CHAPTER FOUR

PERSONALITY AND CONSUMER

BEHAVIOR
4.1. Definition of personality
 Kotler and Keller define personality as a set of
distinguishing human psychological traits that
lead to relatively consistent and enduring
responses to the environmental stimuli”
 Schiffm and Kanuk who define it as “the inner
psychological characteristics that both
determine and reflect how a person respond to
his or her environment.
 “consistent ways of responding to the environment
in which a person lives”.
 4.2. Nature of personality
Personality is integrated: all the factors that
constitute personality interact with one
another to produce an integrated whole.
Personality is unique and reflects
individual differences: no two persons are
exactly alike.
• This is due to the fact that “the inner
characteristics that constitute an individual
personality are unique combination of
factors.
Personality is self-serving: personality is
purposed to meet individual’s need as defined by
the person’s traits.
Personality is consistent: Consistency is one
important quality of personality, which enables
marketers to segment market and offer
standardized offerings to each segment.
Personality is multiply expressed: there are many
ways of expressing personality beside behavior.
• Our feelings, thoughts and social interaction are
reflective of our personalities.
Personality can change: due to
culture and evolutionary processes.
like, marriage, child birth, the death
of a parent, a change of profession
and/or job, natural disaster
 4.3. Impact of personality on consumer behavior

• The inability of popular variables like

demography, culture, and social class to
adequately explain certain aspects of the
buying behavior of consumers, made
marketing scholars to borrow thoughts on
human behavior from personality
psychologists.
• Personality goes beyond the question of
“who buy?” and “what they buy” to
answering ‘how they buy’.
• Each person's distinct personality
influences his or her buying behavior.
• Personality refers to the unique
psychological characteristics that lead to
relatively consistent and lasting
responses to one's own environment.
• Personality is usually described in terms
of traits such as self-confidence,
dominance, sociability, autonomy,
defensiveness, adaptability and
aggressiveness.
• Personality can be useful in analyzing
consumer behavior to certain product or
brand choices.
• For example it has been discovered that
heavy coffee drinkers tend to be high on
sociability.
• Many marketers use a concept related to
personality- a person's self-concept (also called
self-image).
• The basic self-concept premise is that people's
possessions contribute to and reflect their
identities: that is 'we are what we have'.
• Thus in order to understand consumer
behavior, the marketer must first understand
the relationship between consumer self-
concept and possessions.
• For example, people buy books to support their
self- images.
• Sellers need to be aware of different buyer
personality types.
• Buzzotta and et.al. suggest:- Two-
dimensional approach to understanding
buyer psychology
• They believe it is meaningful to place
individuals in one cell of a two-by-two
matrix.
1. Dominant: in face-to-face situations,
dominance is the drive to take control of
others.
It implies a need to lead in personal
encounters, to have control of situations and
to have a strong desire to be independent.
2. Submissive: submission is the disposition
to let others take the lead.
It implies a willingness to be controlled, a
need to comply with the wishes of others and
an avoidance of confrontation.
• 3. Warm: warmth is having a regard
for others.
• A warm person is described as one
who is outgoing, good humored,
optimistic and willing to place trust
in others.
 Dimensional model of buyer
Dominant Q1 Q4
talkative, aggressive adaptable and
and forceful open minded

Q2 cold, aloof/detached and Q3 extrovert,

uncommunicative. friendly,
understanding,
talkative and
Submissive positive-minded

Hostile Warm
• They claim that, in general each
person primarily falls into one of the
four groups.
• Q1: Dominant-hostile: These people
are talkative, aggressive and forceful
in their actions.
• They are usually difficult to get along
with and can be offensive.
• Q2: Submissive-hostile: these people are
cold, aloof/detached and uncommunicative.
• They tend to be loners and work in jobs that
demand concentration rather than
socialization, for example computer
programming.
• When responding to questions, they tend
to be short and terse: ‘maybe’, ‘all
right’, ‘possibly’.
• They prefer to avoid sales interviews, but if
they cannot avoid them they take on a
passive.
• Q3: Submissive-warm: these people are
extrovert, friendly, understanding,
talkative and positive-minded people who
are not natural leaders.
• They prefer to buy from someone they like
and view a sales interview as a social
occasion.
• Generally they accept most of what the
salesperson tells them, but if they feel any
doubt they will postpone the decision to buy
– possibly to seek advice from friends.
• Q4: Dominant-warm These people are
adaptable and open minded but not afraid
to express their ideas and opinions.
• They tend to want proof of sales
arguments and become impatient of
woolly answers.
• They are not hesitant to buy from anyone
who can prove to their satisfaction that there
is a benefit to be gained.
• They like to negotiate and can be demanding
and challenging in a sales interview.
• Implications for selling
• Salespeople should modify their behavior
accordingly.
Q1: To win the respect of dominant-hostile
people, the appropriate salesperson behavior is to
adjust their dominance level upward to meet that
of the buyer.
• This would involve sitting upright, maintaining
eye contact, listening respectfully (but passively)
and answering directly.
• Once Q1 buyers realize that the salesperson is
their psychological equal, a meaningful
discussion can take place.
Q2: When first meeting with a submissive-
hostile Q2 buyer, a salesperson should not
attempt to dominate, but gradually try to
gain their trust.
• The salesperson should match the buyer’s
dominance level and ask open-ended
questions in a slow, soft manner.
• The salesperson should lower their stature,
keeping eyes and head at the same level as
the buyer.
Q3: Submissive-warm people like and trust
people.
• The salesperson should satisfy their social
needs by being warm and friendly.
• They should not attempt to dominate, but
should instead share the social experience.
• Once liking and trust have been
established, the salesperson should guide
the interview towards the goal of decision-
making.
Q4: Dominant-warm people consider
respect more important than being
liked.
• To gain respect, the salesperson
should match the Q4’s dominance
level while maintaining a warm
(empathetic) manner.
• Sales arguments need to be backed
up whenever possible by evidence.
• Individual assignment: write term paper on Personality theories
• Instruction
• The length for each personality theories: maximum 2 page minimum 1 page
• Preliminary parts should be numbered by roman numbers whereas the main body
always numbered using Arabic number in which the introductory part numbered 1.
• The length of the term paper without annex is not more than 13 pages.
• Typing instructions should be as follow.
i. Set margins 1inch at the top, bottom and right side, and 1.25 at the left sides.
ii. One and a half spacing should be used for typing the entire text.
iii. The general text must be justified and typed in the Font style ‘Times New
Roman’ and Font size 12. Heading shall be typed in the Font style ‘Times New
Roman’, Font size 14, bold and aligned center
iv. Subheading should be typed in the Font style ‘Times New Roman’, Font size
12, bold and aligned left
v. Sub-subheading should be typed in the Font style ‘Times New Roman’, Font
size 12, italic bold and aligned left after one inch from edge
vi. Spacing between paragraphs shall be 10pt.
 Personality theories
Psychodynamic Theory
• The psychodynamic theory posits that the
interaction of instinctual/inherent drives
and unconscious forces within
individuals are largely responsible for
the differences in personality.
Trait theory
• The trait theorists argue that there is a
“continuum of various personality
characteristics.
• Where a person lies of this continuum
determines his or her personality.
Behavioral Theory
• Those that favor the behavioral approach
see personality as the outcome of the
interaction of personal and environmental
factors.
Humanistic Theory
• The humanistic approach focuses on
the positive aspects of human
existence and identifies self-
determination and need for self-
actualization as the primary causes of
differences in personality.
Socio-Cognitive Theory
• The socio-cognitive approach
theories that the differences in
personality are due to the different
ways individual process information.
Thank you