

Response
Person does or does not
purchase
Interpersonal Determinants of
Consumer Behavior
n Cultural Influences

n Social Influences

n Family Influences
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Cultural Influences
• Culture: values,
beliefs, preferences,
and tastes handed
down from one
generation to the next
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Core Values in the U.S.
Cultural Influences Culture
• While some cultural
values change over time,
basic core values do not
• Examples of American
core values include:
• Importance of family
and home life
• The work ethic
• Desire to accumulate
wealth
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
International
Cultural Influences Perspective on
Cultural Influences
• Cultural differences are
particularly important for
international marketers
• Successful strategies in
one country often cannot
extend to other
international markets
because of cultural
variations
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
• Subcultures: subgroup
Cultural Influences of culture with its own,
distinct modes of
behavior
• Subcultures can differ
by:
• Race
• Nationality
• Age
• Religion
• Geographic distribution
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
• Norms: are the values,
attitudes, and behaviors
Cultural Influences that a group deems
appropriate for its members
• Status: is the relative
Social Influences position of any individual
member in a group
• Roles define behavior that
members of a group expect
of individuals who hold
specific positions within
the group
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

• Reference groups:
Cultural Influences groups whose value
structures and standards
influence a person’s
Social Influences behavior
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
• Social classes: groups
Cultural Influences whose rankings are
determined by
occupation, income,
Social Influences
education, family
background, and
residence location
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
• Social classes: groups
Cultural Influences whose rankings are
determined by
occupation, income,
Social Influences
education, family
background, and
residence location
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
• Opinion leaders:
Cultural Influences individuals likely to
purchase new products
before others and then
Social Influences
share the resulting
experiences and
opinions by word-of-
mouth
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Four Categories of
Cultural Influences Household Decision-
making
• Autonomic
Social Influences • Husband-dominant
• White-dominant
• Syncratic
Family Influences
 INTERPERSONAL
DETERMINANTS OF
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Children and teenagers
Cultural Influences in family purchases
• Growing numbers are
assuming responsibility
for family shopping
Social Influences
• They also influence what
parents buy
• They represent over 50
Family Influences million consumers in
their own right
 Personal Determinants of
Consumer Behavior

n Needs and Motives

n Perceptions

n Attitudes

n Learning

n Self-Concept
 Needs and Motives
n Need: an imbalance between a
consumer’s actual and desired states
n Motives: inner states that direct a
person toward the goal of satisfying a
felt need
 POSSIBLE NEEDS MOTIVATING A
PERSON TO SOME ACTION

PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS

Hunger Playing-relaxing
Sex Order
Rest Independence
Thirst Self-expression
Activity
Warmth/coolness

DESIRE FOR FREEDOM FROM

Acceptance Harm
Comfort Pressure
Knowledge Loss
Status Fear
Fun Pain
Prestige Illness
Companionship
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s
Self-Actualization

Esteem Needs

Social Needs

Safety Needs

Physiological Needs
 Perceptions

n Perception: the meaning that

a person attributes to
incoming stimuli gathered
through the five senses –
sight, hearing, touch, taste,
and smell
 Perceptions

n Perceptual screens:
Perceptual
the filtering
Screens
processes through
which all inputs
must pass
 Attitudes

n Attitudes: a person’s enduring

favorable or unfavorable evaluations,
emotional feelings, or action
tendencies toward some object or data
 Attitudes
n Marketers have two choices to lead
prospective buyers to adopt a favorable
attitude toward their product:
– Attempt to produce consumer attitudes that
will motivate the purchase of a particular
product
– Evaluate existing consumer attitudes and then
make the product characteristics appeal to
them
 Learning
n Learning: an immediate or expected change in
behavior as a result of experience
n Drive: strong stimulus that impels action
n Cue: any object in the environment that
determines the nature of a consumer’s response
to a drive
n Reinforcement: reduction in a drive that results
from an appropriate consumer response
The learning process

DRIVE

CUES

Reinforcement

RESPONSE
 Learning

n Applying Learning Theory to Marketing

Decisions
n Shaping: process of applying a series of
rewards and reinforcements to permit
more complex behavior to evolve over
time
 Self -Concept Theory
Self-Concept

n Self-Concept: person’s multifaceted

picture of himself or herself, composed of
the real self, self-image, looking-glass self,
and ideal self
 Self Concepts

n Real Self: you as you really are

n Self Image: the way you see yourself
n Ideal Self: the way you would like to be
n Looking glass Self: the way you think
others see you
n Individuals are motivated to make
decisions and purchase products that will
move them closer to their ideal self.
 An Integrated Model of the Consumer Decision Process

