Consumer Behaviour

Melika Husi-Mehmedovi Slavo Kuki Muris ii
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Sarajevo 2012.
Publication: Authors:
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Doc. dr. Melika Husi-Mehmedovi Prof. dr. Slavo Kuki Prof. dr. Muris ii Indira Randall Prof. dr. Srebren Dizdar (chapter 13) Dena umruki (chapter 2) Indira Randall Barry Jones School of Economics and Business in Sarajevo Dean, Prof. dr. Veljko Trivun Prof. dr. Boris Tihi Prof. dr. Marcel Meler Adis Duhovi 2012
Translation:
Proofreading: Publisher: For publisher: Reviewers: Design&DTP Year of publication:
CIP - Katalogizacija u publikaciji Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo 366.1(075.8) HUSI-Mehmedovi, Melika Consumer behaviour / Melika Husi-Mehmedovi, Slavo Kuki, Muris ii ; [translation Indira Randall, Srebren Dizdar, Dena umruki]. Sarajevo : School of Economics and Business = Ekonomski fakultet, 2012. - XV, 382 str. : ilustr. ; 25 cm Authors biographies: str. V-VII. - Bibliografija uz svako poglavlje. ISBN 978-9958-25-068-2 1. Kuki, Slavo 2. ii, Muris COBISS.BH-ID 19468806
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FOREWORD
Dear readers, This is the revised and expanded version of the first edition, this time in English. The reason for the English edition lies in the fact that more and more institutions, especially for university education, are introducing lectures in English with the aim of internationalisation and integration into the European flow and principles of mobility and international exchange of students and professors. Therefore, this is our attempt to partly contribute to these processes, as well as to bring our book closer to more readers. Nevertheless, the main goal of this book is still to provide an insight into the contemporary concept of consumer behaviour. Today, marketing studies must include analysis and understanding of consumers, which is the precondition of successful marketing. Understanding consumers is not simple, as can be shown by numerous examples of failures on the market. Servicing consumers in the spirit of marketing primarily involves being familiar with the theoretical principles of human behaviour, in both a social and individual context. On the other hand, the practical component of behaviour, as well as experiences and results from the past are also important elements in determining the problem. Therefore, this book is a cross-section between theoretical and practical components which aim to introduce readers and students to the wealth of existing knowledge. Contemporary marketing studies pay closer attention specifically to consumer behaviour. The reason lies in the fact that basic quantitative and demographic research has reached its peak, whereas individual qualitative research provides deeper insight into the psyche and into individual
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influences on consumers. Psychological categories such as motivation, attitudes, perceptions, personality and the learning process are focused on the individual consumer and considerably help in understanding consumers. On the other hand, social influences incarnated in culture, family, reference groups and method of communication paint a complete picture of the impact on consumer decisions. Although the discipline of consumer behaviour is already well developed in the marketing literature of Western countries, there is still insufficient literature on this topic in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This textbook is one of the first complete works aimed at students, the academic society and businessmen in the country and beyond. Given the scope of research and applications of marketing today, this textbook needs to fill in the gaps in available literature. Also, the authors have attempted to approach the topic from a specific angle of a developing economy, without losing a general approach. We hope that after examining this book, as well as other similar books, students and businessmen will be able to create a marketing strategy in order to approach consumers and target markets. Our intention was certainly not to cover all possible aspects of the various issues, since this would need a much bigger space. Our aim was to provide the basic principles and fundamentals of this scientific discipline, in order to assist students, businessmen and marketing researchers in their further efforts and research. Finally, authors express great gratitude to Indira Randall, who volunteered her free time to contribute with the translation of 14 chapters in this book.
Sarajevo, April 2012 Authors
Melika Husi-Mehmedovi . Slavo Kuki . Muris ii
AUTHORS BIOGRAPHIES
Melika Husi-Mehmedovi is an assistant professor at the Department of Marketing of the School of Economics and Business Sarajevo at the University of Sarajevo. She received her graduate degree in Business Management (MBA Master of Business Administration) at the Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb, and her PhD in 2009 at the School of Economics and Business Sarajevo in Lifestyle and luxury consumption. She is a third generation graduate of the London School of Public Relations (LSPR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and she was a guest lecturer at the George Washington University in 2009 as a scholar of the U.S. State Department. Dr. Husi-Mehmedovi was the Head of Department of Marketing in the Independent News Agency ONASA Sarajevo (2002-2005) and Head of Department of Public Relations at the School of Economics and Business Sarajevo (2005-2008). She published a number of articles in recognized journals, such as the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Market, African Journal of Business Management and Social Indicators Research. Dr. HusiMehmedovi published chapters in the following international books: The Changing Nature of Doing Business in Transition Economies and International Consumer Behaviour: A Mosaic of Eclective Perspectives Handbook on International Consumer Behaviour in 2011, as well as in Public Relations and Communication Management in Europe: A Nationby-Nation Introduction Into Public Relations Theory and Practice, and Medium-Sized Firms and Economic Growth in 2005. She also published papers on nineteen international academic conferences, where the most significant ones were EMAC, ACR and Macro-marketing.
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Slavo Kuki is a professor at the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Mostar, and he holds lectures for the undergraduate and graduate programmes at the Universities of Sarajevo, Split and Dubrovnik. He is the author of eight university and high school textbooks: Introduction to sociology, 1st part (1993), Sociology (1995), Methodology of social sciences research papers (2003), Sociology, textbook for secondary schools (2003), Logics, textbook for secondary schools (2004), Sociology, theory of social structure (2004), Methodology of social sciences methods, techniques, procedures and instruments of research papers (2006), and Marketing (2007). As an author or co-author, he signed eight more studies and researches: Status of citizens and nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1998), Country and nation: Bosnia and Herzegovina the last stage of consolidation of Europe (1999), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Human development Report (1999), Human Security in South-East Europe, New York (1999), Status of gypsies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1999), Demographic changes and status of minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Maribor (2000), Civil society and local democracy (2001), Local and regional self-government in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2002). Finally, Dr. Kuki is the author of three column books, published in different daily and weekly journals: Witness of time (2001), Balkan inn, a new round of nationalists (2005), as well as Ashdowns Bosnian and Herzegovinian phase, the last year of marriage out of interest (2005), and more than one hundred other scientific and academic papers published in several world languages. He participated in more than forty domestic and international academic conferences.
Authors biographies
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Muris ii is a professor at the School of Economics and Business at the University of Sarajevo and an associate at the Academy of Science and Art in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Professor ii lectured in the area of marketing at the University of Wollongong in Australia for six years. Additionally, he held lectures at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, John Carroll University, Michigan State University, Czech Management School, University of Ljubljana, Podgorica, Shkoder, Zagreb and other universities around the world. Professor ii published articles in the Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Global Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, European Journal of Marketing, Social Indicators Research, Behaviour and Information Technology and many other recognized journals. He also participated with contributions to numerous international academic conferences, for instance, at the American Marketing Association Conference, European Academy of Marketing Conference, World Marketing Congress and dozens of others.
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SHORT CONTENT
1 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING / 3 2 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH / 23 3 MOTIVES AND MOTIVATION / 53 4 PERCEPTION / 75 5 PERSONALITY / 97 6 LEARNING AS A FACTOR OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR / 125 7 ATTITUDES / 149 8 FAMILY / 175 9 SOCIAL CLASSES / 197 10 CULTURE / 217 11 SUBCULTURE / 235 12 LIFESTYLE / 253 13 ORGANIZATIONAL BUYER BEHAVIOUR / 277 14 PURCHASE AND POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR / 319 15 COMMUNICATION AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR / 333 16 PURCHASE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS / 349
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CONTENT
FOREWORD .................................................................................................................................................................. iii AUTHORS BIOGRAPHIES ........................................................................................................................................... v
I chapter CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Consumer Behaviour ................................................................................................................................ 3 Definition and application of consumer behaviour ....................................................................... 5 Consumer behaviour and other scientific disciplines ................................................................... 9 Final and organisational consumption ............................................................................................ 10 Consumer behaviour model ............................................................................................................... 11 Consumer behaviour determinants ................................................................................................. 14 Ethical aspects of consumer behaviour ........................................................................................... 19
II chapter CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Why research consumer behaviour? ................................................................................................ 23 Approaches to consumer behaviour research .............................................................................. 24 Types of consumer behaviour research ........................................................................................... 26 Research process .................................................................................................................................... 28 Data collection techniques .................................................................................................................. 32 2.5.1 Quantitative research techniques ............................................................................................. 32 2.5.2 Qualitative research techniques ................................................................................................ 39 2.6 Data collection instruments ................................................................................................................ 41 2.7 Sampling .................................................................................................................................................... 44 2.8 Negative aspects of consumer behaviour research .................................................................... 46
Consumer Behaviour
III chapter MOTIVES AND MOTIVATION

3.1 Needs ........................................................................................................................................................... 53 3.2 Goals ............................................................................................................................................................ 54 3.3 Motives ........................................................................................................................................................ 56 3.3.1 Maslows hierarchy of motives .................................................................................................. 57 3.3.2 Other classifications of motives ................................................................................................. 60 3.4 Types of motivation ................................................................................................................................ 61 3.5 Exploring motives ................................................................................................................................... 66
IV chapter PERCEPTION
4.1 Definition of perception ....................................................................................................................... 75 4.2 Elements that influence perception ................................................................................................. 77 4.3 Perception process stages ................................................................................................................... 79 4.3.1 Exposure/selective perception stage ........................................................................................ 79 4.3.2 Attention stage .............................................................................................................................. 88 4.3.3 Organisation and interpretation stage ................................................................................... 89 4.4 Perceptual semiotics .............................................................................................................................. 93
V chapter PERSONALITY
5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Personality concept ................................................................................................................................ 97 Determinants of personality ............................................................................................................... 98 Personality traits .................................................................................................................................... 100 Theories of personality traits ............................................................................................................ 101 5.4.1 Psychoanalytic theory of personality .................................................................................... 101 5.4.2 Behavioural theory of personality .......................................................................................... 103 5.4.3 Neo-Freudian theory of personality ....................................................................................... 104 5.4.4 Personality trait theory .............................................................................................................. 105 5.5 The most significant personality traits regarding their influence on consumer behaviour ..................................................................................................................... 106 5.5.1 Consumer innovativeness ........................................................................................................ 106 5.5.2 Cognitive personality factors ................................................................................................... 108
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5.5.3 Consumers ethnocentrism ...................................................................................................... 109 5.5.4 Consumerism and possession ................................................................................................. 111 5.6 The self-image ........................................................................................................................................ 113 5.7 Brand personality .................................................................................................................................. 116 5.8 Application of personality traits or features in marketing ...................................................... 119
VI chapter LEARNING AS A FACTOR OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

6.1 Definition of learning .......................................................................................................................... 125 6.2 Elements of the learning process .................................................................................................... 126 6.3 Forms of social learning ...................................................................................................................... 130 6.3.1 Behavioural learning theories ................................................................................................. 130 6.3.1.1 Conditional learning ................................................................................................. 131 6.3.1.2 Model learning ........................................................................................................... 137 6.3.1.3 Vicarious or observational learning .................................................................... 140 6.3.2 Cognitive learning theories ...................................................................................................... 142
VII chapter ATTITUDES

7.1 Definition of attitudes ......................................................................................................................... 149 7.2 Complexity of attitudes ...................................................................................................................... 151 7.3 Influence of attitudes on consumer behaviour .......................................................................... 153 7.3.1 Cognitive dissonance theory .................................................................................................... 156 7.3.2 Attribution theory ....................................................................................................................... 158 7.4 Attitude formation ............................................................................................................................... 160 7.4.1 Factors that influence attitude formation ............................................................................ 161 7.4.2 Attitude change ........................................................................................................................... 163 7.5 The influence of mass media on the attitude formation and change ................................. 165
VIII chapter FAMILY

8.1 Definition of family and its basic functions .................................................................................. 175 8.2 Socialisation and family influence .................................................................................................. 176
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8.3 Making purchase decisions within a family ................................................................................. 178 8.4 Husband-wife dominance in purchase decision-making ....................................................... 180 8.5 Family life cycle ...................................................................................................................................... 183 8.5.1 Traditional family life cycle ....................................................................................................... 184 8.5.1.1 Bachelorhood ............................................................................................................. 185 8.5.1.2 Honeymooners .......................................................................................................... 185 8.5.1.3 Parenthood ................................................................................................................. 185 8.5.1.4 Post parenthood ........................................................................................................ 186 8.5.1.5 Dissolution ................................................................................................................... 186 8.5.2 Non-traditional family life cycle .............................................................................................. 188 8.5.2.1 Womens role change ............................................................................................... 189 8.5.2.2 The singles segment ................................................................................................. 190 8.5.2.3 Mens role change ...................................................................................................... 190
IX chapter SOCIAL CLASSES

9.1 Development of the thought of social classes ............................................................................ 197 9.2 Definition of social class ..................................................................................................................... 199 9.3 Social class determinants ................................................................................................................... 200 9.3.1 Profession as a social class factor ........................................................................................... 201 9.3.2 Education as a social class factor ............................................................................................ 201 9.3.3 Family as a social class factor .................................................................................................. 202 9.3.4 Income as a social class factor ............................................................................................... 202 9.4 Determining/measuring a social class .......................................................................................... 204 9.5 Classification of social classes ........................................................................................................... 206 9.5.1 Moving along the hierarchical scale ...................................................................................... 206 9.5.2 Status groups ............................................................................................................................... 207 9.6 Consumption in a social class ........................................................................................................... 209 9.6.1 Profile/description of members of different social classes ................................................ 209 9.6.2 Differences within social classes ............................................................................................. 211
X chapter CULTURE
10.1 Definition of culture ............................................................................................................................. 217 10.2 Cultural characteristics ....................................................................................................................... 219 10.2.1 How is culture learned? ........................................................................................................... 221
Content
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10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6
10.2.2 Shared culture ........................................................................................................................... 222 10.2.3 Cultural changes ....................................................................................................................... 223 Language and symbols ....................................................................................................................... 223 Colours and numbers .......................................................................................................................... 225 Rituals as a part of culture ................................................................................................................. 225 Cultural influence in a business environment ............................................................................. 226
XI chapter SUBCULTURE
11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 Definition of subculture ..................................................................................................................... 235 Religious subcultures .......................................................................................................................... 236 Geographic subcultures ..................................................................................................................... 237 National subcultures ............................................................................................................................ 237 Racial subcultures ................................................................................................................................. 238 Gender as subculture .......................................................................................................................... 240 Age subcultures ..................................................................................................................................... 240 11.7.1 Baby-boom generation ........................................................................................................... 242 11.7.2 Generation X .............................................................................................................................. 244 11.7.3 Y generation ............................................................................................................................... 246 11.7.4 XY generation ............................................................................................................................ 247 11.7.5 Z generation ............................................................................................................................... 247
XII chapter LIFESTYLE

12.1 Market segmentation .......................................................................................................................... 253 12.2 Psychographic segmentation .......................................................................................................... 257 12.3 Lifestyle .................................................................................................................................................... 258 12.3.1 Definition of lifestyle ................................................................................................................ 258 12.3.2 Lifestyle Segmentation ........................................................................................................... 262 12.3.2.1 RVS methodology ................................................................................................. 264 12.3.2.2 LOV methodology ................................................................................................ 265 12.3.2.3 AIO methodology ................................................................................................. 265 12.3.2.4 PRIZM methodology ........................................................................................... 266 12.3.2.5 VALS methodology ............................................................................................. 268 12.4 Lifestyle Analysis in Bosnia and Herzegovina ............................................................................. 269
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XIII chapter ORGANIZATIONAL BUYER BEHAVIOUR

13.1 Types of organizational markets ...................................................................................................... 278 13.1.1 Commercial buyers ................................................................................................................. 278 13.1.2. Institutional customers .......................................................................................................... 280 13.1.3. Governmental organizations as customers ..................................................................... 281 13.2. Specificities of organizational buying as compared to consumer buying market ......... 282 13.3 Types of organizational buying ........................................................................................................ 290 13.4 Participants and organizational buying process stages .......................................................... 292 13.4.1 Buying centre concept ............................................................................................................. 292 13.4.2 The stages in the organizational purchase process ......................................................... 296 13.5 Basic influences on the organizational purchase process ...................................................... 300 13.5.1 External influences on the organizational buyers decisions ........................................ 301 13.5.2 Internal influences on the organizational buyers decisions ......................................... 303 13.5.3 Individual influences ................................................................................................................ 305 13.5.4 Relational influences ............................................................................................................... 307 13.6 Organizational buyer models of behaviour ................................................................................. 308 13.6.1 Behaviouristic models ....................................................................................................................... 309 13.6.1.1 Simple behaviouristic models ........................................................................... 309 13.6.1.2 Complex behaviouristic models ...................................................................... 311
XIV chapter PURCHASE AND POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 Behaviour during purchase ............................................................................................................... 319 Purchase planning ................................................................................................................................ 320 Purchase frequency ............................................................................................................................. 321 Direct marketing ................................................................................................................................... 322 Post-purchase evaluation .................................................................................................................. 325 Keeping consumers ............................................................................................................................. 327
Content
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XV chapter COMMUNICATION AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 Communication model ....................................................................................................................... 333 Message source credibility ................................................................................................................ 336 Spokesperson ........................................................................................................................................ 337 Communication barriers .................................................................................................................... 339 Forms of marketing communication ............................................................................................. 341 Message creation .................................................................................................................................. 343
XVI chapter PURCHASE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

16.1 Theoretical meaning of decision ..................................................................................................... 349 16.2 Levels of decision-making ................................................................................................................. 350 16.3 Theoretical approach to consumers decision-making ........................................................... 352 16.3.1 Economic approach ................................................................................................................. 352 16.3.2 Passive approach ...................................................................................................................... 353 16.3.3 Cognitive approach ................................................................................................................. 354 16.3.4 Emotional approach ................................................................................................................ 355 16.4 Schiffman-Kanuk model of decision-making ............................................................................. 357 16.4.1 Input data as an element of the model ............................................................................... 359 16.4.2 Process as an element of the model ..................................................................................... 362 16.4.2.1 Need recognition .................................................................................................. 362 16.4.2.2 Pre-purchase search for information ............................................................ 365 16.4.2.3 Evaluation of alternatives ................................................................................... 370
SUBJECT INDEX ....................................................................................................................................................... 377
I chapter
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING
Chapter objectives
Understand trends and changes in marketing The importance of consumer behaviour research and analysis Define purchase process and behaviour during this purchase Review causes and principles of consumer behaviour Identify the relations between consumer behaviour and other scientific disciplines Differences between final and organisational consumption Understand the model and determinants of consumer behaviour Ethics in consumer behaviour
1. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING

1.1 Consumer Behaviour
Consumer Behaviour is a relatively young scientific discipline that is researched within the general context of marketing theory. The discipline appeared along with the other extensions of marketing theory, such as Marketing Management, the extended concepts of Marketing Mix elements, Service Marketing, International and Global Marketing, Business to Business Marketing and Non-prot Marketing. An intense study of Consumer Behaviour started in the second half of the 20th century. There are several fundamental reasons for this study and the emergence of a separate discipline. The first is a very low level of marketing implementation in practice, regardless of many years of the study and application of the concept. Despite the belief that marketing implementation philosophy dominates the thinking of managers and corporate and public decision-makers, the truth is that the actual use of the concept is partial and limited. A significant development in marketing has been achieved in marketing communications as well as brand development and maintenance. Partial progress has been made with the process of segmentation and target market selection, as well as in marketing of nonprofit and public sector. However, in terms of innovation and product launch, pricing, distribution, marketing research, and in particular marketing services and building customer and consumer relations, it is noticeable that the practice of marketing is still far behind the optimal implementation. It may be surprising that this is true about the developed
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world economies, such as the USA and the Western European markets, in which the level of service and consumer relations is far from acceptable. Secondly, market competition increasingly accentuates the need to implement disciplines such as marketing in order to achieve competitive advantage. The statement within the previous paragraph is clarified in this context. Namely, were it not for the competition mechanism, the state of marketing implementation would be even poorer It is a fact that competition as a key mechanism of any economy is greatly neglected and repressed in the present stage of capitalistic development. This is inevitable in a world dominated by protectionism, monopolism or oligopoly, delays and ever-increasing barriers to international trade, as well as strong and often meaningless resistance to the positive aspects of globalisation. Competition that operates in such an environment requires a marketing approach and the development of disciplines such as consumer behaviour. Thirdly, the increasingly successful application of communication and other technologies requires orientation towards a closer and more thorough understanding of consumers in the short term. The most relevant factor in this section is certainly the development of the Internet, which revolutionised the research process, collection and use of information, customisation of products and services, distribution, development of relations with partners, etc. The so-called digital revolution1 grants consumers more power, greater amount of available information, a better selection, an interactive and very often instant exchange, the availability of extensive and good quality data bases (about consumers), and the use of the increasing range of platforms and tools in the process. Mobile telephony is particularly important in this context. Along with its increasing application for commercial purposes, it is also a candidate for the integrated system of communication, fun, games and information, the areas where the previous favourite was television as a fixed system.
Consumer behaviour and marketing
1.2 Definition and application of consumer behaviour

There are numerous definitions of consumer behaviour and the majority of them are similar in its content and scope. Having reviewed many definitions, we can say that consumer behaviour is a marketing discipline that studies the behaviour of individuals, groups or organisations and the processes they use to select, secure, use and dispose of products and services, experiences or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumers and society. There are also some more complex definitions such as the one of the American Marketing Association (AMA)2, which defines consumer behaviour as the dynamic interaction of cognition, behaviour, and the environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives. It is important to point out that each definition of consumer behaviour encompasses both individual and group consumers, for it is obvious that there are specifics and differences in the context of individual consumption and the consumption of group members. Further, institutional consumption is significantly different from final consumption, whether individual or that of a group. Likewise, along with the interest for the purchase and use, we also want to know about the subsequent disposal and destiny of a product or service. It is evident that consumption largely influences the human environment, which makes this section interesting to natural science. The influence of consumption on social processes is also significant and interesting. By applying scientific approach and understanding other disciplines that study general human reactions (behavioural science), the study of consumer behaviour follows a marketing stage that marked the consumer awareness as the black box3. In the consumer behaviour model, the black box marked the processes in consumers awareness, and symbolically implied the inability to anticipate the course or content of those processes. The inclusion of the discoveries of other scientific disciplines and the development of a separate discipline within marketing that focuses on consumers, should transform the black box into the missing component in the model of understanding consumers.
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The main reason for developing a separate marketing discipline in the attempt to understand consumers better is the need to apply new discoveries in practise at the corporate and regulatory level. First of all, market strategy creation requires a detailed and sophisticated understanding of consumers. The creation and design of any marketing program necessitate an insight into preferences, expectations, beliefs, information collection, and a number of other consumer awareness processes. For instance, understanding how to segment and approach different groups of consumers regarding their reaction to new products, creates a much better strategy in terms of the approach, time and expectations of the provider. Further, within the area of government policy-making, i.e. the role of regulators in the creation of market competition conditions that would utilise the best commodities available for consumers and citizens, the discoveries about consumer behaviour can facilitate the design of best solutions, not only to stimulate but also to protect consumers. Thirdly, from a social marketing point of view (marketing that requires the promotion and protection of social interests within all individual marketing transactions), it is very important to understand, anticipate and to some extent control consumer behaviour in order to protect societys interests. Along with the obvious need to protect consumers from harmful products, there are a range of situations where individual consumption can harm the long-term interests of both individuals and group consumers. This is obvious with food products, medications, cultural events and repetitive consumption. Finally, the study of consumer behaviour can help consumers discover and understand some elements of their own behaviour, which can lead to a more efficient consumption and a better fulfilment of needs in a more rational way and with a higher level of consumer control. There are other reasons to enhance the discipline of consumer behaviour, such as its use in non-profit organisations, public institutions, government, civil associations etc. In all these cases the insight into the behaviour of individual and group commercial consumption helps anticipate and manage the processes of specific non-commercial consumption. An important element of the research and understanding of consumers is related to the stages that are relevant for the discipline overall. Namely, there are three key stages of consumer behaviour:
purchase stage, consumption stage, and divestment or disposal stage. Purchase stage is very important for the discipline and it encompasses complex structures and elements that must be explored in order to understand consumers better. This stage has 5 phases: problem/need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and post-purchase behaviour.
Purchase stage is the foundation of the consumer behaviour model. However, researchers are also increasingly interested in the consumption stage. This stage generates the elements that influence current components of marketing success, such as consumer satisfaction, the concepts of value and benefits, building trust and dedication, creating loyal consumers and long-term relations. Disposal stage is also generating more interest, in terms of future consumption and consumer behaviour, as well as environmental protection and consumption control within the context of potentially harmful consequences. In consumer analysis nowadays, it is necessary to consider five basic principles regarding consumers4: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Consumers are sovereign. Consumer motivation can be understood through research. Consumer behaviour can be influenced. All consumer influence should be socially acceptable. Consumer behaviour is a dynamic process.
Consumer sovereignty is an important principle for understanding contemporary consumers. It implies that they are free and independent in their decision-making and that their decisions are based on personal reasons and goals. Consumers must not be underestimated, manipulated
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or seen as someone who does not understand the consumption process. Namely, even when there are not any visible rational reasons for purchase or other stages, consumers meet their own needs and accomplish their goals through their own actions. Such needs and goals must be respected. This principle is increasingly important due to better and more complex consumer awareness, a higher educational level, higher level of purchasing power and purchase along with increasingly demanding consumers. Identification of consumers motivation is a primary goal of marketing and consumer behaviour as a discipline. Every purchase is a complex process, regarding the purchase stages as well as factors, variables and actions in each stage. The complexity of contemporary consumers points to the multiplication of elements that influence each decision. Likewise, for a more successful marketing and better competitive supply, it is important to recognise that a single product can have several elements of importance for consumers and can satisfy several needs and motives simultaneously. The development of consumer behaviour as a discipline is stimulated by the need to explore and identify motives to buy, and to conduct a refined analysis using contemporary methods of social, humanistic and physiological research. The influence on consumer behaviour implies marketing actions, and is in fact the purpose of developing a separate scientific discipline. Behaviour is studied in order to use the acquired information to improve the program of marketing actions, coordinate the elements of marketing mix, and adapt the supply to consumers motives and goals. The aim is to achieve a positive supply of products and services that improve the quality of consumers lives and enhance the environment. Socially acceptable influences are a requirement consistent with the above principle. Marketing operates in marketplaces with regulated conditions i.e. within the frame of acceptable regulations. A potential capacity to abuse consumers weaknesses or to misuse the knowledge about disadvantaged consumers (children, the uneducated) is disputable. These areas are regulated. However, sophisticated methods can enable businesses to manipulate consumers, which is unacceptable from both the regulatory and
marketing view. Market activities should be motivated by sincere attempts to satisfy consumers needs, taking their interests into consideration. No conscious manipulation should be a part of marketing. The dynamics of the consumer behaviour process stems from continuous and rapid changes in the environment. Innovation and branding processes are faster, life cycle of almost all products is shorter, circumstances in technological supply and demand are constantly changing, and consumers are constantly experiencing new notions and processes that inevitably change them. Along with all this, consumers are autonomously changing through education and different conditions in growth and social interaction. It all indicates fast dynamics both in demand and in supply, which requires marketing strategies to be constantly adapted, redesigned and changed.
1.3 Consumer behaviour and other scientific disciplines

As a relatively young discipline, consumer behaviour both stems from and relies on many other disciplines. Nowadays the closest relation is that to marketing, which is considered to be its parent area. However, in terms of scientific instruments and procedures, its closest discipline is psychology. Psychology has provided the foundations for the development of consumer behaviour as a separate discipline, enabling the scientific approach to consumer behaviour through a series of areas that stem from it. The study of numerous categories in the thorough research of individual consumers, such as motivation, personality traits, perceptions, attitudes and beliefs, is practically impossible without exhausting the methods, approaches and concepts from the field of psychology. Further research has necessitated the need to use other fields as well, whether those related to psychology or those from other scientific groups. Close to psychology are experimental, clinical, developmental and child psychology, as fields of psychological research. All these fields focus on an individual. Sciences relevant for the study of group consumers are social psychology, sociology and anthropology. Other relevant sciences are macro- and microeconomics, jurisprudence, history, demographic
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research, language science (linguistics and semiotics), ecology, pedagogy, political science, information technology, etc. We can conclude that all social and humanistic sciences affect the study of consumer behaviour. In essence, the interdisciplinarity of consumer behaviour implies the use of concepts and instruments of other disciplines in order to understand consumers better. Nowadays it has become accepted that it is not sufficient to understand a single area among many listed above. Several disciplines must be researched and understood. This is emphasised by the complexity of the consumption decision-making and changes in consumers preferences. Todays processes and behaviour can often only be explained by the knowledge and application of scientific methods of several disciplines, which requires the formation of interdisciplinary teams that research consumer behaviour.
1.4 Final and organisational consumption

As emphasised above, consumers can be individual, group, or institutional/ organisational. Individual and group consumers are usually analysed in terms of final consumption, which means that they participate in a purchase in order to finalise the process of reproduction and consumption of products or services that they are buying. Unlike them, organisational or institutional consumers buy products or services in order to use them in the production process and/or adaptation and further processing. The motives to begin the consumption process significantly determine its structure and elements. In final consumption, whether the decision is made by an individual consumer personally or a family member, a friend, acquaintance etc, the purchase motives and goals are significantly different than those in organisational consumption. It is generally recognised that organisational purchase is different in several elements, without prejudicing the quality, structure or outcome of the purchase. The characteristics of organisational purchase5 are listed below:
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Organisational purchase is professional. Purchase is primarily done by a team. There are clear formal procedures and processes. There are fewer buyers. Purchases are less frequent but volume and value are higher.
The above basic differences imply different purchase behaviour. Professional purchase means that there are fewer psychological but more economic and demographic motives in the processes of behaviour, purchase and consumption. This means that only professionals with specific skills and qualifications participate in the process of decision-making and purchase. The fact that the decisions are primarily made by teams whose members have specific skills and tasks eliminates the possibility of instant or impulsive purchase. The existence of procedures and formal processes, whether internal or statutory (public procurement), determines the steps and chronological sequence of purchase stages. A fewer number of buyers implies specialisation, a closer contact, differentiation between routine and special situations, as well as a necessity to adapt to specific buyers. Larger but less frequent purchases imply special organisational and financial procedures. Behaviour of organisational consumers is increasingly researched within the frame of a set marketing discipline called Industrial Marketing or Business-to-Business Marketing (B2B).
1.5 Consumer behaviour model

In order to better understand the processes and elements of consumer behaviour, a series of models was developed that, to a smaller or greater extent, present essential logical cycles of understanding consumption. The simplified model6 presents a process of a consumers decision-making in three different but interrelated stages or steps:
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Figure 1: Simplified decision-making model
Source: Schiffman and Kanuk, 2004, p. 7
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Input stage represents processes that lead to a consumers ability to recognise the product or service. Basically, there are two types of inputs in this stage: those undertaken by companies or businesses, and environmental inputs that affect consumers. A companys marketing influences are generally clear and quantifiable. However, environmental influences are numerous, complex and difficult to measure. Marketing influence entails revision of marketing actions and programs (product, price, place and promotion) as well as reactions to them. However, environmental influence implies revision of all cultural and social ones, as well as the primary influence of a family on the formation of individuals and their consumption behaviour. These influences are very complex and specific and as such are not easy to quantify. The second stage of the model represents the processing of information and influences. It is a basis for understanding decision-making. Psychological factors have the key role here (motivation, perception, attitudes, and personality traits), as well as the purchase process phases from this stage: problem and need recognition, information search and evaluation of alternatives. The basis for decision-making is formed in this stage, experiences and ideas are cumulated through information collection and evaluation of alternatives, which all determines consumers future decisions. The third stage, output, encompasses the purchase stage and post-purchase behaviour. Purchase at this stage implies the result of activities and processes from the previous stages. However, there are significant differences in the act of purchase, depending on the type of it. Generally we distinguish three types of purchase7: trial purchase, repeat purchase and complex purchase. There are different interpretations of the importance of understanding and managing each purchase type, depending on whether consumers are testing new or unknown products, conducting a routine repeat purchase, or a purchase based on value and function of each product or service. Finally, post-purchase review implies the evaluation of purchase and the expression of content or discontent with it. So-called cognitive dissonance is often present at this stage, which is a state of insecurity and reassessment
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of decisions. This stage significantly determines future purchases, i.e. the entire process of purchase decision-making.
1.6 Consumer behaviour determinants

Key determinants that influence consumer behaviour can be divided into two basic groups: those influencing a consumer as a group member, and those influencing an individual. Group determinants are cultural and social influences. Individual determinants are personal and demographic characteristics of an individual, as well as psychological characteristics. Understanding all these determinants significantly reduces uncertainty in reviewing processes in consumer awareness (the black box) and contributes to a proactive attitude of businesses. Group determinants belong to the influences that cultural and social environment have on an individual. They stem from a group yet they significantly determine the behaviour of individuals, their views, beliefs, attitudes and actions. They reflect on individuals after their birth and during their childhood and daily life. Cultural determinants are basic components of human behaviour in general, including consumption. It is believed that all that humans know and understand as personal norms and beliefs, is in fact the result of cultural influences, and is learned. People grow, learn and adopt prevailing values from their surroundings and social groups i.e. the culture they belong to. These cultural values in time become an inseparable part of ones personality and very valuable to individuals. As a result, many of them are willing to sacrifice large material and vital resources in order to maintain and defend these values. Culture can be said to represent the comprehensive spiritual and material values of a community or a society. As such it emits values, beliefs, symbols, rituals, accepted norms, the ways of behaviour in given situations, etc. Culture is a dynamic category: it changes with time and various events. It dictates what is acceptable and what is not in a given situation. It determines the way and rhythm of life, key values, the way of dressing, eating, forming family relations, education, communication, etc.
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Culture consists of sub-cultures or individual components. These components are religion, nationality, race and geography. Regarding religion, an important question is raised: How much does religion determine the way of life, of dressing, schooling, social and family relations, thinking, values, behaviour towards others, etc? Regarding food consumption, religion determines what is eaten, when and where, how diet is changed, time relation towards nutrition, diet rituals, the way of preparing food and beverages, etc. Marketing has to be culturally sensitive and proactive, with the tendency of pervading culture and contemporary influences. One of the elements of cultural influences is class organisation of a society, which implies separation of each society into social classes. Classes are identified according to an affiliation to a family, heritage, wealth, education, ancestry, social system, profession and other criteria. There are societies with a formal class system, such as Indian, Japanese and British, as well as societies that are less formal but have a class system nevertheless, such as American, West-European and others. Mobility amongst classes is low in formal class systems and higher in informal class societies. What is important for a class system from the aspect of marketing is the fact that the members of a group have similar consumption that stems from similar values, traditions, interests, methods and location. Middle class is a mainstream of consumption in contemporary societies, as the most numerous class that generates the largest consumption of mass products and trademarks. The distortion of middle class can happen in large social turbulences of education, holidays, accommodation, socialising, status consumption etc. There are numerous reviews of the number and structure of classes in different countries and societies. For instance, American society is usually said to have three classes: higher, middle and lower. Middle class constitutes about 80% of the population, higher class 5% and lower 15%. Each class is then divided into subclasses, with some variations and movements. Phenomena such as wars, natural disasters, revolutions etc. lead to strong turbulences in economic and market processes, causing crisis in the market structure and necessitating long periods of stabilisation. Social determinants of consumer behaviour mainly refer to the influence of a family, reference groups, roles and status that individuals have in a
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society. Family influence is evident and prevailing in almost all societies worldwide. Family is certainly the most important cell of a society that shapes individuals and affects their behaviour permanently, in all situations, including consumption. Many aspects of family are interesting for marketing, such as relations between a husband and wife, family cycle stages, family structure, roles in a family, as well as the dynamics of family development evident nowadays. The relation between husband and wife, including the relation regarding consumption, is very interesting for marketing. It is a wide-spread conviction that husbands influence the selection of technical items, tools, cars; that wives are more interested in household appliances, clothes and shoes, child products; and that both are equally involved in the selection of products and services regarding vacations, education, a flat or a house. Research shows that deep-rooted apprehensions often do not match the changes of status and family dynamics. For instance, the stereotype of larger influence of husbands on the purchase of cars does not match the real situation. An increasing level of employment and a higher level of education contribute to the change of a womans role in a family and household. Roles within a family are also important for a better understanding of processes and decision-making in consumption. A role and its dynamic changes explain how children can have the largest influence on a computer purchase, holiday destination, sports activities, food, toys and similar products, without contributing to the family income or payment towards the bills. Regarding social influences, it is important to mention reference groups and the role of an individual within a society or a group. Reference groups refer to various types of clubs or societies in which people socialise. They are usually classified into primary and secondary, formal and informal ones. Belonging or aspiring to belong to certain groups sometimes conclusively determines consumer behaviour. The fact that someone is a student or a member of a chess club, that he sings in a choir or supports a sports club, aspires to become a writer etc., helps to understand behaviour and anticipate consumption.
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Personal or demographic determinants are one of the most powerful researchers tools in the process of understanding and predicting consumer behaviour in various situations including consumption. Some of the factors such as age, gender, education and wealth are often self-explanatory and can be examined by solid statistical demographic data. Determining the average age of a specific market segment reveals that segments interest for certain products. For instance, young consumers interest for clothes or musical products and services can be anticipated with considerable certainty. This data is not sufficient, but if combined with gender, education, wealth, family status, group role etc., it enables an analysis and anticipation of consumption of certain groups with a higher degree of certainty. Demographic factors are used to a great extent for the analysis and anticipation of consumption, especially for standard and routine products and services in countries with substantial and reliable statistical analysis and data publication. This, unfortunately, is still not the case with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The next group of personal character determinants refers to an individuals lifestyle and personality. Lifestyle can be characterized as a certain trend of behaviour that individuals choose under the influence of a series of cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. People can have different lifestyles (healthy life, snobbish, devoted to the nature, art or career, etc.), while in similar economic, age, gender and other circumstances. This means that lifestyle is a result of the combination of group and individual factors. What is important for marketing is that a certain lifestyle means certain consumption, and all consistent consumption requires a corresponding marketing mix. Several classifications of lifestyle have been developed in practise. The outstanding ones are VALS 2 and AIO typology. VALS (VAlues and LifeStyle) classification recognises different lifestyles among population depending on the consumption of time and money. Accordingly, further classification encompasses orientation towards principles, status and action. Eight groups are formedi by mixing these elements, each one of which has its place within population. By careful analysis and application
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Principal VALS groups are: achievers, fulfillers, strivers, experiencers, believers, makers, actualizers, strugglers.
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of VALS classification, it is possible to understand the basic values and lifestyle of each group, and based on that the corresponding understanding, supply and need satisfaction. AIO (ActionInterestOpinion) typology evaluates the lifestyle of examinees through activities, interests and opinions. By conducting surveys and questionnaires about these three basic dimensions, it is possible to classify several different groups with different lifestyles and consumption. Within personal determinants there is also an aspect of personality and self-comprehension or understanding of ones own image. In this context identification of personality and certain products or brands is common, as well as identification of ones image with the concept of consumption, place, circumstances, or anticipation of consumption regarding specific needs and desires. Psychological determinants mainly encompass four basic types: motivation, perception, attitudes and learning. Considering that each of these factors are discussed in great detail in specific chapters of this book, at this point we will just briefly mention what each one of them means. Motivation is the driving force of an individual. Based on universal human needs, it leads to desires and setting up of goals, which together form the basis of human activity. Without motivation and corresponding actions, there would be no survival of humanity. Perception is how we view the world around us, or the way individuals react to the stimuli from the environment. Purposefulness of marketing actions, communication with consumers and the success of marketing overall depends largely on the way we perceive reality. Attitudes express the relation of individuals toward their surroundings, entities, phenomena, ideas etc. On the other hand, in order to have an attitude, it is necessary to go through a learning process, which depends on numerous elements and characteristics of processing and acquiring knowledge from the environment.
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1.7 Ethical aspects of consumer behaviour

