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The Context
Argument as an Excuse for Poor Marketing
Performance
*
Jaclyn Sun is in her third year of a Bachelor of Economics degree at the Australian
National University. She is a current resident of Bruce Hall.
1
Moneesha Pachauri, ‘Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review’ (2001) 2(3) The Marketing
Review 319.
2
Russell W. Belk, ‘Situational Variables and Consumer Behavior’ (1975) 2(3) Journal of
Consumer Research 157.
3
Russell W. Belk, ‘An Exploratory Assessment of Situational Effects in Buyer Behaviour’
(1974) 11(2) Journal of Marketing Research 156.
4
Sha Yang, Modelling the Within-Person Variation in Brand Preferences (D Phil Thesis,
Ohio State University, 2000).
102 Cross-sections | Volume V 2009
5
Peter R. Dickson, ‘Person-Situation: Segmentation’s Missing Link’ (1982) 54(4) Journal of
Marketing 56.
6
Ibid; Pascale Quester et al, Consumer Behaviour, (enhanced 5th ed, 2007).
7
Yang, above n 4; Mark Ligas, ‘People, Product and Pursuits: Exploring the Relationship
Between Consumer Goals and Product Meaning’ (2000) 17(11) Psychology and Marketing
983.
8
Yang, above n 4. I, like Yang, refer interchangeably to the consumption situation and
consumption context.
9
Quester et al, above n 6.
Consumer Behaviour | Jaclyn Sun 103
10
Charles M Schaninger and Donald Sciglimpaglia, ‘The Influence of Cognitive
Personality Traits and Demographics on Consumer Information Acquisition’ (1981) 8(2)
Journal of Consumer Research 208.
11
Ibid; Robert Wilkes, ‘Household Life-Cycle Stages, Transitions and Product
Expenditures’ (1995) 22(1) Journal of Consumer Research 27.
104 Cross-sections | Volume V 2009
12
Belk, above n 3.
13
Bruce Mattson and Alan Dubinksy, ‘Shopping Patterns: An Exploration of some
Situational Determinants’ (1987) 4(1) Psychology and Marketing 47.
14
Gordon Foxall and Mirella Yani-de-Soriano, ‘Situational influences on consumers’
attitudes and behavior’(2005) 58(4) Journal of Business Research 518.
15
Ibid.
16
Belk, above n 2.
Consumer Behaviour | Jaclyn Sun 105
17
Belk, above n 2.
18
Belk, above n 3.
19
Yang, above n 4.
20
Ibid.
21
Gordon Bruner II and Richard Pomazal, ‘Problem recognition: The crucial first stage of
the consume’ (1988) 2(3) Journal of Services Marketing 43.
22
Kirk Wakefield and Jeffrey Inman, ‘Situational price sensitivity: The role of consumption
occasion, social context, and income’ (2003) 79(4) Journal of Retailing 199.
23
C Whan Park, Easwar Iyer and Daniel Smith, ‘The effect of situational factors on in-store
grocery shopping behavior: The role of store environment and time available for
shopping’ (1989) 15(4) Journal of Consumer Research 422.
106 Cross-sections | Volume V 2009
24
P Van Kenhove, W Van Waterschoot, and K De Wulf, ‘The Impact of Task Definition on
Store-Attribute Saliences and Store Choice’ (1999) 75(1) Journal of Retailing 125.
25
Mary Curren and Katrin Harich, ‘Consumers’ mood states: The mitigating influence of
personal relevance on product evaluations’ (1994) 11(2) Psychology and Marketing 91;
Gardner, Meryl, ‘Mood states and consumer behavior: A critical review’ (1985) 12(3)
Journal of Consumer Research 281.
26
Mary Curren and Katrin Harich, ‘Consumers’ mood states: The mitigating influence of
personal relevance on product evaluations’ (1994) 11(2) Psychology and Marketing 91;
Gardner, Meryl, ‘Mood states and consumer behavior: A critical review’ (1985) 12(3)
Journal of Consumer Research 281.
