HUMAN BEHAVIOR

BBA2001 Human Behavior/MGT2404 Managerial Psychology Martin de Tours School of Management and Economics Assumption University of Thailand

Chapter 2 WHY DO CONSUMERS BUY THE PRODUCTS THAT

THEY BUY?

The PSYCHOLOGY OF This is a curious question but it all boils down to the
fact that human beings have certain needs, and
these needs are to be fulfilled in one form or the
CONSUMERS) other. But the contention that one need could or
would be fulfilled in various ways makes the topic of
consumer behavior intriguing yet interesting to
Learning Objectives: explore. Consumer behavior is a field of study that
• Define and identify a consumer
examines the processes individuals or groups
• Cite reasons why consumers buy the
products that they buy
undertake in purchasing, using and disposing of
• Distinguish psychological factors that products and services (Hoyer & MacInnis, 2007). It
influence buying and consumption identifies factors and investigates underlying
• Delineate socio-cultural influences in motivations why do people buy the products that
consumer behavior they buy. It determines such behaviors as why some
• Wonder about the effects of psychological consumers prefer iPhone than android phones, stay
and socio-cultural factors in consumer at home rather than travel during holidays, spend
decisions
less on food but splurge on designer clothes, and
• Apply concepts of the psychology of
spends on toy collections that are only displayed in
consumers to personal consumption
experiences shelves at home. These and more fascinating
sometimes strange behaviors are understood
against theories and concepts in psychology,
WHO IS A CONSUMER?
sociology and other allied fields.
A consumer is a person who identifies a need or
desire, makes purchase, and then disposes of the
product (Solomon, 2018). He is an individual who
purchases, has the capacity to purchase, goods and
services offered for sale by marketing institutions in
order to satisfy personal or household needs, wants
or desires (Walters, 1974).

The difference between a consumer and a customer

is that a consumer is the one who consumes the
product or its end-user. A customer is the one who
purchases the product or the one who engage in
some forms of exchange transaction. A customer
can be a consumer but a consumer does not
necessarily need to be a customer (Datta, 2016).

The materials in this handout are intended only for teaching and learning purposes within the university and not for commercial purposes. 1
The Psychological Core
The psychological make-up of an individual mainly
affects his decisions and approaches to buying a
product. This means that depending on the
individual’s motivation, knowledge, memory or
even opportunity, consumers engage in purchase
and consumption activities to fulfill a certain need.
Motivation, ability and opportunity. Consumers are
essentially motivated to engage in buying if
products pose relevance to them and to their needs,
yet much of it will also be affected by their values,
goals and attitudes. Say for instance, a person who
tries to lose weight will be motivated to buy the new
salad set sold at the supermarket because they use
organic vegetables, which actualizes her value
towards sustainability and clean environment. As
this incites favorable attitude towards the product,
she then thinks that this will potentially achieve her
goals, which is to lose weight at the same time help
save the environment. But the ability to purchase
also matters in the decision. This means that the
consumer should have the necessary knowledge,
experience and monetary resources to make the
purchase. However, the eventual purchase only will
take place if she has the opportunity to do it. Thus,
such elements as time, amount of information,
The materials in this handout are intended only for teaching and learning purposes within the university and not for commercial purposes.
availability of the product and the location also
matter in her decision to buy.
Exposure, attention and perception. Consumers
have to be fully informed about the availability of
the products in the market, thus exposure to
product information and the product itself, is
essential to influence consumers to buy. However,
personal biases affect the amount and degree of
attention the consumers want to expend to the
advertised product. In consumer behavior context,
exposing consumers to the product holds a different
story than getting their attention into it. This means
that the consumer may have been exposed to the
product but paid little attention into it thus, it does
not incite interest to purchase. But why little
attention is given? It could be of many reasons—the
product information is not interesting in itself; the
consumer is busy; the promoted product is not what
the consumer is needing at the moment; the
consumer hates the brand; etc. Thus, right
perception is important. Perception is how the
consumers evaluate the usefulness of the product
for themselves. For marketers, this is crucial as their
marketing and advertising messages should lean
towards telling the consumers that the product that
they are looking at is something that they need.
Knowledge and understanding. The intention of the
consumers to buy products are also shaped by their
knowledge and understanding of the products and
its ability to fulfill their needs. Knowledge content
reflects the information consumers have already
learned about brands, companies, product
categories, stores, ads, people, how to shop, how to
use products and so on. When they organize this
knowledge, they come up with a knowledge
structure, which is important in categorizing and
comprehending the product’s use and benefit. A
consumer who aims to look younger may think of a
facial moisturizer to use. But choosing the right
moisturizer that fits her needs requires a thorough
understanding of the availability of the product in
the market, its chemical composition, its effects,
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and even its price. Additionally, the consumer has to
know also that facial moisturizer comes in many
varieties from various brands, in different price
levels and skin types.
Attitude formation. As mentioned above, attitudes
matter in the choice of products that consumers
decide to buy. Forming of attitudes come in various
shapes and sizes as some attitudes are created
instantaneously and do not linger on, but some
attitudes are deeply-seated thus, they change the
consumers’ whole being (more on this in Chapter 6).
But generally understanding the function of attitude
to consumption is simple: attitudes developed
favorably towards a product will potentially lead to
purchase, consumption and recommendation
wherefore attitudes that are negatively developed
usually lead to rejection, indifference and refusal to
purchase. Say for instance, a consumer who is
entertained attentively by a salesperson may
develop positive attitude towards the service and
eventually to the brand, which will potentially lead
to buying the product offered. But a consumer who
received cold reception from a salesperson may
develop negative attitude towards it, and may not
engage in buying products
from the store ever again.
Memory and retrieval.
Consumers’ experiences
with a product are almost
always embedded within
the consumers’ memory
system that is why the top-
of-the-mind brands and
products are the ones
easily recalled. This implies that consumers’
intentions to buy are also affected by how they can
remember the brand, and what kind of experience
they have with them. Naturally, if the experience is
good, more likely the consumers will engage in
buying or do a repeat purchase, but if the
experience is bad, they will go away from the
product. Popular brands continue to invest in
The materials in this handout are intended only for teaching and learning purposes within the university and not for commercial purposes.
advertising campaigns in various media platforms
because it allows recall of their brand from the
consumers’ mind. This is important as they do not
want that consumers to forget their brand and
entice what they say as “out of sight, out of mind.”
The Consumers’ Culture
External factors also play a major role in influencing
consumers to buy the products they buy. The
demographics, psychographics and consumers’
cultures matter in their decisions.
Consumer diversity. The demographic factors such
as age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic
membership and religious affiliations vastly
influence how consumers procure a product, when
to procure it and which product to buy for certain
purposes or occasions. In Thailand, Songkran
Festival is celebrated in various respects depending
on which province you are, and in which age group
you belong. Being in a certain religion or ethnic
group also matters as some may impose restrictions
on the products to buy as well as how to perform
consumption activities; even the manner of dressing
is influenced by cultural factors. Thus, these diverse
backgrounds channel the fact that it is always
important to take into consideration consumers’
cultural backgrounds when understanding their
purposes or intentions to buy.
Social class and household influences. Social class
structures are important because they strongly
affect norms and values, and therefore, behavior.
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Given that members of a social class interact
regularly with each other (both formally and
informally), people are more likely to be influenced
by individuals in their own social class than by those
in other classes. Note that social class influence is
not a cultural limitation; it merely reflects the fact
that people with similar life experiences are likely to
exhibit similar lifestyles and behaviors.
Furthermore, household influences also matter in
this case. The composition of a household pose
significance to analyze consumer behavior because
households make many acquisition, consumption
and disposition decisions than individuals do.
Household is a term that includes a single person
living alone or a group of individuals who live
together in a common dwelling, regardless of
whether they are related. This term includes a
family (either nuclear or extended), cohabiting
couples (an unmarried male and female living
together), gay couples, single with roommates, or
single individuals living alone. Because the number
of households is on the rise, marketers and
researchers are increasingly thinking in terms of
households rather than families.
Psychographics. The psychographic variables
include values, personality and lifestyle. Values are
enduring beliefs that a given behavior or outcome is
desirable or good. Say for instance, you may believe
that it is good to be healthy, keep your family safe,
have self-respect, and be free. The total set of
values and their relative importance constitute
what we call as our value system. The way we
behave in a given situation is often influenced by
how important one value is
relative to others. For
example, deciding whether
to spend Saturday
afternoon relaxing with
your family or excising will
be determined by the
relative importance you
place on your family versus
health. Personality on the
The materials in this handout are intended only for teaching and learning purposes within the university and not for commercial purposes.
other hand, consists of the distinctive patterns of
behaviors, tendencies, qualities or personal
dispositions that make one individual different from
another and lead to a consistent response to
environmental stimuli. These patterns are internal
characteristics that we are born with or that result
from the way we have been raised. The concept of
personality helps us understand why people behave
differently in different situations. Henceforth,
lifestyles relate closely to consumers’ values and
personality. Whereas values and personality
represent internal states and characteristics,
lifestyles are manifestations of actual patterns of
behavior. What people do in their spare time is
often a good indicator of their lifestyle. To put in
context, a student who values education and whose
personality trait is high in conscientiousness, is
more likely to spend her free time reading books,
surfing the net for information or learning a new
skill.
Social influences. Social influences are the
information by and pressures from individuals,
groups and the mass media that affect how a person
behaves. If you happen to follow what your friends
are doing or may have engaged in sports because
your brother told you to do so, you may have been
influenced by the social variables around you. Social
influences are delivered personally through your
family, friends, acquaintances, neighbors,
classmates or groupmates, or in the marketing
context, through salespersons or customer service
agents. It is also delivered through mass media such
as in the form of advertising, sales promotions,
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publicity and special events, and in the non- _________________________________________
marketing domains, could be through social
_________________________________________
newsfeeds and posts on social media, news, vlogs,
groups and organizations and word-of-mouth. _________________________________________
-------------------------------------------------------------------
_________________________________________
Reflect On…
Describe yourself as a consumer. Write down _________________________________________
common patterns of behaviors you have observed
_________________________________________
in yourself when it comes to buying and consuming
products (e.g. you spend time shopping alone, you _________________________________________
only buy what you need, you are big spender, you
_________________________________________
follow trends, you always seek advice from friends,
etc.) _________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________ Draw-It-Yourself
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________

By evaluating these buying and consumption

behaviors, which concepts discussed above that
could best explain the reasons you buy the products
that you buy. Cite factors from both The
Psychological Core and The Consumers’ Culture.
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
In the box, draw at least three items or products
_________________________________________ that you cannot live without. Give brief explanation
why these items or products are important to you.
Share your thoughts to your classmates.

The materials in this handout are intended only for teaching and learning purposes within the university and not for commercial purposes. 5
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
References:

Blackwell, R. et al. (2012). Consumer behavior.

Cengage Learning.

Hoyer, W.D. & MacInnis, D.J. (2007). Consumer

behavior. Houghton

Kardes, F.R., Cline, T.W. & Cronley, M.L. (2011).

Consumer behavior, science and practice. South-
Western Cengage Learning.

Solomon, M. (2018). Consumer behavior, buying,

having, and being. Pearson Education Limited.

Wash your hands.

recycle.

The materials in this handout are intended only for teaching and learning purposes within the university and not for commercial purposes. 6