Actions relating to a large number of people, their classification, research, understanding of internal and external elements of behaviour, establishment of relationships and actions, sale and consumption, post-sale relations, as well as a series of established relations and interdependences, inevitably raise questions about the moral components of these relations, such as the protection of the rights of citizens, individuals and consumers from any kind of manipulative and unethical behaviour. In other words, by developing a scientific discipline such as consumer behaviour, we take the responsibility to prevent all discoveries and understanding from being used in a way contrary to the interests and rights of consumers. Whilst ethical review of marketing and other similar disciplines is much more complex, at this point we can state that researchers have reached some basic principles that marketers and consumers should follow in order to avoid ethical conflicts8: 1. Treat others the way you want to be treated. 2. Do only what the majority of your colleagues would approve of. 3. Only take actions that can be classified as universal ones in such circumstances. 4. Ask yourself whether you could explain your behaviour to a large TV audience. In the context of ethical behaviour, an intense research of consumerism has been conducted, as well as of consumer protection movement which plays a significant role in the development of marketing institutions nowadays.
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Questions for revision

1. Why consumer behaviour is intensely studied in the 20th century? 2. How do communication and other technologies influence consumer behaviour? 3. How does AMA define consumer behaviour? 4. What are three basic stages of consumer behaviour? 5. What is consumer sovereignty and what is its influence on behaviour? 6. List and explain the differences and similarities between final and organisational consumption. 7. Explain the model of consumer behaviour. 8. What are personal determinants of consumer behaviour and what is the nature of their influence? 9. How can marketers avoid ethical conflicts?
References
1. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk, (2004): Consumer Behavior, Pearson/Prentice Hall, 8. edition 2. American Marketing Association, http://www.marketingpower.com/Pages/default.aspx 3. Gutic, D., (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Hercegtisak 4. Kesic, T., (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio, Zagreb 5. Kotler, P. and G. Armstrong, (2001): Principles of Marketing, 9. edition, Prentice Hall 6. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk, (2004): ibid 7. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk, (2004): ibid 8. Mowen, C.J. and M. Minor, (1998): Consumer Behavior, 5th edition, Prentice Hall
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Chapter objectives
The importance of understanding consumer behaviour Define various types of consumer behaviour Understand stages of consumer behaviour research Differences between quantitative and qualitative research of consumers Types of quantitative and qualitative data collection The importance and methods of determining adequate samples
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2. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH

2.1 Why research consumer behaviour?
The purpose of a companys existence is to meet consumers needs. However, the needs will be met only if companies know consumers well enough. Consumers differ, of course, and their preferences change through time; it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict their behaviour. Therefore the challenge for contemporary companies is great. This means that companies rely on market segmentation and the adaptation of a marketing mix to the demands of each segment. The result of all company activities then is in the research of consumer behaviour. Consumer behaviour research is aimed at looking at the ways individual decision-makers use their available resources time, money, effort regarding consumption-related points. This includes the questions of what these consumers buy, why, when and how often they buy it, as well as how often they use the product or service they have bought1. The research includes data collection concerning the factors that affect consumers, their decisions and behaviour overall. The aim of research is, after all, to understand the methods of consumer purchase and use of products and services. Understanding the real importance of consumption for a contemporary society affected the increasing interest for consumer behaviour research. This indicates that the need for this research occurs with different participants and for different reasons. Regarding their intention, some authors identify three basic groups of this research2:
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Research for practical application purposes, where companies are marked as users, Research for consumer protection purposes done by governments (governmental institutions) and organisations for consumer protection, and Research for the purposes of general understanding of consumers, done by various researchers from the academic community. Finally, consumer behaviour research is extremely important for the very consumers in order for them to be able to review their behaviour and purchase decisions and become familiar with all the influential factors in this process.
2.2 Approaches to consumer behaviour research

The expansion of consumer behaviour research occurred in the fifties and sixties of the 20th century when the interest for the wider context of consumption increased. As this discipline relies greatly on a number of other disciplines, the research of consumer behaviour has shown its multidisciplinarity from the very beginning. The relations with psychology, sociology, anthropology, economy and other sciences resulted in the use of their discoveries and instruments to reach the goal of understanding consumers better. Early researchers of consumer behaviour started with an economic theory according to which consumers act rationally, i.e. objectively assess what products and services offer greatest pleasure with the lowest cost. Later research, however, showed that the problem is much more complex than it seemed in the beginning. More precisely, it showed that consumer behaviour is a much more complex construct than its reduction to the level of rational, and that consumers are not aware of the reason for their purchase behaviour; in other words there are hidden motives that stimulate them to such behaviour. All this opened the door to the research of hidden motives of consumers. The interest for this type of study was stimulated by Ernest Dichter, a
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psychoanalyst from Vienna, using the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud3. Freuds theory, based on the analysis of experiences and dreams of his patients, is founded on the assumption that unconscious needs, especially biological and sexual, comprise the core of motivation. Since Dichter wanted to get into the area of sub consciousness and determine the reasons why people are purchasing, he used indirect techniques of qualitative research. His approach was accepted by other researchers quickly and he became known for the term motivational research. It is, certainly, an approach which initially appeared unusual and interesting since hidden erotic desires interpreted consumer behaviour. However, motivational research began to display its disadvantages in time. A few of the main disadvantages of this type of research are: it is impossible to generalise results of the research due to few examples, analysis is often biased, projective tests cannot be adapted to consumer behaviour research and claims of Freuds theory are not applicable to the area of consumer behaviour4. Despite numerous critics, motivational research is still widely used today. Consumer behaviour research relies on two very different methodologies. Accordingly, it is possible to differentiate between quantitative and qualitative research. The use of either type of research is in literature usually associated with concrete approaches to consumer research. Positivism, for example, as an approach to consumer behaviour research, started to dominate in the 1960s. It implies the use of an appropriate rigorous systematic procedure in order to explain, control and predict consumer behaviour5. Researchers who use it rely on quantitative techniques derived from natural sciences (experiment, observation and survey). On the other hand, interpretivism, as an alternative research approach is focused solely on the act of consumption and on understanding consumers from a wider social perspective6. Researching consumer experiences is done by quantitative techniques such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, projective techniques and metaphor analysis.
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Table 1: Comparison between positivism and interpretivism POSITIVISM GOAL METHODOLOGY ASSUMPTIONS Predicting consumers' actions Quantitative Rationality: consumers make decisions after evaluating alternatives Causes and consequences of behaviour can be recognized and isolated Individuals are problem-solvers engaged in data processing There is one reality Events can be objectively measured Causes of behaviour can be identified; manipulating causes by causes (i.e. input by input) a provider can affect behaviour (i.e. the outcome) Results can be generalised onto wide population INTERPRETIVISM Understanding consumer practice Qualitative There is not only one objective truth Reality is subjective Causes and consequences cannot be isolated Each consumption experience is unique Interaction between examiners / examinees affect study results Results are often not generalized onto wide population
Source: Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L. (2004) Ponasanje potrosaca, seventh edition, Mate, Zagreb
2.3 Types of consumer behaviour research

Many different classifications can be found in literature when it comes to types of research. For the purposes of this analysis which is focused on consumer behaviour research, two types of classifications are specified. Regarding the goal of result application, we can classify research into exploratory and conclusive. Exploratory research is used as a general inquiry into a problem we know very little about. They usually take place when diagnosing a situation, selecting different possibilities of action or when discovering new ideas7. For instance, when marketers want to make a decision about the appeals they will use in advertising, the first step is to research the benefits consumers are expecting from the new product or service since there is no previous
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knowledge about it. Therefore, data is collected by different qualitative techniques such as in-depth interviews and projective techniques. Within conclusive research, it is possible to distinguish between descriptive and causal research. Descriptive research is used most frequently, whereas in consumer behaviour research it is used when researching characteristics of potential and existing consumers, their behaviours, attitudes and so on. Even though it is focused on describing a particular situation, this type of research starts from the set hypotheses and it is related to a narrow field of research8. Causal research also starts with hypotheses and is focused on discovering the cause of a certain event. The cause and effect relationship is very significant in consumer behaviour, especially for marketers who want to determine whether different marketing activities will influence consumers and to what extent. This type of research therefore relies on experiments by collecting data on causal relationships. There are differences between exploratory, descriptive and causal research. However, it is often the case in practice that two or even all three types are combined within one research. In that case, exploratory research generates all possible causes of a particular problem, while the use of descriptive and causal research narrows them down to probable causes of the observed problem (Figure 2).
Figure 2: The combination of exploratory and conclusive research
Source: Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007
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The classification of research, which can more often be found in consumer behaviour literature, begins with the nature of the data collected through research. If we were to observe them as criteria, it is possible to distinguish between quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitative research is descriptive in nature9 and relies on using different techniques derived from natural sciences. Since it is carried out using the method of large probability sampling, the results obtained by using statistical methods can be applied to a wider population. Quantitative research is usually used as a base for strategic decision-making. On the other hand, qualitative research is undertaken on smaller samples and by using different qualitative techniques. The implementation of this type of research, as well as the analysis of data is in the hands of highly skilled researches. Even though this approach is exceptionally represented in modern research, it is impossible to bypass several disadvantages conclusions are prone to subjectivity, it is impossible to generalise results etc. Since qualitative research displays particular disadvantages, researchers frequently use it combined with quantitative research. This is how, for example, qualitative research leads to new ideas which are then tested empirically and become the basis for creating quantitative studies10.
2.4 Research process

The consumer behaviour research process includes the same phases as the traditional market research. Numerous authors, accordingly, identify six elementary phases of the consumer behaviour research process: 1. Defining the problem and research goalsii, 2. Collecting and evaluating secondary data,
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Tanja Kesic (2006), Schiffman and Kanuk (2004) identify the first phase of consumer behaviour research as defining the research goals, not including the problem and hypotheses of the research. In this paper, the title and structure of the first phase are set according to Marusic and Vranesevic (1997), since the consumer behaviour research process is equal to the market research process.
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3. 4. 5. 6.
Primary research design, Primary data collection, Processing and analysis of collected data, Preparing a research report.
The first research phase, as indicated, is dening the problem and research goals. Hence, defining the problem is the starting point of the whole research. And what can be a research problem? Most simply, it can be any phenomenon or process which is not familiar enough and needs further research or clarification. Since by researching it is necessary to find an answer to the question or defined problem, it is essential to determine the research goals. Therefore, the goals can be extremely diverse. They can, for example, refer to the segmentation of a certain market, to determining attitudes of consumers towards a particular product or service etc. In all cases the goals must be well created and precisely stated. Specifying research goals is significant because it affects the entire subsequent flow of this process. This also includes focusing on either qualitative or quantitative research approaches. The researcher needs to set hypotheses, as well as identify variables. Thereby, it is not needless to recall what these terms mean. A hypothesis is, briefly, a theoretic answer to the research problem, a more or less likely assumption that there is a phenomenon which causes or affects another phenomenon11. On the other hand, variables are characteristics of the observed phenomenon, where one (or more than one) variable represents the cause (independent variable) and another (or more than one) represents the effect (dependent variable) in their relations.
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Figure 3. The consumer behaviour research process
Collecting and evaluating secondary data is the second phase of consumer behaviour research. Secondary data includes data which has already been collected through previous research for other purposes. In other words, this is data which has been collected by a specific company for another reason, unrelated to the specified research, as well as data from different sources outside the company itself. Authors often divide12 external sources of secondary data into three main groups:
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Standard data sources (printed publications), where they distinguish data published in the country from that published abroad, Commercial sources, Databases, including the internet. Secondary research, which is how secondary data is gathered, allows faster data collection with considerably lower costs in relation to primary research. Even though in some cases, secondary data can provide a complete insight into a specific problem, it is far more often used as a basis for creating primary research. The third phase of consumer behaviour research is primary research design. Primary research can be qualitative or quantitative. Although the decision about the specific research approach is connected primarily to what it is that we are researching, the cost is frequently a limiting factor when it comes to selecting a research type13. Nevertheless, the primary research design will differ when applying either qualitative or quantitative research. If the goals indicate the need to carry out quantitative research, it is necessary to select an appropriate technique of data collection, form a sample on which the research will be conducted and create a research instrument. As this type of research is conducted on larger samples, smaller research studies are usually carried out before its implementation in order to identify critical points which should be included in the data collection instrument14. On the other hand, when using qualitative research, the researcher needs to consider which type of data is needed to achieve the set goal. Hence, a decision needs to be made about the specific technique of data collection, and the research instrument needs to be chosen. Quantitative and qualitative research includes numerous techniques which are elaborated upon later in this chapter along with research instruments and sampling. Primary data collection is considered a separate, fourth phase of the consumer behaviour research process. The approach to primary data collection depends on the type of research. In quantitative research, for example, data is collected by trained field staff. The main researcher supervises their work, which includes ensuring actual implementation. Qualitative
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research has a different approach to data collection. Here, research is conducted by highly educated and skilled researchers. The reason lies in the fact that qualitative research accentuates the use of open-ended questions. Processing and analysing collected data is the fifth phase of the research process. Processing collected data refers to applying suitable statistical techniques. However, the processing of data itself is preceded by three phases data categorisation, pre-logical control and coding, and data entry and post-logical control15. The first phase, data categorisation involves grouping data according to goals and questions. In the pre-logical control phase, data is checked for possible errors before it is coded. Data is then entered into a certain database, and finally processed and analysed by sophisticated statistical programmes. Preparing a research report is the last phase of consumer behaviour research. A research report includes information about all the previous phases. It therefore covers all the activities related to the basic principles and methodology, with an accent on final results. It can also contain recommendations for particular marketing activities.
2.5 Data collection techniques

When it comes to data collection techniques for either qualitative or quantitative research, many different approaches can be found in consumer behaviour literature. Listed below are the most significant techniques according to the type of research quantitative and qualitative research techniques.
2.5.1 Quantitative research techniques

Quantitative research includes five main techniques survey, experiment, observation, panel and content analysis. What are the specifics of each? A survey is a quantitative technique used to collect written data on attitudes and opinions, by using a questionnaire on a representative
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sample16. Questionnaires as instruments for data collection and sampling will be addressed in another chapter. This analysis, however, is focused on possible forms of surveys which are used in consumer behaviour research individual contact with the examinee, postal survey, telephone and online surveys. Individual contact with the examinee or personal surveys (a common term), are usually conducted on smaller samples due to a high cost and longer implementation periods. Whether it is conducted in examinees homes, shopping centres or elsewhere, this type of survey has an advantage in terms of data reliability due to the physical presence of the researcher who can provide additional explanations. A postal survey allows the use of a larger sample on a wider geographic area and is conducted by delivering questionnaires to respondents, which are delivered in self-addressed envelopes with postage paid, in order to be returned to the researcher after being filled in. Along with the main disadvantage of undermining the anonymity of respondents using this type of survey, we also need to point out that the rate of return is low. Researchers develop different approaches with the aim of increasing this rate. Several specialized research companies, for example, organise consumer panels whose participants periodically fill out questionnaires for a symbolic price17. A telephone survey is the fastest form of surveying, however it has certain disadvantages. Whether dialling phone numbers is random or planned, a fair number of respondents have an answering machine, while others hang up the phone, which undermines the representativeness of the sample. Another problem occurs when deciding the time (of the day or week) when it is possible to converse with a respondent. Several companies have attempted to improve this type of survey by introducing computer technologies in telephone surveying. For example, CATI, Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing is an approach where the computer assists during survey conduction by preventing possible errors made by the researcher such as questioning the wrong member of the household or skipping one or more questions18. Even though this type of survey is the fastest, it is quite expensive, especially when there are many respondents.
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An on-line survey is becoming a very popular way of data collection. Fast implementation and lower costs are only a few in a long list of its advantages. On the other hand, it is important to point out that the anonymity of online surveys, although it is identified as a positive characteristic, is not guaranteed, since on-line questionnaires can also be sent by personal e-mail addresses as well as posted on web sites. Finally, in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its surroundings, we still cannot be satisfied with the level of internet use, which is why representative sampling cannot be achieved. An experiment is a data collection technique used to measure how an independent variable affects a dependant variable, while controlling all other effects19. Due to the conditions of experimenting, it is possible to distinguish between two different types natural and laboratory experiments. Natural experiments are carried out in a completely natural environment, where respondents are usually not aware that a research is being conducted, so they act in a natural way. This type of experiment in uncontrolled, market conditions is mostly used in new product development, where price, packaging and promotion are the variables, and the effect on sales is measured20. Laboratory experiments are carried out in an artificial environment, where the respondents are aware of their involvement in the research21. This experiment is conducted by measuring reactions of respondents to a certain product, packaging, design or advertisement, where survey questionnaires, tests and different scales are used as data collection instruments. As the obtained data is a result of artificially created situations, the researcher needs to take into account the fact that these results do not reflect realistic market conditions. Given the number of respondent groups included, it is necessary to distinguish between one-group experiments and parallel-groups experiments. The classification can be done based on how many times the results are measured. In the first case, measuring is done before or after the independent variable has an eect. In the second case, measuring is only done at one point, after the independent variable has an effect. By combining the two mentioned criteria, different types of experiments are generated22.
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Observation is often used as a data collection technique in consumer behaviour research. The goal of this technique is for the researcher to notice and record facts related to the actual situation by observing consumers while they purchase and use products. It is important to mention another detail a distinction needs to be made between ordinary observation which is random and unsystematic, and scientic observation which is carried out according to a previously determined plan, and is relevant to consumer behaviour research, as well as every other scientific research. Scientific observation can, furthermore, be classified in different ways23. According to the way it is realised, for example, it is possible to distinguish between direct and indirect observation. The goal of direct observation is to observe a phenomenon at the moment when it is happening. Indirect observation is characterised by the fact that we assess a certain phenomenon based on observing other phenomena which are related to it. Most consumer behaviour research relies on direct observation, but it is possible to reach certain conclusions by indirect observation of purchasing evidence (e.g. a bottle or other packaging in bins). Within scientific observation, there are classifications based on other criteria, as follows: Single and multiple observation, depending on whether it is necessary to apply the technique in a certain moment or if the changes are monitored in a longer time period. Individual and mass observation, depending on the number of cases observed. Observation with participation and without participation, depending on whether the researcher joins the object of observation or not. Of course, this classification includes many different possibilities. Wright24, for example, identifies tracking consumers as a type of observation with participation, where the researcher is monitoring an individual, with his permission, during the whole day including shopping trips. However, that is not all. Besides observing the consumer, the researcher asks additional questions about the products selected in the store and at home.
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Some authors25 go a step further as with experiments, they make a distinction between observation in a natural (e.g. shopping in a store) and observation in an articially created situation for phenomena which cannot be monitored in a natural situation due to the nature of the phenomenon or due to the need of using technical apparatus. The same authors point out the difference between personal observation and observation using technical apparatus. For personal observation, they specify the skills of the researcher himself (sensory skills, observation, memory, objectivity as well as their experience and abilities). If the phenomenon cannot be observed personally, using senses, technical apparatus is then used where some of it is applied when the examinees are not aware they are being observed. There are various types of technical equipment used in observation. We should mention at least a few of them, such as: Psycho-galvanometer, which measures the resistance of skin on hand palms, i.e. the dampness of the skin which occurs as a reaction to a certain stimulus. The problem, however, is that dampness doesnt necessary indicate a positive reaction of the examinee, since it can be the result of different emotions. Pupil-metre, which follows pupil dilation due to certain stimuli, where the dilation occurs when the examinee becomes more interested. It is not, however, possible to determine whether the reaction is positive or negative. Eye tracking camera, which monitors horizontal and vertical eye movements while walking through a shop, where further analysis would show whether a certain product attracted the attention of the examinee or not26. Measuring voice range, which shows the emotional reaction (including lying) to a certain marketing stimulus27. EEG or device for electroencephalography was a result of electro marketing research and is based on monitoring brain activity to discover how consumers react to brands, products or advertising messages. The technology which combines neurological discoveries with knowledge from clinical psychology is relatively recent. The important thing is that it can measure the consumers attention and the extent to which the
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consumer is attracted or repelled by the observed object, but it cannot predict what the consumer will buy28. Observation also has its disadvantages. By using this technique, it is not possible to discover the motives, attitudes or intentions because it is limited to what is visible from the outside. For certain observational situations, it is necessary to seek permission from the individual who is being observed. Finally, it is rather expensive and requires a longer implementation time. A panel is another quantitative research technique. However, it can be defined by identifying differences in theoretical approaches. For some, it is a type of observation29. For others, who are incidentally more common in resources; it is a separate technique for quantitative research. It is agreed that a panel is a constant representative sample of units on which continuous research is conducted at regular intervals, using a constant research instrument30. There are no disputes about a panel being focused on collecting more detailed information about consumer behaviour, based on which it is possible to form certain segments. Since it is carried out over a longer time period, it enables the monitoring of behavioural changes, as well as reactions of consumers to different marketing stimulants. However, a panel also has its disadvantages. The main disadvantage is the representativeness of the sample because the research is conducted on the same sample for a longer period of time. Another problem is that a certain number of examinees give up on participating or a death occurs, which is when the panel is refilled from a previously prepared reserve panel. In practice, there are various forms of panels, and the main ones are: Consumer panel, which occurs in two forms: home control (regular panel) and individual panel (keeping a record). A regular panel is when the researcher comes to the examinees home, in agreed time intervals, and records packaging of used products, stocks and purchased quantities
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of products, in order to get a clear picture of purchasing and consumption in a defined period. An individual panel is when the examinee is keeping a record of purchasing which he sends to the researcher by mail or otherwise in an agreed time period, where a packaging of the used products may be enclosed depending on the agreement31. Bar code panel, this is based on using scanner technology. Purchasing is, more precisely, recorded when a product passes over a laser scanner which automatically reads the bar code found on every product32. The data on purchasing is stored in a computer and is easily accessible for analysis. Owning a database of the most important consumers is combined with bar code data which makes it possible to do further analysis. Panel of TV viewers follows the exposure to different channels, but also to advertising messages. It can be monitored using a diary, in which examinees indicate what they are watching and when, as well as how satisfied they are with it. Another form of monitoring is the use of technical apparatus. An audiometer, for example, is a device used to monitor which television programmes are watched and when, and it is connected to the television of the examinee. Online panel, which ensures quality data collected from interested and motivated volunteers33. This type of panel enables the identification of significant advantages in relation to other forms of their appearance. They include, for example, covering a wider audience, the possibility of conducting an international research from one place and finally, electronic monitoring of examinees through analysis of their diaries. Content analysis can be viewed, depending on the approach, as a qualitative or quantitative technique of data collection. However, advocates of the qualitative approach mostly do not negate quantification as a characteristic of this technique. They rather point out both aspects more strongly. Wright34, for example, shows content analysis as a quantitative technique, while Aaker and others35 state that it also includes observation and analysis. Since content analysis is focused on content and on the message form in the communication process, it is certainly significant for consumer behaviour. Analysis primarily refers to advertising messages, newspaper articles, radio and television programmes, etc.
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2.5.2 Qualitative research techniques

There are many types of data collection techniques for qualitative research. This analysis focuses on five main techniques in-depth interview, focus groups, projective techniques, metaphor analysis and case studies. An in-depth interview is an unstructured, longer interview (lasting over 30 minutes) which is carried out by well educated researchers. Their role is to stimulate and guide the conversation towards a certain goal. The researcher uses transcripts, as well as audio and video recordings in order to later analyse not only answers, but also the body language of the examinee. This technique is used to research the needs and attitudes of consumers, but also to understand their behaviour in different situations. There are various types of in-depth interviews. However, the three main types are laddering, hidden issue questioning and symbolic analysis36. Laddering is a technique used to focus questioning from listing characteristics of the observed product to revealing characteristics of the consumer himself37. Hidden issue questioning is focused on researching values by indirectly discovering what the examinee finds important, through a conversation about the examinees experience with a certain product. Finally, symbolic analysis can be conducted by personal interviewing, but also on a larger sample using a mail survey, where the examinees are asked to describe in detail, in their own words, their best and worst experiences with products or services38. Today, however, telephone in-depth interviews are increasingly employed since the telephone has become a standard communication medium. This type of research is also far cheaper, faster and can include respondents in remote areas39. Focus group is a technique where a trained moderator discusses a certain issue with a group of 8 to 12 examinees using a reminder. In a relaxed atmosphere, the examinees are encouraged to participate in a discussion that usually lasts for about two hours. Even though the whole process is recorded for later analysis, data interpretation is complex because a larger number of examinees are included.
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Focus groups are gathered for different purposes including the search for new ideas, new product development or evaluating promotional campaigns40. Group interaction results in new findings which show the depth of the observed problem. This technique also has certain limitations. Group interaction can be encouraging for examinees, but it can also influence the occurrence of socially acceptable answers for some examinees which do not necessarily need to be true. A problem also arises when an examinee is sensitive and when he or she hesitates to speak openly in front of other people. Online focus groups are used today as an alternative to traditional focus groups. The use of online focus groups usually results in more honest and spontaneous answers due to the different environment in which the examinees are (in front of their computers)41. Examinees cannot hear others, but they can read what the others are writing. Nevertheless, this technique has its limitations as well. Owning a computer is simply a basic precondition to participate in this type of focus group. Projective techniques come from psychology and their purpose is to encourage examinees to project their hidden motives, feelings, attitudes and beliefs through seemingly unrelated things. Ever since its application in motivational research, this indirect method of data collection has acquired popularity. Today, there are five forms of projective techniques in consumer behaviour research42. They are as follows: Association technique. This technique has two forms. When it comes to word association tests, the examinees respond about what they associate with certain words. If the examinee is shown different pictures with a previously determined meaning, this is called a picture association test. Completion test. This technique includes different types of tests depending on whether the examinee needs to complete a sentence (sentence completion test), a conversation (balloon test) or an event presented in pictures (construction test). Role-playing, which requires the examinees to put themselves in the shoes of another person, and to show how that person would behave in a certain situation.
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Personalisation, which involves assigning characteristics of living beings to particular products. Symbol technique, which is based on the examinee assigning a symbol to a product, a colour or form with a familiar meaning. It is used to research the level of similarities between products. Metaphor analysis occurs as a result of the fact that most communication is nonverbal, and the fact that the majority of people think visually which is why it is hard for them to express their attitudes, opinions or feelings about the research subject in words43. This is why music, pictures and drawings are used for the purpose of nonverbal expression. The use of one type of expression in order to reveal feelings about another type is called a metaphor44. One form of metaphor analysis is collage research. The aim is for the examinees to cut out pictures from magazines which show their feelings about a product and place these pictures in a collage which is interpreted with the help of a researcher. A case study is focused on a specific individual case. This being the case, it is logical that the results obtained by a case study cannot be generalised. However, a case study provides a comprehensive description and analysis of a certain situation45. A case study is therefore used to gain insight into a situation, but also as pilot test before the main research takes place. In consumer behaviour research, a case study means direct observation of activities and documenting data during, for example, the tracking of a certain product purchase. This is how a quality foundation for investigating is built.
2.6 Data collection instruments

In the primary data collection process, along with the selection of an appropriate technique (or techniques) of the research, attention must be paid to the instruments which will be used. In consumer behaviour research, the three main instruments are a questionnaire, test and scales.
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A questionnaire, as a primary data collection instrument, consists of a sequence of questions related to the research problem46. Since this is probably the most frequently used instrument in quantitative research, the creation of a questionnaire requires serious alertness of the researcher. Besides their appearance, the verbal formulation, number and form of the questions is important, as well as their order. It is also important to consider what the questionnaire will provide. Accordingly, it is possible to distinguish between a questionnaire (for gathering facts) and opinionary (for investigating attitudes and opinions). Depending on their form, questions can be open-ended or closed-ended. Open-ended questions offer the examinee the possibility to formulate an answer independently. Closed-ended questions are answered by multiplechoice. Open-ended questions are used in the preparation phases of the research as a base for formulating closed-ended questions, and the processing of the answers is demanding. Closed-ended questions which result in answers that are simpler to analyse are more acceptable to examinees. Direct and indirect questions, which can also appear in questionnaires, indicate the approach to asking questions. The difference, more precisely, is whether the examinee is directly asked what one wants to know, or if this is done indirectly. The questions in the questionnaire need to be clear, interesting, unambiguous, objective and short47. However, the order of the questions in the questionnaire should also be considered. Some authors, for example, Kukic and Markic48, point out two basic strategies or two orders on which each questionnaire should be based. The first one is a psychological strategy, which is connected to establishing contact with the examinee but also to the implementation of the entire course of the study with a special accent on the possible reactions of the examinees to the content of certain questions. The second one is a logical strategy which should ensure the researcher probes into what he is interested in, by using either a funnel technique (from general towards specific) or a reverse funnel technique (from specific towards general).
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A test is often used as a research instrument and it consists of a sequence of connected tasks. The selected group of examinees is submitted to the same test, where solving the tasks and evaluating the results is carried out according to a previously determined procedure. Among the existing types of tests for consumer behaviour research, the ones which fall into the personality tests group are particularly important. More complex characteristics such as attitudes, interests, nature, temperament, personality traits, emotional characteristics, etc. are examined by these tests49. Personality inventory is a personality test for researching nature and temperament, and it consists of a list of statements which distinguishes it from a questionnaire that offers a series of questions50. Projective tests are used to investigate the subconscious field or to discover what the examinees are consciously hiding. Due to unreliability, the obtained qualitative data needs to be completed by more reliable data obtained in a differentway. Scale is an important instrument in consumer behaviour research. Even though it can have different uses, it is mostly used to examine attitudes. In resources, there are various forms and classifications of attitude scales (see Figure 4). In this analysis, the emphasis is on the following three: Likert scale, which became very popular due to the simplicity of answering, but also of interpreting. This descriptive type of scale requires the examinee to express their level of agreement with the statements by choosing one of the five possible intensities51. Semantic dierential scale, which is formed based on bipolar adjectives (e.g. good/bad, white/black, expensive/cheap) which are situated on opposite sides of an odd number of five or seven items. The examinees are expected to evaluate a certain characteristic on this scale, more precisely, a feeling or belief in this characteristic52. The scale is used when comparing consumers perceptions of competitive products and for identifying the product characteristics which need to be improved53. Rank scale, which requires the examinees to rank objects according to certain criteria, for example, ranking advertisements according to interest, product characteristics according to importance or new product concepts according to future purchasing intentions54.
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Figure 4: Classification of attitude scales
Source: Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007
2.7 Sampling
Consumer behaviour research can be, in theory, conducted on an entire population or just a part of it. In real life, the first approach is objectively inapplicable. In other words, this means that actual research is always conducted on a smaller or larger part of the whole population, i.e. certain samples are used in the research. The reason lies in the fact that conducting research on an entire population is expensive and requires a lot of time, while the final results arent necessary reliable. This is why sampling is used;
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a part of the total population on which the research will be conducted. It is important for the sample to be representative. A sample is representative only if it has all the characteristics of the group it is representing. Another important issue is the design of the sample. Designing a sample means answering three questions: who will be included in the sample, what will be the size of the sample and how the sample will be formed55. Sample units are determined by defining the market which needs to be researched, and the sample size will depend on the needed level of data reliability. Even though a larger sample is considered to give more reliable data, this can depend on the sampling method. There are three different types of samples probability, non-probability and combined samples. Within each of these categories, there are various types of samples and some of them are listed in the following analysis. In probability sampling, all units of the basic set have the same, previously known, probability of being selected as a sample. The basic set refers to all units which have a specific characteristic and are the subject of the research. There are two types of probability samples, simple and stratified. A simple probability sample is a form where each member of the basic set is equally likely to be selected as a sample. The selection is based on a table of random numbers which is usually generated by a computer or by lottery choice. On the other hand, a stratied probability sample is formed in two stages. Firstly, the population is divided into groups according to a specific characteristic, and then sample units are obtained by random selection from each group. Depending on whether the proportions that each group has in the population want to be kept, samples can be proportional or unproportional. A non-probability sample is used if there is no need for the research results to be projected onto the entire population, but if it is enough for them to represent the population56. There are three groups of this type convenience, deliberate and quota sampling. Convenience sampling refers to a sample which is the most accessible to the researcher at a certain moment. On the other hand, a deliberate sample is formed based on the researchers evaluation of the most typical representatives of the population in terms of a specific characteristic. Finally, quota sampling begins with a certain
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characteristic by which a portion of the population with this characteristic is defined. After that, quotas or number of units with the characteristics who are going into the sample are defined, in a way that they correspond with the portion of each group in the population. Since only the number of examinees within a quota is defined, the researcher has the freedom of choice. Combined samples are selected through several phases where combinations of different previously mentioned approaches can be used. A typical example of a combined sample is a zone sample. This sample is created by defining zones according to a specific characteristic, where only a few zones are chosen by random selection. These zones are again divided into new zones and the process is repeated until we finally get a sample.
2.8 Negative aspects of consumer behaviour research

Consumer behaviour research, as stated at the beginning of this paper, has a great significance not only for profit organisations, but in a much wider context. However, it is also necessary to point out some disadvantages. Thanks to the developed IT infrastructure and global networking processes, researchers use different approaches to obtain more data on consumers. Internet technology has considerably contributed to the fact that marketers have more and more useful information. Through different promotional activities, consumers often agree on giving personal information to a certain company, but there is still the fear that this information will be ceded to another company, or even worse, used for different purposes without the knowledge and permission of the consumer. When searching for information on wants and needs of consumers, marketers often conduct series of large and expensive researches. Consumers believe they are the ones paying for these researches57. Increasing costs of marketing lead to higher product prices, therefore consumers are at a loss. Even though ethics should be a component of every type of consumer behaviour research, unfortunately things such as violation of intimacy or consumer fraud exist in contemporary practice of consumer research.
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1. Which types of consumer behaviour research do you recall and what are the main differences between them? 2. Describe the six main phases of the consumer behaviour research process. 3. Define primary and secondary data. 4. What are the methods of data collection for quantitative analysis? 5. What are the methods of data collection for qualitative analysis? 6. When is it appropriate to use quantitative or qualitative research? 7. How is an adequate sample determined?
References
1. Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 7th edition, Mate, Zagreb, 2004 2. Hoyer, W. D., Macinnis, D. J.: Consumer behavior, 5th edition, South-Western Cengage Learning, 2009, available on: http://books.google.com/books?id=fk1rT xRYtY0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=hoyer,+macinnis&hl=hr#v=onepage&q&f =false (22.10.2011.) 3. Kesic, T.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 2nd edition, Opinio, Zagreb, 2006 4. Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 7th edition, Mate, Zagreb, 2004 5. Kardes, F.R., Cronley, M. L., Cline, T. W.: Consumer behavior, South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010, available on: http://books.google.com/books?id=nwew 7nJ6000C&printsec=frontcover&hl=hr#v=onepage&q&f=false (23.10.2011.) 6. ibid 7. Marusic, M. Vranesevic, T.: Istrazivanje trzista, 4th edition, Adeco, Zagreb, 1997 8. ibid 9. Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 7th edition, Mate, Zagreb, 2004 10. ibid 11. Kukic, S., Markic, B.: Metodologija drustvenih znanosti metode, tehnike, postupci i instrumenti znanstvenoistrazivackog rada, Ekonomski fakultet Sveucilista u Mostaru, 2006 >>>
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12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.
24.
25. 26.
27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34.
35.
Marusic, M. Vranesevic, T.: Istrazivanje trzista, 4th edition, Adeco, Zagreb, 1997 Kesic, T.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 2nd edition, Opinio, Zagreb, 2006 Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 7th edition, Mate, Zagreb, 2004 Kesic, T.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 2nd edition, Opinio, Zagreb, 2006 Kukic, S., Markic, B.: Metodologija drustvenih znanosti metode, tehnike, postupci i instrumenti znanstvenoistrazivackog rada, Ekonomski fakultet Sveucilista u Mostaru, 2006 Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 7th edition, Mate, Zagreb, 2004 Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007 Kesic, T.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 2nd edition, Opinio, Zagreb, 2006 ibid Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007 Marusic, M. Vranesevic, T.: Istrazivanje trzista, 4th edition, Adeco, Zagreb, 1997 Kukic, S., Markic, B.: Metodologija drustvenih znanosti metode, tehnike, postupci i instrumenti znanstvenoistrazivackog rada, Ekonomski fakultet Sveucilista u Mostaru, 2006 Wright, R.: Consumer behavior, Thomson Learning, 2006, available on: http:// books.google.com/books?id=R329I_4nQOgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=wrig ht,+consumer+behavior&hl=hr#v=onepage&q=wright%2C%20consumer%20 behavior&f=false (22.10.2011.) Marusic, M. Vranesevic, T.: Istrazivanje trzista, 4th edition, Adeco, Zagreb, 1997 Wright, R.: Consumer behavior, Thomson Learning, 2006, available on: http:// books.google.com/books?id=R329I_4nQOgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=wrig ht,+consumer+behavior&hl=hr#v=onepage&q=wright%2C%20consumer%20 behavior&f=false (22.10.2011.) ibid Babic, S.: Izravan pogled u sive celije potrosaca, 18.1.2006., available on: http:// www.liderpress.hr/Default.aspx?sid=1033&to=Printable.ascx (25.10.2011.) Kesic, T.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 2nd edition, Opinio, Zagreb, 2006 Marusic, M. Vranesevic, T.: Istrazivanje trzista, 4th edition, Adeco, Zagreb, 1997 ibid Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007 ibid Wright, R.: Consumer behavior, Thomson Learning, 2006, available on: http:// books.google.com/books?id=R329I_4nQOgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=wrig ht,+consumer+behavior&hl=hr#v=onepage&q=wright%2C%20consumer%20 behavior&f=false (22.10.2011.) Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007 >>>
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36. Cicic, M., Husic, M., Kukic, S.: Ponasanje potrosaca, Ekonomski fakultet Sveucilista u Mostaru, 2009 37. Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007 38. Cicic, M., Husic, M., Kukic, S.: Ponasanje potrosaca, Ekonomski fakultet Sveucilista u Mostaru, 2009 39. Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007 40. Kardes, F.R., Cronley, M. L., Cline, T. W.: Consumer behavior, South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010, available on: http://books.google.com/books?id=nwew 7nJ6000C&printsec=frontcover&hl=hr#v=onepage&q&f=false (23.10.2011.) 41. Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007 42. Cicic, M., Husic, M., Kukic, S.: Ponasanje potrosaca, Ekonomski fakultet Sveucilista u Mostaru, 2009 43. Kesic, T.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 2nd edition, Opinio, Zagreb, 2006 44. Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 7th edition, Mate, Zagreb, 2004 45. Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007 46. Kukic, S., Markic, B.: Metodologija drustvenih znanosti metode, tehnike, postupci i instrumenti znanstvenoistrazivackog rada, Ekonomski fakultet Sveucilista u Mostaru, 2006 47. Kesic, T.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 2nd edition, Opinio, Zagreb, 2006 48. Kukic, S., Markic, B.: Metodologija drustvenih znanosti metode, tehnike, postupci i instrumenti znanstvenoistrazivackog rada, Ekonomski fakultet Sveucilista u Mostaru, 2006 49. ibid 50. Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 7th edition, Mate, Zagreb, 2004 51. Kukic, S., Markic, B.: Metodologija drustvenih znanosti metode, tehnike, postupci i instrumenti znanstvenoistrazivackog rada, Ekonomski fakultet Sveucilista u Mostaru, 2006 52. Kesic, T.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 2nd edition, Opinio, Zagreb, 2006 53. Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 7th edition, Mate, Zagreb, 2004 54. Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S.: Marketing research, 9th edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007 55. Schiffman, L. G., Kanuk, L.L.: Ponasanje potrosaca, 7th edition, Mate, Zagreb, 2004 56. ibid 57. Hoyer, W. D., Macinnis, D. J.: Consumer behavior, 5th edition, South-Western Cengage Learning, 2009, available on: http://books.google.com/books?id=fk1rT xRYtY0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=hoyer,+macinnis&hl=hr#v=onepage&q&f =false (22.10.2011.)
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MOTIVES AND MOTIVATION
Chapter objectives
Understand relations among needs, goals and motives Types of needs, goals and motives Analysis of Maslows hierarchy of needs Differences between positive and negative; rational and emotional motives Methods of exploring motives Types of depth interviews and focus groups
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3. MOTIVES AND MOTIVATION

