Consumer Motivation and

Personality
Motivation
Defined
The driving force within individuals that impels them to act.

Motivation drives consumers to take action by

producing a psychological tension caused by unfulfilled
needs. Individuals strive to reduce this tension through
selecting goals and subsequent behavior that they
anticipate will fulfill their needs and thus relieve them
of the tension they feel.
The Motivation Process
• Brand personification occurs when consumers attribute human traits
or characteristics to a brand.
• Anthropomorphism refers to attributing human characteristics to
something that is not human.
Example: Brand Personification

Source: Procter & Gamble Co.

Needs and Goals

• Needs are circumstances or things that that are wanted or required,

and they direct the motivational forces.
• Biogenic
• Psychogenic
• Goals are the sought-after results of motivated behavior, and all
human behavior is goal oriented.
• Generic goals are outcomes that consumers seek in order to satisfy
physiological and psychological needs. (e.g. I want a pair of pants.)
• Product-specific goals are outcomes that consumers seek by using a given
product or service. (e.g. I want a pair of Calvin Klein jeans.)
Need Arousal
• Physiological arousal
• Cognitive arousal

Source: The Kraft Heinz Company

Selecting Goals
• Factors
• personal experiences and knowledge
• physical capacity
• cultural norms and values
• goal accessibility
We may feel a driving force toward or away from an object
or condition.
• Positive outcomes are called approach objects
• Negative outcomes are call avoidance objects
Factors That Motivate Shopping
• Seeking specific goods
• Recreational shopping
• Activity-specific shopping
• Demand-specific shopping
Cannot Attain Goals?
• Substitute goals
• Frustration
• Defense mechanisms
Frustration and Defense Mechanisms
Defined
Frustration is the feeling that results from failure to
achieve a goal, and defense mechanisms are cognitive
and behavioral ways to handle frustration.
Defense Mechanisms
• Aggression
• Rationalization
• Regression
• Projection
• Daydreaming
• Identification
• Withdrawal
Which Defense Mechanism is
Used?

Source: Rami Hanafi, Viewmasters/Ving

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Validity and Applications
• Major problem: cannot be tested empirically
• Western culture; other societies rank needs differently
• Goods and services satisfy each need level
• Different appeals for the same product can be based on
different needs
McClelland's Human Motivation Theory

• According to McClelland, these motivators are learned (which is why

this theory is sometimes called the Learned Needs Theory).
• McClelland says that, regardless of our gender, culture, or age, we all
have three motivating drivers, and one of these will be our dominant
motivating driver. This dominant motivator is largely dependent on
our culture and life experiences.
Vroom's expectancy theory

The theory suggests that although individuals may have different sets
of goals, they can be motivated if they believe that:
• There is a positive correlation between efforts and performance,
• Favorable performance will result in a desirable reward,
• The reward will satisfy an important need,
• The desire to satisfy the need is strong enough to make the effort
worthwhile.
Vroom says that an individual’s motivation is affected by how much they
value any reward associated with an action (Valence), how much they
believe that by putting effort into something they will be able to generate
good results (Expectancy) and how much they believe that generating good
results will result in a reward (Instrumentality).

• Valence: How much they value the potential rewards associated with the
specific results or behaviors,
• Expectancy: How much they believe that their additional effort will help
them achieve the target results of behaviors, and
• Instrumentality: How much they believe the rewards will actually appear
should they achieve the desired outcomes or behaviors.
Personality
• Heredity and early childhood experiences?
• Social and environmental influences?
• Unified whole v s . specific traits
er us

• Reflects Individual Differences

• No two individuals are exactly alike
• Personality enables marketers to categorize
consumers into different groups
• Consistent and enduring, but can change
• Personality is defined as those inner psychological characteristics that
both determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her
environment.
• Personality reflects individual differences.
• Personality is consistent and enduring.
• Personality can change.
Three Approaches
• Freudian concepts
• Neo-Freudian premises
• Measuring distinct traits
Personality Traits

• Innovators or laggards how receptive a person is to new experiences

▪ Functional factors – interest in the performance of an innovation
▪ Hedonic factors – feeling gratified by using the innovation
▪ Social factors – desire to be recognized by others because of one’s pursuit of
innovations
▪ Cognitive factors – mental stimulation experience by using an innovation

• Close-minded vs. Open-minded (Dogmatism) is a personality trait that measures

the degree of rigidity an individual displays toward the unfamiliar and toward information that
is contrary to their established beliefs.
• Conformity vs. Individuality (Inner- vs. Other-directed; Need for uniqueness
– Inner-directed consumers tend to rely on their own “inner” values or standards in
evaluating new products and are likely to be consumer innovators. They also prefer ads
stressing product features and personal benefits.
– Other-directed consumers tend to look to others for direction and are not innovators.
They prefer ads that feature social environment and social acceptance.
Other Personality Factors
• Optimum stimulation level (OSL) are willing to take risks, to try new products, to
be innovative, to seek purchase-related information, and to accept new retail facilities.
• Sensation seeking, “a trait characterized by the need for varied, novel, and complex
sensations and experience, and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of
such experience.”
• Novelty seeking is related to OSL
▪ Exploratory purchase behavior (e.g., switching brands to experience new and
possibly better alternatives)
▪ Vicarious exploration (e.g., where the consumer secures information about a new
or different alternative and then contemplates or even daydreams about the
option)
• Need for Cognition (NFC) is the measurement of a person’s craving for or enjoyment of thinking.
• Visualizers v s . Verbalizers
er us

• Materialism - the degree of the consumer’s attachment to “worldly possessions”

• Compulsions and Fixations
• Ethnocentrism - the consumer’s likelihood to accept or reject foreign-made products
• Need for uniqueness is defined as an individual’s pursuit of differentness relative to others that is achieved through the
acquisition of consumer goods in order to enhance one’s personal and social identity. Eg innovative and creative
• Brand personification occurs when consumers attribute human traits or characteristics—the ingredients of brand
personalities—to different brands in a wide variety of product categories.
– A brand personality provides an emotional identity for a brand and encourages consumers to respond with feelings and
emotions toward the brand.
– A brand’s personality can either be functional (“dependable and rugged”) or symbolic (“the athlete in all of us”).
– Research studies have found that a strong, positive brand personality leads to more favorable attitudes toward the
brand, brand preference, higher purchase intentions, and brand loyalty, and is a way for consumers to differentiate
among competing brands.

– Brand zealots
– Product, website
• Self-image represents the way a person views him or herself.
– Consumers select products that are consistent with their self-images and enhance them
– One’s self-image originates in a person’s background and experience
– Four aspects of self-image are:
▪ Actual self-image—how consumers see themselves
▪ Ideal self-image—how consumers would like to see themselves
▪ Social self-image—how consumers feel others see them
▪ Ideal social self-image—how consumers would like others to see them
•
The Extended Self Consumers’ possessions can confirm or extend their self-images. For instance, acquiring a soughtafter

pair of “vintage” Levi jeans might enrich a teenager’s self-image, because she might see herself as being more desirable,
fashionable, and successful when she wears those pants. Researchers suggested that possessions are extensions of self in the
following ways:54

1. Actually, by allowing the person to do things that otherwise would be very difficult or impossible to accomplish (e.g., problem
solving by using a computer).

2. Symbolically, by making the person feel better (e.g., being considered the “best dressed” at work).

3. Conferring status or rank, for example, being an art collector and owning a rare and wellknown masterpiece.

4. Feelings of immortality by leaving valuable bequests after death.

Altering the Self – Personal Vanity both physical and achievement vanity