Interpersonal Determinants
Problem
•Cultural Influences
Recognition
•Social Influences
•Family Influences

Feedback
Search
Personal Determinants
•Needs and Motives
Alternative •Perception
Evaluation •Attitudes
•Learning
•Self-Concept
Purchase
Purchase Purchase Act
Evaluation
 THE CONSUMER DECISION
PROCESS
Problem n Consumers complete a step-by-step
Opportunity process when making purchase
Recognition decisions
n High-involvement purchase
Search decisions are those with high levels
of potential social or economic
consequences
Alternative
n Low-involvement decisions are
Evaluation routine purchases that pose little risk
to the consumer
Post-
Purchase
Purchase Act purchase
Decision
Evaluation
 THE CONSUMER DECISION
PROCESS

Problem
n Consumer becomes aware of a
Opportunity significant discrepancy between the
Recognition existing situation and the
desired situation
n Motivates the individual to achieve
the desired state of affairs
 THE CONSUMER DECISION
PROCESS
Problem n Consumer gathers information
Opportunity related to their attainment of the
Recognition desired state of affairs
n Identifies alternative means of
Search problem solution
n May cover internal or external
sources of information
n Brands that a consumer actually
considers buying before making a
purchase decision are known as the
evoked set
 THE CONSUMER DECISION
PROCESS

Problem n Consumer evaluates the evoked set

Opportunity n Actually, it’s difficult to completely
Recognition separate the second and third steps,
since some evaluation takes place as the
search progresses
Search
n Outcome of the evaluation stage is the
choice of a brand or product (or possibly
Alternative
a decision to renew the search)
Evaluation n Evaluative criteria: features that a
consumer considers in choosing a model
alternatives
n Evaluative criteria are important in this
stage
 THE CONSUMER DECISION
PROCESS

Problem
Opportunity
n Consumer narrows the
Recognition alternatives down to one
n Next, the purchase location is
Search decided

Alternative
Evaluation

Purchase
Decision
 THE CONSUMER DECISION
PROCESS

Problem
Opportunity n Consumers tend to choose outlets by
Recognition considering such characteristics as
location, price, assortment,
personnel, store image, physical
Search design, and services
n Some choose the convenience of
in-home shopping
Alternative n Increasingly, the www is the outlet
Evaluation of choice for many consumers

Purchase
Purchase Act
Decision
 THE CONSUMER DECISION
PROCESS

Problem
Opportunity n After the purchase, consumers are
Recognition either satisfied or experience
post-purchase anxiety
Search n Post-purchase anxiety that results
from an imbalance among an
individual’s knowledge, beliefs, and
Alternative attitudes is called cognitive
Evaluation
dissonance
Post-
Purchase
Purchase Act purchase
Decision
Evaluation
 Classifying Consumer
Problem -Solving Processes
Problem-Solving
• Purchases made routinely
Routinized by choosing a preferred
Response Behavior brand or one of a limited
group of acceptable
brands
• Examples: regular brand
of a soft drink, orange
juice, or alkaline batteries
 Classifying Consumer
Problem -Solving Processes
Problem-Solving
• Situation where the
Routinized consumer has previously
Response Behavior set evaluative criteria for
a particular kind of
purchase but then
LimitedProblem
Problem encounters a new,
Limited unknown brand or item
Solving
Solving • Example: Consumer
considers trying a new
brand of shampoo or
selects a roast for a
special dinner
 Classifying Consumer
Problem -Solving Processes
Problem-Solving
Routinized
• Results when brands are
difficult to categorize or
Response Behavior evaluate
• High-involvement
purchase decisions
Limited Problem usually require extended
Solving problem solving
• Example: purchase of a
new car, new home, or
Extended Problem baby furniture
Solving
 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR:
STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS
n Understanding consumer behavior can
help:
– Design a more efficient marketing strategy
– Persuade consumers to retain a brand in their
evoked set
– Understand that more than one person is often
involved in the decision process . . . and help
to incorporate the implications of this into
strategic and operational decisions
Listerine
Listerine
This
This ad
ad from
from the
the early
early 1900s,
1900s,
which
which states
states “Like
“Like every
every
woman,
woman, her her primary
primary ambition
ambition
was
was to
to marry
marry .. .. .”
.”
demonstrates
demonstrates how how culture
culture
changes
changes over
over time.
time.
Jordache
Jordache

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Illustrating
Illustrating the
the Influence
Influence
of
of Friendship
Friendship Groups
Groups onon
Purchase
Purchase Decisions
Decisions