Motivation certainly plays an important role as a variable that determines consumer behaviour. In life and often in theory too, the problem of confusing or even identifying needs, motivation, and goals appears. This proves a certain lack of understanding of the subject. It is true that these concepts are closely related and intertwined. It is also true that motivation represents a valid link in the chain of needs, motives, and goals. This is not a reason to disregard their uniqueness or ignore their differences though. Therefore, in order to analyse the meaning of motivation for consumer behaviour, theoretical attention, even if only at the level of elementary differences, has to be paid in the explanation of similarities and differences among needs, motives, motivation and goal achievement as concepts without which motivation overall cannot be understood.
3.1 Needs
Need is the first element of the motivational chain and therefore a precondition for the rest of them. In other words, without it there are no motives or motivation to accomplish goals. To define the concept, we can say that a need always implies a certain lack in a person. This lack has a number of characteristics. Accordingly, it is possible to differentiate between several types of needs. The most common classification is into two large groups of needs: inborn or biological needs, and acquired needs. Inborn needs, such as the need for food, water, clothes, shelter etc. are a precondition of a mans biological existence. Satisfying these needs is therefore essential and this is why they are also called primary needs. Acquired needs do not have this property though. Unlike primary needs
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that are present in a man since his birth, satisfying acquired needs: the need for prestige, achievement, power, reputation, status etc., is not a precondition of a mans biological existence. These needs are the product of the culture a person lives in and satisfying them is not a requirement for a persons survival, which is why they are often called secondary needs.
3.2 Goals
Regarding the order of the elements in the so-called motivational chain, the last element is undoubtedly goal. Goal is actually a specific external stimulant that acts as a landmark in a persons attempts to satisfy their needs. More precisely, it is a result of motivated behaviour. People often have needs that do not motivate them to act i.e. to satisfy them. For instance, you have a need to see the surface of the moon. As its realisation is within the sphere of unreal, such need does not motivate you to act in order to satisfy it. Therefore this type of need is of no interest for marketing purposes. If, however, a goal is seen as a marketing category, it is possible to notice certain uniqueness from one to another. Classification of goals is based on it. From a marketing perspective, at least two types of classification have importance. The first one is the classification into generic and product-specic goals. A generic goal, for instance, is the consumption of fruit juice. With a goal set like this, consumers are stimulated to use fruit juice. On the other hand, for the producers of fruit juice, it makes a difference whose fruit juice consumers choose. Their goal, a productspecific goal, is for the final choice to be their juice, and in accordance with that they will do all they can to motivate consumers to select and buy their product.
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Figure 5
Another classification of goals is into positive and negative ones. Positive goals are always the desired goals toward which a persons behaviour is directed. If you set the goal to get fit, it is certainly one of the positive goals. There are different ways of achieving these goals though. One of them is joining a fitness club in order to work out regularly and get fit. Negative goals are different. The name itself tells us about their nature: they are avoided, humans act in order not to achieve them. Gaining weight, for instance, is a negative goal. To avoid it, a person creates a daily routine: joins a jogging club, organise s healthy diet, etc. Businesses adapt to individual goals structured and adjusted to fit dominant cultural norms and values as well as self-perception. For example they will offer products for keeping healthy: low-fat food, fitness equipment etc.
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Figure 6
3.3 Motives
As marketing variables, needs and goals are interdependent. There are no goals without needs, and needs make no sense unless there is a desire to satisfy them and reach a desired goal. However, the space between needs and goals is not vacant. It is occupied with two more elements: motives and motivation. It is not uncommon for these two to be considered one and the same. Not differentiating them is one of the signs of not understanding either though. Therefore, in order to understand consumer behaviour, there is a need to clarify both so that they are realised fully. If, in accordance with the above, we want to define a motive, we could say that it is a result of interaction between psychological and physiological processes within a person, a totality of internal factors that stimulate one to activity, and that direct and manage that activity. Observed this way, motives are important for consumer behaviour because they enable the external results of these internal processes to be discovered, and answer
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the question why human, individual and group behaviour in the markets is the way it is. If we observe motives as one of the marketing variables that determine consumer behaviour though, it is possible to identify several types. The most common classification is into rational and emotional motives. A fundamental determinant of rational motives is that they rely on the logic that consumer behaviour is rational. More precisely, consumers, in the process of making a decision about buying products and services, choose those that bring most benefit to them. For this they use different criteria for the assessment of available products: size, weight, price, warranty, etc. Unlike them, emotional motives rely on the logic that consumers choose goals using personal or subjective criteria such as pride, fear, attraction, status etc. Because of this, the behaviour that they find most rational may appear irrational to others.
3.3.1 Maslows hierarchy of motives

Some theoreticians of motivation believe that there is a hierarchy of needs and that new, higher-level needs are actualised only after the old ones are fulfilled1. In theory, Maslows hierarchy of motives or needsiii is often exploited. Abraham Maslow founded it and based it on the identification of five levels of motives or needs: starting with the lowest, biological ones, to the most complex, psychological ones. They are all sorted in accordance with their importance. Motives or needs were therefore classified into: physiological (food, water, air, shelter, clothes, sex), safety and security (order, stability, routine, familiarity, health, availability etc), social (belonging, friendship, love, affection), motives or needs of ego or selfesteem (self-respect, reputation, social and professional status and prestige, independence after a successful performance etc), and motives or needs of self-actualisation, self-realisation or self-fulfilment (Figure 7)iv.
iii
Schiffman and Kanuk use the term hierarchy of needs. Fulgosi, on the other hand, uses the term hierarchy of motives or needs (1990., p. 254-255). We are going to use the latter approach for our analysis. Some authors (see Bennet and Katsarijan, 1972., p. 62.) tend to classify the five above levels of motives and needs into three groups: natural motives or needs (physiological motives or needs for safety and security), social motives and personality motives (needs and motives of ego or self-actualization).
iv
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It is not our intention to explain each level of Maslows hierarchy of motives or needs in great detail. What must be mentioned though, is the hypothesis that the precondition of satisfying every next level of motives or needs is a previous satisfaction of the one before it - the lower one. For instance, if we are hungry, we will not think a lot about whether the society respects us, but will focus on providing food instead. Marketers often use this information in the advertising industry, appealing primarily to unsatisfied physiological needs. Hunger is increased by a billboard with a picture of a juicy hamburger, and as a result our need for food will have to be satisfied or it will cause frustration. However, this represents the basic problem of Maslows hierarchy. Namely, it cannot be tested empirically. In other words, it is impossible to empirically reach reliable indicators that would show to what extent a need has to be satisfied before the next one is actualised.
Figure 7: Maslows hierarchy of motives or needs
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Regardless of this problem, Maslows hierarchy of motives is often exploited in marketing. Two sets of facts support this. On the one hand, mass consumption products often satisfy a number of levels of needs. Shelter, food and clothes, for instance, satisfy physiological needs. Personal care products satisfy human social needs though. On the other hand, an advertisement can put the emphasis on various levels of motives or needs. Marketing promotion of juice or ice-cream for example, depending on its design, can emphasise different motives or needs. As far as teenagers are concerned, if next to a particular ice-cream a group of friends having fun is shown, it is a promotion of social motives or needs. If, however, ice-creams characteristics of flavour or refreshment are emphasised, it is about a physiological motive. Finally, if low calories of juice are in the foreground, motives or needs of ego are emphasised.
Figure 8
When people cannot achieve specific goals that would fulfil certain needs, their behaviour can divert to an alternative goal. Failure to achieve a goal often results in frustration4.
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Figure 9
3.3.2 Other classifications of motives

In the attempt to explain consumer behaviour, another theory is often used. It is McClellands theory of acquired needs, which is based on the hypothesis that three types of acquired needs are relevant for human motivation: Need for achievement, which is characteristic for people who want to be successful and to take responsibility in problem-solving. Research showed that more than four fifths of the people with this type of need show a tendency towards risk-taking in decision-making, and that they are successful managers. Need for affiliation, According to McClelland, people with this need are more prone to socialising than to success. Need for power, or for gaining and establishing control over others. It can be expressed in two forms: positive, whose result is a convincing and inspirational power, and negative, which results in the desire to dominate and subjugate others. Finally, contemporary theories have appeared on the scene lately. Two approaches are worth mentioning. According to the first one, all motives
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can be classified into two groups: social and non-social. Social motives are characterized by the orientation toward other people. Fulfilling them, more precisely, implies that the products or services have in a certain way been approved by the group. Such approval, for instance, is characteristic for fashion and sports products for the young, clothes for adults, the choice of beverages or restaurants etc. The latter, non-social motives, relate to needs that are fulfilled independently from any external influences, in isolation. The needs to sleep, hear news etc., are a classic example of such needs. In order to satisfy them it is necessary to fulfil certain preconditions; primarily the purchase and use of certain products and services. The second approach to the classification of motives differentiates among three fundamental groups of motives: functional, symbolic and hedonistic. The first of them, functional motives, are based on the search for products that can make a person or a household function. The motive to buy a larger car is in the need for a larger boot, the motive to acquire a washing machine is related to the desire to save time, etc. In the context of symbolic motives, motives of self-esteem, belonging, status etc., is always the need for achievement. Hedonistic motives, finally, are determined by the feeling of satisfaction at the moment of need fulfilment. The motives to play, learn or rest, for example, are marked by this feeling. From a marketing aspect though, this fact is not the most relevant one, but the fact that these types of motives influence purchase and consumption of certain products and services.
3.4 Types of motivation

It has been mentioned earlier that in the chain made of needs, motives, motivation and goal, motivation takes the role of a link among other elements of the chain. This fact alone speaks about the level of importance of motivation as a variable that determines consumer behaviour. How to define motivation as a separate term though? It is a state of being in which a persons energy is mobilised and directed toward an external goal; a driving force that stimulates an individual to action. The source of this force is in a state of tension because a certain need is not fulfilled, and the way to reduce tension is to act and fulfil the need.
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If motivation is defined this way, we can reach the conclusion that the state of motivation can have two possible outcomes. One has a function of a wink, the function that precedes behaviour, and the other has a function of stimulating specific behaviour in order to achieve a goal by fulfilling a need.
Figure 10
IF A MAN WOULD MOVE THE WORLD, HE MUST FIRST MOVE HIMSELF. - Socrates
If motivation that stimulates a consumer is put under the microscope, there is no doubt that as a rule it is not under the influence of only one, but of a number of motives: a specific motivational combination. You are motivated to shop because it takes you out of the house and interrupts the routine, but also because shopping is a sort of amusement, because it enables you to meet friends, creates the feeling of pleasure and success that you achieve in the process, etc.
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Motivation does not always take the same shape. On the contrary, a differentiation between two types of motivation is rather common: positive and negative. How to recognise each one of them? Simply said, by the type of driving force that is built into motivation. Positive motivation is determined by the feeling of driving force (need, desire, longing) that drives a person to a certain object or circumstance. Unlike it, in the essence of negative motivation is the feeling of a driving force such as fear, aversion etc. that pulls a consumer away from a certain object or a circumstance. Real life, truth be told, is often free of pure motivational situations. More precisely, the most common state in real life is that of a parallel existence and a conflict of positive and negative motivational forces. This conflict can appear in a number of forms. Three manifested forms are relevant for consumer behaviour. First of all, a consumer can be given a choice of two equally attractive alternatives. For instance, in case of getting some unplanned money, a person can choose between travelling to an attractive destination and buying an expensive car. Further, they can be faced with the positive and negative aspects of the purchase and use of a specific product; for example to have the choice of quitting smoking because it harms health or of continuing smoking because it gives pleasure. The third type of the so-called motivational conflict is quite common as well. It is the situation when a consumer has to choose between two equally unpleasant alternatives. For instance, when a consumer has to choose one of the two options: pay for the dishwasher to be fixed, or buy a new one. This is a classic example of this sort of conflict. If motivation is defined as described above: a state of being in which a persons energy is mobilised and directed toward an external goal, another conclusion can be reached: that motivation results in the sense of a persons involvement as his or her specific psychological state. Regarding consumer behaviour, involvement can be manifested in at least two forms: Rational: involvement that is manifested in the form of thinking about a products attributes and comparing them to the attributes of similar products. Emotional: involvement at the very act of purchase of products such as gifts etc.
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Regardless of the manifested form though, at least four types of involvement are relevant for consumer behaviour. Permanent involvement is a longterm interest of an individual for a certain product or group of products. For instance, if a consumer is interested in motorbikes, this will lead to his interest for magazines about motorbikes, for motorbike exhibitions, motorbike cross-country races, etc. The so-called situational involvement, or involvement in the process of shopping, is entirely different. It does not have a characteristic of durability. On the contrary, it is closely related to a concrete situation such as a purchase of a concrete product: to the information search regarding the product, price, warranty, post-purchase services and such, as well as to the very act of purchase, after which the product loses the capacity to motivate certain behaviour. Cognitive involvement is the involvement manifested as contemplation during the processing of purchase-related information. This type of involvement is directly related to the price of a product. Simply said, this means: the more expensive the product, the higher level of involvement. For instance, buying a pen involves insignificant amount of thinking to process information, while buying a car involves a detailed research of all information available before the purchase. Finally, affective involvement, the involvement of emotions, must not be forgotten. This type of involvement cannot be excluded during a purchase of holiday gifts, a theatre play, the excitement or disappointment caused by it, etc. Regarding the situational, or the involvement during the purchase of a certain product, it is possible to differentiate between two basic levels of involvement in the purchase decision-making: low and high level of involvement. The first, low level of involvement, implies little readiness to spend significant time and money on the process of making a decision about a purchase. This, as a rule, is the case with routine shopping, i.e. purchase of products for daily use. So-called high-level involvement implies the opposite situation: a consumer is ready to spend more time and money on the process of decision-making, all alternatives are carefully
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evaluated, and brand confidence has a significant role. Therefore there is a lower possibility of making a mistake during purchase. High level of involvement is therefore emphasised when product price is higher. Regardless of the form, type or level of involvement, the conclusion that motivation is not a temporary, ad hoc state, but an imminent, permanent characteristic of a persons/consumers personality, is beyond doubt. If this is true, it is difficult to avoid another question: Where to look for the causes for such motivation? The answer is not easy at all. It is almost impossible to list all the causes in a review such as this one. However, it is possible to point out those that, from the perspective of consumer behaviour, are more common than others. One of the causes of a persons motivation, undoubtedly, lies in the fact that most needs are never completely or permanently satisfied. The need for food is permanent, but so are the needs for fashion trends, socialising, appraisal etc. A part of the cause is the fact that the satisfaction of some needs means the actualisation of others. Let us remember Maslows hierarchy of motives that relies on this very premise. Success in accomplishing some goals can also be a cause of a persons permanent motivation. Namely, the increase of self-confidence results in higher aspirations and goals. A significant number of the above causes rely, after all, on the existence of specic latent needs. Activating them implies a source of new motivation. From a marketing perspective therefore, an interesting question is: how to induce, stimulate this sort of activation? There are different options of course. For instance, hunger as a physiological need can be induced by a certain TV program that can then introduce an advertisement of a certain food product. However, physiological initiation is only one cause of need activation. Emotional activation of needs must not be ignored either. Due to the impossibility of achieving certain goals, an individual can often daydream, for example imagine himself as a top sportsman, actor, musician, etc. Such daydreaming can be a reason for a certain purchase though a person may buy a pair of skis and attend a ski school, join an association for amateur actors and attend acting classes, etc. And finally, certain relevance belongs to the so-called environmental need activation stimuli that come from a persons environment. A wish to buy a computer
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can be activated by a simple walk by a computer shop window, or hunger by the smell from a bakery, etc.
3.5 Exploring motives

In order to identify subconscious or hidden motivation of consumers, various kinds of research are conducted, commonly known as motivational research or research of motivation. The fundamental objective of such research is to answer the questions such as: why do people do something like buy one brand and not another, why are they ready to shop more and spend more when in a certain psychological state, etc. A theoretical foundation for this is the thesis that a non-conscious mind has a significant role in peoples behaviour overall, including their behaviour as consumers. Motivational research of a persons behaviour as a consumer, searching for the answers to above questions, uses various data collection methods and techniques. These are mostly the techniques commonly used in psychology and sociology. Four of them deserve special attention. The first one is a depth interview. It is an individual interview consisting of long conversations that have not been structured in advance. There are situations in which this method is especially efficient and therefore recommended. First of all, it is any situation where a detailed examination of personal behaviour, attitudes and needs is necessary. It is also recommended if the research subject is highly confidential and private or implies certain strong, socially acceptable norms of behaviour. Finally, it should be used if the subject of examination is a step-by-step understanding of complex behaviour. If values are the research subject, depth interview primarily uses two techniques: laddering technique and technique grand tour. Laddering technique is based on the definition of the final state that clients have in their relation with products and services. The interview starts with a request for the client to define all attributes that he or she finds useful for describing and differentiating various brands of products or services that are the research subject, such as banking services of specific banks. These
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initial questions are at the level of attributes, but further examination leads to higher levels of consideration i.e. the dimensions of value. Defining attributes is a basis for further, detailed examination. Therefore the entire conversation flow starts with attributes and moves across consequences to the final state. By the technique grand tour, however, certain dimensions need to be understood indirectly through research of details regarding clients experiences with certain products or services. The interview starts with a request for the clients to imagine themselves in a typical situation before a purchase, during it, and during the use of a product, describing in detail what happens in each situation. The objective is to take the clients through their typical experience with a product or service and by doing this uncover what is, and what is not relevant for them. The examiner may need to ask additional questions about certain details and their importance. Along with the two above, a depth interview technique although it is also adequate for focus groups is a critical incident technique. This technique, unlike the above two, can be carried out without an examiner, using questionnaires as a means, whether in personal contact or through mail. The guiding principle of the technique is for the examinees to reveal their worst and best experiences with a product or service, and to describe them in great detail. The drawback of the technique is the method of collecting such detailed data, for examinees often provide answers that are unstructured and it takes a lot of effort to process and analyse them. However, the advantage of the technique is that it is possible to conduct it on a large number of clients (e.g. by a mail survey), which increases the value of the received answers. Group interview or focus group interview is often conducted. Unlike the depth interview, a group interview (Table 2), as the name suggests, is conducted with a small group of people (focus group) that usually consists of 8 to 12 people. The method of conducting the interview is an unstructured, casual conversation about the subject of interest, which a moderator has with the examinees. It is important to provide a relaxed atmosphere because it stimulates an open discussion. The moderator, as the leader of the survey, is in charge of providing such setting. In order to ensure it, s/he must give everyone an opportunity to speak and encourage them to express their opinion. The primary task must not be forgotten
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in the process, which is why the moderator uses a reminder during the interview, to help him/her direct the flow of discussion.
Table 2: Focus group vs. depth interview DEPTH INTERVIEW Interviewing technique is easy to learn Higher cost and more time-consuming Interpretation of individual responses is easy Appropriate for revealing the depth of the problem No influence of the dynamics of the group, examinees self-confidence cannot be increased Only one attitude can be explored in the interview FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW Requires more skill Data collection costs less and is faster Data interpretation is more difficult because of the simultaneous examination of a large number of people Appropriate for generating the width of the researched problem The dynamics of the group can encourage or discourage the examinees Possibility to compare different attitudes, even the conflicting ones
Source: Woodru, B. R., Gardial, F. S. (1996), Know Your Customer, Blackwell, pp. 178-180
Finally, projective techniques are often used in order to explore motivation: the techniques that rely on Oscar Wildes principle that a man is least himself when he talks in his own person, and that when he is given a mask he will tell the truth. This principle actually means that people are often not aware of the motives that drive them to specific behaviour and this is why straightforward questions cannot reveal them. Therefore, projective techniques represent a set of examination procedures in which examinees express their feelings, convictions or motivation through an imaginary person, situation or object. A famous successful application of projective techniques for marketing research purposes is Maison Haires from 1950. Haire showed two lists of groceries to the examinees. The only difference between them was that one
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had instant and the other had regular coffee. Each examinee was asked to describe women according to these lists. Projective techniques are mainly used as motivational research support. Five techniques are used for the research of consumer behaviour: association technique, finalisation technique, role-play technique, personalisation and psycho drawing. Association technique involves showing items - words or images - as an incentive. In accordance with this, there are two types of tests within the technique: word association and image association. Word association demands the examinees to say what certain words (nouns, verbs) they can associate with. This test is appropriate for determining and evaluating the image of a new or existing product based on the name. Image association uses images of people, animals, items or situations as a stimulant for getting the examinees answers. Every image has its beforehand evaluated or examined meaning lifestyle, personal attitude, etc. This method enables measuring how much certain brands or products are in agreement with the situation, lifestyle or expectations of the target market. Finalisation technique is based on presenting an unresolved situation to the examinees that they are supposed to resolve. The technique appears in three basic forms: as a test of finishing sentences or stories, balloon test (finalising the situation presented by an image), and comic finalisation test (i.e. finalising the situations presented by a comic). In the sentence/ story finalisation test examinees are expected to finish the sentence/story in their own words. Situations presented by an image, where examinees have to finalise a conversation or resolve the situation, are called a balloon test. One person says something, and the other needs to reply (finish the conversation) by entering the words into the balloon. Finally, comic finalisation test presents an imaginary event that examinees are supposed to resolve. Regardless of what form of appearance is used, finalisation techniques are useful for revealing hidden attitudes or motivations that examinees would not reveal if they were asked directly. In role-play technique examinees become imaginary persons and are asked to behave the way they would in a given situation. This way many barriers
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are removed and honest answers are provided, for the examinees do not speak on their own behalf, even though they reveal their own attitudes, opinions and anticipated behaviour. Using this technique, by giving the examinees the role of salespeople, it is relatively easy to find out how salespeople should behave toward clients, or how in fact they do behave. In personalisation technique examinees give features and appearances of living things to objects that normally do not possess such characteristics. For instance they can be given the task to describe an imaginary product/ service using human characteristics. Additional data for such research can be collected if examinees are asked to, along with the description of products using human characteristics, draw a user and non-user of the product the way they imagine them. Finally, psycho drawing as a technique requests examinees to relate an object to a certain colour, shape or symbol whose meaning is familiar. Using this method makes it possible to measure the similarity or differences between products or services. Let us imagine, for example, that various product brands (e.g. five brands) are given one of the colours of spectrum each, and that the examinee or examinees are asked why that particular colour was given to that product. This introduces an entirely new view on observing different brands of the same product or of different products.
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1. How are needs manifested? 2. What types of goals are there and how can they be used in marketing? 3. What are the relations among needs, goals and motives? 4. Explain Maslows hierarchy of needs. 5. How and why do consumers transfer from one level of Maslows hierarchy of needs to the next? 6. What are the characteristics of McClellands theory of acquired needs? 7. List some examples of the use of positive and negative motivation. 8. How would you use emotional motivation and for what type of products? 9. Describe two techniques of depth interviews.
References
1. Maslow, A.H. (1943): A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychologica Review, 50, pp. 370-96; Maslow, A.H. (1954): Motivation and Personality, New York, Harper&Row; Maslow, A.H. (1968): Toward a Psychology of Being, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, pp. 189-215 2. Fulgosi, A. (1990) Psihologija licnosti, teorije i istrazivanja, 5. izdanje, Skolska knjiga, Zagreb 3. Benett, P.D. and H.H. Katsarijan (1972): Consumer Behavior, Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 4. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, 7. izdanje, MATE, Zagreb, p. 72
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PERCEPTION
Chapter objectives
Define perception Analyse senses and their importance for consumers Review perception stages Understand selective perception Explain characteristics of perception Analyse attention and its phases The Gestalt Theory
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4. PERCEPTION
Perception is a very interesting and important physiological category. The relevance of perception for understanding consumer behaviour is exceptional, for it determines the level of possibility to create and master communication by creating a companys image, brand, products and other elements of vital importance for marketing in general. Perception of the world around us determines individual attitudes, beliefs, evaluations, decisions and reactions. The way people experience the environment, i.e. the stimuli and incentives around them, directly influences their reactions, purchase decisions and other types of decisions. For marketing and marketers, knowledge of perception implies understanding events during the exposure of consumers to stimuli, as well as an acceptance and appreciation of environmental incentives. The answer to the question of how consumers become aware of a product, brand, company or an advertisement can be found in the field of perception. Consumer awareness of the value of a brand, company, name of a service etc. in fact determines a companys value in the market, which is in direct relation to perception.
4.1 Definition of perception

There are many definitions of perception. The majority of them are consistent regarding the basic explanation. There are some differences in the stress on certain aspects of the concept though. The most common definition of perception is the one that describes it as the process by which an individual selects, organise s and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world.1
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Mowen and Minors2 definition is used to a similar extent and according to it perception is (also) a process in which individuals are exposed to information that arouses their attention and consideration, which leads to their understanding of it. In essence, by means of perception people create or interpret the picture of the world and the environment they live in. Even though the rational approach explains that using perception we in fact see or hear what actually happens around us, the process itself is much more complex. The objectivist approach would be correct if every individual interpreted stimuli and incentives from the environment in an identical way. It is easy to prove that this does not happen in reality. In numerous situations completely identical stimuli such as sound, picture, film, package, advertisement, billboards, presentations, change of temperature etc. result in a number of interpretations and explanations. Very often the interpretations of completely identical stimuli are entirely different, which casts doubt on the objectivist approach and opens up an entire area of consideration and explanation of the way humans perceive. An individuals active approach toward stimulus perception is now beyond any doubt, which means that humans see reality both through objective incentives and through their own view of experiences, expectations, knowledge, interpretation, belief and approach. Objectivist measure and interpretation of stimuli does not necessarily give us an insight into their perception. In order to better understand and encompass all the elements that influence perception, it is important to include both emotional and irrational elements, which are often called wishes and beliefs. In other words, people see, hear and feel what they expect or want to see, hear or feel. It is important to emphasise that from the marketing aspect this presents a perfectly legitimate way of behaviour, because there isnt an objectivised measure of human behaviour or perception. People are different; they have different views and prejudices about various things. Therefore their perceptions vary in accordance with these differences. Within this context, marketing stimuli cannot be homogenous, but need to adapt to different market segments or target markets. Moreover, the researched ways of emotional perception, so-called illusions and fantasies, can be used in the process of stimuli creation.
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4.2 Elements that influence perception

The following elements have a crucial influence on the perception of reality: sensory or sensorial factors, involvement, and real i.e. psychological and social factors. Sensory or sensorial factors relate to senses that all people have. Humans have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. The receptors for these senses are: eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin. The most common elements of perception for sight are colour, shape and size; for hearing: tempo and volume; for smell: pleasant and unpleasant scent; for taste: sweet, salty and bitter; for touch: soft, rough and damp. An adapted illustration of senses is presented in Figure 113.
Figure 11
Receptors react to stimuli, depending on peoples individual state of receptors. Someone sees better than another, someones hearing is not as good; which with further variations leads to an unlimited number of combinations and situations regarding perception. On the other hand, the intensity and type of stimulation also varies greatly, which causes numerous situations in which the process of perception happens differently. Peoples level of sense development varies greatly. Likewise, the nature of senses determines their involvement. In practice, senses are often combined and they influence each other. Regardless of the understanding of sense function and combination, research shows that we are still far from completely understanding how senses are signalled in action, and how their combination influences reality perception.
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When examinees were shown a flash located in between two short sounds, many of them registered two flashes4. Research into what caused this can reveal how different stimuli are combined and how they create an integrated picture in a human brain. Involvement is an interest or relevance that an individual gives to a certain purchase. The greater the interest of an individual for a product or situation that leads to the satisfaction of a certain need, the greater the probability of perceiving the stimuli related to that situation. There are several factors that determine the level of interest of consumers or individuals. They are: Type of product or need, The nature of communication with an individual, Situational factors, Personal traits of individuals5.
Generally it is considered that the greater the value or durability of a product or service, the greater the consumers involvement and interest. Considering the risk that a purchase carries, which is almost always related to high value products, consumers are highly involved in the process of buying a house or a flat, a car, furniture and such goods. Further, communication with consumers regarding highly valuable products is almost always different from that regarding daily consumables. This also influences the involvement and a different approach to the environmental stimuli. Situational factors also increase the level of stimuli sensitivity, because an immediate need or need activation leads to a higher probability of stimuli selection and reaction. Finally, personality and individual traits affect peoples interest in information. Innovation, lifestyle, cognitive elements of personality, ethnocentrism, materialism and other characteristics determine consumers interest and relation toward information and stimuli, as well as the intensity of the interest and selection.
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4.3 Perception process stages

There are two basic approaches to perception process stages or to the dynamics of perception6. The first one presents the stages of exposure, attention and understanding7, and the second one is about perceptual selection, organisation of terms, and interpretation8. These approaches differ partly but they can be classified in a single way, which is what we are going to do.
Figure 12
4.3.1 Exposure/selective perception stage

Every individual in the contemporary world is theoretically exposed to a potential influence of thousands of stimuli. Starting with uncontrolled ones such as the ones coming from nature and physical surroundings, to the determined ones that are launched with the intention of reaching an individual and achieving some sort of communication and influence. Stimuli launched in the form of messages via media and directly by companies and their agents are becoming more numerous and fairly
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dominant. There is no doubt that people are in a position to act upon stimuli in the context of understanding, acceptance, rejection or complete refusal of any unrequested communication. Therefore, exposure is the stage of accepting information through senses. It is a fact that the increasing number of stimuli that people are potentially exposed to in a modern society pollutes and overcrowds the space and atmosphere we live in. This leads to the impossibility of individuals to perceive most stimuli they are exposed to due to the physical impossibility to accept and consider such a huge number, as well as due to the lack of interest or understanding, belief or value discrepancy, or for any other reason. The process of selection of a small number of stimuli depends on individual expectations and willingness to open up to the possibility of perception, as well as on the characteristics and intensity of stimuli. A large number of selected stimuli that are noticeable when exposed to an individual happen automatically in a given situation; therefore when a perception occurs along with certain environmental situations and conditions. This interpretation claims that a majority of individuals already have formed criteria of elimination of unwanted stimuli, so-called filtering. Using filtering to eliminate unwanted stimuli is related to motives and goals of individuals i.e. consumers. Along with perception, an individuals previous experiences play an important role in the process of stimuli selection. These experiences in some manner refer to an automatic selection mentioned in the previous paragraph. Still, the nature of stimuli plays the most important role in the first stage of selection process. A stimulus is a raw material that during selection creates attention in an individuals consciousness and lead to perception. What intrigues researchers, marketing experts, psychologists and others more than anything is the objective nature of stimuli and the reflection in an individuals awareness; in other words, whether there is an absolute compatibility between what a stimulus contains (sound, colour, shape, smell, meaning, position, frequency, taste etc) and that which is projected
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on the recipients side. All findings show that the perception of reality is individual, i.e. that perception is most frequently not an objectivised reality but a reflection of what an individual thinks it is. This claim implies the fact that people are different both individually and as groups. Further, human senses and the possibility of measuring environmental stimuli are limited: what people hear, see, taste, feel or smell is in fact only a small segment of what happens in nature. As perception is, among other things, the creation of a coherent picture of the world, individuals often think that they have perceived something that in the objective world has in fact never happened, or it has happened in a different way. There are numerous distinct illustrations of the previous discussion9. The following figure presents one such example.
Figure 13: Blind Spot (optical disc)
Close your right eye and look at number 3. Can you see the yellow spot in the periphery? Now slowly move toward the book or away from it. At some point the yellow spot is going to disappear. Note how far from the book you were when the yellow spot disappeared. Repeat the experiment looking at a larger and then smaller number. Pay attention to the difference in distance at the moment of the yellow spots disappearance. There are many similar examples that confirm the limits of human senses in noticing, following and identifying the characteristics of environmental stimuli.
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Considering the above, it is necessary to explain several key categories important for the phase of exposure or selective perception. These categories are the absolute threshold of perception, the differential threshold of perception (Webers Law and the concept of Just Noticeable Difference JND, sensory adaptation), butterfly curve, subliminal perception and selective perception. The absolute threshold of perception presents the level of stimuli intensity below which people do not know of a stimuluss existence, and above which they become aware of it. Very often it is effectively said that it is the line between something and nothing. In a physical sense it is known that sound threshold for humans is 1000 kHz, and that 30 Hertz is the minimal physical limit for a human. Some animals such as whales can hear sounds below that frequency, but humans cant. Also, humans cannot hear sounds with frequency over 10.000Hertz, while dogs can. Further, experiments show that it takes about 9 photons of light (waves) for sight to select the existence of stimuli. The above thresholds are not valid for all humans, as individual quality of senses varies greatly from person to person. The absolute threshold of perception is a very relevant concept in marketing for it presents a logical limit of the effort to make an impression. Nothing that comes below the absolute threshold of perception makes sense in the context of investment and message creation. Therefore every communication has to be above this threshold. Any serious marketing action must take the absolute threshold concept into consideration. Examples for this are the size of characters or images on billboards, the volume of sound in a video message or on the radio, the intensity of colour etc. The differential threshold of perception is the next important component of understanding the general concept of perception. It refers to two levels of a stimulus: one that does not stimulate any perception, and one that does. This means that the change in stimulus that causes the detection of the difference between the two is called differential threshold of perception.
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This phenomenon is often called Just Noticeable Difference (JND) in written resources, which actually denotes a differential threshold, i.e. the difference in stimuli caused by individual perceptions. In marketing JND means that any change in product, package, advertising etc. must be visible and distinct enough to cause consumers to detect it. Otherwise it is pointless to add useful characteristics to a product or reduce the price if consumers are not going to notice it. Any increase in the price or reduction of supply is acceptable if it occurs below the differential threshold. On the other hand, changes have to be subtle enough for consumers to adjust to them. For instance, during the merger of IBM and Lexmark, the common logo was created by gradually reducing the IBM icon and increasing the Lexmark one in order to give the consumers enough time to adjust to the change. Webers Lawv* is in its logic an extension of JND, and refers to the fact that the relation between two stimuli is not an absolute objectivised category, but depends on the intensity of the primary stimulus. Therefore, the stronger and more distinct the primary stimulus is, the stronger the additional one has to be in order to notice i.e. perceive the difference between them. Also, the law can be interpreted as an assumption that if the intensity of the first stimulus is increased, the smaller are the chances that the additional, unchanged stimulus is going to be noticed. Webers fraction is presented below: K= i
K is perception of JND, i is a minimal change of intensity of a stimulus necessary to cause JND, and I is the intensity of the initial stimulus.
Ernest Weber is a German psychologist from the 19th century
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Figure 14
As mentioned above, marketing application of JND and Webers Law is in the area of prices, product features, advertising and elements used in it, packaging: shape, dimensions, size, colours etc., as well as in sales promotion and other marketing elements. It is important to mention that in this instance, similarly to the absolute threshold of perception, there are differences among individuals and their particular capacity to perceive. JND-related elements that influence perceptivity are: the relevance of the product and purchase for the consumer, pleasure and enjoyment in the process, repetition of stimuli, surprise, contrast, and prominence of stimuli. Each of these criteria signifies particular situations within which stimuli perception occurs in accordance with a given situation of individual or group consumers. The phenomenon called sensory adaptation is related to Webers Law and JND. People exposed to intensive stimuli adjust to them with time and stop noticing them regardless of their intensity or attraction. Sensitivity of senses decreases as the exposure to stimuli increases. People exposed to loud sound daily adjust to it and stop noticing it. Likewise, the abundance of messages, announcements, placards and billboards in time stops producing any effect because receivers become insensitive to these types of stimuli. Adaptation
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can be interpreted as a change of both the absolute threshold and the level at which JND is measured, i.e. these thresholds are raised, which makes the fight for differentiation and information sharing more difficult. From the marketing view, sensory adaptation imposes additional tasks and obligations on marketers who want to launch a new product, modify the supply etc. Basically, consumers have already adapted to the many offers available, which makes it difficult to direct their attention toward modified or entirely new products, as all additional stimuli go un-noticed and are mentally categorized as already seen. This pressures marketers to be as creative as possible in their fight for the attention of message recipients. The increase of sensory input is rather common nowadays, which involves louder sounds, combining colours, using contrasts, completely white or black billboards, various surprises and unusual combinations etc. The Butterfly curve phenomenon is based on the idea of sensory adaptation and possible changes10. As the picture below shows, the preference i.e. acceptance and attraction to a specific stimulus lasts for a certain amount of time until the adaptation of senses occurs, which is when the relation turns into indifference or insensitivity for further stimuli of that type. However, when a new or modified stimulus occurs, the cycle is repeated: the acceptance and attraction to the new stimulus increases again, up to the next point of adaptation and saturation.
Figure 15 Butterfly curve... ...is based on the idea that something discretely different can be perceived in a more positive way than the original image
High Attraction Low Level of adaptation Intensity of stimulus
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The curve that presents this phenomenon is shaped as butterflys wings, which is where the name came from. The butterfly curve phenomenon explains the reasons for frequent changes in fashion and fashion trends. Likewise, it can be applied for explaining a spontaneous change of a brand by certain categories of consumers with low loyalty to products of low relevance and consumer value. A very interesting and intriguing area within consumer behaviour discipline is subliminal or unconscious perception. Basically it is selfexplanatory; it relates to the possibility or assumption that people perceive stimuli without conscious understanding or under the level of awareness. This is a controversial idea as there is no evidence that such a way of communication works at all. However, the popularity of the idea outlived the lack of evidence about its effectiveness, and for 50 years now large companies have been aiming at affecting consumers without their realisation of it. In the context of subliminal perception, we often mention the attempts to use very fast and short sequences in visual advertising that the human eye does not register but that stay in the sub consciousness. Likewise, we talk about sound messages recorded in the background of a basic message or with a slightly different rhythm, which the human ear does not record, but which are registered in the sub consciousness and as such they enable communication and influence. Finally, we often refer to hidden sexual symbols or a message within a message, through allusion of either shapes or moves, which all subconsciously relates a product or a company to erotic notions without it being obvious. Regardless of the existence of some subconscious perception elements, it is hard to control them in advertising: the effects are difficult to measure and only indirect long-term recognisability can be expected. Generally, the practical component of this phenomenon in marketing is questionable, even though it is intensely covered in written material. Finally, in this section we are going to explain the process of selective perception, as a key component of understanding the exposure stage,
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and peoples protection from too many communication relations that they cannot physically establish. Therefore, selective perception is a defence mechanism that selects stimuli in accordance with the motives, expectations and interests of individuals, but that also depends on the nature and intensity of stimuli. It is important to explain four basic concepts11 regarding selective perception: selective exposure, selective attention, selective defence and perceptual blockage. Selective exposure is a sort of behaviour that exhibits openness toward the stimuli that lead to pleasant and satisfying reactions i.e. that indulge individuals. People instinctively tend to expose themselves to good music, pleasant odours, attractive visual arrangements, etc. Selective attention goes one step further and takes people specifically to those stimuli that match the current needs and interests. Within the marketing context, this implies a conscious search for and exposure to those messages and content that match the current interests. When consumers start thinking about the need to buy a product, i.e. when they reach the stage of information search and evaluation of alternatives, they actively search for the information regarding this subject within the purchase process and they are open toward all stimuli of this type. In other words, if a person is considering buying a car or a computer, all information regarding this subject has a much bigger chance of being noticed, whilst in any other situation this very information will be un-noticed by the same person. Perceptual defence is an extremely important mechanism of consumer perception. It explains how it is possible for completely identical stimuli to be interpreted differently, or to be noticed by one group of individuals and go unnoticed by another. This mechanism is in fact a defensive dam for all unpleasant truths or facts that disturb an individuals coherent picture of the world. If they are exposed to the images that distort this picture or to facts that do not fit into their understanding of events or situations, people simply defend themselves by not receiving or by rejecting these images. The interpretation of history, events, situations or concepts often differs diametrically, because people use different facts i.e. only those that they admit through their perceptual defence. In commercial sense, inscriptions
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about harmful effects of smoking on cigarette boxes are an excellent example, which smokers simply ignore by the system of perceptual defence. Perceptual blocking is a common mechanical method of defence from the vast amount of stimuli in the contemporary world. Zapping, i.e. changing TV channels using a remote controller is a good example. The choice, i.e. switching off or avoiding various media (radio, TV, magazines etc.) is perceptual blocking as well, as is ignoring placards, announcements, billboards etc. Everyone daily blocks thousands of pieces of information in order to defend the body and consciousness from unnecessary and unrequested stimuli.
4.3.2 Attention stage

Attention is in essence a cognitive process of recognising a stimulus that is processed in consciousness. Attention is actually a natural continuation of selective perception. It occurs when the selective filter chooses a stimulus. There are several types of attention12: pre-attention, voluntary and involuntary attention. Pre-attention is a type of selection process, most commonly below the level of awareness or at the border of it. It is a transitional stage between stimuli exposure and the realisation of stimuli recognition. A person is exposed to numerous influences at this stage, and the procedure of stimuli selection is subject to experience, motives, interests and characteristics of consumers, as well as to the intensity of stimuli. Attention can be activated consciously or unconsciously/involuntarily. Involuntary attention is mainly caused by exposing a person to extreme or dramatic stimuli. Something that is new, unexpected, with strong impulses, that surprises, catches or startles people, catches their attention regardless of their previous inattentiveness. This attention is in theory called orientation reflex13 and serves as a reference framework for all marketing actions. As it is very difficult to select consumers that have the need or interest for a specific stimulus at a given time, orientation reflex is used to catch consumers attention, and the target market is systematized and
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brought into focus by a further perception process. Voluntary attention, on the other hand, is a reflection of an individuals interest in information, a contact or relation. This attention stems from perceptual selection, by which people actively search for relevant data, i.e. select from a multitude of environmental stimuli. Catching consumers attention is an extremely important activity for marketers. Therefore, understanding the stages of attention and orientation reflex is a precondition for a companys success. Within this context the creators of messages and actions choose elements that refer to the pre-attention stage as well as voluntary and involuntary attention and to orientation reflex in particular.
4.3.3 Organisation and interpretation stage

This stage is also called the understanding stage and it consists of two substages: organisation and interpretation of stimuli. Organisation of stimuli is a process in which people do not observe each stimulus individually but organise them into various principles, groups and processes. Therefore, each stimulus is a part of a larger unit, which facilitates the understanding and verification of a coherent picture of the world around us. The organisation of visual and other kinds of stimuli is usually presented as the way people perceive lines, shapes, figures and various forms. This applies for non-visual stimuli as well, which are then given a visual form. The most famous research in the field of stimuli organisation was conducted by a group of German psychologists at the close of the 19th and onset of the 20th century. Their concept of research and findings is called the Gestalt Psychology or Gestalt School14. In German, Gestalt means shape, configuration or rule. Basically, the findings of Gestalt psychologists are related to the way people take individual stimuli from the surroundings and place them into a meaningful image. In accordance with this, we can say that a lot of stimuli would be incomprehensible for the majority of people, unless they were able to place them in a context. From the marketing view,
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no logo or a product or a company symbol would mean anything on its own unless there was a Gestaltian connection to a wider context. Three basic principles of perceptual organisation, according to the Gestalt research, are figure and background, grouping and closure. Figure and background is the first principle for explaining organisation of stimuli. It claims that people group visual images into contrasts so that there is always a figure that stands out, i.e. differentiates from a dull background. If we put an object such as a pen, phone or a book on a table, then each of these objects will be a figure with the table as a background. People will primarily perceive the figure, i.e. the pen or the book, and ignore the background, i.e. the table. Understanding this principle helps the design of an image through the identification and recognition of what is a figure and what is background. The figure and background principle can be applied to non-visual stimuli as well. A good example is background music on the radio, with anything else we may focus our attention on as a figure, such as reading a book or a magazine. However, the same music in a concert would be a figure because our attention and stimulus understanding are focused on it. However, there are many controversial examples of the application and understanding of this concept, simply because the human brain does not always function in an identical manner.
Figure 16
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In the first picture, we can see either two faces looking at each other or a vase. In the second one we see either a young or an old woman. How people identify these examples, what is a figure, what is a background, are the questions that intrigue the Gestalt psychologists, for the answers would explain the dilemma of the human brain in the perception of figure and background. In one instance the faces are the figure, and it is relevant immediately. The human brain often fluctuates, seeing one image one moment, and another the next. It is important to mention that the identification of a figure and a background often depends on the experience, expectations, knowledge and interests of an individual. For instance, people can quickly find a familiar face in a group picture if they are looking for it, whilst all the faces in group pictures are unfamiliar and therefore a background for anybody else. Contemporary marketing practise goes one step further from a classical understanding of the figure and background principle, so that sometimes a confusion between what is a figure and what is a background is purposefully created, in order to crystallise and focus consumers attention. Sometimes the entire newspaper page with a completely white or black background shows only a small point or a line in the same colour, in order to catch consumers attention and curiosity regarding the figure. Or, applying the method of contrasting, a consumer is drawn into noticing the differences and becomes even more intrigued by the figure. Grouping is the next principle of the Gestalt psychology and it is based on an understanding of human perception similar to the previous case. This principle is also about placing individual elements of stimuli into a wider context by associating and grouping concepts and creating an understandable picture of the world. Therefore, every image from the environment is placed into a context where it is then given a specific meaning. People relate numbers to faces, landscapes to ages, various combinations of numbers, and they give them meaning. They also relate names to physiognomies, colours to atmosphere, shapes to mood etc. Most people memorize important numbers by grouping them into twos or threes and creating a meaningful connection among them.
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In a marketing context, people associate favourable impressions or attitudes they have about models or presenters, and then group them into an impressive image of a company or an advertisement. Closure, the final principle of the Gestalt theory, explains the findings that in case of an incomplete or unfinished perception individuals tend to find an understandable and comprehensive meaning. If a stimulus is insufficiently logical, not understandable, not related to the situation or recipients experience, or if it is purposefully partial in content and form, then the recipients either feel a certain psychological pressure i.e. the state of suspense related to the need for a complete understanding of the stimulus or situation, or they look for a solution in the form of an interpretation or finalisation of the unfinished meaning. Closure is important in marketing, because individuals often actively search for the meaning of an incomplete message or image, or they create an understanding themselves. In both cases the interest of an individual for the stimulus is increased, which benefits marketing campaigns or messages. Interpretation of stimuli, along with organisation, is the final part of the perception process, i.e. a part of the third stage, coming after the stages of exposure and attention. Interpretation is the final action of attaching significance or meaning to stimuli. Interpretation follows stimuli organisation. Considering the entire process, the inevitable conclusion is reached: that interpretation is an individual process and that very often the interpretations of a single stimulus vary or differ greatly from one person to another. This is understandable, considering cultural and demographic differences. However, how to explain that people with similar cultural and demographic characteristics understand a single piece of music or art differently? Expectations, previous experience, situational factors and differences in peoples personalities are the best explanation of such a phenomenon. The so-called perceptual distortions15 are a very important aspect for the consideration of stimuli interpretation. These distortions are contributing factors that cause different understandings or variations in the way stimuli
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are interpreted. The most common distortions are: physical appearances of presenters, prejudices people have, the first impression effect, jumping to conclusion before the first word or hint, and evaluation of a phenomenon based on one dimension, the so-called halo effect. It is important for marketing experts to take all these distortions into consideration in order to avoid misunderstanding.
4.4 Perceptual semiotics

Related to the above discussion are consumers interests and needs within the context of attention and readiness of stimuli to reflect on human consciousness. People interpret information both through the literal (semantic) and psychological meaning of words. Therefore, there is a dichotomy between the process of learning and the semantic meaning. This means that consumers interpret symbols and characteristics of products based on their experience and cultural values. This phenomenon is studied by semiotics. Semiotics is very important for the study of perception because it represents the foundation of a correct understanding between the sender and recipient of a stimulus or a meaning. There are numerous misunderstandings and different interpretations of specific symbols in various cultures or languages. Considering potential misunderstandings, a semiotic approach to the stimulus creation can be extremely relevant.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Explain the differences between the definitions of perception List an example of the use of senses in marketing What is selective perception and how is it manifested? Name a negative example of using or not using JND. How does sensory adaptation influence JND? Is it easy to stimulate subliminal perception in advertising? How would you do it? 7. Explain the figure and background of the Gestalt Theory.
References
1. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, 7. izdanje, MATE, Zagreb 2. Mowen, J. and M. Minor (1997): Consumer Behavior, 5th ed., Prentice Hall, New Jersy 3. Ripley, M.L. (2008): Consumer Behavior, York University 4. Science Daily: Wired For Sound: How The Brain Senses Visual Illusions, April 13, 2007 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070411170904.htm 5. Mowen, J. and M. Minor (1997): ibid 6. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): ibid 7. Mowen, J. and M. Minor (1997): ibid 8. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): ibid 9. Kaiser, K.P. (2008): The Joy of Visual Perception, York University 10. Mowen, J. and M. Minor (1997): ibid 11. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): ibid 12. Mowen, J. and M. Minor (1997): ibid 13. Mowen, J. and M. Minor (1997): ibid 14. Kesic, T., (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio d.o.o., 2. izdanje, Zagreb 15. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): ibid
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Chapter objectives
Understand the concept and features of personality Analyse basic personality theories Characteristics of innovative consumers Ethnocentrism concept in BH, neighbouring countries and the world Definition of materialism and compulsive consumer behaviour Creating a self-image The use of brand personality in marketing
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Knowing someones personality has a significant importance for the explanation of a persons behaviour as a consumer of products and services. The reasons for that are diverse. What consumers buy, which products and brands they prefer etc. depends, first of all, on personality traits. There are other elements of consumer behaviour that depend on the personality features as well: what they buy, when and how the purchased product is used etc. Thus, understanding a consumers personality as well as personality types is of exceptional importance for two reasons at least. Firstly, for market segmentation, and secondly, for the communication strategy which needs to answer the question of how adjusted the message is to the personality traits dominant in the market segment that it addresses.
5.1 Personality concept

Numerous definitions of personality can be found in theory. More than sixty-five years ago, Gordon Allport coined the most frequently used definition, according to which personality denotes the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to the environment. However, several more definitions are mentioned along with this one. According to Catells one (J.M. Cattell), personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation, and it is concerned with all behaviour of the individual both overt and under the skin. For Sullivan (H.S. Sullivan), however, personality implies a relatively permanent pattern of repetitive interpersonal situations that mark the human life. Eysenck (H.J. Eysenck) defines personality as a more or less stable and enduring
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interaction of an individuals character, temperament, intelligence and physical constitution, which determines his personal adjustment to the environment. According to Hilgard (E.R. Hilgard), the term personality implies a set of behavioural and emotional characteristics of a person that by their structure and pattern determine his unique adjustment to his environment. For Zvonarevic (Mladen Zvonarevic), personality is a specific, relatively stable, unique set of a humans psychological traits, in which every trait takes a particular place predetermined by the overall structure. Contemporary studies, finally, mainly define personality as a set of characteristics, features, and aspects of an organisational entity that are permanent, therefore conditioning behaviour that is more or less consistent even in very different situations. In the attempt to simplify all the presented definitions, personality could be said to represent the totality of characteristics that determine behaviour, thoughts and emotions of every person. These characteristics, in other words, influence peoples product selection, the way they react to promotional activities of a company, when and where they consume specific products, etc.
5.2 Determinants of personality

If personality is defined as above, one of the basic questions seeking the answer might be: is personality a genetic category, the result of heredity, or a result of a persons interaction with the environment? Apparently there is not a simple, black-and-white answer to that question. The answer closest to the optimal one would be that personality is a result of both influences. Nowadays, along with these two, a third personality factor - circumstance, i.e. the situation a person encounters is increasingly recognised. Heredity, one of the personality determinants, refers to the factors defined by birth: physical appearance, facial attraction, sex, temper, muscle structure and reflexes. All these characteristics are considered to be either completely or predominantly affected by who ones parents are, i.e. their biological, physiological, and psychological structures. Recent studies on young children, for example, have supported the theory of the
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power of heredity. Results of research conducted on monozygotic twins living separately are a sufficient proof of how powerful heredity is. For example, a pair of twins who were separated for 39 years and who grew up 45 miles away from each other drove the same make and colour of cars, smoked the same cigarette brands, their dogs had the same names, and they regularly went on a holiday within three blocks from each other to a tourist community 1,500 miles away from their homes. The researchers have discovered that genetics are accountable for around 50% differences in personality and more than 30% variations in professional interests and hobbies. One of the determinants of personality, as previously mentioned, is environment. In other words, personality traits are not entirely dictated by heredity. Among the factors playing an important role in the shaping of our personalities are those of the environment we live in: the culture we were brought up in, the norms in our families, friends and social groups, and other influences that we experience. Culture, for example, establishes norms, attitudes and values which are transferred from one generation to another, gradually creating consistency. An ideology that is cherished in one culture may only have a modest influence in another. For example, North Americans have continuously been emphasizing the values of hard work, success, competition, independence and protestant work ethics via their books, education systems, family and friends. As a result, they are more inclined to be relatively ambitious and aggressive in comparison to the people raised in cultures that have emphasised living in accord with others, cooperation and prioritising family over work and career. Situation is the third determinant of personality, a factor that influences the effects of the heredity and environment on personality. Namely, it is undisputable that an individuals personality, although generally consistent and congruent, tends to change in various situations. Different demands of specific situations cause the creation of numerous aspects of ones personality. What is important is that the situations seem to significantly differ by the limitations they impose on behaviour. Some situations such as being in a church or a job interview limit many kinds of behaviour; the others such as a picnic in a park impose very few limitations.
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5.3 Personality traits

Personality traits imply a set of elements which enable ones personality to function as a single structure. A large number of characteristics can be clearly identified within the personality structure. In an effort to identify basic personality traits, authors have displayed certain discrepancies regarding the explanation of how relevant personality traits are for consumer behaviour. Tanja Kesic, for example, identified three basic characteristics. One of them is consistency of personality, i.e. the consumers regular behaviour when they encounter familiar situations, without which frequent changes would lead to behavioural confusion. Another significant characteristic is adaptability and exibility of personality, which in a way disables a complete consistency. Adaptability and flexibility imply that people experience certain modifications in the course of their life and learn how to harmonise their personality traits with them. Finally, one of the most significant characteristics is integrity of personality: the fact that various personality aspects and traits are organised into a single unit. It goes without saying that the human development accompanies a continuous rise of the integration ability to higher levels, making it more complex and stable. Schiman and Kanuk2 also identified three characteristics significant for consumer behaviour and the nature of personality. Yet, their approach to the issue of characteristics is slightly different. Personality, they believe, reflects individual dierences among people. Two individuals, in other words, are never the same. Despite this, however, some of their personality traits are identical, based on which it is possible to classify consumer behaviour into certain segments. Individual personality then becomes permanent and consistent. This is what businesses have to base their communication with potential consumers upon. The approach that consumers should change their behaviour in order to adapt to our products is plain wrong. Namely, the approach has to be just the opposite: it is the product that needs to change. However, durability and consistency do not imply an inability to alter personality. The possibility of altering personality is therefore the third outstanding characteristic.
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Admittedly, the existence of certain preconditions is necessary for that change. For example, a considerable change in life is needed such as an advance in career, death of a loved one etc. to make this possibility real. Regardless of the differences in the approach of some authors, when it comes to personality traits it is possible to identify some common elements that do not reveal any discrepancies or disagreements. For example, it is undisputable that personality traits are not homogenous for all consumers. On the contrary, they are specific and enable the differentiation of one person from another. There is also an agreement in the opinion that personality traits, at least when it comes to a certain span of time, are relatively consistent. However, they are not independent of the situation a person is in. In other words, personality traits are related to the situational variables. Finally, authors agree that personality traits can be used to predict consumer behaviour. Truth is told, this does not mean that they are sufficient for determining consumer behaviour. On the contrary, traits are just one of the variables necessary for such a prediction. In addition, socioeconomic and other variables must be taken into consideration.
5.4 Theories of personality traits

A number of personality theories have been developed in personality psychology: analytical theory developed by K.G. Jung, humanistic theory founded by A.H. Maslow, Rogers (C. R. Rogers) phenomenological theory, factor analysis independently developed by R.B. Cattell and H.J. Eysenk, Murrays (H.A. Murray) theory of motivation, Sheldons (W. H. Sheldon) constitutional theory, Lewins (K. Lewin) topological theory etc. In the consumer behaviour research, four personality traits theories such as psychoanalytic, behavioural, neo-Freudian or socio-psychological, and personality trait theory are mentioned. The following chapter covers the analysis of these theories.
5.4.1 Psychoanalytic theory of personality

The founder of the psychoanalytic theory of personality was Sigmund Freud. The fundamental postulate of the theory is the thesis that in the focus
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of human personality and motivation are peoples unconscious needs or urges such as sexual and other biological ones. To prove the above, Freud uses the premise that human personality is composed of three interrelated systems: the Id, Ego and Superego.
Figure 17: The interrelation of the Id, Ego, and Superego
According to Freud, the Id is a specific storage of basic physiological needs: food, drink, sex etc. These are the needs that an individual wants to satisfy momentarily, without thinking if or how it is possible. In other words, the Id characterises an instinctive, unconscious, animalistic, and therefore an unorganised impulse. The unconscious impulse, however, is also characterised by the Superego, the humans internal expression of moral and ethic behavioural codes. The Superego was in fact the last to be developed as a part of personality, following the Id and the Ego. Its purpose, as the definition suggests, is to harmonise individual behaviour with social norms and ethical values, and, more precisely, to direct individuals to satisfy their needs in a socially acceptable way. Although mentioned last in this analysis, the Ego is a part of personality that is developed after the Id, due to a persons need to have a direct contact
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and relations with the external world in order to exist, which the Id with its primary process of meeting the urges cannot provide. If we want to present it as one of the systems within Freuds triangle, we can define the Ego as a specific controlling instrument that tries to set the balance among the impulsive, instinctive demands of the Id, and the moral limitations of the Superego. If the Id, Ego and Superego are presented as above, personality, as a structure consisting of these three systems, is said to represent a result of the interaction between the Id and the Superego as the unconscious impulses, and the Ego as an individuals conscious control. However, if the human urges that the human behaviour comprises of are largely unconscious, then a large part of consumer behaviour is also unconscious. This dimension of consumer behaviour was highlighted by Ernest Dichter in the 1930s. Men, Dichter points out, do not behave rationally towards their automobiles. On the contrary, they see their cars as their lovers and they behave accordingly.
5.4.2 Behavioural theory of personality

Behavioural theory of personality was founded by John B. Watson, and developed by B.F. Skinner. Its fundamental assumption is that the human behaviour can entirely be explained by the environment in which one is and the effects it has on a person. Human beings are exposed to the effects of objective occurrences from their environment, and react to them by certain actions or body behaviours. Thus, in this interrelation with the human body, the processes and influences of the environment are manifested as causes and a persons behaviour as a consequence. Based on the above premises, logical is the opinion that the basic principle of the human behaviour is the principle of legality, and that determinism is one of its underlying principles. The task of science is to investigate and find out which environmental causes and events lead to certain consequences, i.e. reactions of the body. Namely, if the causes exist, the consequences are just products of the deterministic legality.
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The science is not content with merely describing the human behaviour based on the cause-consequence principle. Its task is to interpret the resulting behaviour. And more than that, its task is also to predict future events based on the current ones, i.e. to predict behaviour. Finally, its goal is to manage both the current and the future behaviour. The essence of the behavioural theory of personality, apparently, is that the human being is not an autonomous creature, gifted with the free will or some other internal forces, but the result of learning and environmental influence. Accordingly, no internal features are relevant for an individuals behaviour because human behaviour is determined by external factors and defined by universal behavioural laws that are valid for all people. Finally, if this theory is applied to consumer behaviour, its message is very clear. For the behaviour of individuals and social groups that act as consumers of products and services, the only relevant influences are those from the environment they live in. The system of values that is built within a humans environment and that transfers onto the individual is extremely important. But not even the system of values is untouchable by external influences. Hence, the strength lies in a continuous marketing activity that creates a cause-effect ambient in which individuals i.e. consumers function.
5.4.3 Neo-Freudian theory of personality

The basic starting point of all neo-Freudian/socio-psychological theories of personality relies on the premise that personality is not primarily instinctive or sexual and that, instead of these variables, it is the social relations that are the foundation for the creation and development of personality. Within this cluster of theories, regarding their significance for the explanation of consumer behaviour, two are particularly interesting: Horneys and Reismans. Horneys socio-psychological theory (by Karen Horney, the creator) classifies people into three types of personality. The first consists of the socalled submissive or accommodating, the persons who are turned towards the others and, accordingly, expect love and devotion from them. As
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consumers they prefer to buy famous brands in order to gain affection of the people within their surroundings. In the second group are the aggressive, people characterised by their wish for success and an admiration of others. Therefore they are directed against others, which is a logical outcome of the fact that they do not want to see others above themselves. The third group are the independent, people who are distinguished by the independence and self-confidence as typical features of their personality. As consumers they are usually less aware of the brand choice and varieties in the market. Generally, regardless of the level of its exploitation, Horneys sociopsychological theory is not applied to a great extent in the theory and practise of consumer behaviour. Reismans social theory also classifies all people into three categories. The first are the tradition-oriented, whose behaviour is based on the traditional values of the society they live in, and who are therefore characterised by a low level of mobility and a slow acceptance of changes. The self-oriented are in the second category. They depend on personal values and standards, and this is also what their consumer behaviour is based upon. Finally, the third category consists of the so-called other-oriented. They rely on the values of those they are connected with in the group and who, accordingly, express their personal individuality through contact with others. As consumers their behaviour is pervaded by other peoples propositions, i.e. it is a behaviour that is not a product of personal decisions but the suggestions of others.
5.4.4 Personality trait theory

The theory of the character, traits or features is based on the premise that a consumers personality consists of a certain number of traits or features such as sociability, relaxation, inner control etc. Some of these traits are common to a large number of consumers and consequently of interest
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for consumer behaviour as a discipline. On the other hand, the traits of this kind are stable for a certain period of time. This is relevant because understanding them implies that researchers can be certain they can create their marketing strategy establishing it on the conducted research. Finally, if the two above details regarding traits are considered (that some of them are common to a large number of people, and that common traits are generally stable), another question arises: how to reach these common features or personality traits that are relevant for consumer behaviour? The route to them, in general, is in the measurement of consumer behaviour. Personality tests are one such tool, and regarding certain traits they can identify the level of individual differences or the traits that are common for a large number of people.
5.5 The most significant personality traits regarding their influence on consumer behaviour
A majority of personality traits affect a consumers behaviour to a lesser or greater extent. It would be irrational to treat each one of them theoretically. Thus, theory tends to classify personality traits into groups, based on the common features that can be identified for some of them. The most common classification is the one where all personality traits relevant for consumer behaviour belong to one of four groups: traits related to personality innovativeness, cognitive personality factors, ethnocentrism, and consumption & possession. Below is the further analysis of these traits.
5.5.1 Consumer innovativeness

The traits related to innovativeness of a person refer to whether a consumer can be identified as an innovator, the one who is, due to his/her personality structure, the first to buy and try a product or a service. This type of readiness is commonly tested observing three types of features: innovativeness, dogmatism, and the social character of a consumers personality.
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Figure 18: Adoption of innovation
Consumer innovativeness i.e. the level of innovativeness implies an insight into the nature and the levels of a consumers readiness for innovation. Such an insight can be reached by the use of tools for studying innovativeness. Various assortments of products can be a subject of research. This way, innovativeness can be tested on a large number of products. For instance, the relation toward computers in general can be researched. However, a subcategory of products within an assortment can also be a subject of research. In our example, it can be the relation toward portable computers. The reduction logic in studying innovativeness can go on further. The study can be concluded on specific product types, e.g. laptops that weigh less than 500g. Consumer dogmatism, on the other hand, refers to entirely different traits. Dogmatism, in principle, denotes rigidity for the unknown and the information opposed to personal beliefs. Depending on the level of the rigidity manifestation, we can identify highly and lowly dogmatic individuals. Regarding the attitude towards products and services, highly dogmatic persons rather commit to familiar products than experiment with new ones. If you wish to succeed in promoting a new product or service to this type of consumers, an inevitable prerequisite is a message that includes authorities, celebrities or relevant experts. Unlike them, the
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lowly dogmatic individuals are significantly more liberal regarding new products; they accept them more readily. Accordingly, in constructing a promotional message, reaching out for resources such as authorities is redundant. With the lowly dogmatic individuals, information about advantages of a product, differences supported by facts etc. are far more important than the authorities employed. The third innovativeness-related trait is the social character of personality. Regarding the social character, it is possible to differentiate between two fundamental types of consumer personality. The first type comprises personalities who are self-directed. In a product evaluation they rely on their personal criteria rather than on other peoples suggestions. Promotional messages should take this into consideration i.e. focus on emphasizing the products features and their benefits for the consumer. Other-directed personalities have an entirely different approach. Namely, they are much more inclined to seek advice from others than rely on their own criteria of evaluation. Accordingly, the creators of promotional messages, when addressing this type of personality, should focus on the messages aimed at the social environments approval.
5.5.2 Cognitive personality factors

The second group of traits is related to the cognitive personality factors. A special attention should be paid to the need for cognition here, regarding which it is possible to identify two types of personality. The first are the persons with a high level of cognition. If this type of consumer personality is taken into consideration, the biggest effect may be obtained by a message loaded with information and product descriptions. Unlike this type, there are personalities with a low level of cognition. Due to the structure of their personality, the form of the recommended message is entirely different. It is not a message loaded with a bulk of information, but a message that uses visual effects, a message given by an attractive person or a prominent expert for instance. Consumers can also be classified into one of the two groups: visual and verbal type. The visual type of consumers prefers an image, while the verbal
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one is more inclined toward written information. Marketers regularly use this knowledge to create advertisements aimed at one of the two types, or, as in the case with Whirlpool, consolidating the message to appeal to both verbal and visual types.
Figure 19: Example of an ad intended for both visual and verbal types of personality
5.5.3 Consumers ethnocentrism

A separate group of personality traits are the ethnocentrism-related ones. What sort of traits are they? To explain it as simply as possible, the consumers ethnocentrism implies their reaction to foreign products. Depending on the intensity of that reaction, it is possible to identify two large groups of consumers: highly ethnocentric and lowly ethnocentric ones, i.e. the ones who do not care much about ethnocentrism. The former are characterised by the attitude that buying foreign products is maleficent. If this type of consumers is targeted, a message to nourish such a belief is recommended. Messages such as buy domestic and Buy BH goods could be classified as this type. But this message type cannot be successful with
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lowly ethnocentric persons i.e. those who are completely unburdened with ethnocentrism. Instead of being emotionally charged, they tend to evaluate both domestic and foreign products objectively. Thus, the creator of a promotional message aimed at this type will benefit more from a message loaded with information about quality, price, service etc. that portray the product favourably. The most famous scale for measuring ethnocentrism is CETSCALE3. Research conducted in 2005 in BH shows different levels of ethnocentricity with Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats4. The most intensive ethnocentrism was shown with Bosniaks, then Serbs, and finally Croats.
Figure 20: The level of ethnocentrism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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5.5.4 Consumerism and possession

The last type of consumer personality traits we are going to mention are traits associated with consumerism and possession. Regarding the highlighted features, it is also possible to identify several types of consumer traits. Special attention should be paid to three of them: consumer materialism, fixed consumer behaviour, and compulsive consumer behaviour. Regarding the consumer materialism as one of consumer personality traits, two basic types of consumer personality can be identified: those who find possession important for their personal identity and life, and those who find possession irrelevant. The former are characterised by the traits that sustain such values: they like to acquire and show off their property, they are seen as outstandingly egocentric and selfish, they desire a lifestyle fulfilled with possession, property gives them personal pleasure, etc. As for the latter, these values are entirely irrelevant and replaced by other, spiritual values such as dignity, dedication to the personal edification etc. The concept of materialism suggests that the possession of objects and money is the path to the personal pleasure and happiness5. The second type of traits associated with consumerism and possession can be colloquially designated as xed consumer behaviour. At least two determinants are crucial for this behaviour. On the one hand, the consumer does not try to hide his interest in a product and in buying it. Moreover, he often shows and shares this interest with others. Collectors are a really vivid example of such behaviour. Basic traits of fixed consumers are derived from such structural determinants. Two of them deserve to be specifically mentioned: a pronounced interest in a particular product or a group of them, and readiness to travel a long distance to get such a product.
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Figure 21
Finally, compulsive consumer behaviour belongs to this group of consumer personality traits. What sort of behaviour is this? It is a behaviour characterised by addiction, loss of control, and the possibility of a negative influence on the environment. Let us imagine some realistic life situations in a consumers behaviour: uncontrolled gambling, alcoholism, drug addiction etc. Are they not characterised by the aforementioned traits? Such types of behaviour are harmful for both the society and the individual who practices them. Therefore, from the individual and social perspectives, the question arises: how to escape such addiction? Truth be told, possibilities are scarce. More precisely, they are limited to only one in most cases the necessity of therapy and clinical treatment.
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All types of materialistic behaviour have something in common. Consumers affect their mood and manage it. The very act of a purchase and possession changes negative behaviour into positive6.
5.6 The self-image

Personality traits or features are something that exists independently from a persons will. This is why, when it comes to personality traits, variables can be reached by research. The self-image is, however, associated with a concerning person. It implies a mode in which a person, in our case a consumer, perceives himself. It depends on this perception what he will buy and what he will not. It is quite natural for consumers to buy what pleases their self-image and avoid what does not fit in it. If you wish to associate your self-image with the personality traits, two incompatible variables can be considered. Concretely, they do not have to be compatible in the least. In reality, the most common situation is that there is a more or less distinct difference between the self-image and the personality traits obtained through exploration. Regarding the understanding of the self-image, it is possible to talk about a significant evolution. For a long time, the so-called single-dimension concept of the self-image dominated. It is an approach based on the thesis that consumers have only one self-image, the self-perception that is constant and therefore their relation towards products and services is constant. In other words, they are interested always and only in those products that suit their self-image. This means that the role of marketing experts is to obtain an insight into what sort of self-image this is, and all the work regarding this type of consumers will be complete. This approach is definitely suppressed now, having been replaced by the socalled multi-dimensional concept of the self-image. Its fundamental premise is that human beings behave differently in various situations. For example, they behave one way at home, with their parents, a spouse, children, and entirely differently at work, with friends, or in some other situations. This means that each of us impersonates several different selves. Why is this fact so relevant to the providers of goods and services? The reason is very
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simple: because of the fact that they must aim their products and services at the consumers within the context of their particular self, therefore offering different products and services for different situations. If self-image is defined as a way people perceive themselves, it is logical to wonder how it is created and developed. To reply to a question formulated this way, several answers may be given. Accordingly, several theoretical approaches can be identified. Some say, for example, that self-image is a product of the so-called self-evaluation. In other words, self-image is formed by individuals based on their personal opinion of what is socially acceptable and what is not.
Figure 22: Multidimensional concept of the self-image
Source: London, L.D. & J.A. Della Bitta (1993) Consumer Behaviour-Concept and Applications, 4th ed., McGraw Hill, Inc. p. 313
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For the others, the basis of self-image formation is social comparison, the formation of self-image based on how the self is perceived compared with the others. How is it done? There are different methods. The behaviour of reference groups partially determines individual behaviour as well. Finally, a theory of incorrect scanning is also mentioned. What is it about? Simply, those keen on becoming good managers select the information that supports this argument and reject the rest. That means that they perform a perceptual scanning they perceive themselves as what they want to be rather than what they actually are. Regardless of which of the mentioned theoretical approaches is accepted, or if an entirely new one is reached for, it is undisputable that there are dierent types of self-image. At least four of them deserve to be mentioned. The first one is the real self-image, a persons real self, i.e. the way consumers actually perceive themselves. For instance, if they perceive themselves as members of a high social class, there is no doubt that the image will affect their consumer behaviour. One of the image types is the ideal self-image, consumers ideal self, which describes what kind of person they would like to be, where they would like to perceive themselves. The gap between the real and ideal consumers self may be so large that it does not provoke any desire or aim to develop towards the other. However, more often than not, peoples ideal self does motivate them to a lifestyle that brings them closer to it. The ideal self can therefore stimulate consumers to the consumption that will bring them closer to this goal. Self-image can be manifested as a social self-image, a persons social self. It refers to what people think about how others perceive them. This evaluation can stimulate people to adapt to the image in which they satisfy the tastes of their surroundings, the group they belong to etc. A consumers social self can stimulate changes in consumption, the selection of products and services he prefers, buys and consumes. In the end, self-image can occur in the form of the ideal social self-image, the ideal social self. It refers to how consumers as individuals would like to be seen by others. This form of self-image manifestation can also stimulate people to action. For instance, they would like to be seen in a different way
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than they actually are. This desire becomes a driving force to reach the goal. If there are changes that they have to make as consumers of goods and services in order to reach this goal, such sacrifice will often be made.
Figure 23: Self-image
Self-image is, in fact, subject to changes just like anything else. Sometimes consumers wish to change their self-image, their personal self, to reach for a better self. How to achieve such a better self? There are different methods. Self-image can be changed by modifications in consumption, i.e. by wearing different clothes in various occasions, by changing the perfume we use, restaurants we go to, etc. By making these changes we attempt to lead to some other changes. It may be an intention to create a new selfimage, a new self. However, we could also make changes in an effort to prevent losing the existing self. And lastly our ambition could be to expand the self by making adequate changes and modifications.
5.7 Brand personality

From a consumer behaviour perspective, special attention should be paid to how a brand personality expresses ones self-image. More precisely, how one expresses their self-image through a brand personality. To answer this
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question, it is necessary to define brand personality first. Simply stated, it implies attributing of features and characteristics of a personality to different brands in a broad range of products. In the automobile industry for example, Mercedes is a car make known for comfort and safety, while BMW is known for good performance. In the world of footwear producers, Nike is a symbol of athletes footwear. The above examples illustrate different types of brand personalities. One of them is the dominantly functional brand personality. Mercedes is a car that provides safety. Safety is therefore a functional feature of this brand. Brand personality can also be symbolic. Pumas trainers on an athlete suggest that their footwear is made for athletes. Brand personality can also be associative. Philips appliances remind us of tradition, Sarajevo beer of fun, socialising etc. Brand personality on its own does not mean a lot. Its importance for consumer behaviour stems from the so-called brand personication, i.e. the ability to convert the perception of a product or service so that it assumes human-like characteristics. This ability can be illustrated by many examples. Modern consumers, i.e. the ones who are perceived as such, buy Diesel products because they are perceived as being modern. Likewise, classic consumers buy Boracs garments, consumers perceived as trendy go to specific clubs, etc.
Figure 24
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Apart from personality, gender is frequently given to products. For instance, in our market Mr. Muscle is represented as a man even though it is a detergent. Then there is a well-known Dr. Oetker with its personality; famous as an eager, determined cook. Podravka has used this position in consumer awareness when they launched the brand Dolcela which, unlike Dr. Oetker, is gentle, subtle, dreamy and feminine. Another common way of identifying with a brand is through colours. CocaCola, for example, is undoubtedly associated with red. This is what this company used when they created Santa Clause. In the beginning of the last century, Santa Clause was dressed in checked tweed clothes like Sherlock Holmes, wearing hunters clothing from raw leather and even heavy coats made of bear fur. His beard was short and black, his nose red: not because of the cold in the North Pole but due to alcohol that symbolised hedonism. In the 1931 Christmas campaign, Coca-Cola decided to use the image of Santa Clause. What did they do to him? They painted him red and white their own colours. Santa Clause of the contemporary man is nothing but a mascot of a company that produces fizzy beverages.
Figure 25
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5.8 Application of personality traits or features in marketing

There is no doubt that personality traits or features, as far as their function regarding consumer behaviour is concerned, are not their own purpose. Marketing experts have paid theoretical attention to their application aiming for better acceptance of products and services that they offer in the market. Practical possibilities of the application are certainly numerous. Two areas of the application of personality traits or features in marketing deserve specific attention: predicting consumer behaviour and market segmentation. The application of personality traits and features for the prediction of consumer behaviour is of considerable importance. Prediction usually refers to one of the two areas. The first may be identified as sensitivity to social inuences. More precisely, it is about how much and in which forms a consumers behaviour is related to various influences he is exposed to in his environment by other individuals, groups, organisations and associations. The second area of prediction refers to the choice of a product and a brand: how important is the structure of personality traits for what products and brands, packaging etc. a consumer will choose. All this, of course, does not mean that personality traits or features can answer all the questions about consumer behaviour prediction. All the studies conducted so far point that out, including Evans, which intended to relate personality traits with the buyers of Ford or Chevrolet8. The next area of the application of personality traits in marketing is market segmentation. It has become clear that the classic segmentation criteria are not sufficient for market segmentation and that some other variables, particularly the ones regarding personality traits should be applied. Several key determinants regarding personality traits are relevant here. Four of them deserve to be mentioned. Firstly, individuals characterised by the same or similar personality traits usually originate from the same demographic strata of age, level of income and education, etc. Therefore the safest route to specific market segments is via the strata that include these and some other demographic variables. On the other hand, to single out specific personality traits, the instruments with specific values
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and reliability level must be used. If the differences in personality traits exist, they will be proportionally manifested through the differences in the consumers behaviour and preferences. Finally, in order to economically justify an investment into the adaptation of the marketing mix to a target segment, not any segment with the same or similar personality traits is sufficient. On the contrary, such investments are only justified if the targeted segment, by its size, has its cost effectiveness threshold secured.
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1. How do the situation, heredity and environment affect a consumers personality? 2. How can personality be constant and permanent, yet still subject to changes? 3. What do the Id, the Ego and the Superego represent? 4. Explain the types of personality according to Horneys sociopsychological theory? 5. How can consumer innovativeness be applied in marketing? 6. Will ethnocentrism in BH change and how? 7. What does fixed consumer behaviour mean? 8. In which marketing areas can personality traits or features be applied?
References
1. Kesic, T. (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio, Zagreb, p. 193 2. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, MATE, Zagreb, p. 95 3. Shimp, A. and S. Sharma (1987): Consumer Ethnocentrism: Construction and Validation of the CETSCALE, Journal of Marketing Research, 24, 282 4. M. Cicic, N. Brkic, M. Husic and E. Agic (2005): The Role of Nationalism in Consumer Ethnocentrism and Animosity in the Post-War Country, 34th EMAC European Marketing Academy Conference 2005, University of Bocconi, Milan, Italy, May 24-27, 2005, Proceedings, pp. 86 5. Prendergast, G. and C. Wong, (2003): Parental Influence on the Purchase of Luxury Brands of Infant Apparel: An Exploratory Study in Hong Kong, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 157-169 6. Faber, R.J. and G.A. Christenson, (1995): Can You Buy Happiness?: A Comparison of the Antecedent and Concurrent Moods Associated with the Shopping of Compulsive and Non-Compulsive Buyers, u: 1995 Winter Educators Conference, Vol. 6, Ed. David W. Stewart and Naufel J. Vilcassin, Chicago, American Marketing Association, pp. 378-370 7. Dzamic, L. (2000): Advertising Page, Hammer Creative & Prometej, Novi Sad 8. Evans, F.J. (1971): Psychological Objective Factorism The Prediction of Brand Choice: Ford vs. Chevrolet, Journal of Business, vol. 23, pp. 340-369.
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LEARNING AS A FACTOR OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Chapter objectives
Define the concept and basic elements of the learning process Understand how motivation, visual clues, reaction, and substantiation affect learning Analysis of behavioural learning theory Types of behavioural learning theory Characteristics of cognitive learning theory
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6. LEARNING AS A FACTOR OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

6.1 Definition of learning
A large number of the definitions of learning can be found in theory. For some, learning is an individual activity which results in adopting knowledge, skills and habits. For others, it may imply an activity that causes behavioural changes. For Lingrin, learning represents every change of behaviour as a result of practice, experience or interaction with the environment. Some theoreticians define learning as a process where an experience or an exercise produces changes in activity performance1. Regardless of numerous definitions of learning, all have at least several common characteristic features. None of them, for example, question the stance that learning is a continuous change originating from practice. On the other hand, all of them are characterised by an understanding that the learning process is different from other similar processes by a few variables. First of all, it can be separated from the similar processes by changes in the probability for repeated occurrence. More precisely, by expanding the learning process, the probability to acquire a correct answer increases. The distinction from similar processes can also be seen from the changes that occur in reaction speed. As the time of its duration increases, the learning process decreases the time of a correct reaction. Learning can also be differentiated from other processes by the increase of width and strength of reaction. In other words, the longer the learning process, the greater is the width and strength of a reaction to certain stimulation.
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Finally, learning differs from other processes by the protective strength against withering. Precisely, what is learnt well is much more difficult to forget than the superficial or bad knowledge of something. Knowing the above, it is possible to define consumer learning as a theoretical term. Simply said, it implies a process in which individuals acquire the knowledge and experience related to purchase and consumption, which they then apply in similar future behaviours2. If such a definition is adopted, at least two details must be noted. Firstly, learning is not something static, insusceptible to change. On the contrary, it is a process; it keeps evolving and changing by newly acquired knowledge or experience. It means that the new knowledge and experience are the basis for the future behaviour in similar situations. On the other hand, if this definition is accepted, two components can be identified in learning. The first part of learning is intentional, a result of a careful information search. The second one is quite the opposite, unintentional; a part of learning that is obtained without a plan, accidentally. For example, one does not even think about learning a product brand. However, such learning accidently and unintentionally occurs when the person comes in contact with an advertisement of that product.
6.2 Elements of the learning process

As for the learning process elements, different approaches can be found in the theory of consumer behaviour. Kesic, for example, identifies five components of the learning process: urge, generalisation, discrimination, memory, and forgetfulness3. In the context of this analysis, we decide on the Schiman-Kanuk theory, which identifies four elements of the consumer behaviour-related learning process: motivation, cues, response, and reinforcement4. Motivation is by its meaning a central element of the learning process, the one that creates a need for learning and stimulates the learning process.
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For example, if someone wishes to become a good tennis player, it will motivate them to collect basic information on tennis, accessories used in that sport, a tennis school and an intensive training, follow-up others achievements etc. If such a desire does not exist, it is logical that all the mentioned information, training, and other tennis-related activities will be ignored. On the other hand, several important motivation defining factors can be identified. The first one is the meaning, i.e. the values that the consumers give to the information they learn. Based on such values, a distinction between the low and high level of the consumer inclusion can be made. The second motivating factor is reinforcement, i.e. all that intensifies the probability of the same reaction in the future. This can be further classified into two types: positive and negative. The former, positive reinforcement or a reward, results in a pleasant feeling of shopping and the consumers satisfaction. The latter, negative reinforcement or a punishment, results in an entirely adverse effect: avoidance of the same behaviour in the future. Let us imagine that because of an advert with false information you have bought an item. The conviction about the falsehood of the information during the use of the product will act as a negative reinforcement with the consumers, i.e. as a punishment for the provider of the product or service because the consumer will be stimulated to avoid the same behaviour, a new purchase of not only the used but also all other products by the same provider. That situation, on the other hand, is also a warning for the product or service provider. To convinced the deluded consumer to purchase their products again, the providers should undertake a series of additional activities: make a good case of how they have changed their selling philosophy, make sure their product features are compatible with the ones they present in their ads, encourage a potential consumer to try the product and check that its features comply with the given information and with his/her personal expectations, etc. The third motivating factor is repetition which intensifies the strength and speed of learning. Learning will be more successful if the consumer is more
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frequently exposed to information on a certain product or service, i.e. to the repetition of the information through various forms of media. Finally, motivation is closely determined by imagination, i.e. the probability that, in the consumers mind, a brand or a slogan will initiate the images that the provider expects. How to achieve it? It is very simple. The messages loaded with a greater level of imagination are learnt fast, and vice versa. However, how to achieve messages with a high level of imagination? To reinforce imagination, pictures can be used, emotionally charged slogans, a good selection of music etc. Clues are the second element of the learning process. They are actually stimuli which direct the motives to learn. Let us imagine an advert for a sports centre. By its meaning it is a clue to the sport fans that they can exercise in the centre, but also that they can improve their play, spend their holidays, etc. Or, for instance, if you come across an attractive shop window with prominent affordable prices and an unusual product assortment, this will be a clue where you as a consumer can satisfy your needs for a certain product. Response is the third element of the learning process. It implies the way individuals react to an urge or a clue, i.e. the way they behave. That, of course, does not mean that each urge or clue will automatically have a response. On the contrary, advertisements or clues for spacecrafts will not cause any response with the majority of consumers. The reason is the awareness that such an urge cannot be met. Therefore, the providers can be said to be successful if they have managed to create the desired image of their product with the targeted consumers, who may not be able to buy the product now, but may certainly think about buying it in the future. Reinforcement is the last element of learning. It implies every increase of the probability that a response will happen in the future as a reaction to clues or stimuli. Reinforcement can manifest in two forms: negative and positive. A sportsman, who used a certain painkiller that enabled his participation in tournaments, can experience similar pain and recalling his past positive experiences choose to buy the same medication in the future. The previous experience can certainly be quite the opposite - negative. In
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that case, the opposite response would be logical: a negative response to the possibility of a repeated purchase. Another element relevant for consumer behaviour and closely related to the learning process is forgetfulness, i.e. the loss or disappearance of the facts acquired during the learning process. Some authors treat forgetfulness as one of the elements of the learning process overall5. In this analysis it is not treated as such. However, it is indisputable that forgetfulness follows learning and that each learning process indicates it as one of its consequences. Accordingly, a few causes of forgetfulness are worth mentioning. Inattention or insucient attention occurs, for instance, when your attention is split between reading a newspaper and listening to the radio. Taking into account such situations, the aim of advertising is to focus on the issue of how to make a consumer pay full attention to a specific advert. Forgetfulness may also emerge as a consequence of various types of mental blockages in an individual. Different causes can lead to such blockages. One of them is biological age that increases forgetfulness. Another cause is the excessiveness of stored information that leads to some information being forgotten. Due to the excessiveness of information, a consumer, for instance, may manage to memorise a product, its appearance, and the place of purchase, but forget the product brand. To avoid these occurrences, the task of the marketing experts is to find ways to stop consumers from forgetting the brand. As for forgetfulness from the consumer behaviour point of view, attention should be paid to several postulates. Forgetfulness becomes, generally, the most intensive right after learning. On the other hand, consumers forget the information they find irrelevant faster. Thus, in the creation of advertisements, the use of words, terms, and information comprehensive to a wide segment of potential consumers is recommended. Finally, consumers recognise products through slogans and selling appeals rather than through mere information. This is the reason why the best advertisements are those based on effective slogans.
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Due to the above forgetfulness-related facts, it is possible to define a few recommendations important from the consumer behaviour perspective. Due to forgetfulness, the shopping process should be accelerated. Forgetfulness enables an easy adoption of new facts. Both the product providers who address the consumers and their competition take that into account. And finally, forgetfulness imposes a need for a continuous acquisition of knowledge about products, prices and services. This need is a detail that the designers of marketing messages consider while elaborating on the time structure strategy for addressing potential consumers.
6.3 Forms of social learning

Theoreticians have also provided several different classifications of social learning forms. For some, three basic types of learning can be identified: conditional learning (classical, instrumental, and observational or vicarious conditioning), model learning (learning by identification, imitation and role playing), and learning by insight or cognition6. Others identify as many as five theories of learning: classical theories of learning: Pavlovs theory of classical conditioning and Thorndikes trialand-error theory which is also called theory of habit formation; theories of touch (Watsons one deserving special attention, as well as contemporary theories such as Guthries, Estes, Skinners, for which a touch is a condition of connecting stimuli and behaviour, theory of reinforcement learning (among which is Hulls hypothetic-deductive theory); two-stage learning theory and cognitive learning theories7. Within this study, and with respect to their relevance for the consumer behaviour, we are going to focus on two types of learning theories: behavioural and cognitive.
6.3.1 Behavioural learning theories

Behaviourism is one of the most influential trends in psychology, which was founded by J.B. Watson (John Broadus Watson, 1878-1958) in the
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beginning of the 20th century. The term is self-explanatory. The word behaviourism, namely, originates from the English word behaviour. For Klaic, behaviourism is an approach that supplies its discoveries from the close observation of how people, especially children, behave in various circumstances, and based on these findings explains mental processes8. As a subject of the study, behaviourism only focuses on objective behaviour i.e. such behaviour and behavioural effects that can be observed and measured objectively. This attitude can be shown in the S-R, i.e. StimulusReaction scheme. In other words, this means that behaviour occurs as a result of an incentive, a stimulus from the environment. Behaviour is just a response to a stimulus, a reaction that is in fact inevitable and that does not depend on the human will or cognitive features. Within the behavioural learning theories, conditional learning and model learning deserve special attention. Therefore, we are dedicating a more detailed analysis to them within this study.
6.3.1.1 Conditional learning

Conditional learning is based on a Stimulus-Response principle. What does this principle mean? Simply, a conditional stimulus always causes the same, so-called conditional response. On the other hand, learning is a result of a great number of repetitions of conditional stimuli and automation of responses to them. More precisely, if a person responds to a familiar stimulus in a predictable way, it means that learning is achieved. In other words, learning is readiness to behave and respond in a certain way in a specific situation and in the presence of a stimulus. Finally, there is no learning beyond conditional learning: all learning is necessarily conditional. One of the fundamental questions regarding conditional learning is: What are basic mechanisms of conditioning? There are adverse opinions in that respect. Accordingly, it is possible to talk about two conditional learning modes relevant in marketing: classical and instrumental conditioning or reinforcement.
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Classical conditioning is based on a thesis that an organism is a passive entity and that it can be taught certain behaviour by multiple repetitive actions that produce such behaviour. Its starting point is Pavlovs theory of conditioning which claims whenever a stimulus causes a familiar reaction it is an example of conditional learning. This is what Pavlovsvi theory is based on. Pavlov did an experiment with a dog. It was presumed that a hungry dog was highly-motivated to eat. The dog was then exposed to a bell sound and immediately a meat paste was brought close to its tongue, which caused salivation. That activity is repeated several times. However, after a few repetitions, the very bell causes the dogs salivation without bringing the food closer. At that moment, according to Pavlovs theory, conditional learning was achieved (Figure 26).
Figure 26: Pavlovs model of classical conditioning
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Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849 1936), a Russian philosopher, a pioneer in behaviourism; experimenting with dogs he identified a process of the formation of so-called conditional reflex.
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Another three concepts are associated with classical conditioning: repetition, generalisation of stimuli, and discrimination of stimuli. What do they mean? Repetition, as mentioned above, is a precondition of automation of a response to a specific stimulus, converting the response to the stimulus into behaviour as a personality trait. Its essence, in other words, is to increase the force of association between the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus. The increase of the force of association also means that the process of forgetfulness decreases by repetition. All this does not mean that the rule the more repetitions, the more powerful the force of association, the slower the process of forgetfulness is applicable. In other words, the number of repetitions has its ceiling of toleration; it has to be limited. Too many repetitions may result in overlearning, or they may lead to the saturation of those whose learning is a result of conditioning. Regarding consumers for instance, in case of an inadequate number of repetitions, the consequence may be saturation with an advertisement that is manifested in various forms: attention deteriorates in respect with that advertisement, the process of retaining the learned information weakens, etc. Therefore, regarding repetition, there are two questions to be asked. First of all, how to avoid saturation? The methods are diverse. Two of them deserve to be highlighted. It is possible to do so by various types of cosmetic variations, i.e. by using different backgrounds, print-outs etc. Saturation can also be avoided using various content variations: modifying the advert content while keeping the same cosmetic features. Other approaches are also possible. The second question related to repetition is: How many repetitions are needed to transform a stimulus-response relation into behaviour? Different answers have been provided in theory. For some, three exposures of a person to an advertisement are sufficient. Each of these exposures has a specific function: firstly, consumers attention is drawn to the existence of
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the product; secondly, the importance of the product is pointed out, and thirdly, the product usefulness is enforced. The so-called three strike theory is common for the second group of approaches. What does it imply? A part of the approach is common with the previous understanding. In other words, the starting point is the identification of three types of consumer exposures to the advertisement. What makes it different from the previous understanding is that a single exposure is insufficient for the message content to be memorised. On the contrary, to memorise all three exposures, eleven or twelve repetitions are needed. Another term associated with the classical conditioning is generalisation of stimuli. The starting point is that learning does not only depend on repetition but also on the persons ability to generalise. What does this ability imply? Generalisation is simply a phenomenon of stimuli similar to the conditioned ones causing a conditioned response of the same intensity, i.e. an equal response to somehow different stimuli. In Pavlovs experiment with the dog salivation for instance, generalisation means that the salivation will not only happen due to the bell sound but also due to something similar such as keys jangling or something else that reminds of a bell. Concerning products offered to a consumer, generalisation enables the identification of some similar products with the associated ones. If generalisation is understood as such, another question is raised: Can generalisation be applied in marketing? The answer is, of course, affirmative. It is possible to talk about two areas of application for generalisation in marketing at least. One is associated with the consolidation of the entire family of products under the same brand. If consumers or consumer segments have accepted a certain brand, the consolidation of the entire product family implies that the product line of a brand familiar to loyal consumers is constantly supplemented by new products: the ones that they prefer regardless of not having any previous experience with them. The second area of generalisation application is licensing, i.e. allowing a brand to be used with other manufacturers products. In the modern
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world, it is quite common for the renowned manufacturers to lease their name to others for their products. This is how the products of anonymous manufacturers avoid the difficult challenge of breaking into the market and become momentarily recognisable. There are also other examples of renting out ones own name. Most frequently, fashion designers and celebrities lease manufacturers their names to make their products instantly recognisable. Others can have this role too: a church, the local or state government etc, all aiming for their names to generate income. Massive licensing, however, is widely spread nowadays, and it may result in a number of negative consequences. One of the most common ones is license forgery, which has become very lucrative for the forgers. However, license forgery may harm the authentic brand too, creating unimaginable damage. Discrimination of stimuli is the third term related to the classical conditioning. What does discrimination imply? Simply put, it is a phenomenon that is, by its structure and meaning, just the opposite from that of generalisation. Therefore, unlike generalisation which implies identical responses to somewhat different stimuli; the result of discrimination is a selection of one among several similar stimuli. More precisely, discrimination enables learning differences among similar stimuli. Regarding consumers of products or services, various effects of discrimination are possible. One of them, for instance, is the ability to position a product, i.e. create a product image in a consumers awareness. This ability is the main resource of a products provider against his competitors, because the consumer, thanks to the ability to position the product, has the capability to tell the difference between the product he likes and other similar products. Another effect of discrimination present with consumers is the so-called dierentiation of products, the effect that aims at the differentiation of a product or a brand from the competitors based on the product characteristic that is denotative and valuable to the consumer. Instrumental conditioning is another principle or a form of conditional learning. What is its essence? Classical conditioning bases learning on
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the stimulus-response principle. Instrumental conditioning introduces the element of reinforcement into this equation. In other words, there is a possibility of choosing a response from among several alternatives, assuming that only one is rewarded. If only one response to a stimulus is rewarded and reinforced, it will be repeated, unlike others. For instance, if a child is rewarded from an early age for studying regularly, behaving appropriately etc., his reward will be an encouragement to repeat the rewarded behaviour. The fate of those which are not rewarded, such as socially unacceptable behaviour, will be just the opposite. The situation in fact can be somewhat different: several responses to a stimulus can be rewarded and reinforced. If we follow the logic of instrumental conditioning, the response that is reinforced and rewarded most will be learned. If we apply the logic of instrumental conditioning to consumer behaviour, at least two relevant assumptions follow. Firstly, some types of purchase behaviour result in rewards, others do not. This fact implies that the former will be repeated and the latter will not. On the other hand though, in the case of several types of behaviour being rewarded, the levels of reward can be different: some are lower, others are higher. In this case it is most likely that the behaviour rewarded most will be repeated. Reinforcement occurs in different forms. We often identify the primary (food, water, caressing, pain etc.), and secondary rein forcers such as money, praise, grades, etc. The role of primary rein forcers is clear. Secondary rein forcers, however, have a more significant role once they are combined with the primary ones. For instance, if caressing is combined with praise, soon the praise on its own would become a rein forcer. Generalised conditioned rein forcers are very efficient for shaping behaviour (linking secondary rein forcers to several primary ones), because they are associated with a series of events, not just one. For instance, attention can be associated with a pleasant physical touch, a smile, positive emotions, food etc. Regarding consumer behaviour though, the difference between positive and negative reinforcement is often emphasised. Firstly, positive reinforcement reinforcement by food, caressing, comfort etc increases the possibility for some reaction to take place. For instance, a shampoo
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that makes your hair silky and clean increases the possibility of a repeated purchase. Negative reinforcement, however, results in a negative outcome that stimulates an adequate behaviour: you wear a hat if it is cold; you take a painkiller if you have a headache, etc. Life insurance advertisements often show the consequences that the wife and children would suffer if the husband died. Why? The goal, clearly, is to stimulate the purchase of life insurance. What is important, therefore, is to be relieved of an unpleasant situation, whether by removing or avoiding it, and to bring comfort eventually. Regarding reinforcement, regardless of what type it is, another detail is relevant: reinforcement program. If we wonder, for instance, what makes many visit betting shops regularly and passionately, we will realise that what keeps them there is that they occasionally manage to predict the results and get reinforcement. The recipe for success lies in this simple example: due to occasional reinforcement they do not give up their passion because they hope that they will be lucky next time, i.e. that they will be reinforced. This is an example of occasional or intermittent reinforcement.
6.3.1.2 Model learning

Model learning generally implies learning based on the experience of others. Simply put, it is a consequence of observing the behaviour of others. More precisely, model learning implies imitating responses of others and acting accordingly. Several types of learning can be identified within model learning: identification, imitation and role-playing. Learning by identification is the only one that, according to some authors9, cannot be identified as some sort of conditioning. Some other elements are relevant instead. First of all, it is the role of emotional and motivational factors, as well as the emotionally established relation with the model. Secondly, it is the adoption of global forms of behaviour as our own permanent ways of response. Thirdly, it is the adoption of complex forms of behaviour rather than specific responses. And finally, it is relevant that the adopted forms are permanent and that they manifest through a long period of time.
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Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the first one to point out the identification, i.e. the existence of a spontaneous imitation of a role-model. Identification, he points out, shapes the Ego of a person according to the form of someone who was accepted as a role-model. It is possible to identify several forms of appearance or types of identification. Generally two are emphasised though: the defensive and developmental or analytic. The former, the defensive identification, Freud relates to the resolution of the Oedipus Complex. Defensive identification is therefore manifested as the identification with the aggressor, and occurs as a result of fear that the role-model (generally the father) will display aggression. For some other authors though, the source of defensive identification should be looked for in the desire to take the position that the role-model has, i.e. to not be envious of such a status. Identification is, in fact, a consequence of imaging oneself in the role which enables satisfaction of desires. Finally, some authors base defensive identification on a persons observation that the role-model has some characteristics or things that the person wants. Therefore the cause of identification should not be found in the fear or envy, but in the desire to accomplish some goals that the person wants to accomplish, to have the power and control over the things similar to those that the role-model has, etc. As an example of defensive identification, the behaviour of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps is often exploited. Namely, they often imitate their torturers and guards in the manner of dressing, behaviour, even their attitude toward other prisoners. The reasons can be found in the above theoretical explanations. Developmental or analytic identification is based on different premises. Freud starts the explanation of this type of identification by asking the question: How to explain the socialisation of female children? Trying to answer this question, Freud speaks about the identification based on the bond with another person: the bond based on offering support and help. More precisely, it refers to the fear of losing a mothers love and ensuring help and support. Similar approaches can be seen with other authors. According to them, the developmental identification is based on love and respect for the role-model, and it denotes the need to adopt the rolemodels behaviour.
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Another type of model learning is learning by imitation, a mechanism frequently used for explaining learning social behaviour. Behaviourists define imitation as a form of conditioning: a child will repeat all other peoples responses if those responses stimulate the childs sensors at the moment of him doing the same action on his own, accidentally. However, this logic cannot explain the acquisition of new forms of behaviour. Some other theoreticians explain imitation by instrumental conditioning: a form of behaviour that is accidental at first will be adopted as permanent if it is reinforced repeatedly. Regardless of the differences in theoretical approaches, however, for consumer behaviour related to imitation it is sufficient to point out two elements. The first one is the observation of the behaviour of the people you admire due to their looks, success, social status etc. The second one is the imitation of their positively reinforced behaviour when you encounter similar situations. Regarding the possibilities of learning by imitation, several are worth mentioning: the adoption of new forms of behaviour, causing inhibitory and disinhibitory effects (refraining or not refraining from some forms of behaviour), and the manifestation of previously learned behaviour that has not been expressed in the meantime. Finally, the third type of model learning is learning by role-playing. What kind of learning is this? In order to answer this, it is necessary to define role. Role implies the expected behaviour related to a certain status. Such behaviour is important for both the society and the individual. For the society, roles harmonise the activities of the society members. For the individuals, role as the expected behaviour enables them to handle various situations easily, knowing what is expected of them. If such a definition of role is adopted, learning by role-playing can be defined as learning by imitating someone who has the position we have achieved or we want to achieve. Expectations regarding behaviour, according to social understanding, are related to having a certain position. A mother, for instance, is expected to look after the children, a doctor is expected to cure, a manager is expected to run a company, etc.
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Role-playing has its characteristics. At least two of them deserve attention. Role-playing does not imply learning individual responses but only the organised system of behaviour. On the other hand, roles always have an interactive character: they are complemented by some other role and learning them assumes learning those other roles as well. Finally, role-playing depends on a large number of factors that either facilitate or obstruct it. Several of them need to be pointed out: Clarity about the expected behaviour that is linked to a certain position (clearly defined roles) Conformity among the society members regarding what behaviour related to a certain position is expected. A verified legitimacy of someones position, meaning that everyone agrees that a certain person really has a specific position and the right to it, and where everyone acts accordingly. In such circumstances roles are easier to learn. Conformity regarding the expectations related to complementary positions and roles. Acquiring roles is easier if the understanding of the expected behaviour linked to a certain position matches the understanding of the behaviour linked to a complementary position. The level of pervasiveness of roles: if a behaviour linked with a position is manifested in a large number of situations and relations, it is easier to learn. Motivation of an individual to learn the behaviour linked to specific roles.
6.3.1.3 Vicarious or observational learning

Vicarious learning, in a certain way, is a type of model learning. It differs from the above mentioned forms of modelling though. Analysing vicarious learning as a separate type of learning, Albert Bandura defines it as learning by observation10. New forms of behaviour, namely, are acquired, or the unwanted ones are modified, based on the observation of others, without trying to practise or learn such behaviour, without a direct reward or punishment, by a direct imitation of a role-models behaviour.
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For instance, when a student does not take his tasks seriously, the teacher can reinforce those who do. The student who acts inappropriately will see that responsible work is rewarded, so he starts doing the same. The observed behaviour of someone else, a role model, does not automatically lead to the same or modified behaviour of the observer. On the contrary, the observed behaviour of the role model can become the motive to behave in the same manner only if it is rewarded or at least is not punished. In such a situation the person who observes other peoples actions concludes that a certain reward can be achieved by the same behaviour. Different role models whose behaviour is observed have different levels of impact on the observer. Various factors influence this level. One of the prominent ones is doubtlessly the perceived similarity. The more similar the role model is to us, the more effective it is; and more role models are more effective than one11. Students, research shows, are more prone to imitating the children of the same sex. If children are not certain what behaviour is most appropriate, they imitate their peers rather than the adults. One of the relevant factors of effectiveness of a role model is also the perceived competence. For instance, a child who is learning to climb rope imitates a peer who is also learning climbing but is more successful than him. The level of readiness to imitate the role model will be lower if the role model was unsuccessful in the past, even if he/she is very successful in the present. Finally, there are four stages of observational learning12: Attention: Focusing ones attention onto a model. Most attention goes to a model that is competent, high-ranking, popular, attractive and admired by others. Retention: This involves verbalising the steps of behaviour or visualisation. Reproduction: The teacher provides feedback in case of an incorrect answer or hints at what the correct answer might be. This is also called the controlled exercise. Motivation: Motivation starts with vicarious reinforcement.
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Students imitate a models behaviour because they believe this increases their chances of reinforcement. Regarding consumer behaviour, there is no doubt that many businesses take vicarious or observational learning into consideration, such as the providers of various games of chance or many other products or services.
6.3.2 Cognitive learning theories

In an attempt to provide a solid definition of cognitive learning, we could say that it is learning based on mental activities. The starting point is the assumption that learning cannot be all about the stimulus-response relation, the association between a stimulus and a motor response. On the contrary, learning implies a knowledge about relations among specific stimuli. In accordance with this, the essence of cognitive theories is in the thesis that learning activates complex mental information processing. What is information processing however? Simply put, it implies a consumers processing of the information about a product, taking into consideration its features, the brand, comparison with other brands, etc. If information processing is defined as above, at least two relevant assumptions can be made. Firstly, the larger the cognitive abilities the greater the ability to gather more information about a product, and the greater the skill of integrating the information about several product features. Secondly, the greater the experience with the category of the product, the greater the ability to use the product information efficiently. Regarding information processing though, it is important to answer a few more questions. Within the context of this analysis, three groups of questions are pointed out. One of them is: How is information stored in memory? Theory has given the answer to that question a while ago. Namely, before further processing, information is stored in one of the three, separated storages: sensory, short-term or long-term. The essence of the first, sensory storage is in the fact that every sense receives a fragmented
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piece of information (smell, shape, touch of a flower) and transfers it to the brain where a comprehensive image is created. This image only lasts for a moment and it is lost unless it gets processed. If the providers of products or services know this characteristic of sensory storage, they receive the message: for the sake of their own product or service it is necessary to create a way of further processing the received information in order to prevent losing the comprehensive image in a humans brain and to retain it for as long as possible. The information, however, is briefly kept in the short-term storage or the so-called working memory. It can have one of two fates in this storage. If the information is not repeated, as a rule, it will be lost within thirty seconds. Imagine, for instance, that you have read a phone number in a phone book and that you have not repeated it. What follows, logically, is that it will be lost from your memory in a very short period of time. The information that is repeated after its first reception gets a different fate though. Normally it is transferred into the long-term memory storage, where it is kept for a longer period of time. The example with a phone number is suitable as evidence. Imagine that you repeat the number several times for the next ten minutes. It is realistic to expect it to be kept in your memory for a long time. One of the storages where the information is kept is long-term storage. As the name suggests, this is the storage where the information is kept for a longer period of time. How long this retention is going to last depends on many factors. In general though, it can last from several minutes up to many years. The second group of questions regarding information processing is: How is information retained? The answer to this question is not at the level of a single operation. On the contrary, the stored information is not passive; it does not just wait to be recalled into the awareness. More precisely, the stored information is continuously reorganise d, updated and profiled as new insights arrive. Due to these characteristics and the route of information, it is logical that consumers are more prone to remember the information about new products that belong to a familiar brand. The reason for this is the fact that the memory of the information regarding
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such products is under less influence from competitors advertisements than would be the case of a product with a new brand name. Finally, the last relevant question regarding information processing is: How is information recalled from memory, or how to remember the information that was stored at some point in ones memory and that faded in the meantime? A person often finds himself in the situation of not being able to remember something that is normally familiar. If we know this feature of the human personality, it is necessary to ask: what to do to eliminate these unpleasant situations or at least minimize them as much as possible? If we observe consumers, the method is actually rather simple. A consumer is prone to memorizing the advantages of a product rather than its features. One of the core recommendations to the designers of advertisements stems from this characteristic: if you want to design an effective message, relate the products features to the advantages expected from it. Within the cluster of cognitive theories it is possible to mark a large number of them: learning by insight, learning by trial and error, etc. One of them, however, is particularly relevant for consumer behaviour. It is the theory of involvement as a separate cognitive theory. What is this theory based upon? Its theoretical foundation is the split-brain theory that is based on the thesis that the left and right hemisphere of the brain are specialised for processing specific types of information. According to the theory, personified by David Sousa, the left hemisphere specialises in coding information verbally whilst the right hemisphere specialises in coding information visually13. The left hemisphere, concludes Sousa, is logical, involved in speech, reading and writing. It is the analytical hemisphere that evaluates the fact materials in a rational manner and interprets words literally. It processes words, letters and numbers serially. The right hemisphere is intuitive, creative. It gathers information from images rather than words. It conducts the parallel processing of the information relevant for recognising forms and special understanding. It recognises faces, places and objects. According to this theory, people whose left hemisphere dominates are more verbal, analytical and better at solving problems. Women, it is considered,
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are more oriented to their left hemisphere than men are. People whose right hemisphere dominates, mainly men, are good at painting and drawing, maths and handle the world of images better than words. If, from the consumer behaviour perspective, the split-brain theory is seen as the point of alignment, the message could focus around two assumptions. Considering that the left hemisphere of the brain is specialised in speech, reading and writing, we can conclude that it is appropriate for the media with the highest level of involvement, printed media first of all. On the other hand, the right, intuitive hemisphere specialises in nonverbal, visual communication. Therefore, for the people whose right hemisphere is dominant, repetition is a basic condition for creating a shopping mood. In order to accomplish this, TV advertisements are most effective, considering they are short and frequent. Finally, for the people whose right hemisphere dominates, the visual component of advertising is extremely relevant. The reason is the fact that the extremely visual TV advertisements create familiarity with the brand and stimulate a shopping mood. Research, however, does not support the split-brain theory. It shows that the left and right hemisphere do not act separately in information processing. On the contrary, they cooperate to shape the information. For instance, Christopher Chabris and Stephen Kosslyn, prominent researchers in the field of special resonance and visual imagery, consider that any model of brain lateralisation that refers to the conglomeration of complex mental abilities such as special resonance, to one hemisphere or the other, is too rough to be scientifically or practically useful. Theories like the split-brain theory cannot explain nor predict which parts of the brain will activate to solve a new problem14.
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1. 2. 3. 4. What is the definition of learning? Do responses influence learning and how? How do repetition and imagination influence learning? What types of conditional learning are there and what are the differences between them? 5. What does S-R scheme represent? 6. Describe generalisation of stimuli in Pavlovs experiment. 7. What are the characteristics of the cognitive learning theory?
References
1. Zarevski, P. (2002): Psihologija pamcenja i ucenja, Slap, Jastrebarsko 2. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, MATE, Zagreb, p. 160 3. Kesic, T. (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio, Zagreb, pp. 253-260 4. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): ibidem, pp. 160-162 5. Kesic, T. (2006): ibidem, pp. 256-258 6. Rot, N. (2003): Osnovi socijalne psihologije, Zavod za udzbenike i nastavna sredstva, Beograd, p. 172. 7. Pecjak, V. (1981): Psihologija saznavanja, Svjetlost, Sarajevo 8. Klaic, B.(1990): Rjecnik stranih rijeci, Nakladni zavod Matice Hrvatske, Zagreb, p. 158 9. Rot, N. (2003): ibidem 10. Bandura, A. (1986): Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall 11. Schunk, D.H. (1987): Peer models and childrens behavioral change, Review of Educational Research, 57, 149-174 12. Bandura, A. (1986): ibidem 13. Sousa, D.A. (1995): How the Brain Learns: A Classroom Teachers Guide, Reston, Va.: National Association of Secondary School Principals, p. 99 14. Chabris, C.F., S.M. Kosslyn (1998): How Do the Cerebral Hemispheres Contribute to Encoding Spatial Relations?, Current Directions in Psychology, vol. 7, pp. 8-14
VII chapter
ATTITUDES
Chapter objectives
Analysis of various definitions and opinions about attitudes Components of attitudes Attitudes in relation to consumer behaviour Understanding attitude theories Attitude formation and the use of attitudes in marketing The possibilities and methods of attitude change The influence of communications on attitude formation and change
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7. ATTITUDES
7.1 Definition of attitudes
What are attitudes? In an effort to answer this question we can identify a variety of theoretical approaches. However, the majority of them, to a greater or lesser extent, rely on one of the oldest - Morgans definition, according to which attitudes are tendencies to react to certain people, objects or situations1, whether positively or negatively. John Mowen based his definition of attitudes on Morgans one, defining attitudes as one of the variables in consumer behaviour. He finds that attitudes imply a significant amount of commitment or the pro or con feeling with respect to a stimulating object such as a person, a product, a company or an idea2. In consumer behaviour, some other definitions may be more useful. The first one is Newcombs, according to which an attitude is a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently positive or negative manner to a given object3. Newcombs definition dating from 1950 is a foundation for Shiffman-Kanuks one - the one rather relevant for consumer behaviour - which states that an attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favourable or unfavourable manner with respect to a given object4. Another frequently exploited definition is the one by Krech, Cratchutield and Ballachey. According to them5, an attitude is an enduring system of positive or negative evaluations, emotional feelings and pro or con action tendencies with respect to a social object. Finally, English and English define attitudes as enduring learned predispositions to behave in a consistent way toward a given class of objects6.
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If we compare all the above definitions to each other, we notice that they have some elements in common: 1. An attitude always refers to something, to an object. Regarding consumer behaviour, this object can be a product, type of product, brand, price, shop, etc. 2. Attitudes are not genetic but a result of learning. Regarding consumer behaviour they are the result of: experience with a product, exposure to the influence of mass media, information acquired from others, family members, friends, acquaintances, etc. 3. Consistency as one of the important characteristics of attitudes. Attitudes generally portray the behaviour they reflect. This means that the coherence of attitudes is not inevitable. More precisely, different intervening variables can produce behaviour that is not a reflection of ones own attitudes. The definitions of attitudes, regardless of all the existing discrepancies among them, recognise the need to clear up a few more obscurities. One of them, for example, refers to the fact that an attitude is often seen as being the same as conviction, the term that, truth be told, has a lot in common with it. However, there is also an easily recognisable list of mutual differences. Conviction implies a clearly determined attitude related to an understanding. A component of a conviction, in other words, is an emphasised intellectual operation. We have a conviction about something because we consider that there is a logical justification for it. For instance, the conviction about the harmfulness of smoking stems from the information that lung cancer is much more common with smokers than non-smokers. A clearly defined attitude stems from this conviction: to reject cigarette consumption as a part of ones lifestyle.
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Another ambiguity is the fact that attitudes and opinions are seen as being one and the same. The reason is the same as in the previous case: attitudes and opinions are related terms. If we want to define opinions, we could say that they imply a specific transition between attitudes and convictions. More precisely, the intellectual component is less emphasised than in convictions, and the emotional element is less stressed than in attitudes. An opinion is, in fact, a verbal expression of an attitude, without necessarily being its real reflection.
7.2 Complexity of attitudes

If, based on the above definitions of attitudes, we want to identify their most relevant characteristics, along with the three listed ones: their dispositional character, the fact that they are not genetic but acquired, and that they influence behaviour and its consistency; then we must not fail to mention another characteristic of attitudes: their complexity. The complexity of attitudes, as one of their most relevant characteristics, comprises three attitude components: cognition, affect and conation. How do they manifest? Cognitive component implies that there is certain knowledge and assumptions about the attitude objects. Such knowledge, assumptions and perceptions usually take the form of convictions. Regarding consumer behaviour, it also means that a consumer is convinced that the attitude object has certain characteristics matching this attitude. A specific behaviour stems from such a conviction, which results in these products being bought, in positive information being spread about them, in other peoples behaviour being affected, etc.
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Figure 27: Tricomponent attitude model
Aective component refers to the fact that attitudes always include emotions toward the attitude object. For instance, we like or dislike a certain item, we love it or do not love it, we want or do not want to have it, etc. Finally, connotative component implies a tendency to do something about the attitude object, to take certain action. Regarding consumer behaviour, conation could imply a consumers expression of the intention to buy something. Complexity, as well as other characteristics of attitudes, refers to the assumption that attitudes are not homogenous. On the contrary, the
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differences between them can be rather significant. Accordingly, we can speak about different types of attitudes. The possibility of different criteria in attitude classification is also doubtless. One of them classifies attitudes into personal and social ones. Personal attitudes, as the name indicates, refer to peoples attitudes toward something: their mother, a friend, company, brand, etc. Unlike them, social attitudes are common to many people and in accordance with these attitudes such people can be compared. Such is, for instance, an attitude toward marriage, a product brand, a trade company or a shop, etc. We can also classify attitudes using criteria different from the above. For instance, if the logical foundation of an attitude is the applied criterion, attitudes can be classified into the ones that rely on logic and prejudices: attitudes that are logically unsubstantial, difficult to change and as a rule accompanied with strong emotions.
7.3 Influence of attitudes on consumer behaviour

Both personal and social attitudes have a strong influence on the behaviour of humans, particularly consumers. What has to be thoroughly analysed though is what sort of influence this is, how intense it is, how much the character of the attitude structure can be used to predict consumer behaviour, etc. Such and similar questions can only be answered at a fundamental level. To the question To what extent can an attitude be used to predict consumer behaviour? the answer will not be complete unless at least some of the variables this depends on are pointed out. Two of them must be mentioned in this analysis. The answer primarily depends on the social adequacy of the attitude. This means that some types of behaviour are less the result of a personal judgement of individuals that could result in the contempt of the group, and more the result of their desire to fit in by a socially adequate and rewarding behaviour. The need for a socially adequate and rewarding behaviour forces consumers towards purchases they do not prefer: they will choose them in order not to cause the contempt of the group despite the fact that the purchase does not personally please them.
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On the other hand, the extent to which an attitude can be use to predict consumer behaviour also depends on how strong the attitude is with respect to the product. Generally we can say that stronger attitudes enable a more reliable consumer behaviour prediction regarding the planning of a purchase, the use, promotion with other consumers, etc., and vice versa. Another detail is important to know: that the rigour of an attitude is more relevant for permanent and more valuable products than for mass consumption products. It influences the specific behaviour of consumers more with the former, whether negatively or affirmatively, than with the latter. However, regardless of this general level of analysis, there is no doubt that it is possible to mark the situations in which the influence of attitudes on consumer behaviour is certain. Some of them are worth pointing out. One of them, for instance, is the level of consumer involvement in every specific case. If, in other words, it is a situation with the higher level of consumer involvement, which is always the case with a purchase of valuable, expensive products such as a car, home appliances etc, then the attitude structure can be used effectively to predict consumer behaviour. In the case of mass consumption goods, where purchase decisions are mainly a routine, the consumer attitude structure is less useful for predicting behaviour. The influence of attitudes on consumer behaviour is also directly related to the trust in ones own attitudes. The greater the trust, the greater the influence of attitudes on consumer behaviour. However, another issue must be analysed here: What is the trust in ones own attitudes related to, what do its existence and scope depends on? There are a number of variables influencing this. The level of the trust depends, among other factors, on the level of available information. More information results in a greater trust and vice versa. The trust in attitudes also depends on the trust in available information. For instance, if there is a lack of trust in the information source, the very abundance of information is not going to produce a greater trust in ones attitudes. The influence of attitudes on consumer behaviour is also related to the specicity of attitudes. What does this mean? Simply stated, the more general an attitude is and the more ambiguous and abstract the attitude object is, the lesser is the influence of the attitude on consumer behaviour.
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Accordingly, this influence is greater the more specific the attitude object is. The influence of an attitude regarding a portable computer of a specific brand, for instance, is much stronger than a general attitude toward the computer technology. One of the situations in which the influence of attitudes on consumer behaviour is also certain is related to the situational factors. Namely, an attitude itself does not always have to produce behaviour. However, such behaviour can be caused by behavioural factors that stimulate or discourage certain behaviour. For instance, someone can have an extremely positive attitude toward the car brand Mercedes. Such attitude, however, does not have to produce the adequate behaviour: the purchase of a Mercedes car. Why? The reasons vary. Specifically, for instance, lack of money for it is a situational factor that discourages such a purchase. Variables can have the opposite character though: one may not have a positive attitude toward a product and yet be stimulated to its purchase and consumption by certain situational factors. Consumer behaviour can be related to the influence of group attitudes. It is not uncommon for consumers to have one type of attitude with regard to a product or a service, and to behave entirely differently in reality. Reasons for this vary. One of the possible ones, no doubt, is the disapproval of a specific behaviour by the group within which the consumer functions as an individual. If the disapproval by the group has certain intensity, in profiling the behaviour it can outweigh the need to behave in accordance with ones own attitudes. Finally, we must mention personality traits as a variable that influences consumer behaviour. What exactly is this about? Certain types of personality are, simply, more appropriate for the influence of various intervening variables on their behaviour. Some personality types, for instance, are easy to become subject to the influence and attitudes of a group. The rest of them, on the other hand, are less susceptible to such external influences and are more likely to adjust their own attitudes and behaviour. In consumer behaviour, attitudes are, as the above analysis implies, important for their influence on a specific behaviour. If we compare an
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attitude and behaviour, the principle that an attitude is a precondition of certain behaviour is valid as a rule. At least two assumptions can be derived from this basic principle: that attitudes precede behaviour and that behaviour follows attitude formation. However, the processes in the relations between attitudes and behaviour can be significantly different. The opposite from the above is not uncommon: for behaviour to precede attitudes. Regarding this situation, it is possible to identify two theoretical approaches: 1. Cognitive dissonance theory and 2. Attribution theory.
Figure 28: Attitude formation
7.3.1 Cognitive dissonance theory