27
Itamar Simonson and Russell Winer, ‘The influence of purchase quantity and display
format on consumer preference for variety’ (1992) 19(1) Journal of Consumer Research 133.
28
Bruner and Pomazal, above n 21.
29
Mattson and Dubinksy, above n 13; Kenneth Gehrt and Soyeon Shim, ‘Situational
influence in the international marketplace: An examination of Japanese gift-giving’ (2002)
10(1) Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 11.
30
Nicholls, J A F et al, ‘Relationship between situational variables and purchasing in India
and the USA’, (1996) 13(6) International Marketing Review 6.
Consumer Behaviour | Jaclyn Sun 107
31
Belk, above n 3.
32
Dickson, above n 5.
33
Drew Westen, Lorelle Burton, and Robin Kowalski, Psychology (Australian and New
Zealand edition, 2006); Walter Mischel, Yuichi Shoda, and Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton,
‘Situation-behavior profiles as a locus of consistency in personality’ (2002) 11(2) Current
Direction in Psychological Science 50.
34
Ibid.
35
Yang, above n 4.
36
Mindy Ji and Wendy Wood, ‘Purchase and consumption habits: Not necessary what
you intend’ (2007) 17(4) Journal of Consumer Psychology 261.
108 Cross-sections | Volume V 2009
37
Ji and Wood, above n 36.
38
Yang, above n 4; Dickson, above n 5.
39
Dickson, above n 5.
40
Ji and Wood, above n 36.
41
Quester et al, above n 6.
42
Ibid.
43
Dickson, above n 5.
Consumer Behaviour | Jaclyn Sun 109
44
Dwayne Ball, Charles Lamb, and Roderick Brodie, ‘Segmentation and market structure
when both consumer and situational characteristics are explanatory’ (1992) 9(5) Psychology
and Marketing 395.
45
Dickson, above n 5.
46
Yang, above n 4; Ligas, above n 7.
47
Ligas, above n 7; E Marla Felcher, Prashant Malaviya and Ann McGill, ‘The role of
taxonomic and goal-derived product categorization in, within, and across category
judgment’ (2001) 18(8) Psychology and Marketing 865.
110 Cross-sections | Volume V 2009
48
Flecher, Malaviva and McGill, above n 47.
49
Yang, above n 4. Dickson, above n 5.
50
Yang, above n 4, Ligas, above n 7.
51
Dan Herman, Contextual Segmentation – A New Method For Understanding Your Market
(2007) Competitive Advantages <http://www.advantagizers.com/art5.html> at 24 April
2009.
Consumer Behaviour | Jaclyn Sun 111
V Conclusion
Understanding consumer behaviour is vital for marketing success
because, by knowing whom the product users are, when, and how they
will use it, and in what contexts they use it, marketers can match
relevant products to satisfy consumers’ needs or desires. In light of
Figure 1, and various literature, it is generally agreed that although
individual differences and product attributes play a role in determining
consumer behaviour, situational influences present in a consumption
context tend to override in most instances. This accordingly validates
the context-driven nature of consumer behaviour.
In the final analysis, the context argument does not reduce consumer
behaviour into random chance. Whilst such context argument could be
an excuse used by marketers for their poor marketing performance, the
other justification for this poor performance is that the interaction
between consumers and situations has not been properly captured. A
market segmentation model geared towards consumption context plus
purchase motivation, instead of towards groups of consumers, is
recommended.
112 Cross-sections | Volume V 2009
References
1. Articles/Books/Reports:
Ji, Mindy and Wood, Wendy, ‘Purchase and consumption habits: Not
necessary what you intend’ (2007) 17(4) Journal of Consumer Psychology
261
Consumer Behaviour | Jaclyn Sun 113
Park, C Whan, Iyer, Easwar and Smith, Daniel, ‘The effect of situational
factors on in-store grocery shopping behavior: The role of store
environment and time available for shopping’ (1989) 15(4) Journal of
Consumer Research 422
2. Other Sources: