Introduction: Key Terms
• Buying Behavior
–The decision processes and acts of people
involved in buying and using products
• Consumer Buying Behavior
–Buying behavior of people
who purchase products
for personal use and
not for business purposes
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8–1
Level of Involvement and Consumer
Problem-Solving Processes
• Level of Involvement
–An individual’s intensity of interest in a
product and the importance of the product for
that person
• Enduring involvement
• Situational involvement
• Routinized Response Behavior
–The process used when buying frequently
purchased, low-cost items that require little
search-and-decision effort
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8–2
Level of Involvement and Consumer
Problem-Solving Processes (cont’d)
• Limited Problem Solving
– The process that buyers use when purchasing
products occasionally or when they need information
about an unfamiliar brand in a familiar product
category
• Extended Problem Solving
– The process employed when purchasing unfamiliar,
expensive, or infrequently bought products
• Impulse Buying
– An unplanned buying behavior resulting from a
powerful urge to buy something immediately
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8–3
Important Terms
• Buying Behavior
– The decision processes and acts of people involved
in buying and using products
• Consumer Buying Behavior
– Buying behavior of people who purchase products
for personal use and not for business purposes
• Level of Involvement
– An individual’s intensity of interest in a product and
the importance of the product for that person
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8–4
Important Terms
• Routinized Response Behavior
–A type of consumer problem-solving process
used when buying frequently purchased, lowcost items that require little search-anddecision effort
• Limited Problem Solving
–A type of consumer problem-solving process
that buyers use when purchasing products
occasionally or when they need information
about an unfamiliar brand in a familiar
product category
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8–5
Important Terms
• Extended Problem Solving
– A type of problem-solving process employed when
purchasing unfamiliar, expensive, or infrequently
bought products
• Impulse Buying
– An unplanned buying behavior resulting from a
powerful urge to buy something immediately
• Consumer Buying Decision Process
– A five-stage purchase decision process that includes
problem recognition, information search, evaluation
of alternatives, purchase, and postpurchase
evaluation
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8–6
Consumer Buying Decision Process and
Possible Influences on the Process
FIGURE 8.1
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8–7
Consumer Buying Decision
Process
• Problem Recognition
– Occurs when a buyer becomes aware of a difference
between a desired state and an actual condition
– May occur rapidly or slowly
• Information Search
– Internal search
• Buyers search their memories for information about products
that might solve their problem
– External search
• Buyers seek information from outside sources
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8–8
Consumer Buying Decision
Process (cont’d)
• Evaluation of Alternatives
– Consideration set
• A group of brands that the buyer views as alternatives for
possible purchase
– Evaluative criteria
• Objective and subjective characteristics that are important to
a buyer
– Framing the alternatives
• Describing the alternatives and their attributes in a certain
manner to make a particular characteristic appear more
important especially to the inexperienced buyer
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8–9
Consumer Buying Decision
Process (cont’d)
• Purchase
–Choosing the product or brand to be bought
based on the outcome of the evaluation
stage
–The choice of seller may affect the final
product selection.
–Factors such as terms of
sale, price, delivery, and
warranties may affect
the sale.
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8–10
Consumer Buying Decision
Process (cont’d)
• Postpurchase Evaluation
–Cognitive dissonance
• A buyer’s doubts shortly after a purchase
about whether the decision was the right
one
–Buyers are mostly likely to seek
reassurance after the purchase of an
expensive, high-involvement product
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8–11
Important Terms
• Problem Recognition
– Occurs when a buyer becomes aware of a difference
between a desired state and an actual condition
• Internal Search
– An information search in which buyers search their
memories for information about products that might
solve their problems
• External Search
– An information search in which buyers seek
information from outside sources
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8–12
Important Terms
• Consideration Set
–A group of brands that a buyer views as
alternatives for possible purchase
• Evaluative Criteria
–Objective and subjective characteristics that
are important to a buyer
• Cognitive Dissonance
–A buyer’s doubts shortly after a purchase
about whether the decision was the right one
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8–13
Situational Influences on the
Buying Decision Process
• Situational Influences
–Factors that can influence a buyer’s
purchase decision and may cause the buyer
to short, lengthen, or terminate the process.
