Consumer Motivation and Decision

Making
Motivation, values, and
involvement
 Motivation defined
Motivation refers to the processes that cause people to
behave as they do.
Motivation occurs when a need is aroused that the
consumer wishes to satisfy. Once a need has been
activated, a state of tension exists that drives the
consumer to attempt to eliminate or reduce the need.
Understanding motivation is to understand why
consumers do what they do.
 Motivation defined (contd.)
Motivation satisfies either utilitarian or hedonic needs.
• Satisfying utilitarian needs implies that consumers emphasize the objective,
tangible attributes of products e.g. fuel economy in a car.
• Satisfying hedonic needs implies that consumers emphasize subjective and
experiential aspects, e.g. self confidence, excitement, etc.
 Marketers role
Marketers try to create products and services that will provide the desired
benefits that permit the consumer to reduce the tension.

Tension is the difference between the consumer’s present state and some
ideal state.
 Biological versus learned needs
Biological
• Drive theory focuses on biological needs that produce unpleasant states of
arousal, e.g. stomach rumbling when you are hungry. We are motivated to
reduce the tension caused by such arousal.

Learned
• Expectancy theory suggests that behaviour is largely governed by
expectations of achieving desirable outcomes – positive incentives rather
than pushed from within.
 Needs versus wants
The particular form of consumption used to satisfy a
need is called a want.
Biogenic needs – people are born with a need for certain elements necessary to
maintain life, e.g. food, water, shelter, etc.
Psychogenic needs – are acquired in the process of becoming a member of a
culture, e.g. status, power, affiliation, etc.
 Difficulty in distinguishing needs and wants
What part of the motivation is a psychogenic need and
what part is a want?

Both are formed by culture.

 Motivational conflicts
• Positively valued goals – consumers are motivated to
approach the goal and will seek out products that will
be instrumental in attaining it.

• Avoiding negative goals – consumers are motivated

to avoid a negative outcome structuring their
purchases or consumption activities.
 Cognitive dissonance
• Premise that people have a need for consistency and
order in their lives and that a state of tension and
conflict is created when beliefs or behaviours conflict
with one another.

• The conflict may be resolved through cognitive

dissonance reduction where people are motivated to
reduce this inconsistency and eliminate the
unpleasant tension.
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1 of 2)

Figure 4.2
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (2 of 2)
• The hierarchical approach implies that the order of
development is fixed.
• Approach often adapted by marketers because it
indirectly specifies certain product benefits that
people might be looking for depending on their stage
of development and/or environmental conditions.
• Approach does have problems.
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - the problems
• The ultimate state in the hierarchy is difficult to
achieve.
• Certain needs can be placed in different areas of the
hierarchy, e.g. eating is necessary for survival but it is
also a social act and so can be placed further up the
hierarchy.
• It is culture bound.
 Freudian theory
• The idea that much of human behaviour stems from a fundamental conflict
between a person’s desire to gratify his/her physical needs and the necessity
to function as a responsible member of society.
• The struggle is carried out in three internal systems:
– id (immediate gratification, directing a person’s psychic
energy towards pleasurable acts without regard to the
consequences).
– superego (the person’s conscience working to prevent
the id seeking selfish gratification).
– ego (mediating between the other two).
 Consumer desire
• Desire captures the seductive spirit of the positioning
of many contemporary brands.
• Desire has interesting relationships with control –
control can kill desire or it can cause excess and lack
of control over oneself.
• Desire is one way of dealing with very passionate
consumers, stressing the emotional or irrational side
of consumer behaviour.
 Consumer involvement
• Involvement refers to a person’s ‘perceived relevance of the object based on
their inherent needs, values and interests.’ (Zaichkowsky, 1985)
• Involvement can be viewed as the motivation to process information. (Mitchell,
1979)
• The type of information processing that occurs ranges from simple processing
where the basic features of a message are considered elaboration where the
incoming information is linked to a person’s pre-existing knowledge systems.
Involvement