Cognitive dissonance theory is based on the thesis that dissonance always occurs when a consumer has contradicting thoughts about the object of an attitude or conviction. Regarding this, i.e. the opposing thoughts in regard with the attitude or conviction object, two situations are possible: one that refers to the time before the purchase and the other one about
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the time after the purchase. In accordance with this it is possible to talk about two cognitive dissonances: the cognitive dissonance before the purchase and post-purchase dissonance. The occurrence of the former, cognitive dissonance before the purchase is possible to be expected after the consumer has decided on a product, i.e. after he had made the advance payment, sent the order, etc. At that moment it is not uncommon for him to start thinking about whether he has made the best possible decision, or has he, possibly, missed some of the qualities of the brand (or brands) he has not chosen, whether they could have advantages when compared to the chosen brand, etc. The latter, post-purchase dissonance, occurs after a purchase. Namely, after it, under the influence of experience, new information etc., a doubt can occur regarding the choice and the product, which all results in the change of attitude. This change would not be relevant on its own. Its significance, however, stems from the fact that the attitude change forces the consumer to change behaviour during the next purchase and its adjustment to the change. A popular advert for De Beers diamonds is trying to influence the decrease in the cognitive dissonance with consumers by its slogan: How can two months salary last a lifetime? Post-purchase dissonance with consumers does not suit the businesses. Therefore they take certain actions in order to disable or minimize it. One of the more efficient methods of achieving this is doubtlessly by offering larger warranties to consumers. For instance, if consumers have a one-year or several-year warranty, their potential doubts will be significantly smaller than they could objectively be. The logic behind this is very simple: if the product breaks or malfunctions, it will be fixed in time and free of charge or in extreme cases replaced entirely. The manufacturer, as a rule, also creates a manual with the instructions on how to use the product. Its function is to motivate the consumer to acquire the detailed information about the use of the purchased product before its very use. Manufacturers are aware that some consumers will not read the manuals though. However, a significant number of them will study the manual with a greater or lesser attention to detail. Finally, in order to minimize the possibility of post-purchase dissonance, a large number of companies decide to develop a consumer loyalty program. Various approaches are possible. The most common is the
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philosophy of rewarding valuable consumers. The reason for this is that it develops loyalty and satisfaction of valuable and dedicated consumers. Post-purchase dissonance however does not suit the consumers either. Therefore, their goal is to avoid or to minimize this unpleasant feeling caused by conflicting thoughts. In order to achieve this, to disable or minimize the post-purchase dissonance, consumers use various tactics. Justifying the decision as wise by rationalising is quite common. More precisely, people try to convince themselves that they have made a wise decision. It is also common for consumers to look for advertisements that will support their choice. The logic behind it is: if such a choice is supported by adverts in printed media, on jumbo posters, in TV or radio adverts, there is no reason not to believe them. Finally, consumers often resort to the tactic of finding other satisfied consumers in order to eliminate their own doubts. For if others are pleased with the product, there is no reason for them to doubt it.
7.3.2 Attribution theory

The attribution theory focuses on an individuals continuous efforts to discover and interpret the causes of the events he witnesses. The central topic of the theory is the understanding of what people identify as a cause or reason for their own behaviour and the behaviour of others. For instance, if we give a donation to the Red Cross because it helps people who need it, the central question of the attribution theory is not the donation as a fact, but pervading the causes as to why we have decided to make the donation. The essence is therefore in the search for the causes of such an action; the search for an answer to the question: Why have I done this? In the consumer behaviour context, the question can be formulated slightly differently, for instance: Why has she tried to make me change the brand? This theory claims that people, while discovering what the causes of someones behaviour are, are trying to establish whether this behaviour was induced by some extreme causes from the individuals environment, or by some internal ones such as motives, attitudes or capabilities. For
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instance, if an employee is late for work, his superior will first wonder whether this was caused by a traffic jam or the employees irresponsibility. In accordance with this, the question is asked: What factors make people say that their behaviour is caused by something from the environment or that it is the result of their own traits and capabilities. People often tend to relate the causes with either a person or institution, or a situation, and they are likely to observe very complex processes and phenomena through a simplified cause-effect spectrum. This particularly happens when there is no additional information or a thorough insight into a specific situation or social-interactive relations. Namely, people are often prone to being biased and making mistakes in their perception of the causes of ones behaviour or predication and representation of certain social and political attitudes. Depending on the approach, attribution theory can be viewed from different perspectives. One of the most significant ones is surely the theory of self-perception. According to it, attitudes (in regard with consumer behaviour) develop when consumers observe and evaluate their own behaviour. For instance, if you notice that on your way to work you buy the same newspaper (Oslobodjenje or some other), the logical conclusion would be this: It must be because I like this paper and I have a positive attitude toward it. One of the attribution forms is also attribution toward others. It is always present when an individual asks the why question in relation to a statement or action of another person a family member, a salesperson, a direct provider etc. The consumers will, for instance, by evaluating the words or actions of a salesperson, try to decide whether the salespersons motives match their interests. In the case of a positive response the consumers will react positively to the action object, buy a certain product, etc. Otherwise the purchase will not be conducted; the consumers will go to other salespeople, to a different shop, etc. Attribution, finally, can be manifested in the form of attribution toward objects, i.e. toward products or services. For example, consumers are interested in why a product functions or do not function in accordance with their expectations, why it meets or does not meet their expectations,
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etc. Both can be attributed to different subjects. The functioning or malfunctioning of a product can be attributed to the product itself, to ones capabilities or the capabilities of others, or to a combination of a larger number of factors.
7.4 Attitude formation

Regarding attitudes, one of the central questions is: How do people form primary attitudes toward certain objects? For instance, how do they form attitudes toward clothes that they wear in different occasions, or toward the brand of each of those types of outfit? What do they think about the shops where they buy these clothes? How much do family, friends, celebrities and mass media influence their attitudes regarding this? Generally we could say that attitudes are the result of socialisation. It is important to be able to identify a number of mechanisms in the process of attitude formation. Four most important mechanisms were identified in 1935 by Allport7: Integration mechanism, which results in attitude formation based on a gradual integration of individual experiences during a lifetime on a rational basis. Imitation mechanism, through which attitudes are assumed based on social heritage, through primary groups and other agents of socialisation. A source of permanent attitudes, for instance, can be the imitation of parents, older brothers or sisters, etc. Trauma mechanism, which results in the formation of a permanent attitude due to a certain shock, dramatic events from childhood, fears, prejudices etc. More precisely, these are individual experiences whose emotional involvement and intensity leads to attitudes, most commonly extremely negative and difficult to change, about some events or people, such as a war, hyperinflation, migrations, etc. Dierentiation mechanism, which assumes that based on the formed attitudes, new ones are formed regarding the objects that the individual has not had enough experience with. More precisely, the existing attitudes are generalised onto other objects.
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It is important to stress that in real life these mechanisms do not generally come in pure form but are rather interrelated and intertwined.
7.4.1 Factors that influence attitude formation

A large number of factors influence attitude formation. Relying on some social psychologists8, Kesic, for instance, identifies three basic types of these factors: general, social and personal. The first, general or universal factors are those that, albeit indirectly, influence the social scene in general, such as the development of production forces and production relations, the historical development in general, etc. Social factors, i.e. belonging to a certain community or a group, include the characteristic norms and values, attitudes and beliefs of the communities and groups that individuals belong to and identify with. Various groups and communities can be the emitters of these norms and values, attitudes and beliefs: Large social groups such as a nation or a class that influence the attitudes of its members. Political and church organisations whose influence on attitude formation is also indisputable. In the case of belonging to a political organisation though, it implies that some of the attitudes have been previously formed. Small, primary groups, such as family, friends etc. Their influence on the formation of some attitudes is, noticeably, the largest. Reference groups, with which individuals identify and whose attitudes they accept. Personal factors are sometimes marked as specific conditions and mechanisms of attitude formation. By this, a single group of factors is implied: the specic conditions an individual is in, the awareness and knowledge that he has about the object, and the direct needs and motives that stimulate him at a given time. How do all these factors, regardless of what type they belong to, influence attitude formation? There are various ways. Their influence is first of all manifested by their effect on the
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selection and ltration of the information that reaches the group members. The information that does not comply with the beliefs of the group is not shared in it. Another factor that influences attitude formation is the emphasis on the values that the group advocates, as well as the credibility of the communication and communicators of attitudes and beliefs. Finally, this influence is manifested through the social support that the group provides for maintaining the attitudes that comply with the group beliefs. Some authors, however, do not speak about factors but about the sources of influence on attitude formation. Schiffman and Kanuk10, for instance, identify several such sources. One of them is the personal experience of trying and evaluating products. Businesses often encourage consumers to try their new products. The basic goal, if the trial leads to a positive impression, is to build a positive attitude. If this happens, the purchase of the product is what is most probably going to follow. One of the sources of the influence on attitude formation is also the inuence of family, friends and respected individuals. Parents often reward their children in order to motivate them to certain behaviour. For instance, good behaviour can be rewarded by sweets. If this is practiced a lot, one must not forget the formation of a positive attitude toward sweets as something that could mark todays children and tomorrows adults. As another source of the influence on attitude formation, Schiffman and Kanuk list direct marketing. This implies companies aiming at the consumers of highly specialised products. In their selection of target consumers they consider various characteristics of this segment of the population such as their demographic features and many others. The influence of an individuals personality on attitude formation is also indisputable. For instance, people characterized by a high level of the need for cognition are relatively more likely to form positive attitudes in response to advertisements that are rich in product-related information. Unlike them, people who are relatively low in need for cognition respond much more positively to visual advertisements such as those featuring attractive models or celebrities.
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Finally, as one of the sources of influence on attitude formation, Schiffman and Kanuk list the influence of mass media: daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, electronic media and television in particular. Nowadays the influence of new media such as the Internet is emphasised. Thanks to the mass media, consumers are exposed to new ideas, products, and advertisements. On top of that, the media are an important source of information that influences attitude formation.
7.4.2 Attitude change

In the life cycle of existing attitudes, two routes are possible, at a theoretical level: their petrifaction and their change. Petrifaction of attitudes implies their solidification, fossilisation, resistance to all efforts to modify or change them. In other words, petrifaction implies the preservation of old attitudes. People are not immune to this type of affinity. Research shows that it increases with age. What causes attitude petrifaction? There is certainly more than one cause. The causes are indeed rather diverse. Among them, two are worth pointing out: attitudes acquired a long time ago, and strong attitudes. They both have solid foundations and are resistant to any, even the smallest changes. The second, relatively more common route in the life cycle of attitudes is the change of acquired attitudes. In an average mans life, this route is in fact rather common. At least two types of situations lead to it: attitudes being acquired relatively recently, or not being deeply ingrained. The occurrence of some of the above situations does not automatically lead to the change of a certain attitude. Whether a change occurs or not depends on the attributes that an attitude has. Four of them are worth emphasizing: Attitude direction, which can be positive or negative. Typical examples for this are the situations such as being pro or contra something, liking or disliking it, being attracted to it or not, etc.
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Attitude intensity or rmness: whether an attitude is strong or weak, deep or shallow, resolute or irresolute, etc. Attitude universality: whether it is an attitude shared with a large number of people or one specific to an individual. Attitude progressivity: whether it is progressive or reactionary. Consumer behaviour is not interested in petrified attitudes resistant to all attempts to modify or change them. Marketing experts recognise such attitudes and people who have them, and try to adapt to them as much as possible. Marketing attention is therefore on the attitudes that are subject to modification and change. The reason is simple: by influencing them they try to cause changes that would benefit the company, by causing the consumers identification with a certain product or service but also with the product providers themselves. Attitude change is not something that happens overnight though. On the contrary, it generally happens very slowly. If it does, it is important to know that it can happen in various forms. For instance, an attitude can change the direction entirely. In other words, it can evolve from a positive into a negative one. However, another situation is as common: that the direction of an attitude has not been changed, but the intensity of its manifestation has. Thanks to various external effects, an attitude can evolve from being weak to being intense and vice versa. Evolution can also follow the logic of the attitude development from shallow to deep or the other way round. There are other manifestations of change too. The goal of the majority of businesses is to win over the consumers. A goal defined like this leads to another logical assumption: that the consumer attitude change is a strategic interest of most companies. Different approaches can be used to achieve this strategic goal. Theoreticians emphasise some of them11. Changing the basic motivational function of consumers is mentioned as one of the most relevant strategies. What does this actually mean? We have certain attitudes toward brands due to the fact that we have used a certain
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product of that brand in the past. If we want to cause the attitude change in this case, the only correct approach is to point out some qualities of the product that the consumers did not know of before. Knowing the target consumers attitudes, companies can cause their change by pointing out the values, lifestyle or views of these segments of consumers in their adverts. One of the strategies used to change attitudes is doubtlessly relating a product with the target group, event or cause. More precisely, pointing out a relation of certain products or brands with respected groups or events serves the function of changing the attitude toward those products or brands. Another strategy is the so-called conict resolution. For instance, if you persuade a consumer that his negative attitude toward a product or a brand is not opposing some other attitude, it is not impossible that this will make him change his evaluation of the product or brand from negative to positive. Changing the conviction about competitors brands or product categories is another strategy used for attitude change. This strategy uses the logic of comparative presentation of yours and your competitors brand(s). The logic of the strategy, again, imposes a very careful approach considering that a comparative presentation can act like a boomerang and end up being directly beneficial to the competitors. Ultimately inattention can lead to stressing out the competitors advantages even though the initial intention was just the opposite.
7.5 The influence of mass media on the attitude formation and change
A number of variables influence attitude formation and change. A significant one is the media for mass communication or mass media. There are two basic types of media: classical, such as the print, radio and television, and new media such as teletext, videotext, hypertext, multimedia and the Internet whose influence is becoming more profound.
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Regardless of whether the classic or new media influence the attitude formation or change, we can speak about two types of situations regarding the influence of mass media: high level and low level of involvement. What sort of influences are these in fact? The influence in the conditions of a high level of involvement is present if the mass media influence is realised in situations when the consumers are interested in buying a certain product or brand. The existence of an increased interest in gaining the information about the product or brand via mass communication is logical. The increased interest however does not automatically imply the change of individuals or groups attitudes. Such a change can be caused, but does not have to. On the other hand, the influence of mass media on consumers attitudes in the conditions of high level of involvement, i.e. the increased interest of the consumers for the information, is not the same in all situations. Sometimes it is stressed, other times it is almost insignificant. What sort of impact the increased consumers interest for the information is going to make depends on a number of reasons. Two groups of these reasons are impossible to ignore in any serious analysis: trust in the communication source and trust in the message content. Trust in the communication source as an assumption that influences what source of effect the increased interest of consumers for the information is going to have, is not something that exists beyond the objective reality. In other words, it is created gradually and under the influence of various factors. Three of these factors deserve attention: the credibility of the source, the expertise of the message sender, and the social status of the message sender. How do these work? The basic logic that the credibility of the source as a factor of trust in the information source relies upon the assumption: the greater the credibility of the source, the greater the trust. If we want to continue this sequence, the next element would be the greater influence on an attitude. The logic of the sequence is doubtless. For instance, if you gain the information about a certain product or service from a reliable, valid source that is recognisable in public and that someone refers to daily, it is logical to assume that this
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source will be trusted rather than some other one that does not have these references or, even worse, that has the opposite reputation. Finally, if you trust the information source, the logical outcome is that the information you get shapes your attitude: whether by forming it for the first time or by influencing its change and new formation. The second factor of trust in the information source is the expertise of the message sender. What does this actually mean? If a reputable cook addresses the audience and talks about the features of a specific recipe, the way the food is prepared etc., it is certain that an average viewer will trust him more than if the message came from a person who is not recognised as a good cook or someone who is in a different food-related industry. As another important factor, finally, social status of the information sender must be mentioned. Why do appreciated and reputable people from public life often do the job of presenting products or services of certain companies? The reason is their social status, the fact that they have achieved success in their industry and that the public can recognise them, respect them etc. Such social status is also the reason to trust them as the information source in general, including the information regarding the features of certain products or services. The second assumption on which it largely depends what the impact of the increased interest of consumers for the information is going to be, is related to the message content. A number of details are important in this context. First of all, it is relevant what the quality of the arguments used in the message is. If they are convincing, with solid theoretical and empirical foundations, it is logical that they will positively influence the content of the message and therefore produce the increased interest of consumers for the information that the message contains. The nature of argumentation also influences the content of a message: whether it is a one-way or two-way argumentation. Simply stated, this means that a company can either base the entire message on the positive information regarding the product or service, or it can mention the defaults of the product that have been noticed and removed in the meantime.
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The second example of the influence of mass media is a low level of consumer involvement. What sort of conditions are we talking about? Simply stated, it is about various situations in which the consumer is not interested in buying a certain product or a brand. It is logical to assume a lower interest for the information regarding this product or brand via the media for mass communications. Despite this however, in the conditions of a low level of consumer involvement, the influence of mass media on attitude formation and change is possible. More precisely, it is possible to identify two methods of this influence: the influence via the source, and the influence via the message. What does each assume? The former, the influence of mass media on attitude formation and change via the source, focuses on the fact that the perceived attractiveness of the communication source influences the attitude. Schiffman and Kanuk mention some experience from the USA as an example. MasterCard and Toyota hired Jerry Seinfeld as a message sender hoping that his image will reinforce the content of the message and the logic: If he is using the product, it must be good. In our socio-cultural background the role of an attractive communication source is often given to public figures: popular actors, sportsmen etc. Eronet from Mostar, for instance, gave its role of a communication source to Mustafa Nadarevic, a famous actor, due to the popularity he achieved in his role of the character of Izet Fazlinovic in a popular TV series. The other method of the influence of mass media on attitude formation and change is the influence via the message. This is about certain appeals that are contained within messages influencing their successful acceptance. The appeals used for target audience vary. They can all be classified into several basic groups though. A survey of the content of advertisements on FTV was done in 2004. The following structure of appeals was determined: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Appeal to personal satisfaction (30.83%) Appeal to self-confidence (25.34%) Appeal to constructiveness (23.29%) Appeal to sex (11.64%) Appeal to property acquisition (4.79%) Appeal to imitation (3.43%)
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7. 8. 9. 10.
Appeal to self-sustenance (0.68%) Appeal to curiosity (0%) Appeal to altruism (0%) Appeal to destructivity (0%)
Three types of appeals are worth emphasizing: emotional, fear and humour appeals. What is each type characterized by? Emotional appeals are appeals to joy, hope, excitement, fear, anger, shame etc., which we use when we want to change or intensify a certain attitude of an individual or, even more commonly, of a group of consumers. The message that contains such appeals serves the function of an instrument by which the desired effect is achieved. However, the effects caused by a message structured this way are often additionally intensified by other, intervening variables such as music, an image, scene or even more commonly, the combination of all of them. The second group of appeals are appeals to fear. Their goal is to present a situation that the consumer is going to get into unless he acts as the message appeal is asking him to. Stimulating certain fear is the idea. The purpose of fear stimulation is a higher level of involvement during the appeal presentation. In accordance with the above, the producers of various products and the providers of various services use fear appeals. For example, car manufacturers count on the logic of fear. The reason is to suggest buying specific insurance policies, certain car brands, etc. If an appeal to fear is our choice, an issue that cannot be avoided is the optimal intensity of fear. In other words, what fear intensity has the greatest effects on attitude change or formation? Research has led to the conclusion that neither a low nor high level of fear intensity results in a high level of possibility of the formation or change of the existing attitude. More precisely, research has shown that the medium level of the intensity of appeal to fear is the most desirable level if we want to cause the formation of an attitude or the change of an existing one. Humour appeals are relatively common as a method of the mass media influence on the attitude formation and change. Research shows that they
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are present in approximately 15% to 42% of TV and radio adverts. What are the real effects of humour though? There are contradictory opinions regarding this. However, some benefits are certain. For instance, there is no doubt that humour can attract an audiences attention. There is also no doubt that humour can increase the retention of a received message. It can also reinforce an attitude toward a certain message. And finally, humour can minimize contra arguments.
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1. 2. 3. 4. Explain the similarities among attitude definitions. Are attitudes a complex category and why? How do attitudes influence attitude behaviour? How can cognitive dissonance theory be used for promotional purposes? 5. Explain the mechanisms that lead to attitude formation. 6. Give an example of a company or campaign that changed the attitudes of its consumers. 7. Is the presence of appeals on all BH TV stations the same today as in 2005?
References
1. Zvonarevic, M. (1989): Socijalna psihologija, Skolska knjiga, Zagreb 2. Mowen, J.C. (1987): Consumer Behavior, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York 3. Newcomb, T. M. (1950): Social psychology, New York: Dryden Press 4. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, MATE, Zagreb 5. Krech, D., R.S. Crutchfield and L.E. Ballachey (1962): Individual in society A textbook of social psycholog, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company 6. Rot, N. (1972): Osnovi socijalne psihologije, Zavod za udzbenike i nastavna sredstva, Beograd 7. Allport, G.W. (1935): Attitudes. In C.M. Murchison (ed.), Handbook of Social Psychology. Winchester, MA: Clark University Press 8. Rot, N. (1972): ibid 9. Kesic, T. (2006), Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio, Zagreb 10. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): ibid 11. Schiffman, L.G. and L.L. Kanuk (2004): ibid
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Chapter objectives
The role of family in consumer behaviour Family functions Process of socialisation and different influences of the environment Deciding about purchase within a family Husband/wife dominance in a purchase Traditional life cycle of a family Non-traditional life cycle of a family
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8. FAMILY
8.1 Definition of family and its basic functions
Even though it is difficult to define family, it is considered to be a group of two or more people who live together and who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption1. In a dynamic sense, persons composing a family can be described as members of a basic social group who live together and interact in order to satisfy their personal and common needs. Households are sometimes said to be the same as families. However, not all households are families. For instance, a household can consist of members who are not related by blood, marriage or adoption, such as civil partners, family friends, flatmates or tenants. For the purposes of consumer behaviour though, households and families are observed as synonyms, because they represent a key unit of consumption. Family as a reference group has many functions, and the most important three are biological, economic and psychosocial function2. Authors often list an appropriate lifestyle as the fourth basic function of a family. Biological function of a family refers to reproduction and the continuation of the human species. Economic function refers to gaining and sharing work and income. However, in a modern family, this component has become less and less relevant. Traditional rules about the husband as a provider of economic goods and the wife as a housewife and child-carer seem to have become outdated. Psychosocial function of a family represents its influence on the formation of shared awareness, values, beliefs and attitudes3. Along
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with the influence on the formation of basic values and beliefs, a family offers love, respect and friendship to its members. Appropriate lifestyle4 refers to education, experience, married couples decisions about childrens education or career choice, reading, watching TV, learning to use a computer, frequency and quality of eating out, and a selection of other amusing and recreational activities. Three types of families dominate in most western societies: a married couple, a nuclear family and an expanded family5. Regarding the number of members, a married couple a husband and a wife, is the simplest type of a family. This type is usually represented by young married couples who do not have children yet, and the elderly couples who have already raised their children. Nuclear family consists of a husband, wife and children. A nuclear family living with a grandfather or a grandmother is called an extended family. Along with the types listed above, due to a divorce or children born out of marriage, the number of single-parent families is increasing. The extent of each particular type depends on the environment, societys traditions, economic situation, culture, etc.
8.2 Socialisation and family influence

Family is a primary reference group within which communication is carried out on a daily basis and face to face, which significantly influences the formation of a personality, attitude and motives. Family interaction shapes the norms of behaviour, creates the motives to acquire, achieve, cooperate, etc. Family has the role of mediator between large social systems and individuals. Norms, customs, values and culture are filtered through a family and it is only then that they reach an individual6. Even though the influence among family members is undoubtedly reciprocal, a number of questions are raised, such as7: Who are the most influential members of a family? Are they parents or children? At what age are they most influential? In what situations can this happen?
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Figure 29: A simplified model of socialisation
Source: Schiffman, L. and Kanuk, L. (2004) Consumer Behaviour, Prentice Hall 2000, 7th edition, Zagreb, translation: Mate, p. 279
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A number of studies were focused on how children develop consumption skills. The process by which children adopt skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary for their role of a consumer is called consumer socialisation. Many preadolescents observe and imitate their parents or older siblings. However, adolescents and teenagers are prone to adopting the models of acceptable consumer behaviour from their peers8.
8.3 Making purchase decisions within a family

Businesses recognise the family as a basic unit of decision-making, and they usually research attitudes and behaviour of only one family member, assuming that only one member makes a decision concerning a product purchase. For instance, if the product is mens underwear, manufacturers will analyse mens attitudes, disregarding the fact that it is the wives who usually buy underwear for their husbands or sons. Likewise, it is assumed that the husband is the one who decides about buying a car, even though the son can influence the choice of a make and the wife and daughter on the choice of colour or additional equipment. In order for a family to function as a cohesive unit, each member has to have their own tasks and obligations. This is the case with purchase as well. In the case of a family as a basic reference group, the model of five purchase roles can be applied.
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Table 3: The roles that the members of target market can have in the process of purchase decision-making ROLE Intiator Influential person Decision maker Buyer User DESCRIPTION Suggests to buy or use a product or a service Recommends (or does not recommend) to buy a product or a service Makes the decision about what product or service to buy Buys a product or a service Uses a product or a service
Source: Brkic, Nenad (2003) Marketing communications management, School of Economics, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, p. 174
Purchase roles are the following9: 1. Initiator. The person who starts the process of decision-making. It is the person who first has the idea to buy a product or a service. The task of marketing communication here is to convince the person to initiate the purchase of the communicators brand or service. 2. Inuential person. It is the person that uses the information about what a marketer has to offer in order to enable or prevent the decision to buy or use the brand. This persons views and suggestions influence the purchase decision. Marketers, naturally, want this person to suggest, i.e. recommend their brand or service. 3. Purchase decision-maker. The person who makes a final decision regarding a purchase. The decision usually consists of several elements: to buy or not to buy, what to buy, how to buy and where to buy. A marketer wants this person to choose his brand. 4. Buyer. This person essentially realises the purchase decision. A buyer buys a product or a service. The marketer, of course, wants this person to buy his product or service.
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5. User: This role is often neglected regardless of being a part of the purchase decision-making process. This is the person who actually uses or consumes a product or a service. The marketer wants this person to use or consume his product or service, and the communication with a user should facilitate the formation and shaping of future positive attitudes. The number and identity of family members who have the above roles vary from family to family, and from product to product. In some cases a single member takes several roles. In other cases though, two or more members will share a single role. Sometimes, one or more of these roles may not be present. For instance, a son can be in a supermarket and notice new chocolate sweets. His choice does not involve the direct influence of other family members. He is the decision-maker and buyer, but does not have to be the only consumer. Along with the above, a family can provide the role of a specialist for a certain category of products10. For instance, women are the ultimate specialists for food products whilst men specialise in technical products, etc.
8.4 Husband-wife dominance in purchase decision-making

The purchase role that is expected from a family member depends on the way of life, the familys life cycle, personal life cycle of that member, etc. Some decisions are made by a husband independently, by a woman in other cases, or the decisions are made collectively, with a lesser or greater extent of one spouses influence. The majority of studies identify the following categories: husbands dominance, wifes dominance, joint decisions, autonomous decisions11.
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Figure 30: The roles in the process of purchase decision-making
Source: Loudon, L.D., Della Bitta, J.A., (1993): Consumer Behaviour Concepts and Applications (fourth ed.) McGraw-Hill, Inc., p. 238
The relative influence of a husband or wife on a particular decision regarding consumption partly depends on the category of a product or service. For example, in the 1950s, the husband had distinct dominance, whilst the wifes dominance was in the area of food products and money management. Half a century later, in many households the husband still has dominance regarding the purchase of a family car. However, in other situations, such as the purchase of a second car or a car for a single or
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employed woman, the segment of female consumers is rapidly spreading in the automobile market: the segment that many car manufacturers pay special attention to12. During the production of a car intended for women, General Motors made all their designers use artificial fingernails to test the prototype. This way, men were brought into the situation to think like women who face the problem of frequently breaking their nails whilst opening the door, filling the fuel tank etc. There is a similar situation in the hospitality industry. In the past it was mainly men who went on business trips and therefore hotel facilities and food were mainly adapted to their needs. With the increase of employed women and their business trips, hotel menus started to offer a large selection of salads and other light meals.
Figure 31
Husband-wife decision-making is also related to the cultural influence, urbanization and traditions.
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8.5 Family life cycle

For a long time researchers have paid special attention to the life cycle of a family, because the intensity and structure of consumption changes throughout specific eras of a family life. However, what used to be a rule is a rarity today, and the traditional life cycle is less and less present in societies. The idea of a life cycle is still a useful marketing tool though, if one takes all the exceptions into consideration. This analysis enables companies to segment families according to a series of factors, such as marital status, the size of a family, family members ages and the employment status of the head of the family. The stage of the family life cycle usually tells us about the age of parents and a relative amount of disposable income13. Researchers classify families into different stages of their life cycle in order to get segments with the same or similar consumption habits. This sort of classification is used for: 1. market segmentation, considering that each of the stages is marked by specific product categories and the methods of purchase and consumption, and 2. predicting the demand for certain product categories, depending on the representation of families in specific life cycle stages. An example of such typical purchases is given in Table 4.
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Table 4: Typical consumption in specific life cycle stages LIFE CYCLE STAGE Young people, singles, adults Unmarried couples Just merried, with no children Married, with no children Familly with small children Familly with older children Single parents Divorcees with children Elderly families with no children in the household Elderly retired families Singles (widows, widowers) TYPICAL PRODUCTS CONSUMED Clothes, entertainment, cars Cheap furniture, travelling Furniture, equipment, entertainment Style furniture, entertainment, sports cars, expensive clothes, small houses Insurance, medical expenses, clothes, toys, large houses Personal electronics, holidays, food, large houses Cheap houses, cheap food, cheap clothes Apartmans, ready-made food, services, clubs Traveling, hobbies, fixing houses or flats Medical expenses, jewelry, cosmetics Medical expenses, restaurants, apartments
Source: Kesic T. (2006) Consumer Behaviour, Opinio d.o.o., 2nd edition, Zagreb, p. 117
8.5.1 Traditional family life cycle

Throughout history various researchers have defined the family life cycle stages. However, they all describe the following five stages:
Stage I Stage II Stage III Stage IV Stage V Bachelorhood: a young unmarried person living separately from parents Honeymooners: a young married couple. Parenthood: a married couple living with at least one child Post parenthood: an elderly married couple whose children no longer live at home. Dissolution: one living spouse
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8.5.1.1 Bachelorhood
Bachelorhood represents a single man or woman who established a household separately from their parents. Even though many members of this group have permanent jobs, many are still students who left their parents home. Young people at this stage are prone to spending their income on renting apartments, basic furniture, buying and maintaining a car, travelling and entertainment, clothes and basic necessities. They often have enough income to be able to afford entertainment. Therefore, businesses target them with a wide range of products and services. It is relatively easy to approach this segment because there are many specialised publications that aim at the singles.
8.5.1.2 Honeymooners
Honeymoon stage begins with marriage and continues until the couple have their first child. This stage serves the purpose of becoming accustomed to a married life. Considering that many young husbands and wives are employed, these couples have a common income that often enables them to lead a lifestyle full of possibilities to satisfy their whims, save and invest the surplus income. Members of this stage have large expenses during the furnishing of their new home. Important sources of information at this stage are the older, experienced couples and home furnishing magazines.
8.5.1.3 Parenthood
Parenthood is the next stage of the family life cycle, which starts when the couple have their first child. This stage is also called a full nest and lasts the longest of all, about 20 years. Financial income of the family changes during this stage as parents careers progress, but the expenditures increase as well.
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Childrens market is extremely important and therefore developed, as businesses pay a lot of attention to it. There are special publications for children, but the childrens marketing has significant legal restrictions that must be considered before the campaigns for the youngest are designed.
8.5.1.4 Post parenthood

Post parenthood is a traumatic experience for some families for it starts when the children leave home. This stage is called an empty nest and in fact it represents a milestone for parents because it gives them the possibility to do all those things they could not do while the children were at home and while they had to worry about education expenses. This is the time of travelling, entertainment, the refurnishing of a house or buying a new one. This is the stage when the married couple has the best finances and most free time. They possess larger disposable income thanks to savings, investments and lower expenses. Families then become an ideal market for luxury goods, new cars, expensive furniture and journeys to faraway places. Many members of this stage retire while they are still in good health. The retirement gives them the opportunity to follow new interests, to travel and satisfy any unfulfilled needs. Elderly consumers turn to television as the main source of information and entertainment. They prefer the programmes that enable them to be informed, such as the news and programmes of public interest.
8.5.1.5 Dissolution
This stage starts upon the dissolution of the foundational unit, due to the death of one of the spouses. If the living spouse is in good health, working or with adequate savings, and has a family that give him/her support, the adaption is easier. The living spouse often chooses to follow a more economical lifestyle.
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Figure 32: The expanded scheme of a family life cycle
Source: Patrick E. Murphy I William A. Staples (1979) A Modernised Family Life Cycle, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 6 No. 17
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8.5.2 Non-traditional family life cycle

Non-traditional families include the households that are not families, i.e. one or more individuals that are not related. Non-family households used to be so rare that it was not important whether they were considered or not. However, there are about 30% of such households today, for example, in which men or women live alone or with another person as a civil couple15. There is a tendency of non-family households outnumbering married couples with children, the stereotypical family of the past times.
Figure 33
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Authors identified three current trends in the family life cycle change. These are16: womens role change, the singles segment, and mens role change.
8.5.2.1 Womens role change

The most significant changes happened in the area of understanding the traditional family role of a woman. This primarily regards employment, and with this the change of mens family roles occurred. The studies that research traditionally-oriented women and feminists discovered that the feminists have a higher level of education, that they are more liberal regarding life and work, and that they are more financially optimistic17. Likewise, they take risks, they are interested in their own image in the society, and they are more self-confident.
Figure 34
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8.5.2.2 The singles segment

There are an increasing percentage of people worldwide who do not want to get married. Still, the largest number of singles today is generated from those who get divorced. The segment of singles aged 20-39 tirelessly look for company and pleasure. Regarding their consumer behaviour, they are the leaders in fashion trends, the users of holiday services, travelling and recreation, and they see themselves as being different from married people. They are concerned about how they appear in society and what kind of opinion others have about them18. Divorces create a new market. A family splits into two with new needs for home appliances, smaller living space, a new phone, etc. These demands show that the divorced person could face the need to contact a real estate agent and phone companies, visit furniture shops and perhaps contact employment or career-planning agencies. Then there are the specific needs of the children going through the parents divorce.
8.5.2.3 Mens role change

Considering that in the developed countries more than 50% of women are employed, this inevitably influenced the change of mens roles in a household. They have to help with a lot of housework in order for a family to function. Men often take over the shopping activities, which is of interest to marketers. Research in the USA identified five different groups of men in their role as a husband19: 1. New breed husbands are married men who willingly share with their wives household chores such as cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping. They are usually under age 40 and are mostly well educated. Their wives are also employed. They represent 32% of all married men.
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2. Classics, representing 25% of American husbands, believe women shouldnt work unless its an economic necessity. Theyll share responsibilities but insist on having the final word. 3. Retired, 13% of the total, typically over age 40. They are less involved in purchase decision-making as they let their wives make most decisions regarding purchase as well as most of housework. 4. Bachelor husbands are under age 30 and they comprise 15% of married men. These men are bachelors at heart. They normally do not make decisions with their wives and they rarely help with housework. Likewise, they are less inclined to feel that the family comes first. 5. Strugglers are the husbands who think of themselves as ship captains. They demand that their wives keep the house clean and they want the final say. They are middle aged and in lower income brackets.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Explain the difference between a family and a household. What are the basic family functions? Explain the roles in the purchase process through an example. In which direction is the trend of husband-wife dominance in purchase decisions moving? Why is the analysis of the family life cycle important? Which is the longest stage of the traditional family life cycle and why? In which stage of traditional family life cycle is income highest? Explain some of the current trends of the non-traditional family life cycle. What are the opportunities that the increasing number of singles creates?
References
1. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk: (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, Prentice Hall 2000, 7. izdanje, Zagreb: prevod Mate, p. 275 2. Kesic, T. (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio d.o.o., 2. izdanje, Zagreb, p. 113 3. Puliselic, S. (1973): Osnove sociologije, Narodne novine, 5. izdanje, Zagreb, p. 156 4. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): ibid, p. 280 5. Schiffman L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): ibid, p. 276 6. Engel, F.J., D.R. Blackwell and W.P. Miniard (1995): Consumer Behavior, The Dryden Press, p. 192 7. Kesic, T. (2006): ibid, p. 115 8. Moschis, G.P., R.L. Moore and R.B. Smith (1983): The Impact of Family Communication of Adolescent Consumer Socialisation, in Advances in Consumer Research, 11, ed. Kinnear, T.C., Provo, UT, Association for Consumer Research, pp. 314-319 9. Kotler, P. (2000): Marketing Management, 10 Ed, Prentice Hall, Inc., p. 176 10. Kesic, T. (2006): ibid, p. 119 11. Corfman, K.P. (1991): Perceptions of Relative Influence: Formation and Measurement, Journal of Marketing Research, No 28, pp. 125-136
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12. Hopper, J.S. (1995): Family Financial Decision Making: Implications for Marketing Strategy, Journal of Services Marketing, No 9, 1, pp. 24-32 13. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk (2004): ibid, p. 285 14. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk (2004): ibid, p. 285 15. U.S. Bureau of the Census (1997): Household and Family Characteristics, p. 138 16. Kesic, T. (2006): ibid, p. 121 17. Vankatesh, A. (1980): Changing Roles of Women A Lifestyle Analysis, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 7, pp. 189-197 18. Zinn, L., (1991): Home Alone With 660 Billion USD, Business Week, July, pp. 76-77 19. Loudon, L.D. and J.A. Della Bitta (1993): Consumer Behavior Concepts and Applications, McGraw-Hill, pp. 253-256
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SOCIAL CLASSES
Chapter objectives
The importance of social class in market segmentation Definition of social class Determinants of social class Identification of social class Classification of social classes Characteristics of specific classes
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9. SOCIAL CLASSES
9.1 Development of the thought of social classes
The matter of social classes, segmenting the society based on the disposable income, is rarely the subject of contemporary research and most authors who attempted to measure social classes ran into problems. Therefore, social classes are difficult to define, explain and/or measure, and the chronic lack of previous research studies does not help the situation. Social classes, however, are worth the effort invested in them, due to the information they offer in the markets and the explanation of consumer behaviour. Recent studies1 suggest that social classes have become obsolete as a factor explaining consumer behaviour. Nowadays, with the modern methods of lifestyle research accompanied with contemporary programs such as VALS, social classes do not offer sufficient data, or the data they do provide has already been included into the research of consumer lifestyle. Coleman2 notes that in the 1950s researching classes was new and interesting. It was used in the 1970s, but is now considered to be an outdated system and as such researchers have lost interest in it. Those were the years when contemporary social classes were being formed into the model we recognise today, which is a relatively stable one and therefore researchers do not find it challenging to explain something that has existed in an unchanged form for decades. The concept of social classes is still interesting in new societies who left socialism (Eastern Europe) or were formed by opening new markets (Asia). An acronym for new powers in the world was created, BRIC: Brazil, Russia, India and China. The consulting company Sachs & Co. even assumes that BRIC will replace G7 in the next three decades.
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Marketing literature after the 1970s entirely neglected the topic of social classes and so did sociology which had founded the social class studies, paying little attention to this subject for almost two decades. There is a noticeable lack of new data about social classes and their influence on the market in literature since the end of the 1970s. In fact, ever since 1960, there have been few published papers with truly new results regarding social classes. Most publications relied on the data discovered in the 1950s. For sociologists, Coleman believes3, the 1960s and the beginnings of the 1970s were the era of cultural fermentation and big discoveries: civil rights movements, feminists fight for womens rights, liberalisation of homosexuals and student movements. Research in the field of social stratification has moved from contemplative research to observing all sorts of discrimination: gender, race, ethnic and age discrimination, along with the income inequality, political power and educational opportunities. As a result, sociologists suggested that societies should deal with the comprehensive situation they are in rather than with something as ephemeral as a position in a hierarchy. Gilbert and Kahl4 believe that the direction of research has changed and that more attention is being paid to capitalistic values where prestige and accompanying values are just one of the derivatives. A complete change in the orientation of sociologic disciplines has occurred, they say. Due to the above and some other reasons such as political correctness, postmodern sensitivity or simply a lack of interest, the research of consumers within a social status group is negligible. In the beginning of the 1980s, Coleman persuaded researchers that social groups were still an important factor in market segmentation, and the new methods in lifestyle research took us one step further from the mere hierarchical classification suggested in the social-class related research5. Regardless of such opinions though, inequalities in social classes are irrefutable in almost all cultures, and they certainly influence the formation of attitudes and values as well as consumer behaviour related to purchase. The position in social hierarchy implies profession, income, the way and conditions of life, as well as potential discrepancies caused by belonging to an ethnic/racial group. However, behind the mere position in a social hierarchy, there are a series of beliefs and values that consumers want to
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emphasise by belonging to a certain status group. Social status represents one of the basic reference groups and it is of crucial importance to the consumers what members of their social status think about their behaviour. Therefore, by their consumption they try to influence other peoples opinion and the possibility of a transfer to a higher level on the hierarchical scale. This phenomenon of establishing oneself through consumption is especially emphasised among the members of the higher classes who want to show off everything they have.
9.2 Definition of social class