• Major Situational Factors
–Physical surroundings
–Social surroundings
–Time perspective
–Reason for purchase
–Buyer’s momentary mood and condition
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8–14
Psychological Influences on the
Buying Decision Process
• Psychological Influences
– Factors that in part determine people’s general
behavior, thus influencing their behavior as
consumers
• Perception
– The process of selecting, organizing, and
interpreting information inputs to produce meaning
• Information Inputs
– Sensations received through the
sense organs
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8–15
Psychological Influences on the
Buying Decision Process (cont’d)
• Selective Exposure
– The process of selecting inputs to be exposed to our
awareness while ignoring others
• Selective Distortion
– An individual’s changing or twisting of information
when it is inconsistent with personal feelings or
beliefs
• Selective Retention
– Remembering information inputs that support
personal feelings and beliefs and forgetting inputs
that do not
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8–16
Psychological Influences on the
Buying Decision Process (cont’d)
• Motives
– An internal energizing force that directs a person’s
behavior toward satisfying needs or achieving goals
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
– The five levels of needs that humans are motivated
to seek and satisfy, from least to most important are
• Physiological needs—food, water, sex, clothing, shelter
• Safety needs—security, freedom
• Social needs—love, affection, belonging
• Esteem needs—respect, recognition, self-worth
• Self-actualization needs—personal growth needs
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8–17
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Maslow believed that people seek to fulfill five
categories of needs.
FIGURE 8.3
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8–18
Important Terms
• Situational Influences
– Factors that can influence a buyer’s purchase
decision and may cause the buyer to shorten,
lengthen, or terminate the process
• Psychological Influences
– Factors that in part determine people’s general
behavior, thus influencing their behavior as
consumers
• Perception
– The process of selecting, organizing, and
interpreting information inputs to produce meaning
• Information Inputs
– Sensations received through the sense organs
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8–19
Important Terms
• Selective Exposure
– The process of selecting inputs to be exposed to our
awareness while ignoring others
• Selective Distortion
– An individual’s changing or twisting of information
when it is inconsistent with personal feelings or
beliefs
• Selective Retention
– Remembering information inputs that support
personal feelings and beliefs and forgetting inputs
that do not
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8–20
Important Terms
• Perceptual Organization
–Organizing and integrating new information
with what is already stored in memory
• Interpretation
–The assignment of meaning to what has
been organized based on what is expected
or what is familiar
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8–21
Important Terms
• Motive
–An internal energizing force that directs a
person’s behavior toward satisfying needs or
achieving goals
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
–The five levels of needs that humans are
motivated to seek and satisfy
• Patronage Motives
–Motives that influence where a person
purchases products on a regular basis
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8–22
Psychological Influences on the
Buying Decision Process (cont’d)
• Learning
– Changes in an individual’s thought processes
and behavior caused by information and
experience
– Behaviors that produce satisfying consequences
are likely to be repeated.
• Consumers learn about products by
– experiencing the products personally.
– gaining additional product knowledge from
seller-provided information.
– indirect information from other purchasers/users.
