Psychological State of Consumer Behavior - Coursework Example

Psychological state of consumer behavior Name Grade course Institution Tutor Date Introduction Any marketing campaign is aimed at convincing the consumers that certain goods meet and satisfy their needs and wants. But what drives the consumers in selecting the product they buy is determined by consumer behaviors. The field of consumer behaviors specializes in studying how individual consumers or firms decide to buy and select certain goods or services that they believe satisfy their needs and wants (Hausman 2000, p.404). The psychological state of the consumer is influenced by such factors as perception, motivation, attitude, learning, personality and emotions. These factors act differently in different individuals or groups and can influence the consumer’s decision in the last minute of purchase (Sandy & Minjeong 2009, p.23). This paper will look at motivation and how it influences the consumer’s decision. The paper will review five different articles and comment on the implications of the findings in developing a strategy to manage consumers. Marketers need to understand what motivates the consumers to satisfy their needs. Discussion Veronika 2013 article focuses on the buyer behaviors on the web. Veronica argues that even though there are many internal and external factors that influence the consumer, the company plays the final role in influencing the decision-making process. Veronika’s article uses the basic terminology and Maslow’s theory of motivation to explain buyer’s motives of online shopping. In her research, questionnaires are used to conduct survey which examines the motive and the experience of the consumers while shopping online. Independent tests are also carried out to determine whether there is any relationship between the age of the consumers and motivation while doing online shopping. Veronika employees quantitative research and use questionnaires to collect data. She later compared her results with those of other researchers and performed independent tests that verified the hypothesis. The study that was conducted in February of 2011 involved a survey of buyer’s motives of some selected respondents on the internet the Czech Republic’s Pardubice district. The research’s main aim was to acquire data of consumer’s opinions of buyer’s behavior when shopping online. A total of 206 respondents were involved in the research; 122 out 138 respondents who were interviewed directly were involved in the processing while 84 out of the total 96 questionnaires were returned. The results of the research showed that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is an important theory in current business conception. Its was further found out that motives cannot be easily deduced as motivation is highly dynamic and is a process that changes with life experience. According to Veronika (2013), the success of any online shopping stores depends on the satisfaction the consumers based on the Maslow’s five independent grades. On independent test of the hypothesis on relationship between age and consumer motives, the hypothesis was not rejected since it was found out that there is no such relationship. Instead, it was found out that people of different age groups shop online driven by different motives and are guided by special-exclusive products which are cost-effective. 48 percent of the respondents indicated that they have shopped online and their motives are driven by low prices, wide range of products and convenient shopping. Shrivastava and Lanjewar (2011) article aims at designing a business intelligence framework based on motivational factors that influence online buying by Indian consumers. The researchers tested the effectiveness of the motivational factors based on the information obtained from Indian Online Railway website. The objective of the research is to identify the factors and design characteristics that can assist in developing motivational forces in consumers needs towards online shopping (2011, p.16). Shrivastava and Lanjewar (2011) undertook causal, diagnostics and descriptive research. The study is aimed at determining the critical motivational factors that influence users in online booking of Indian railway tickets. The study involved a pilot study that had a total of 100 respondents. The results of the pilot study established the reliability of 38 times which were grouped into 9 factors: convenience, time, search and information, product, economic, service excellence, demographic, social and exogenous and hassle-free motivations. The items were further validated by factor loading based on their respective constructs. The final study involved questionnaires that had two major parts: the first one about basic demographic data and the second one about the user’s relative preferences about the motivation attributes that influence them to online booking. The findings and deductions made by the researchers showed that even though online consumers of products in India continues to grow, managing the dynamics of the consumer behavior is a topic that needs further research (Guo 2011, p.184). Issues of anonymity, lack or minimal interaction, uncertainty and lack of control make the research results appear disintegrated and fragmented. Based on Shrivastava and Lanjewar (2011) research, it can be said that online buying has positive correlation to convenience, time, search, product, economic, hassle-free, social, demographic and service excellence motivation. Veltkamp, Custers & Aarts (2011) study the impact of motivating consumer behavior by subliminal conditioning in the absence of basic needs. The authors conduct two tests to determine whether subliminal conditioning can help to motivate certain behavioral concepts like drinking water even in the absence of deprivation. The first study had 65 respondents while second study had 82 respondents making a total of 147 respondents for the whole research. The authors based their research on previous studies that suggested that priming of behavioral concepts can motivate consumers outside conscious awareness but on condition that the prime matches the current need. The results of the two studies show that there was some sort of interaction effect. Fluid deprivation was responsible for increase in motivation to drink more water while subliminally conditioning drinking water additional positive just motivated drinking in the lack of deprivation. The second study further suggested that motivation that resulted from conditioning is slightly specific than that followed deprivation since the latter can be easily reduced by following alternative behaviors. Veltkamp, Custers & Aarts (2011) study on consumer psychology focus on the impact of environmental cues like role models, slogans or commercials