 High Involvement Low Involvement

Consumers are Consumers are
1. Information processors 1. Random learners
2. Information seekers 2. Information gatherers
3. Active responders to 3. Passive responders to
advertising advertising
4. Maximisers of expected 4. Seeking acceptable levels
satisfaction of satisfaction
5. Personality and lifestyle 5. Personality and lifestyle
related to products un-related to products
6. Influenced by reference 6. Not as influenced by
groups reference groups
 Types of consumer involvement
• Cognitive involvement – where a person is motivated to learn all she/he can
about the product.
• Product involvement – the consumer’s level of interest in making a particular
purchase, which can range from inertia to very high involvement.
• Message response involvement (advertising involvement) – the consumer’s
interest in processing marketing communications.
• Ego involvement (enduring involvement) – the importance of a product to a
consumer’s self-concept.
 An involvement profile
• The perceived importance of the potential negative
consequence of a bad purchase.
• The personal interest a consumer has in a product category.
Its personal meaning of importance.
• The probability of making a bad purchase.
• The pleasure value of the product category.
• The sign value of the product category.
Such profiles allows consumer researchers to capture the diversity of the
involvement, construct and use involvement as segmentation base.
Marketing strategists can assess the extent of the involvement with
marketing messages and with the purchase situation.
 Techniques to increase involvement
• Appeal to the consumer’s hedonic needs.
• Use novel stimuli.
• Use prominent stimuli.
• Include celebrity endorsers.
• Build a bond with consumers by maintaining an ongoing relationships
with them.
• Create a cult product that will command fierce consumer loyalty,
devotion and high involvement with the brand.
• The internet has provided companies with new opportunities for
creating loyal bonds with customers and the possibility to personalise
products and services.
Strategic Implications - Low Involvement

1. Advertising - high
repetition, short
duration messages

2. Advertising messages -
focus on a few key
points
Strategic Implications - Low Involvement
3. Emphasis on the visual
and non-message
components

4. Advertising becomes the

primary means of
differentiation -
 Strategic Implications - Low Involvement
5. Brand
positioning
tends to be
about
problem
minimising
6. Price may be the sole
criterion - this helps
explain the successful use
of coupons etc.. by many
marketers

7. In-Store Environment -
end of aisle displays etc..
are more likely to attract
the low involvement
consumer
8. Distribution - will usually
be widespread, stock-out
situations need to be
avoided

9. Product Trial - may need

to be facilitated using
samples, trial packs,
tastings etc.. trial is often
enough to induce continued
purchase
10. Endorsement can help
 Values
A value can be defined as a belief about some desirable
end-state that transcends specific situations and guides
selection of behaviour. (Schwartz and Blisky, 1987)

People’s values play an important role in their

consumption activities, since many products and
services are purchased because it is believed that they
will help attain a certain goal.
 Value characteristics
• In many cases values can be universal – desire for
health, wisdom, etc.
• Values can change over time.
• Values can be challenged.
 Value systems
• Every culture is characterized by its members’
endorsement of a value system.
• It is usually possible to identify a set of core values,
which uniquely define a culture.
• Beliefs taught to us by socialisation agents help form
value systems.
 Types of consumer values
• Efficiency – referring to all products aimed at providing
various kinds of convenience for the consumer.
• Excellence – addressing situations where the experience of
quality is the prime motivation.
• Status – where the consumer pursues success and engages
in impression management and conspicuous consumption.
• Self esteem – situations where the satisfaction of possessing
is in focus.
• Aesthetics – searching for beauty in one’s consumption.
• Ethics and spirituality.
 The Schwartz value survey

Figure 4.4
 Contextualizing the ‘why’
of consumption

Figure 4.6
Source: Adapted from S. Ratneshwar, D. G. Mick and C. Huffman, ‘Introduction’, in S. Ratneshwar, D. G. Mick and C.
Huffman, eds, The Why of Consumption (London: Routledge, 2000): 1–8.