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8–23
Psychological Influences on the
Buying Decision Process (cont’d)
• Attitudes
– An individual’s enduring evaluation of, feelings
about, and behavioral tendencies toward an object
or idea
• Attitudinal Components
– Cognitive
• Knowledge and information about the object or idea
– Affective
• Feelings and emotions toward the object or idea
– Behavioral
• Individual’s action regarding the object or idea
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8–24
Psychological Influences on the
Buying Decision Process (cont’d)
• Attitude Scale
–A means of measuring consumer attitudes by
gauging the intensity of an individual’s
reactions to adjectives, phrases, or
sentences about an object
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8–25
Psychological Influences on the
Buying Decision Process (cont’d)
• Personality and Self-Concept
–Personality
• A set of internal traits and distinct behavioral
tendencies that result in consistent patterns of
behavior in certain situations
–Self-concept (self-image)
• Perception or view of oneself
• Lifestyles
–Lifestyle
• An individual’s pattern of living expressed through
activities, interests, and opinions
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8–26
Important Terms
• Learning
– Changes in an individual’s thought processes and
behavior caused by information and experience
• Attitude
– An individual’s enduring evaluation of, feelings
about, and behavioral tendencies toward an object
or idea
• Attitude Scale
– A means of measuring consumer attitudes by
gauging the intensity of individuals’ reactions to
adjectives, phrases, or sentences about an object
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8–27
Important Terms
• Personality
–A set of internal traits and distinct behavioral
tendencies that result in consistent patterns
of behavior in certain situations
• Self-Concept (Self-Image)
–Perception or view of oneself
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8–28
Social Influences on the Buying
Decision Process
• Social Influences
– The forces other people exert on one’s buying
behavior
• Role
– Actions and activities that a person in a particular
position is supposed to perform based on
expectations of the individual and surrounding
persons
– Multiple role-expectation sets affect behavior.
– Roles influence both general and buying behaviors.
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8–29
Social Influences on the Buying
Decision Process (cont’d)
• Family Influences
–Consumer socialization
• The process through which a person acquires the
knowledge and skills to function as a consumer
• Family Decision-Making Processes
–Autonomic—equally shared decision-making
–Husband-dominant—husband makes
decisions
–Wife-dominant—wife makes decisions
–Syncratic—decisions made jointly
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8–30
Social Influences on the Buying
Decision Process (cont’d)
• Reference Groups
–Any group that positively or negatively affects
a person’s values, attitudes, or behavior
• Membership
• Aspirational
• Disassociative
• Opinion Leader
–A knowledgeable, accessible individual who
provides information about a specific sphere
of interests to followers
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8–31
Social Influences on the Buying
Decision Process (cont’d)
• Social Class
–An open group of individuals with similar
social rank
–Individuals in the same social class
• develop and assume common behavioral
patterns.
• have similar attitudes, values, language patterns,
and possessions.
–Influences many major life decisions
–Influences shopping patterns and spending
habits
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8–32
Table 8.1
Source: Adapted from Richard P. Coleman, “The Continuing Significance of Social Class to Marketing,” Journal of Consumer Research. Dec. 1983, pp. 265280. Reprinted with permission from The University of Chicago Press. With data from J. Paul Peter and Jerry C. Olson, Consumer Behavior Marketing
Strategy Perspective (Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1987), p. 433. Copyright © 1987 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
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8–33
Social Influences on the Buying
Decision Process (cont’d)
• Culture
– The accumulated values, knowledge, beliefs,
customs, objects, and concepts of a society
• Culture influences buying behavior.
• Cultural changes affect product development, promotion,
distribution, and pricing.
• Subcultures
– Groups of individuals whose characteristic values
and behavior patterns are similar and differ from
those of the surrounding culture
• African American
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• Hispanic
• Asian American
8–34
Important Terms
• Lifestyle
– An individual’s pattern of living expressed through
activities, interests, and opinions
• Social Influences
– The forces other people exert on one’s buying
behavior
• Role
– Actions and activities that a person in a particular
position is supposed to perform based on
expectations of the individual and surrounding
persons
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8–35
Important Terms
• Consumer Socialization
– The process through which a person acquires the
knowledge and skills to function as a consumer
• Reference Group
– Any group that positively or negatively affects a
person’s values, attitudes, or behavior
• Opinion Leader
– A knowledgeable, accessible individual who provides
information about a specific sphere of interests to
followers
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8–36
Important Terms
• Social Class
–An open group of individuals with similar
social rank
• Culture
–The accumulated values, knowledge, beliefs,
customs, objects, and concepts of a society
• Subcultures
–Groups of individuals whose characteristic
values and behavior patterns are similar and
differ from those of the surrounding culture
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8–37