Class structure or social stratification has existed in some shape or form throughout the history of human existence. Even though a social class can mean a continuum, a range of social positions in which every member of society can be placed, researchers still prefer to split the continuum into a small number of specific status groups, i.e. into layers. Social class, as Chapin described, is the position that an individual or a family takes considering average standards of cultural assets, real income, material property and the participation in the communitys activities.
Figure 35
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Lloyd Warner7 is credited with the contemporary definition of social class. According to him, a class implies a group of people for which other community members believe and confirm to be inferior or superior in relation to other groups8. The members of a certain class enjoy a similar position in society, have the same or similar expectations, and often socialise with each other formally and informally. Weber9 underlined the difference between social class and status. He considers that a class is primarily an economic phenomenon, whilst his view of the status is oriented onto the condition or position that provides opportunities and enables progress to a certain group. Unlike class, Weber finds that status is a group phenomenon, i.e. that a certain group can have a low or high status. Nowadays researchers often explain social class in relation with social status10. Therefore, each social class is determined according to the level of status that the individuals within that group have in comparison with the members of other social classes. Three factors are frequently used to determine social class: relative wellbeing (the size of economic estate), power (the level of personal choice or influence over others) and reputation (the level of recognition by others). Still, in terms of consumer behaviour and marketing research, authors agree that status is most commonly determined taking one or more of the following socio-economic variables into consideration: family income, professional status, and educational achievements.
9.3 Social class determinants

Factors that influence social class formation are socio-economic variables, usually: profession, income, family and education. Some authors add the data about geo-demographic clusters i.e. the quality of the neighbourhood to these variables. Sivadas, Mathew and Curry11 based their research on the indexation of social classes using the data about habitation. Two families who live in a single neighbourhood probably have similar characteristics, income, same or similar education, and professions with the same recognition.
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Despite the wide spectrum of variables that are used for determining the social status belonging, all authors agree that the factors: profession, education, family and income have a crucial influence on the position on the hierarchical scale.
9.3.1 Profession as a social class factor

Profession is the best individual factor in the evaluation of social class, and some authors12 consider that it is usually sufficient. Profession is useful as a social class factor in industrialised societies because not all professions are treated equally. Values, attitudes and motives that stem from the type of profession influence ones behaviour outside the workplace, and extend into a persons entire existence including habits in purchase and consumption13. The question people usually ask each other when they first meet illustrate the importance of profession as a class marker: What do you do? The answer to this question serves as a guide for evaluating others and forming opinions about them.
9.3.2 Education as a social class factor

The level of a persons formal education is another generally accepted marker of the position on the socio-hierarchical scale. Generally speaking, the higher the education, the bigger the persons chances of higher income and a desired or respected position i.e. a high position on the hierarchical scale. Education greatly influences the amount and method of processing the available information during purchase decision-making. Likewise, the more educated consumers have a broader knowledge about market possibilities14. Highly educated consumers read more, read a larger number of magazines, spend less time watching television, trust famous brands less and invest more time and effort into the purchase process than people with high school education15.
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Numerous studies have proved that people in all social classes show different behaviour while shopping. Differences in education, attitudes, values, communication style etc. can lead to differences in consumer awareness, data processing and purchase decision-making on all levels of the social scale16.
9.3.3 Family as a social class factor

The next factor relevant for the relation between social class and consumer behaviour stems from the fact that children are raised differently depending on their class, which implies different social values. Children from upper classes are exposed to more information, leading to better purchase and consumption skills than those in the lower classes17. Surprisingly, Moschis and Moore18 claim that children from lower classes rely more on wellknown brands and manufacturers than middle class children who prefer other product characteristics. The reason for this may be the lower classs need to identify with the upper class and therefore be more readily accepted by the community, or just a matter of lack of information and purchase skills. Darian19 suggests that the purchase of luxury goods for children reflects the financial status of their parents. With regards to young children, they have no influence concerning any purchase whatsoever, that being exclusively their parents responsibility.
9.3.4. Income as a social class factor

Income, whether personal or family-based, obviously influences purchase behaviour regarding a product and its price. Researchers who determine social status based on income are interested in either the amount or the source of income. The source can be social welfare, private financial support, wages (per hour), salaries (per year), profits or rewards, earned wealth, inherited wealth, interests or dividends. All of these money sources determine a certain amount of information about the person.
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Although income is a popular way of determining the position in a social class system, not all consumer researchers believe that it is an adequate class marker. People spend their income in varying ways, which is a reflection of their different values20. What makes people members of a particular social class, according to this concept, is the difference in values and not in the amount of money available. Despite clear determinants, it is possible to have families with different income within a single social class. Therefore a long-standing debates in the field of marketing concerns the question whether social class or the level of income determine consumer behaviour more precisely21. It is important to point out the fact that income determines the possibility of affording a product, whilst social class shapes the taste and desire to buy it. Likewise, it is possible that a person belongs to a social class different from the one they were born into, or the one they would like to belong to. Considering the different behaviour of social classes, the question arises: What is a persons shopping habits going to be like and what do they depend on? Whether the person chooses products that symbolise the class they want to belong to or the one they used to belong to, it does not reflect their current position. Maybe the person used to luxury, despite her currently difficult financial situation is still going to buy expensive products exclusively. Or the people who acquire wealth unexpectedly will not easily adjust to a luxurious lifestyle. Along with these examples, it is necessary to mention a frequent case of shopping behaviour that matches the class one wants to belong to. This is about identification and the desire to belong to a class higher than our current one. The cases of identification with lower classes are rare, even though this phenomenon has been noted, especially with denim jeans. By wearing these uncomfortable workers garments, young people showed that they identified with farmers. However, nowadays all famous designers make denim clothes so it no longer symbolises a lower class. Some people still consider that identification with lower classes symbolises a feeling of superiority, whilst identifying with higher classes reflects envy and idealisation.
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Figure 36
As we can see from the above, income is the most commonly used factor for determining social class, and yet it seems to be inadequate for this purpose. Therefore all the other previously mentioned factors should be taken into consideration along with it.
9.4 Determining/measuring a social class

When determining a social class, researchers encounter numerous problems. As a result, there is no consensus about how to measure classes. There are subjective and objective approaches to determining them though. Subjective approach to measuring social class demands an individual to evaluate his own position on a social scale22. Such evaluation is based on the image that an individual has about himself, which often does not match the real picture. That is why this approach is often defined as the awareness of social class. Objective variables include a series of selected socio-economic variables. These variables are the above mentioned factors of social class: profession, education, family and income. Objective variables of social class are classified into two categories: 1. Indexes with one variable: use only one socio-economic variable out of the following: profession, education, family background, or income. 2. Indexes with several variables: combine all factors that determine class, therefore reflecting the complexity of social class better.
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Measuring and determining social class is highly valuable for the businesses that do the market segmentation. Marketing managers form consumer clusters according to their socio-economic factors. They can be formed based on the neighbourhood area and used in hiring media or in other advertising activities. For example, magazines Time and Newsweek classify their subscribers using this method and send different editions of the same issue to subscribers depending on the geo-demographic cluster they belong to23. Each edition contains different types of advertisements depending on the target market, i.e. who this publication targets. This practise enables advertisers to target consumers depending on their demographic characteristics and consumer behaviour. By renting advertising space this way, businesses reach specific groups of potential consumers. As can be expected, the habits of media exposure with higher class members are different from the general populations habits. For example, households that make more than 70,000 USD watch TV less than poorer households. The profile of wealthy house owners shows that they read 6.6 different publications, listen to the radio for 12.8 hours a day, watch TV for 23 hours per week, and 88% of them are subscribed to cable TV. Most mass media own developed socio-economic profiles of the population and routinely make them available to the potential advertisers24. For example, Hearst Corporation, the editor of several leading magazines for women (Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire, Town & Country), developed an original web-site called Home Arts with programs targeting women. Socio-economic profile of this sites audience, as published in the online information section for potential advertisers, is: an average household income of 58,000 USD, 85% attended high school, 14% possess university degrees. Thanks to the amount of income and level of education, one concludes that 70% of the audience have a computer at home, that 65% use the Internet daily, 40% bought a product online. The examples of magazines Robb Report, Worth Magazine or Departures Magazine are interesting, for they are only sent to the owners of platinum credit cards. Most media know the average income of their readers, and the ranking list has Wall Street Journal on top with the average income of 86,109.4 USD, followed by Barrons, New York Times, etc., through True Story with the average readers income of 17,426.10 USD.
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One of the most famous and most developed schemes for evaluating the ownership is Chapins scale of social classes. In an attempt to quantify social classes, Chapin25 made a scale based on the furnishing and equipment of a living room in urban homes. Reasons for this are the following: 1. The living room is often the centre of family life, 2. It reflects cultural standards, material values and socio-economic status of the family, 3. The attitudes of friends and other visitors, as well as social class are under a strong influence of items selected to be exhibited in a living room. In short, there is an assumption that material values in a living room (curtains, carpets, paintings, musical instruments, newspapers, technical equipment etc.), as well as other conditions (cleanliness, organisation, general atmosphere) reflect the familys attitudes. Likewise, it is safe to conclude that these items influence the attitude of others toward this family, and by this determine its position in society. It was discovered that lower class families are prone to keeping their TV set in the living room, whilst middle and upper class usually keep it in the bedroom. This has proved very useful for advertisers when designing TV adverts.
9.5 Classification of social classes

9.5.1 Moving along the hierarchical scale
The categories of social classes are usually ranked hierarchically, moving from lower to higher social class. Accordingly, the members of a certain social class perceive the members of other classes as having either a higher or lower position than their own, which is in accordance with the definition that members of different social classes have either an inferior or superior position in relation to other classes26. Therefore, to many this suggests that other people are their equals (members of the same class), superiors (members of an upper class), or inferiors (members of a lower class) 27.
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Moving along the hierarchical scale is possible, and the direction is generally upwards, or rarely, downwards. Upper classes limit access via different financial possibilities, exclusive clubs, private schools etc. Changes in social classes are mainly caused by education and success in the field that individuals choose. Profession in itself does not guarantee moving towards a higher status. Many preconditions have to be fulfilled in order for an upper class to accept a new member28. It is considered that the United States of America is the land of greatest opportunities because it is the youngest society, in comparison to other European traditional cultures. In the countries of the former socialist block, the political elite skilfully turned themselves into the nouveau riche. The trend of moving downward on the hierarchical scale is also present. Along with the loss of employment, inflation in some countries influences the downward change of the status. After World War II, many generations had to adapt to a life in a significantly lower class from that which their parents belonged to, and the ownership structure in former socialist countries brought numerous changes as well.
9.5.2 Status groups

Sociologists disagree about how many categories of classes it is necessary to create in order to be able to describe class structure. Most early studies identified five or six classes. Warner identified six classes: upper uppers, lower uppers, upper middle class, lower middle class, upper lowers, lower lowers. Those were, as Warner says, the groups of people approximately the same in societys respect, and they consisted of men and women that mainly socialise d with each other both formally and informally, shared expectations and behaved similarly. The members of different social status have different goals and shopping habits. However, other researchers founded schemes with nine, four, three or even two status groups that proved to be adequate for their purposes. Choosing the number of social classes depends on the quantity of details that a research finds necessary for an adequate explanation of the attitudes or behaviour one studies.
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Coleman29 noticed that there are layers within each group. The privileged families within a group are those that have sufficient financial expenses (after the standard package of expenses characteristic for this class including home, clothes and transport) for a more comfortable and luxurious life than other families of their class. The income of these families is usually 25 to 30% higher than the class average. Average families are in the middle of the income grade of this class and they can afford a home, car, furniture etc. in accordance with their class. Finally, the underprivileged families are those who, even though they are not poor (members of the lower class are poor), can be considered to be in a difficult position considering what is expected of them within their class. In order to maintain this standard of life, they are probably in financial trouble considering they make about 15% less than the class average.
Table 5: Schemes of social status categories Blue-collar workers, white-collar workers Lower, upper status Lowers, middle status Manual workers, senior workers, office workers Lowers, middles, upper status Lowers, lower middles, upper middles, uppers Lowers, working status, lower middles, upper middles, uppers Lower lowers, upper lowers, lower middles, upper middles, lower uppers, upper uppers Lower lowers, upper lowers, working class, middle class, upper middles, lower uppers, upper uppers Lower lowers, middle lowers, upper lowers, lower middles, middle middles, upper middles, lower uppers, middle uppers upper uppers
Two-class scheme
Three-class scheme Four-class scheme Five-class scheme Six-class scheme Seven-class scheme
Nine-class scheme
Source: Schiffman L. and L. Kanuk, (2004): Consumer Behavior, Pearson Education International, 8th edition, p. 299
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9.6 Consumption in a social class

9.6.1 Profile/description of members of different social classes
Each social class has its own consumption specifics. Kesic30 defined the basic characteristics of societys classification into four classes. Upper class. This layer includes aristocracy, the newly rich and upper middle class. They see themselves as intellectuals, liberal and socially oriented. Consumption structure is aimed at status products, buying books, travelling, investing into art works, membership in private clubs, and childrens education in reputable schools. Upper middle class. Their intention is to buy the right products, what is popular, good for children, and modern. They try to have houses in respectable parts of cities with good schools. They buy goods on credit in shopping malls, mainly good quality brands with affordable prices. They spend money in restaurants, on holidays and travelling. Lower middle class. The basic characteristic of this class is the economical and socio-psychological interdependence of family members. Therefore members of this class are connected to the local culture, local values and behaviour, they prefer domestic products and they are the protectors of traditional values. Women stay at home and raise children while men provide for the family and go to pubs. Lower class. They live on social welfare and often do not have a roof over their heads. Their basic characteristic is the struggle to survive. They often wander in search of food and shelter. Schiffman and Kanuk31 provided their own analysis of specific social classes, presented in Table 6.
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Table 6: The description of social classes
Upper uppers: the elite in private clubs
A small number of highly recognised families Belong to the best private clubs and sponsor large charities Tutor local universities and hospitals Are distinguished doctors or lawyers Can be the heads of important financial institutions, or the owners of large, well-established firms Are used to wealth so they do not spend money in a spectacular manner Are not well-accepted by the upper uppers Represent the new money Are successful executives or other managers Are noisy users of their new wealth
Lower uppers: the newly rich
Upper middle class: successful professionals
Have no family status or large wealth Focused on career Young successful professionals, middle managers and owners of small firms Usually have a university degree, many have masters or even a doctorate Are passionately interested in achieving better things in life Their homes are the symbol of their achievements Consumption is often notable Are children- and family-oriented Primarily non-managerial intellectual workers and highly-paid manual workers Want to achieve respect and be accepted as good citizens Are religious and often involved in activities sponsored by the religious communities Prefer neat and adequate appearance and avoid fashionable or high-style clothes Are the main market for do it yourself products
Lower middle class: loyal followers
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Upper lowers: the majority that play safe
The largest segment of the hierarchical scale Mainly physical workers Seek security See work as the means to buy pleasure Want their children to behave properly Members of this group with high wages can spend impulsively Are interested in things that fill their leisure time (TV, fishing equipment etc.) Have a strong macho self-image Men are sports fans, chain smokers and beer-lovers Poorly educated, workers with no skills Often dont know how to do their job Children are neglected Are prone to the lifestyle of surviving day to day
Lower lowers: the lowest class
Source: Schiffman L. and L. Kanuk, (2004): Consumer Behavior, Pearson Education International, 8th edition, p. 308
9.6.2 Differences within social classes

Research has shown that there is a constellation of specific lifestyle factors within each social class, such as common beliefs, attitudes, activities and behaviour, which differentiate the members of one group from another. Who belongs to which class and what does belonging to it imply? Using a vivid example, Coleman32 described several cases of families that belong to a single class and that are in fact quite different from each other. The prototype of middle class of the 1980s in the USA is a household in which the husband has an office job making between 24,000 and 29,000 dollars per year (dollar value from 1983), and where the wife does not have a job which makes this their total income. In the same middle class is a divorced woman with a college education who supports two children with her 13,500 dollars per year for doing a secretarial job, but who is the best friend or a bridge partner of a woman from an upper class. Another example of middle status is a working couple who make up to 42,000 or even 45,000 dollars per year in total. The fourth example is a restaurant and bowling hall
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owner whose wife helps him run the business, or the owner is a widower, a divorcee or a woman who never married. In any case, they can make 60,000 or 70,000 dollars a year and still belong to the middle class because of the lack of social skills necessary for the transfer into an upper class. These examples show that social class means and represents much more than mere income categorisation. As mentioned above, behaviour does not exclusively depend upon the social class a person belongs to, but is also guided by the social class one wants to belong to. John Brooks33 says: The most effective method of looking for class recognition is by laughing at it. Therefore it is best to wear blue jeans, pale and torn even, which states that a person is confident in his position and can therefore dress as a low-paid farmer from the middle of nowhere. If the people of different social standards stop trying to present themselves differently from others, can classes be differentiated from each other? Another example that Brooks mentions is the fact that members of a higher standard do not want to advertise their success and power. Is modesty reason for this or is it just a good way of seeking recognition of their high position? Things change rapidly. Members of upper social classes used to be lazy, and middle class was hard-working. Nowadays there are people who can do anything; they are young, ambitious, rich, successful, and yet they keep working hard. On the other hand there are those who are extremely lazy regardless of living on the edge of poverty or being very poor indeed. Having reviewed all these facts, it becomes clearer why some authors34 believe that lifestyle is a more comprehensive category for analysing consumer behaviour. A social class positions people in categories on a hierarchical scale and by this attaches certain characteristics to them. However, this sociological view ignores a series of psychological characteristics of consumers such as the desire to acquire higher status or the fear of it, not knowing the class one belongs to along with his consumption habits, or a rebellious rejection to identify with any groups.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. When was the research of classes at its peak and why? Explain the acronym BRIC. What are social classes? What are the main determinants of social classes? Explain the relation between education and social class belonging. Is income sufficient for explaining social classes? How do researchers measure social class belonging? Describe the purchase behaviour of lower-middle class.
References
1. Lawson, R. and S. Todd (2002): Consumer Lifestyles: A Social Stratification Perspective, Marketing theory, Volume 2(3), pp. 295-307 2. Coleman R.P. (1983): The Continuing Significance of Social Class to Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 10, pp. 265-280 3. Coleman, R.P. (1983): ibid 4. Gilbert, D. and A.J. Kahl, (1982): The American Class Structure: A New Synthesis, Homewood, IL: The Dorsey Press 5. Williams, T. (2002): Social class influences on purchase evaluation criteria, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 249-276 6. Chapin, S.F., (1933): The Measurement of Social Status, University of Minnesota Press 7. Warner, W.L. and P.S. Lunt (1941): The Social Life of a Modern Community, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT 8. Warner, W.L. and P.S. Lunt, (1941): ibid 9. Weber, M., (1948): Class, Status, Party, in H. Gerth and C. Mills (editors) From Max Weber, London: Routledge 10. Schiffman L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, Prentice Hall 2000, 7. izdanje, Zagreb: prevod Mate, p. 298 11. Sivadas E., G. Matherw and D. Curry (1997): A Preliminary Examination of the Continuing Significance of Social Class to Marketing: A Geodemographic Replication, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 14 No. 6, pp. 463-479
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12. Kahl, J.A. and J.A. Davis (1955): A comparison of indexes of socio-economic status, American Sociological Review, Vol. 20, June, pp. 317-25 13. Williams T., (2002): ibid 14. Granger, C.W.J. and A. Billson, (1972): Consumers Attitudes toward Package Size and Price, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 9, August, pp. 239-48 and Russo, J.E., G. Dreiser and S. Miyashita, (1975): An Effective Display of Unit Price Information, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39, April, pp. 11-19 15. Duncan, C.P. and R.W. Olshavsky, (1982): External Search: The Role of Consumer Beliefs, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 19, February, pp. 32-43 16. Fisher, J.E., (1987): Social Class and Consumer Behavior: The Relevance of Class and Status, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 14, pp. 492-6 and Komarovsky, M., (1961): Class Differences in Family Decision Making, in N.N. Foote: Consumer Behavior: Household Decision Making, New York: University Press, pp. 255-65 17. Williams T., (2002): ibid 18. Moschis, G.P. and R.L. Moore, (1979): Mass Media and Personal Influences on Adolescent Consumer Learning, Developments in Marketing Science, Vol. 2 19. Darian, J.C., (1998): Parent-Child Decision Making in Childrens Clothing Stores, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Vol. 26, No. 11, pp. 421-28 20. Schiffman L. and L. Kanuk, (2004): ibid., p. 305 21. Hisrich, R.D. and M.P. Peters, (1974): Selecting the superior segmentation correlate, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 38, July, pp. 60-3; Slocum, J.W. and H.L. Matthews, (1970): Social Class and Income as Indicators of Consumer Credit Behavior, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34, April, pp. 69-74 i Wasson, C.R. (1969): Is it Time to Quit Thinking of Income Classes?, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 33, April, pp. 54-7 22. Schiffman L. and L. Kanuk, (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, Prentice Hall 2000, 7. izdanje, Zagreb: prevod Mate, p. 300 23. Sivadas E., G. Matherw and D. Curry (1997): ibid 24. Schiffman L. and L. Kanuk (2004): ibid., p. 301 25. Chapin, S. F. (1933): ibid 26. Warner, W.L. and P.S. Lunt (1941): ibid. 27. Schiffman, L. and L. Kanuk, (2004): ibid, p. 298 28. Kesic, T. (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio d.o.o., 2. izdanje, Zagreb, p. 85 29. Coleman, R.P. (1983): ibid 30. Kesic, T. (2006): ibid, p. 90 31. Schiffman, L. and L. Kanuk, (2004): ibid, p. 308 32. Coleman, R.P. (1983): ibid 33. Brooks, J. (1981): Showing Off in America, Boston: Little, Brown 34. Lawson, R. and S. Todd (2002): Consumer Lifestyles: A Social Stratification Perspective, Marketing theory, Volume 2(3), pp. 295-307
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Chapter objectives
Review various definitions and interpretations of culture Influence of culture on consumer behaviour Explain differences among basic cultural factors Analysis of basic characteristics of culture Understand learning and establishment of culture Culture as a shared phenomenon of society The role of verbal and non-verbal symbols Explain monochromic and polychromic cultures Explain high-context and low-context cultures
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10.1 Definition of culture
An individual is not a passive observer who receives the components of culture by the process of socialisation, but rather someone who actively affects the changes of cultural traditions and interactively becomes the fundamental driving force of the change of traditional elements of a culture. Considering the comprehensive nature of culture, its study demands a detailed research of the character of the entire society, encompassing factors such as language, knowledge, laws, religion, nutrition-related customs, music, arts, technology, business partners, products and other artefacts that give a society a distinguished flavour. In a way, culture is a societys personality. For this reason it is not easy to determine its limits. Some authors1 define culture as the sum of material and spiritual values that humans created to subdue natural forces, improve production and meet other human needs. The material culture includes production means and other material goods, while spiritual culture comprises the morals, religion, arts, philosophy, science and traditions. We choose the following definition: culture represents a set of material and spiritual values conditioned by traditional frames and contemporary changes that shape an acceptable behaviour of members of a society2. Several conclusions stem from this definition: Culture represents a dynamic category that changes throughout time due to the influence of the above factors. Culture is a set of material and spiritual values.
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Consumer behaviour under a cultural influence is a result of traditional values and contemporary events. There is a socially acceptable behaviour of an individual, approved by other community members.
Figure 37: The influence of cultural factors on consumer behaviour
Source: Jeannett and Hennessey, 1998
When we talk about culture, we must look back at the values, beliefs and customs that affect our behaviour. Beliefs consist of a large number of mental and verbal statements (e.g. I believe that...) that reflect a mans concrete knowledge and judgement of something (another person, a shop, product, and brand). This means that by believing, we in fact make our own judgement about something, based on previously acquired knowledge.
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Values represent accepted beliefs about appropriate behaviour within the frames of a culture, and fulfil the following criteria3: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. there are relatively few of them, they serve as guidelines for socially acceptable behaviour, they are permanent and difficult to change, they are not related to specific objects or situations, they are widely accepted by society members.
Unlike beliefs and values, a custom is a communal way of behaving, culturally accepted or acceptable behaviour in a certain situation. While norms are written rules of the behaviour of society members that are directly related to rewards and sanctions, customs and morals are unwritten rules of behaviour accepted by the majority of a cultures members.
10.2 Cultural characteristics

As a feature of individual and group behaviour, culture possesses specific characteristics or determinants that shape it. We are going to explain some of the specifics of culture below4. Culture is created. It does not wait somewhere to be discovered but is rather created by the correlation of three independent variables: 1. ideology, 2. technology, 3. environment. Culture is transferred. Culture transfers from generation to generation by the process of socialisation. The main conveyors of cultural values are family, religious institutions and schools. How successful each of these institutions is in the transfer and assumption of cultural postulates depends on the specifics of individuals and groups, age structure, the meaning of the feature being transferred and its conformity with individual values and personality traits.
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Culture is shared among members of a society. Culture is a joint phenomenon, shared by members of a group and reflected on social norms and customs. Along with being common to the members of a small or large group, it can be transferred and adopted in other geographically and culturally remote groups. Cultures are similar and yet different. There are some similarities among cultures. For example, all cultures have sports, dance, cuisine, music, laws, beliefs etc. However, there are enormous differences in the way and method of adopting and using each element of culture. It is these differences that affect specific behaviour of consumers that belong to different cultures. Culture is permanent and rewarding. If needs are met in accordance with the norms of a specific culture, behaviour is rewarded and it reinforces the existing norms. In this way elements of culture are transferred from generation to generation. Culture is an adaptable category. As opposed to the permanence of it, there are elements that affect its adjustment to technological changes, innovations, environmental changes, etc. Culture and consumer behaviour are related categories in a way that culture directs behaviour but behavioural changes can also gradually change culture. Culture is organise d and integrated. All areas of culture interact with each other and aspire to harmonisation with general values, beliefs and the moral basis of a wider culture. Even though sometimes there is inconsistency among specific segments of culture, social factors aim at adjusting them with the fundamental principles and basics of culture in the shortest time possible. Culture prescribes behaviour. This characteristic of culture has the greatest significance for consumer behaviour. Namely, culture assumes ideal standards of behaviour for its members who are then rewarded to reinforce it. Norms are rules that direct the behaviour of members within a culture. On the other hand, there are punishments for those who violate the adequate and desirable behaviour in a culture. Customs as a part of unwritten norms of behaviour also affect behaviour within a culture. Even
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though norms and customs are relatively permanent, in the contemporary conditions of telecommunications it seems that their changes are growing exponentially. This has created a foundation for the so-called Global Culture that is being adopted by young people worldwide.
10.2.1 How is culture learned?

Regarding the rules that culture imposes, authors agree that there are three basic types: Formal rules: relatively explicit standards of behaviour whose violation is sanctioned. Informal rules: less explicit standards whose violation is not necessarily sanctioned. Technical rules: implicit standards about what is understood as acceptable behaviour. Anthropologists discovered three different ways of learning culture: formal learning, in which adults and older siblings teach the young members of a family how to behave; informal learning, in which a child learns primarily by imitating others such as family members, friends or TV heroes; and technical learning in which teachers in educational institutions teach a child about what to do, how and why to do it5. A companys advertising messages can influence all three types of learning culture, and yet they mostly affect informal learning, showing the target audience which model of behaviour to follow.
Figure 38
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10.2.2 Shared culture

In order to represent a cultural characteristic, a specific belief, value or practice has to be an important part of a society. Therefore, culture is often observed as shared customs that link society members6. A common language is a key cultural component that enables people to share values, experiences and traditions. Various institutions within a society create elements of culture and make it real, and the most influential ones are: family, educational institutions, religious institutions. Family transfers key cultural values, beliefs and traditions onto its younger members. The young learn basic consumer skills within a family, such as the value of money, the relation between price and quality, taste development and reacting to promotional messages. Educational institutions are particularly responsible for developing the basic skills of learning, history, patriotism, civil rights and technical education that prepares people for relevant roles in a society. Religious institutions maintain a continuous religious awareness, offer spiritual leadership and moral education. The young receive most of their consumer training within their families, but the educational and religious systems reinforce this training by teaching economic and ethical terms. Another institution that is often neglected and plays an important role in the formation of culture is mass media. Media teach their audience how to dress, how to furnish their home, what food to eat, i.e. what patterns of behaviour are accepted and which are not. Likewise, we often believe that the scope of advertising is limited to influencing a need for a specific product or service, but in a cultural context advertising has an extended aim of reinforcing the established cultural values and helping develop new tastes, habits and customs. When designing their messages, marketers should recognise that advertising is an important agent for social changes7.
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10.2.3 Cultural changes

To meet its requirement of satisfying needs, culture has to progress constantly in order to function in the best interest of a society. For this reason, businesses constantly have to observe the socio-cultural environment in order to launch existing products or develop promising new ones effectively. This is not a simple task, considering that many factors can lead to cultural changes within a given culture (new technology, movements of population, lack of resources, wars, unstable values and traditions borrowed from other cultures). For instance, the current main cultural change is a different role of a woman. Nowadays most women work outside the house, often in positions that in the past used to be considered only suitable for men. These career women decreasingly wait for marriage or a husband to buy them luxury items such as fur coats, expensive watches and diamond jewellery. They often say: I make enough for a good life, why wait? I am going to buy it for myself.8
10.3 Language and symbols

In order to achieve a shared culture, society members have to be capable of communicating with each other using a common language. In order to effectively communicate with their audience, businesses have to use adequate symbols for expressing the desired images or characteristics of a product. These symbols can be verbal or non-verbal9. Verbal symbols can include TV announcements or adverts in magazines. Non-verbal communication includes using symbols such as figures, colours, shapes or texture, in order to give additional meaning to the printed or emitted adverts, brands and packaging or the design of a product. In essence, the symbolic nature of human language separates it from the communication of animals. A symbol is anything that represents something else. Any word can be a symbol. The word hurricane triggers the thought of wind and rain and has the power to disturb us emotionally, rousing the feelings of danger and a need for protection and security. Equally, the word jaguar has a symbolic meaning: to some it represents a luxurious car, to
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others wealth and status, and to others it suggests a wild and powerful animal that can be seen in the zoo10. A symbol can have several meanings, sometimes contradictory, so the marketer has to establish exactly what message to send to a target audience. For instance, a provider who uses slang in an advert in order to attract a teenage audience needs to do so very carefully because slang that is misused or old-fashioned will symbolically make the business and the product look outdated. In this sense, the message needs to be adjusted to the target audience. Sometimes very small differences such as dialects can represent an obstacle for understanding and accepting the marketing message. Using metaphors is a common cause of misinterpretation and inefficient communication between businesses and consumers. Copying and literal translation of a marketing message is a trap into which many businesses fell when they entered new, foreign markets. Examples Coca-Colas penetration into the Chinese market caused a lot of headaches. In order to translate the brand name into Chinese, a large number of experts were hired. First they tried with Ke-kou-ke-la, which is pronounced as CocaCola. Having printed o several thousand copies of the logo, they discovered that this phrase in fact means bite a wax tadpole or a mare lled with wax, depending on the dialect. The second try was more successful. After analysing more than 40,000 Chinese characters they came up with Ko-kou-ko-le which roughly translated means: joy in the mouth. Coca-Colas biggest competitor did not have an easy job either. When they entered the Chinese market they realised that their slogan Pepsi Brings you Back to Life in China means Pepsi returns your ancestors from the grave. General Motors were in a confusing situation when in South America they presented their new vehicle Chevy Nova. Despite all eorts they did not sell many cars. Then they realised that in Spanish no va means its not going. This made them rename the car as Caribe, after which sales rose drastically. The American slogan for the cigarettes Salem; Salem Feeling Free had a pretty inadequate meaning in Japan: When you use Salem cigarettes, you feel so refreshed that it makes your brains free and empty 11.
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The best way to avoid such mistakes is to use simple, direct and short marketing messages, without word-play. Besides, it is recommended to use local experts who will help to adequately translate the message.
10.4 Colours and numbers

Colours are mainly used to represent an important element of an advertisement. We must be very careful when using colour in advertising, be aware of who our target audience are, and what meaning colours have in their culture. The colour white, for instance, in our region but also in many western cultures represents peace, virtue, wedding, etc. In Japan and other eastern cultures though, it means just the opposite: it is the symbol of death and burial. By using purple in the United Kingdom, we give the impression of royalty or class, whilst in Thailand this colour will be interpreted as a sign of grief. Yellow represents hope, courage etc. in many cultures. Egyptians find this colour to be a symbol of sorrow though12. Some cultures give a significant importance to the symbolism of numbers. The famous Chanel No5 could not be accepted in the Japanese market because to them number 5 (shih) symbolises death13.
10.5 Rituals as a part of culture

Along with language and symbols, culture includes various ritualised experiences and behaviour that have been denied by consumer researchers until recently. Ritual is a kind of symbolic activity that consists of a series of steps that occur in a fixed order and are repeated throughout time14. Therefore, a ritual consists of a behaviour that occurs in an order set in advance and is usually repeated occasionally but throughout ones life (such as weddings, funerals, promotions, holidays etc.). All these rituals affect specific purchases of clothes as well as food products, and the use of a number of services that accompany such rituals. Rituals
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also affect consumption in the form of buying specific gifts for those occasions, buying cultural and traditional products such as clothes and culinary specialties. From a providers view, the fact that rituals are full of artefacts (products) related to rituals is the most relevant one. Table 7 shows some common artefacts in American culture.
Table 7: Selected rituals and artefacts related to them Selected rituals Wedding Birth of child Birthday Graduation Valentines New Years Eve Typical artefacts White wedding dress (something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue) American savings bond, silver spoon for the baby Birthday card, gift, cake with candles A pen, a watch Chocolate, flowers, card Champagne, party, fancy clothes
Source: Schiffman L. and Kanuk L. (2004) Ponasanje potrosaca, Prentice Hall 2000, 7th edition, Zagreb: Translation: Mate, p. 329
10.6 Cultural influence in a business environment

A company is successful in a domestic market. The Marketing mix that it applies provides it a position as a market leader. The next step is penetration into a new market. What happens there though? The same marketing mix that has proved to be perfect at home does not now bring even remotely successful results. What is the problem? This situation is fairly common in the world of business, and there are many examples that demonstrate the confusion caused by not understanding other cultures. One such example is the American company Gerber, a baby food producer. When they launched their brand in West Africa, their symbol, a picture of a baby, was on the packaging. This picture existed on
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these products ever since 1926 and brought them the position of one of the best known brands in the American market. However, a report from one of the distributors soon arrived. Sales were non-existent. What was the reason for this failure? Research showed that in many African countries there is a common belief that what is on the label is in the jar. This is why consumers assumed that the little boy from the picture is the very product they are supposed to buy. Testimonies showed15 that people thought that they are expected to feed their black babies with white babies. Understandably, the product positioned this way was by no means acceptable to the consumers. Why do failures like this happen? Why is a single product or a promotional message accepted well in one market but completely ignored in another? How much does culture affect understanding and accepting a marketing message or the position of a product whether in consumers awareness, in their hearts or in the market? For some people, non-verbal elements such as music or photography speak louder than words, whilst for others, the best way to understand a message is for it to be delivered verbally. This leads us to a classification of cultures that is very relevant from the aspect of communication, and according to which cultures are distributed to within a range from high-context to low-context ones. Authors Edward and Mildred Hall studied the business culture of the majority of Western European countries at the end of the 1960s, and classified them based on two basic concepts16: High-context cultures, where listeners know what a message is about, and if they do not, they can guess. Therefore in high-context cultures ideas are not explained in detail; people try not to bother each other with step-bystep explanations. Communication is mainly based on facial expressions, body language, intonation, contacts etc. People raised in these cultures can become impatient with people from low-context cultures. On one side of Asian culture, for instance, are high-context cultures that prefer communication more complex than a written or verbally delivered message. The Japanese, for example, prefer indirect communication and symbols more than the Americans who practice direct communication.
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This is why in Japan promotional messages are based on the use of tones, music, photographs and other non-verbal elements.
Figure 39
Low-context cultures prefer to explain things clearly and want the other side to do the same. Sentences are complete and only one person speaks at a time. Every phone conversation is confirmed by a fax or email. These people consider that the members of high-context culture are chaotic, unreliable and emotional. Communication in low-context culture is based on explicit, verbal forms of communication. In its essence this type of culture is individualistic rather than collectivistic. We could say that the USA is a typical representative of this culture.
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Polychromic cultures represent the people who simultaneously talk on the phone, drink coffee, wink at their colleagues, listen to your presentation and think about what to have for lunch. They are bored and feel that they are wasting time if only one thing is happening at a specific moment. Monochromic cultures respect schedules and timetables, and activities are grouped according to the content and use.
Figure 40: Selected countries, depending on their context
Source: Dahringer and Muhlbacher, 1991
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Hall researched France and Germany and in his studies he found that the French are a high-context/polychromic culture, and that Germans are low-context/monochromic. He also concluded that the Greeks are highcontext/monochromic whilst Russians are high-context/polychromic. It is safe to say that all human activities are determined by culture, whether directly or indirectly, which implies that consumers do not react when isolated from external influences. Culture is something that determines our behaviour when buying a product17. Therefore, when planning promotional activities, first of all we must understand the cultural surroundings in which it is going to be released. A phone company wanted to add some Latino spirit to their promotional messages, so the message consisted of a woman telling her husband: Hurry up and call Mary. Tell her well be a bit late. This message has two culturological mistakes. First of all, a woman in Latin America will probably not dare to order her husband. Secondly, Latino Americans are usually not punctual and do not find it necessary to call their friends if they are late for an arranged meeting18. An adequate cultural context is a key factor for coding and decoding promotional messages and it affects how the message is interpreted (whether it is good or bad, conservative or acceptable) and how the recipient responds to its content (notice or not notice it, decide to buy or not)19. Various aspects of advertising are under a significant influence of culture. Culture determines elements such as: the style of a marketing message, appropriateness of showing certain body parts, relation toward physical contact (mainly between a man and a woman), aesthetic aspect of a message, design, using feministic topics etc.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. What is the difference between material and spiritual culture? Explain the differences between values, beliefs and traditions. What is the fundamental difference between norms and morals? List the characteristics of culture. Explain how culture determines behaviour. What institutions create and comprise a shared culture? List two examples of bad use of verbal and two examples of nonverbal symbols in promotional messages. 8. Describe monochromic versus polychromic cultures. 9. Describe high-context versus low-context cultures.
References
1. Marusic A. i M. Martic (1967): Sociologija, Panorama, Zagreb, p. 176 2. Kesic, T. (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio d.o.o., 2. izdanje, Zagreb, p. 48 3. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, Prentice Hall 2000, 7. izdanje, Zagreb: prevod Mate, p. 322 4. Engel, F.J., D.R. Blackwell and W.P. Miniard (1995): Consumer Behavior, The Dryden Press, p. 614 5. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): ibidem, p. 324 6. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): ibidem, p. 329 7. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): ibidem, p. 330 8. Parker-Pope, T. (1997): All That Glitters Isnt Purchased by Men, Wall Street Journal, B1 i Dana Canedy (1998): As the Purchasing Power of Women Rises, Marketers Start to Pay Attention to Them, New York Times, D6 9. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): ibidem, p. 326 10. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): ibidem, p. 327 11. http://www.essentialaction.org/tobacco/intro/funny 12. http://www.sibagraphics.com/colour.php 13. Domazet, A., M. Jovic, B. Rakita i M. Sinanagic, (2001): Medunarodni marketing, Ekonomski fakultet Sarajevo, p. 192
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14. Rook, D.W. (1985): The Ritual Dimension of Consumer Behavior, Journal of Consumer Research, 12, pp. 251-264. 15. http://www.grin.com/en/preview/7725.html 16. Mattock, J. I J. Ehrenborg (1996): How to be a better negotiator, Clays Ltd, England 17. David L.L. and A. J. Della Bitta (1993): Consumer Behaviour Concepts and Applications, 4th ed. , Library of Congress Cataloging, p. 83. 18. http://papers.ssrn.com 19. Domazet, A., M. Jovic, B. Rakita i M. Sinanagic (2001): ibid, p. 186
XI chapter
SUBCULTURE
Chapter objectives
Understand subculture Categories of subcultures Basic characteristics of religious subcultures Geographic, national, racial and gender subcultures Characteristics of age subcultures Definition and variations of generations
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11.1 Definition of subculture
Along with the segmentation of market according to cultural factors, marketers often segment societies into smaller subgroups - subcultures. They consist of people who are similar regarding their descent, tradition or behaviour. Therefore, the concept of subculture is significantly narrower than the analysis of culture. Instead of analysing the dominant beliefs, values and customs that exist within a society, here we focus on marketing opportunities that stem from the existence of specific beliefs, values and customs that the members of a subculture within a society share. Subcultural classifications are mainly based on various socio-cultural and demographic variables such as nationality, religion, geographical position, race, age, gender or even employment status.
Figure 41 Categories Nationality Religion Geographical area Race Age Gender Profession Social class Examples French, Americans, Slovenians... Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox North, south, continent, coast White, black, yellow Baby-boom, generations X, Y, Z Female, male Driver, mechanic, engineer Lower, middle, upper
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Each subculture consists of smaller subcultures that offer specific identification and socialisation to its members1. Subculture can be defined as a group that is homogenous in its beliefs, attitudes, value system, habits and behaviour. We can say that subculture represents a culture within a culture2. Subculture is a separate cultural group that exists as a distinguishing segment within a larger and more complex society3. If we illustrate that with an example, we can say that every person at a given moment belongs to different subcultures and is simultaneously a member of a wider culture. For example, a twenty-year-old man in Sarajevo can simultaneously be a Bosnian and Herzegovinian, a student, a young man, a Velez fan and a mountaineer. Each one of these characteristics carries a certain set of beliefs, values, attitudes and customs, and as such subcultures are any groups that share common beliefs.
11.2 Religious subcultures

