CHAPTER 11 IN REVIEW
Decision Making I: Need Recognition and Search
Chapter Summary
Glossary Terms
Understand the activities involved in the consumer decision
making process.
The consumer decision making process consists of five activities: (1) need recognition,
(2) search for information, (3) evaluation of alternatives, (4) choice, and (5) post-choice
evaluation. Consumers recognize needs when discrepancies are realized between actual
and desired states. Consumers search for information from both internal and external
sources. With internal search, consumers search their memories for appropriate solutions
to problems. External searches consist of information-gathering activities that focus on
friends, family, salespeople, advertising, and Internet-based information. Consumers
evaluate alternatives based on the information that has been gathered and eventually
make a decision.
Example
Mike realizes he needs a new laptop.
Search for Information
Evaluation of Alternatives
Choice
Post-Choice Evaluation
He begins to read reports about various
brands of laptops and he starts to ask
his friends what type of laptop they
think he should buy.
Mike compares a few brands on
attributes that he considers to be
important.
He makes the decision to buy a new
Dell Inspiron.
Looking back at his chioce of laptop,
he considers the value that he received
and thinks that he made a good overall
decision.
awareness set set of alternatives of
which a consumer is aware
behavioral influence decisionmaking perspective decision-making research perspective that assumes
many consumer decisions are actually
learned responses to environmental
influences
brand inertia what occurs when a
consumer simply buys a product repeatedly without any real attachment
consideration set alternatives that
are considered acceptable for further
consideration in decision making
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Process
current state
brand loyalty deeply held commitment to rebuy a product or service
regardless of situational influences that
could lead to switching behavior
Consumer Decision Making Process
Need Recognition
actual state consumer’s perceived
consumer search behavior
behaviors that consumers engage in as
they seek information that can be used
to resolve a problem
desired state perceived state for
which a consumer strives
experiential decision-making
perspective assumes consumers
often make purchases and reach decisions based on the affect, or feeling,
attached to the product or behavior
under consideration
extended decision making consumers move diligently through various
problem-solving activities in search of
the best information that will help them
reach a decision
Describe the three major decision-making research
perspectives.
external search gathering of
The three major decision-making research perspectives are the rational decision-making
perspective, the experiential decision-making perspective, and the behavioral influence
decision-making perspective. The rational perspective assumes that consumers diligently
gather information about purchases, carefully compare various brands of products
on salient attributes, and make informed decisions regarding what brand to buy. This
approach centers around the assumption that human beings are rational creatures who
are careful with their decision making and behavior. The experiential decision-making
perspective assumes that consumers often make purchases and reach decisions based
on the affect, or feeling, attached to the product or behavior under consideration. The
behavioral influence-making perspective assumes that consumer decisions are learned
responses to environmental influences.
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CHAPTER ELEVEN
information from sources external to
the consumer such as friends, family,
salespeople, advertising, independent
research reports, and the Internet
habitual decision making consumers generally do not seek information at all when a problem is recognized
and select a product based on habit
inept set alternatives in the awareness
set that are deemed to be unacceptable
for further consideration
inert set alternatives in the awareness
set about which consumers are indifferent or do not hold strong feelings
D E C I S I ON M A K I N G I: N E E D R E C O G N IT IO N A N D S E A R C H
12/7/09 11:41 AM
Chapter 11 Decision Making I: Need Recognition and Search
information overload situation in
which consumers are presented with
so much information that they cannot
assimilate the variety of information
presented
internal search retrieval of knowledge stored in memory about products,
services, and experiences
limited decision making decisionmaking approach wherein consumers
search very little for information and
often reach decisions based largely on
prior beliefs about products and their
attributes
ongoing search search effort that is
not necessarily focused on an upcoming
purchase or decision but rather on staying up-to-date on the topic
perceived risk perception of the
negative consequences that are likely
to result from a course of action and the
uncertainty of which course of action is
best to take
prepurchase search search effort
aimed at finding information to solve an
immediate problem
price information that signals the
amount of potential value contained in
a product
quality perceived overall goodness or
badness of some product
rational decision-making perspective assumes consumers diligently
gather information about purchases,
carefully compare various brands of
products on salient attributes, and make
informed decisions regarding what brand
to buy
satisficing practice of using decisionmaking shortcuts to arrive at satisfactory,
rather than optimal, decisions
search regret negative emotions that
come from failed search processes
universal set total collection of
all possible solutions to a consumer
problem
Perspectives on Consumer
Decision Making
Perspective
Description
Example
Rational perspective
Zach carefully considers a
Consumers are rational and they
number of options when
carefully arrive at decisions.
buying a new car.
Experiential
perspective
Decision making is often influMarcie decides to go to a day
enced by the feelings associated spa for the pleasure and relaxwith consumption.
ation it provides.
Behavioral influence
perspective
Decisions are responses to
environmental influences.
The relaxing environment at
the restaurant leads Jackie to
stay and buy another drink.
Explain the three major types of decision-making approaches.
Decision-making approaches can be classified into extended decision making, limited
decision making, and habitual (or “routine”) decision making categories. With extended
decision making, consumers search diligently for the best information that will help them
reach a decision. They then assimilate the information that they have gathered and evaluate
each alternative based on its potential to solve their problem. This process is usually lengthy
and generally occurs when involvement is high and when there is a significant amount of
purchase risk involved with the decision. With limited decision making, consumers spend little
time searching for information and often reach decisions based largely on prior beliefs about
products and their attributes. There is also little comparison between brands. Choice strategies
are often based on simple decision rules that consumers develop. With habitual decision
making, practically no information search takes place, and decisions are reached via habit.
Understand the importance of the consideration set in the
decision-making process.
The consideration set is valuable because brands are placed in the set as consumers proceed
through the decisionmaking process. For
this reason, marketers
find it valuable to
understand the
CONSIDERATION SET
consideration set
of their customers.
UNIVERSAL SET
INERT SET
AWARENESS SET
Although the total
universe of alternativess
INEPT SET
available for
potentially satisfying
a need may be quite
large, only a small
fraction of these options are generally included in the consideration set.
Consideration Set
Understand the factors that influence the amount of search
performed by consumers.
Several factors influence the amount of search that consumers actually perform. Factors
such as previous experience with a product, purchase involvement, perceived risk, time
availability, attitudes toward shopping, personal factors, and situational pressures all have
an impact on the information search effort.
CHAP TER EL EVEN
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DE CISION M AKING I: NE E D RE COGNIT ION AND S E A R C H
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