in motivating consumers to perform certain behaviors like purchasing a specific soft drink or a health snack. Just like many other previous researchers, Veltkamp, Custers & Aarts (2011, p.47) experiments found out that subliminally priming consumers with the brand name of a beverage that is thirst--quenching motivate the consumers to choose that drink but only when they are thirsty. According to their findings, Veltkamp, Custers & Aarts (2011) concluded that consumers process most of the incoming information out of their conscious awareness. Zanoli and Naspetti (2002) article presents results from an Italian study on the perception and knowledge of consumers on organic foods. Hard-laddening approach was used by the researchers to interview the 60 respondents involved in the research in order to measure the means-end chain. The results of the interview were coded and later presented in a set of hierarchical-structured value maps. The results indicated that though it is hard to get organic products and for the fact that they are expensive, most of the respondents judge them as good for their diet. All consumers have a common answer for the organic product, healthy, tasty, and nourishing. The only difference exists from different groups based on their frequency of use and the ability to access information. The respondents were clustered into two groups: regular buyers (those who bought organic products at least twice a week-35 in number) and occasional buyers- 18 in number and they rest were unwell to talk or did not know. The maps of the two groups of residents are drawn and there negative ladders are drawn separately; the maps show that aspects of health and wellbeing take a central position. This means that these two are the most important motivating factors. It can be concluded that, organic consumers do not want to be driven by the market prices but rather by healthy lifestyles. Durmaz and Diyarbakirlioglu (2011) begin their article by providing a background of marketing concept since it was developed. According to the authors, marketing begins with the needs of the consumer and end with the satisfaction that the consumer gets. This means that the entire marketing process revolves around the consumer prompting the importance of studying the consumer behaviors. The key to the growth and profitability of any firm in a highly competitive market lies on the ability to satisfy the consumers with the unfulfilled needs. Durmaz and Diyarbakirlioglu (2011, p.2) define motive as a need or a desire that drives a person to act. Thus, motivation can be defined as an act or a process that provides motive which in turn causes a person to take an action. Motivation manifests as a need that result to a reward whenever the need is fulfilled. Durmaz and Diyarbakirlioglu (2011) also consider motivation as a driving force that helps individuals achieve their goals. They are of the opinion that consumers have different needs at any one moment. The same need becomes a motivation when it demands to be supplied with high levels of intensity. They argue that motivation occurs when there arises a need that the consumer wishes to satisfy at a particular moment. Motivation will thus convince the consumer to be a firm’s product from a specific retailer. The need is usually associated with a state of tension that attempts to eliminate the need. Goal-structure is also an important component of motivation. Individual goals are the ones that provide the consumer the motivation to purchase the product that will fulfill their need. Conclusion The various articles reviewed in this paper shows that motivation is an important factor that influences consumer behavior from a psychological perspective. The findings of the articles also indicate that different consumers are motivated differently to purchase goods but their ultimate goal is the satisfaction they get. In the competitive business environment, it is upon the firms to step ahead of their competitors and be the best in identifying and satisfying the needs of the consumers. The more satisfaction that a consumer gets from a product, the higher the motivation level to return and purchase some more products in the future. References Durmaz, Y. & Diyarbakirlioglu, Y. 2011, ‘A theoretical approach to the strength of motivation in customer behavior’ Global Journal of Human Social Science, vol.11, no.10, pp 1-8. Guo, L. (2011). A Research on Influencing Factors of Consumer Purchasing Behaviors in Cyberspace. International Journal of Marketing Studies 3(3): 182-88. Hausman, A, 2000 ‘A multi-method investigation of consumer motivations in impulse buying behavior’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 17, no. 5, pp.403 – 426. Sandy, D. & Minjeong. K., (2009). External and internal trigger cues of impulse buying online. Direct Marketing: An International Journal, 3 (1) 20 – 34. Shrivastava, A. & Lanjewar, U. 2011, ‘A Business Intelligence Model for Indian Consumers‘Behaviour with respect to Motivation’, International Journal of Computing and ICT Research, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.11-31. Veltkamp, M., Custers, R., & Aarts, H., 2011, Motivating consumer behavior by subliminal conditioning in the absence of basic needs: Striking even while the iron is cold. Journal of Consumer Psychology, vol.21, pp 49-56. Veronika, S, 2013, ‘Motivation of Online Buyer Behavior’, Journal of Competitiveness, vol.5, no.3, pp 14-30. Zanoli, R. & Naspetti, S. 2002, ‘Consumer motivation in the purchase of organic food’ British Food Journal, vol.104, no.8, pp. 643-653. Appendix 1: hypothesis and variables used in the reviewed articles Author(s)0 DV: dependent variable IV: independent variable Relationship between IV and DV hypothesis Veronika (2013) DV: age and motivation IV: online shopping No relationship H1:Experiences with buying on internet are not evenly distributed Shrivastava and Lanjewar (2011) DV: motivational factors IV: online buying decision Positive H1:the are many motivation factors that influence Indian customers to shop online Veltkamp, Custers & Aarts (2011) DV: priming IV: motivation positive H1: subliminal conditioning can motivate consumer behavior Zanoli and Naspetti (2002) DV: Means-end chain IV: motivation positive H1: means-end chain motivates consumer to buy organic products Appendix 2: research methods in the reviewed articles Author(s)0 Country Measurement used Method Survey method No. of respondents Veronika (2013) Czech Repblic Maslow’s need theory Quantitative questionnaires 206 Shrivastava and Lanjewar (2011) India Business intelligence model quantitative questionnaires 100 Veltkamp, Custers & Aarts (2011) Not mentioned Based on previous research quantitative Questionnaires 147 Zanoli and Naspetti (2002) Italy Hard-laddening Quantitative Maps 60 Read More