Religion is a consisting part of culture and all members of religious groups decide about purchase under the influence of their religious identity. Certain religions influence consumer behaviour significantly. For instance, Mormons do not drink coffee, tea or alcohol, and they do not smoke cigarettes. Muslims do not eat pork and do not drink alcohol, and Catholics do not eat meat on Fridays4. The creators of promotional messages should always bear in mind that their messages, among other things, will be viewed through the prism of religious beliefs. The differences in religious beliefs vary worldwide. Research has shown that 90% of Americans are religious but that 70% of the Japanese are not5. As an example of the influence of religion on marketing strategy, Coca Cola is often mentioned. Even though they are famous for standardisation, they had to launch the product marked as halal in Indonesia.
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11.3 Geographic subcultures

There is a regional identification and a distinction based upon it within each country. For instance, in the United States the Southerners speak and behave differently from others, and have different customs. Even in a small country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are similar distinctions. For instance, people from Herzegovina have a specific accent; people from Krajina have their own customs, etc. There are significant differences across BH even in a simple example such as preparation of traditional cevapi.
11.4 National subcultures

Nationality is an extremely important sub-cultural category. Regardless of where people live, they still keep their primary identity and pride regarding the language and customs of their ancestors. If we observe that from a consumer behaviour view, these beliefs are most commonly reflected in the form of the consummation of certain food, listening to specific music, travelling, etc. We can find examples in the behaviour of our Diaspora worldwide. These people, regardless of whether they have acquired a secondary citizenship or not, still buy or read electronic editions of Oslobodjenje, still listen to Bijelo Dugme, Azra or Balasevic, and visit their country every summer.
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Figure 42
There are unwritten rules that shape the social surroundings in a certain country or region. These differences can appear insignificant, but in a wider business context they can create misunderstanding and controversies. For example, if in the USA you tell someone See you soon, it is just a polite way to end a conversation. Therefore it is not surprising that it led to confusion when an American in Sarajevo said that to his Bosnian partner, who then took his planner out and found a free slot in the schedule to arrange the meeting.
11.5 Racial subcultures

Races are genetic units of population who differ from each other physically based on their biological heritage6. The differences in races are nowadays
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extremely distinguished worldwide and marketers must be happy if up until this point they have not met this problem, considering that racial homogeneity is present in our region. However, in the USA one can meet Euro-Americans, Afro-Americans, Asian Americans and American Indians, i.e. white (71%), Afro-Americans (13%), Hispano (11%), Asian Americans (4%) and American Indian (1%)7. Among all these groups, there are significant differences regarding lifestyle and regulations regarding consumption8.
Figure 43
This is by no means racial discrimination, but the efforts to achieve business success through a good understanding and meeting the needs of the members of specific races9. For instance, it is determined that the women of Afro-American origin use three times more money for buying health and cosmetic products than other groups10. Therefore marketers use these groups as models in their promotional campaigns.
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11.6 Gender as subculture

This classification is extremely significant because it notes the differences between men and women, and it is these differences that reflect their behaviour in the market. For instance, women process information differently than men do, they show more concern and generosity, and are less prone to dominant behaviour than men are. Owning things is also seen differently: men see the possession of things as a method to acquire power, whilst women see it as a form of stimulant and maintaining relations with other people and groups11. Today women represent the basic subculture that dominates a purchase, for themselves, for family members and the household. Therefore todays marketing parole should not surprise us: Women are opportunity No112.
11.7 Age subcultures

With respect to age differences, everyone understands that they exist and that they are clearly distinguished. You certainly listen to different music than your parents, you dress differently from your grandparents, you know different actors and you spend your time differently. Age groups are most frequently classified into generations, and the most commonly used ones are generation X, baby-boom generation, seniors, generation Y etc. Market segments that can be identified based on the subculture of age groups are13: 1. 2. 3. 4. Young, Young middle-aged, Middle-aged, Old14.
The market of the young is characterised by a significant purchase power and the willingness to spend money. The market of teenagers has significantly developed in the area of modern clothes, beverages, food products, CDs,
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sports clothes and footwear, etc. A large number of new and innovated products have been inspired by the motives and wishes of the young. Likewise, the segment of the young represents future consumers of other products, which is another reason to pay special attention to it. The segment of the young middle-aged is a basic segment at the peak of their physical, psychological and purchase possibilities. The key group within this segment are the co-called Yuppies (Young Urban Professionals). These peoples aim is hedonism in all spheres of professional and personal life, and materialism as a concept of thinking. The third segment comprises of the middle-aged people, born between 1946 and 1964, the so-called baby-boom generation. A large number of these people are still working, and due to the size of the segment it has the greatest influence on the consumption of mass products. This segment respects tradition and its values and the members have a significant influence on the younger population. For them, the real estate market is the most relevant, followed by automobiles, food, clothes, cosmetics and financial services. In the developed countries, one fourth of this segment comprises of singles and therefore their consumption is aimed at ready-made meals, travelling and relaxation. As a whole, this is a very interesting market that has significant financial means and is ready to spend it. The last age segment comprises of the old people. This segment is interesting due to its specific needs, not its purchase power. The interest of the elderly is aimed at nutritional values, leisure time equipment, improving the conditions of life, travelling, etc. This segment constantly grows and marketers have to take care of their needs15.
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Figure 44
11.7.1 Baby-boom generation

The term baby-boomers is used to describe the population born between 1946 and 1964. Baby-boomers present more than 40% of adult consumers and are therefore a desirable market segment. They are also appreciated because they comprise 50% of professionals and managers, and more than half of them have at least a bachelors degree. Businesses see baby-boomers as a very desirable target group because: a) today they are the most numerous age category; b) they often make important consumption decisions; c) they include a small sub-segment of trendy consumers (sometimes known as yuppies or young upwardly mobile professionals) that influence consumer taste of other age segments of the society16. This generation represents extremely motivated consumers. They like to buy for themselves, for their homes and for others they are consumptionoriented. As they get old, the nature of the products or services they want most changes. For instance, due to the older age of this market segment, Levi Strauss produces more comfortable and wider jeans; the sales of
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lineless bifocal eyeglasses have increased, as well as the sales of hiking boots17.
Figure 45
Yuppies are the most desirable subgroup of baby-boomers. Even though they only make up 5% of the population, they are generally financially well off, well-educated and have distinguished professional or managerial careers. They are often identified with status brands such as BMW or Volvo, Rolex watches etc. Today, as many yuppies mature, they divert their attention from expensive property with status brands to travelling, physical condition, planning other careers or some other form of life guidelines. In the female world the Botox technique for wrinkle treatment represents the most important cosmetic product for this generation. The disappearance of wrinkles off the face after only one injection of Botox is one of the most significant discoveries for the yuppies.
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11.7.2 Generation X
This age group consists of consumers born between 1966 and 1976 (some authors list 1979 or 1981 as the upper limit). It comprises of 46 million young people in the USA, as compared to the 77 million of baby-boomers. Generation X are the people who do not like labels and do not want to be distinguished by any standards. Likewise, unlike their parents (mainly baby-boomers), they are in no hurry to get married, have a family or work overtime to make more money. They are often found withdrawn, cynical and lazy. For generation X it is much more relevant to enjoy life and therefore they have a lifestyle that gives them freedom and flexibility. It is considered that this generation has different expectations from the business environment. While their parents used to say: Thank you for the opportunity, I will try to meet your expectations, generation X has this attitude: This is what I want in order to stay in your company and if I am not satisfied I will take my skills elsewhere18. And yet, their time has come now that they have replaced the generation of their parents on the managerial scene. As we can see from Figure 46, the young population in 2000 made significantly more money than their peers a decade earlier, which means that they are taking over the financial control.
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Figure 46: Change of income in relation to age
Source: Solomon M., G. Bamossy and S. Askegaard, (2002): Consumer Behaviour, A European Perspective, Pearson Education, 2nd edition
The media of generation X are specific. Interestingly, this generation reads newspapers less than any other. They are the generation who grew up with the computer revolution and the sounds of MTV. The most popular TV series are The Simpsons and Beverly Hills 9021019.
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11.7.3 Y generation
Figure 47
The youngest segment of the population varies in the limits of its age. There is a generally accepted opinion that currently it comprises of teenagers and the young born between 1977 and 1984 (some authors list 1978 and 1988 as limits). This generation is also known as the Millennial generation, generation www, Digital Generation or e-generation, but most commonly as Generation Y. If marketers and/or businesses considered that Generation X was stubborn and complicated, they faced a real problem with their younger brothers and sisters, the members of Generation Y. These are rebels, technical mages, contradictory children of baby-boomers that believe education is a key to success, technology is extremely simple, diversity is guaranteed and social responsibility is a business imperative20. This extreme generation loves adrenalin, challenges, changes and new opportunities. Generation Yers are the most education-minded generation in history. Even more
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than their elders, they have the perception that a higher education will lead them to a better professional situation.
11.7.4 XY generation
Due to the significant differences between Generation X and Generation Y, the practice experienced the need to create sub-generation, called XY or MTV generation. This generation comprises of the people born between 1975 and 1985 and has characteristics of both X and Y generation. They lived through a lot of negative and pessimistic history milestones, such as death of Kurt Cobain and Lady D, AIDS epidemics, dissolution of SSSR and Yugoslavia, Chernobyl catastrophe, but also some positive such as turning down the Berlin wall, formation of EU or liberation of Nelson Mandela. This generation is cynical but tolerant. They live Carpe diem in the globalized world. Also they are willing to change, however due to the negative milestones they witnessed they are rather pessimist toward the future.
11.7.5 Z generation
Figure 48
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The youngest generation so far is Generation Z or net-generation. It is composed of the children and young people born between 1990 and 2010. From the beginning this generation is intensively involved into all ways of communication, including www, SMS, MP3, YouTube, FAcebook, etc21. The main difference of this generation is that they do not correlate internet strictly with PC, they have smart-phones, tablets, and other gadgets which enable them to be online all the time. Hence, they became extremely impatient; they demand information at any time or place. They are less ambition then previous generations, more individuals, but excellent in gathering data and searching for information. Moreover, they grew up with economic downturn and they value money more than others. Next generation is assumed to be called Generation Alpha.
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1. What is subculture and what is its role in the analysis of consumption? 2. List some foundations for classifying subcultures. 3. List an example of a scandal due to misunderstanding religious subcultures. 4. How is a market segment supposed to be addressed considering its national subculture? 5. How do we classify the market according to age characteristics? 6. What are the characteristics of the baby-boom generation? 7. When was generation X born? 8. What media could be used to reach generation Y?
References
1. Kotler, P. (2001): Upravljanje marketingom, 11. izdanje, prijevod MATE Zagreb 2. Bennett, P.D. i H.H. Kassarjian (1972): Consumer Behavior, Prentice Hall, New Jersey 3. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, Prentice Hall 2000, 7. izdanje, Zagreb: prevod Mate, p. 346 4. Kesic, T., (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio d.o.o., 2. izdanje, Zagreb, p. 62 5. Maricic, B. (2005): Ponasanje potrosaca, Centar za izdavacku delatnost Ekonomskog fakulteta u Beogradu, Beograd, p. 188 6. Maricic, B. (2005): ibidem, p. 185 7. Sheth, J.N., B. Mittal, B.I. Newman (1999): Customer Behavior Consumer Behavior and Beyond, The Dryden Press, Fort Worth, pp. 209-210 8. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk (2004): ibidem, p. 353 9. Loudon, D.L. i A.J. Della Bitta (1993): Consumer Behavior: Concepts and Applications, 4th edition, McGraw Hill, Inc, New York, p. 130 10. Maricic, B. (2005): ibidem, p. 186 11. Kesic, T., (2006): ibidem, p. 61 12. Peters, T. (1997): Opportunity Knocks, Forbes ASAP, pp. 130-132 13. Kesic, T., (2006): ibidem, p. 60
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14. Vugrinec-Hitrec, V. (1974): Segmentacija trzista u strategiji marketing, doktorska disertacija, Sveuciliste u Zagrebu, Fakultet ekonomskih znanosti, p. 215 15. Kesic, T. (2006): ibidem, p. 61 16. Crispell, D. (1996): Boomer Facts, American Demographics and U.S. Population Forecasts Decline for 2000, but Rise Slightlz for 2050, Wall Street Journal, B3 17. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk (2004): ibidem, p. 361 18. Tulgan, B. (1995): Managing Generation X: How to Bring Out the Best in Young Talent, Merritt Publishing Company, Santa Monica, CA 19. Schiffman L. i L. Kanuk (2004): ibidem, p. 360 20. Martin C.A. (2005): From high maintenance to high productivity What managers need to know about Generation Y, Journal of Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 39-44 21. Riedling, A. M., (2007), An educators guide to information literacy: what every high school senior needs to know, Libraries Unlimited
XII chapter
LIFESTYLE
Chapter objectives
Understand correlation between market segmentation and consumer behaviour analysis Types of segmentation Characteristics of psychographic segmentation The importance of lifestyle Methods of segmentation based on lifestyle Lifestyle in Bosnia Herzegovina
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12. LIFESTYLE
12.1 Market segmentation
What is the purpose of researching consumer behaviour? The purpose lies in market segmentation. If all consumers were equal had the same needs, requests and desires, equal background, education and life experience mass (non-differentiated) marketing would be a logical choice. The main advantage of mass marketing is low cost: all it takes is one communication campaign, one marketing strategy, one standardized product. On the other hand, segmentation enables producers to identify existing groups of consumers with different characteristics and preferences. Thanks to this, marketers can select some of these groups and design an offer for them, which create better preconditions for a better market position than the one of the direct competitors. Segmentation of target market leads to the selection of target groups and positioning on the selected segments by differentiation of the overall product or service, not only based on the price, but also by the method of shaping, packing and promoting the product, the method of distribution and the quality of service. Segmentation is a process that is valid only if the following criteria are met1:
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Figure 49
Consumers within a segment are similar to each other in regard to the need for the product and these needs are different from the ones of the consumers from other segments. Differences between segments can be identified. A segment is large enough to be profitable. Consumers within a segment can be approached by using an adequate marketing mix. Consumers within a segment react in a desired way to the marketing mix designed for them.
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For a defined segment to be used for the creation of a marketing mix, the consumers within it must be homogenous towards the variables based on which the segment was defined and heterogeneous in comparison with other segments. Segmentation is an essential marketing tool in the modern business world. The identification of market segments is a starting point for the selection of target markets, the creation of an offer and product differentiation. Depending on the business philosophies that they follow, companies choose one or more target segments. If they decide to target several segments, they create different products and different marketing mixes in order to satisfy each segment appropriately. This situation in the market can be illustrated by numerous examples. Some of them are the designers house Armani, the Spanish fashion producer ZARA, the American producer of clothes The Gap, and many other. Let us observe The Gap that targets the segments of different age, income and way of life by the diversity of their offers. Shops The Gap and Super Gap are designed in a way that attracts a wide audience that likes casual and relaxed style. Gap targets their audience with higher income through their chain of shops Banana Republic, and the lower-income consumers through shops Old Navy Clothing Company. It also targets young parents (that used to be the consumers of Gap and Banana Republic products) via their Baby Gap and Gap Kids shops2. Solomon, Bamossy and Askegaard3 designed one of the simplest but most comprehensive classifications of segmentation variables.
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Table 8: Variables of market segmentation Category Variables Age Gender Social class, occupation, income Ethnic group, religion Stage in life Purchaser vs. user Region Country differences Self-concept, personality Lifestyle Brand loyalty, extent of usage Usage situation Benefits desired
Demographics
Geographic Psychographic
Behavioural
Source: M. Solomon, G. Bamossy, S. Askegaard (2002) Consumer Behavior A European Perspective Harlow, p. 8.
Even though the above variables of market segmentation are very useful and simple for research and analysis, in practice they are rarely used independently of each other. Most marketing research nowadays tries to respond to the increasingly complicated situations and markets that marketers face. Consumers demands are higher, competition is fiercer in all market segments and this is why it is essential to precisely define our consumers in order to best satisfy their needs. A detailed segmentation demands a combination of several variables which leads to the creation of hybrid segmentation. Geodemographic variables classify consumers into groups according to the place they live in (so called profiles of living regions). The basic assumption for this variable assumes that people living close to each other have a similar level of income and share similar consumption habits therefore having a similar lifestyle. The combination of psychographic and demographic variables gives best results.
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12.2 Psychographic segmentation

The term psychography was first used by Demby in 1974 by merging the terms psychology and demography4. The objective was a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour in order to create adequate advertising strategy. Other research suggests that the term psychography was in use even before the First World War and that it described psychological characteristics of people in regard to their physical appearance. Later on it evolved into a term used to describe people in regard to their attitudes. Authors today mainly agree about the meaning of the term of psychographic analysis. Marcic5 considers that psychographic analysis is the main instrument for quantifying consumers lifestyle. It is a neologism used in marketing more than in psychology. In principle it measures lifestyle by examinees providing answers to specific questions / statements and ranging them according to the level of agreement or disagreement. Consumers attitudes are examined, as well as beliefs, opinions, interests and activities. The purpose is to establish causal relations between the above psychographic variables and consumer behaviour regarding the purchase of products and services. Pure statistic measuring also includes subjective analysis, which is simultaneously an advantage and a disadvantage of this method of survey. Strictly speaking, there are still small differences between the terms psychography and lifestyle. The complexity of conceptual understanding and the confusion of lifestyle research is a semantic maze that does not allow clear distinction between these two terms. How valuable is the concrete use of psychographic segmentation can be seen in the review of industries in which it is successfully implemented6. Psychographic segmentation is increasingly used in various branches such as professional consultant services, alcoholic beverages industry, marketing of impressions and personal appearance and banking credit card services. Various psychographic studies of women were intensively conducted in the 70s of the 20th century. The conclusion of this analysis is that the success of todays businesses greatly depends on knowing our consumers, their habits, desires, motives and behaviour in general. Consumers and their behaviour are necessary to
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know in order to group them into segments and then satisfy the needs of each segment adequately. By developing the market and a higher complexity of business principles we reach very detailed and comprehensive methods of consumer analysis and their classification into segments. It is necessary to determine which variables to observe in specific cases, i.e. which type of analysis best defines segments. This choice primarily depends on the product or service, then on the level of market development and the existing competition. Best results are achieved by hybrid variables created by the combination of subjective and objective criteria, more specifically the combination of psychology and demographics. Psychography is increasingly analysed, both for research and businesses purposes. In the beginning it was only used for specific industries or specific groups of consumers, but its application nowadays is extended onto all branches. Segments created based on psychographic characteristics give precise and concrete information about consumers and their behaviour, because they combine psychological personality traits (that are different for each individual) and demographic characteristics (that refer to the group a consumer belongs to).
12.3 Lifestyle
12.3.1 Definition of lifestyle
Consumers buy and consume products in order to create, maintain or improve their lifestyle. Previous decisions that individuals have made as well as various events such as a change of a job, finding a new hobby or simply maturing, lead to the changes in lifestyle. Different lifestyle demands the purchase and / or consumption of different products. However, we cannot claim that consumers only think of lifestyle during a purchase. Very often they make decisions that are consistent with their lifestyle without an intentional consideration of their lifestyle. A large number of consumer decisions include very little effort or conscious thinking. Feelings are equally important in many consumer decisions, as well as the physical attributes of a product. However, most consumer decisions include at least a small amount of decision-making and most are under the influence of consumers current and desired lifestyle.
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Figure 50
What does the term consumer lifestyle refer to and why is it so important for understanding why and how consumers act? Simply stated, lifestyle is a way people live their lives. This includes what products they buy, how they use them, what they think about them and what they feel for them. This is a manifestation of personality concept a complete image that someone
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has about themselves as a result of the culture they live in and individual situations and experiences that make up ones daily existence. It is a summary of past decisions and future plans. Both individuals and families have a certain lifestyle. We often talk about the career people, family people, adventurers, etc. Lifestyle of individuals is determined by both conscious and non-conscious decisions. People often make selections with a complete awareness of the influence of this specific selection on lifestyle, but in general people are not aware how much the decisions are under the effect of the current or desired lifestyle. Maintaining or changing individual lifestyle often requires product consumption. This is why managers need to understand lifestyle and its determinants. The term lifestyle is used nowadays in scientific research as well as in managerial decision-making. Lifestyle in sociology has a very narrow meaning that refers to the style of living of specific status groups7. In contemporary consumption culture this term stresses and explains the individuality of consumers, their self-depiction and self-awareness. The body, clothes, speech, free time, taste regarding food and drink, home, car, choice of holiday destinations, etc, should all be observed as the indicators of consumers individuality. There is no consensus on defining lifestyle. Lifestyle was defined in psychological and anthropological sense, with different emphasis. Contemporary marketing and consumer behaviour theory and practice use lifestyle studies for segmenting the market and understanding their similarities and differences. At the beginning, lifestyle was a broadly defined social term, and it combined all of the general similarities one can observe among people, such as drives, emotions, cultural experience, or life plan8. In psychology, lifestyle was defined as orientation to self, others, and society that each individual develops and follows as a part of his or her value orientation9. Further10, in psychological sense finds that lifestyle is an expression of values, which describes the roles people play in life and how they think those roles should be fulfilled. They reveal both real and ideal lifestyles. Similarly, Havighurst and deVries11 see lifestyle as a syndrome of role activities with a dominant central theme, which is behaviourally visible,
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a syndrome that represents a group. Therefore, it is crucial to point out the differences in attitudes within one group, while keeping in mind similarities in behavioural patterns within the same group. A new element introduced by Wilensky12 is that lifestyle is a pattern in behaviour that persists through more than one generation and is connected enough to cross-cut diverse spheres of life. Further, research did not support this opinion, but rather found out that lifestyle changes, even during ones life, mostly under external influences. Overall, researchers in the social, psychological and economic sense agree that lifestyle is a combination of psychological and social characteristics. After intensive research of lifestyle in a sociological and anthropological sense, the first definition from a marketing perspective says that lifestyle is a group phenomenon that permeates many aspects of life. It implies a central life interest and it differs according to sociologically relevant variables. Wind and Green13 explain the way in which products and services are consumed within a lifestyle, which brings this term into correlation with consumer behaviour. While studying the theory of lifestyle, scholars have developed definitions from the consumer point of view. It defines lifestyle as a set of expansive, observable behaviours. Lifestyle finds its meaning in reference to the distinctive style of life of specific status groups. Within contemporary consumer culture it connotes individuality, self-expression and a stylistic self-consciousness. Lifestyle determines consumption since consumers want to behave according to a specific way of life they wish to accomplish. Using these findings, companies can create products and services which will sufficiently satisfy consumers within a certain lifestyle. Further, individuality in certain socio-demographic surroundings influences lifestyle. While some authors think that lifestyle is individual and specific for everyone, the majority support the theory that it is a group phenomenon based on the same or a similar way that people behave14. The consensus of opinion was that lifestyle represents a combination of individual characteristics and surroundings in which a person lives. Therefore, lifestyle is defined as orientation to self, others and society that
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each individual develops and follows15. Such an orientation derives from personal beliefs based on cultural context and the psychosocial milieu related to the stage of an individuals life. Finally, only personal peculiarities have to do with an individuals beliefs, values or norms of daily behaviour, but also the way in which each person conforms to the group, class or global society to which he or she belongs16. Those findings contribute to consumer behaviour, because researchers used lifestyle to define groups/ segments with the same or similar way of living, since they will most likely have a similar consumption. This research bases its conclusion upon the fact that consumption can be explained well using the lifestyle segments, and that groups with the same lifestyle have not only similar individual characteristics, but their correlation with the group and each other is based on the same beliefs. Moreover, analyzing the lifestyle in a certain region and defining the same lifestyle segments, regardless of the nationality or geographical borders, proves the importance of understanding the way of consumers life and basing the marketing mix on this knowledge. Having the same consumers segments region-wide shifts the emphasis from differences to similarities which leads to the regional cooperation.
12.3.2 Lifestyle Segmentation

Psychographic segmentation divides consumers into different groups depending on their lifestyle and personalities. Consumers in the same demographic group can express different individual profiles. Therefore companies are using new marketing opportunities through lifestyle segmentation. There is a distinction between psychography and lifestyle. Psychograpy includes attitudes, beliefs, and values, while lifestyle is oriented toward behavior and other public actitivites of the individul. Reseachers were generally focused on identification of the trends which influence consumers such as their life, work or leisure, while analyzing lifesyle. Consumers use certain products to accomplish and/or maintain their relationships with others17.
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Figure 51
Consumers make both conscious and unconscious decisions when it comes to their needs and attitudes, choice of product of brand, based on their current lifestyle. Lifestyle is changeable, which accordingly leads to changes in consumption patterns. Further, family lifestyle will determine individual lifestyle; however, individuality will be maintained. Different scales are developed for measuring consumer values and attitudes and they are mostly geographically focused. Consumers in Australia are segmented using the Australian Age Lifestyle, in Great Britain a similar methodology is called Outlook, and in the U.S. all households are divided according to PRIZM or VALS methodology18. According to lifestyle most frequently used scales for market segmentation are: Rokeach Value System RVS, List of Values LOV, Activity, Interest, Opinion AIO, Claritas PRIZM, VALS methodology.
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12.3.2.1 RVS methodology

Widely used Rokeach Value Survey is based on the self-examination of examinees. The survey is comprised of two parts, each measuring different but complementary personality values. These values are an important basis for segmentation because they change depending on the age, income, education, gender and social class of examinees19. Methodology of Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) uses 18 terminal values and 18 instrumental values (Table 9). Terminal values represent objectives that people would like to achieve, and instrumental values are the behaviour that will lead to the achievement of these objectives.
Table 9: The instrument of Rokeach research of values TERMINAL VALUES A Comfortable Life (a prosperous life) An Exciting Life (a stimulating, active life) A World at Peace (free of war and conflict) Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity for all) Freedom (independence and free choice) Happiness (contentedness) National Security (protection from attack) Pleasure (an enjoyable life) Salvation (saved, eternal life) Social Recognition (respect and admiration) True Friendship (close companionship) Wisdom (a mature understanding of life) A World of Beauty (beauty of nature and the arts) Family Security (taking care of loved ones) Mature Love (sexual and spiritual intimacy) Self-Respect (self-esteem) A Sence of Accomplishment (lasting contribution) Inner Harmony (freedom from inner conflict) Source: Schiffman and Kanuk (2004, 334) INSTRUMENTAL VALUES Ambitious (hardworking, aspiring) Broad Minded (open-minded) Capable (competent, effective) Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful) Clean (neat, tidy) Courageous (standing up for your beliefs) Forgiving (willing to pardon others) Helpful (working for the welfare of others) Honest (sincere, truthful) Imaginative (daring, creative) Independent (self-reliant, self-sufficient) Intellectual (intelligent, reflective) Logical (consistent, rational) Loving (affectionate, tender) Obedient (dutiful, respectful) Polite (courteous, well-mannered) Responsible (dependable, reliable) Self-Controlled (restrained, selfdisciplined)
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Values are often explained as a criterion that individuals use to select or excuse their behaviour and evaluate the behaviour of others20. Every person has a specific structure of values, and values are shaped regarding the experience and learning of each individual.
12.3.2.2 LOV methodology

List of Values (LOV) typology was developed at the University of Michigan21. In LOV analysis, examinees are given a list of eight values: self-respect, security, warm relationships with others, sense of accomplishment, self-fulfilment, being well respected, sense of belonging, fun and enjoyment in life and excitement in life22. LOV is a scale often used for measuring lifestyle in numerous studies with significant results. Some of the results of LOV methodology show that people who value good relations with others have a lot of friends, or that people who appreciate fun and pleasure consume a lot of alcohol, that people who value achievements have high income, etc. Likewise, people who appreciate the sense of belonging particularly enjoy group sports and other activities that involve others. People who like fun and excitement like skiing, dancing, biking, camping and travelling. People who value good relations with others gift with no particular reason. Several studies showed that over 90 percent of examinees choose the same values if a survey is repeated several months later. The use of this scale is widely used nowadays for the analysis marketing phenomena. The results show that these phenomena can partially be explained by personal values, and LOV methodology proved to be complete and providing a very good foundation for segmentation.
12.3.2.3 AIO methodology

AIO (activities, interests, opinions) methodology refers to measuring the activities, interests and opinions of consumers23. It was developed in 197124. Activities are manifested actions such as work, hobbies, social
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events, relaxation, fun, sports, shopping etc. Interest is a level of excitement that accompanies the events. Finally, opinions are the obvious convictions about oneself, social issues, entrepreneurship, economy, products, culture etc. Using AIO methodology, lifestyle can be defined as the way of living that assumes how people spend their time and money activities, what they consider relevant in their environment interests, and what they think about themselves and the world around them opinions. A persons lifestyle is actually a model of living expressed by activities, interests and opinions. It is under the influence of many elements such as culture, subculture, demography, social class, reference groups, family, as well as some individual variables such as motivation, emotions and personality traits. This methodology of segmentation based on lifestyle measures peoples activities regarding: how they spend their free time, their interests, what is important to them in their approximate surroundings, their opinion about themselves and the world around them, some basic characteristics such as their position in life, income, education and where they live. Within AIO examinees are presented detailed questionnaires, specially created for measuring their activities, interests and opinions. The focus of marketers and researchers is mainly on the identification of trends that affect the way consumers live, work and amuse them. AIO methodology is used for the classification of population into the segments with similar thinking and acting.
12.3.2.4 PRIZM methodology

One of the most popular methodologies for segmentation based on lifestyle is PRIZM, which identifies various socio-economic and demographic factors (education, income, profession, family life cycle, ethnicity, living area and urbanisation) that the US census lists. These data are combined with the
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data from surveys and panels about the real consumer behaviour (such as shopping and the use of products, purchase by ordering via mail, as well as the habits of exposure to the media), in order to group consumers with the same characteristics. PRIZM methodology of consumer segmentation was developed by Claritas Inc company and its full name is Claritas PRIZM. According to PRIZM, each household in the US is classified into one of 62 special types or clusters. Claritas uses factor analysis with the census data to reveal demographic and lifestyle changes that show the differences among consumer profiles in accordance with the annual demographic projections. Clusters are then classified into 14 social groups marked by the level of urbanisation, from rural to urban. The level of wealth or socioeconomic status characterised by the income of households, education, property value and profession, is grouped on the scale from poor to wealthy households. Using the census data from 2000, Claritas statisticians renewed the previous version of PRIZM and developed an entirely new system. The new version of PRIZM marketing analysis is not based on the traditional groups of algorithms but uses new technologies instead, which contribute to better segmentation results. This is why the new PRIZM is called The New Evolution. The new methodology combines the data of demographic segmentation and segmentation based on consumer behaviour necessary for an easier identification, understanding and targeting of consumers. Likewise, the new PRIZM has been expanded onto 66 segments according to the socio-economic range (that considers characteristics such as income, education, profession and property value). These 66 segments have been classified into two groups: 1. Social groups: 14 groups based on urbanisation and socio-economic range. 2. Life cycle phase groups: 11 groups based on age and the presence of children in households, as well as on the socio-economic range25.
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12.3.2.5 VALS methodology

VALS methodology was originally developed by consumer futurist Arnold Mitchell in 1969. SRI Consulting has been using it as its official methodology since 197826. VALS places U.S. adult consumers into one of eight segments based on their responses to the VALS questionnaire. The main dimensions of the segmentation framework are primary motivation (the horizontal dimension) and resources (the vertical dimension). An individuals primary motivation determines what in particular is the meaningful core that governs an individuals activities. One of three primary motivations inspires consumers: ideals (guided by knowledge and principles), achievement (demonstrate success to their peers), and self-expression (desire for social or physical activity, variety, and risk). Resources that play a critical role in buying decisions are a persons energy, self-confidence, intellectualism, novelty seeking, innovativeness, impulsiveness, leadership, and vanity. VALS reflects a real-world pattern that explains the relationship between personality traits and consumer behaviour. It uses psychology to analyze the dynamics underlying consumer preferences and choices. VALS asserts that people express their personalities through their behaviours. People with different personalities engage in different behaviours or exhibit similar behaviours for different reasons27. VALS methodology in SAD groups consumers into eight segments: fulfilled, believers, achievers, strivers, experiencers, makers, actualizers and strugglers. Considering the characteristics of consumers, there are some significant differences among VALS segments. For instance, the segment called believers is comprised of the consumers that are prone to buying American products and they do not like changing their consumption habits. Actualizers are consumers that prefer top quality and new products, especially advanced technology. VALS is a psychographic scale based on psychological characteristics and basic demographic data, i.e. it is a psychographic market segmentation that fully depends on psychological traits that affect consumer behaviour. The basic assumption of VALS methodology is that people express their characteristics through behaviour. Instead of observing what consumers do
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and form market segments based on that, VALS studies their psychological characteristics and based on that predicts their behaviour. VALS relies on the latest research of personalities and consumer behaviour and finds that consumers with different psychological characteristics react differently to the same stimulus or react similarly due to entirely different reasons.
12.4 Lifestyle Analysis in Bosnia and Herzegovina

For the purpose of understanding lifestyle in Bosnia and Herzegovina a research was conducted in 2009. Using VALS methodology 212 respondents participated in the survey. Based on the research conducted by VALS methodology through six main behavioural factors, three lifestyle clusters were identified28: 1. Urban Intellectuals, 2. Trendy and Popular individuals, 3. Passive Observers.
Figure 52
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Urban Intellectuals are interested in life and the world around them. They are very active, highly educated with a middle or higher income. Instead of fashion and trends, this cluster enjoys quality and is mainly comprised of hedonists. Trendy and Popular individuals are from a mostly younger age group, and seek attention. They are always seeking new trends, and are highly interested in fashion and pop culture. Through consumption they try to imitate those they admire. For Passive Observers life is just passing by. Disappointed, traditional and not interested, this group gathers older, uneducated respondents with lower incomes. They think its a shame to by something you dont need.
Table 10: Clusters in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Indolence Urban Intellectuals Trendy and Popular Individuals Passive Observers -0,59888 Low 0,517468 Middle 0,991188 High
Theory 0,778062 High -0,68139 Low -0,42486 Low
Tradition -0,10866 Low 0,994042 High 0,717293 High
Practice 0,02476 Middle -0,40913 Low 0,37846 High
Fashion -0,18535 Middle 0,66165 High -0,92438 Low
Activity 0,431933 High 0,051959 Middle -1,16969 Low
Urban Intellectuals are not traditional and do not care about religion. As presumed, they are engaged in everything around them, interested in discussions and culture, and very active. They are not involved in fashion trends; rather they enjoy quality and try to indulge themselves through hedonistic appeal.
Figure 53
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The Trendy and Popular cluster in BH is indolent, shows a lack of interest in theory and are highly grounded in tradition. They keep up with fashion trends and can be described as followers. All values are high in the Passive Observers cluster, revealing that respondents are more traditional than expected, absolutely not interested in fashion and value more home-made products. Bosnia and Herzegovina is overall more traditional than expected, and shows the strong influence of religion. The population distribution through clusters is: 41.04% in the first, 38.68% in the second and 20.28% in the third cluster.
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1. What criteria need to be met in order for segmentation to be valid? 2. What is psychographic segmentation? 3. What is the difference between psychographic segmentation and lifestyle? 4. Why is lifestyle important? 5. What are the methods of measuring lifestyle? 6. What are the advantages of LOV methodology? 7. What clusters of lifestyle are presented in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
References
1. Solomon M., G. Bamossy and S. Askegaard, (2002): Consumer Behaviour, A European Perspective, Pearson Education, 2nd edition 2. Munk, N., (1998): Gap Gets It, Fortune, August, pp. 68-82 3. Solomon M., G. Bamossy and S. Askegaard, (2002): Consumer Behaviour, A European Perspective, Pearson Education, 2nd edition 4. Demby, E.H., (1974): Psychographics and from Whence it Came, in W.D. Wells (ed.) Life Style and Psychographics, pp. 1130. Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association 5. Marcic, B.R., (2005): Ponasanje potrosaca, Centar za izdavacku djelatnost Ekonomskog fakulteta u Beogradu, str. 260-61 6. Tam, J. L. M. and S. H. C. Tai, (1998): Segmentation of female market in Greater China International Marketing Review Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 61-77 7. Weber, M., (1968): Economy and Society, New York: Bedminster Press; Sobel, M.E., (1983): Lifestyle dierentiation and stratication in contemporary US society, in D.J. Treiman and R.V. Robinson (eds.): Research in social stratication and mobility, Vol. 2; Rojek, C., (1985): Capitalism and Leisure Theory, Tavistock, London 8. Adler, A., (1929): Problems of Neurosis: A Book of Case Hostories, Harper Torchbook (1964.) ed. P. Mairet, New York: Harper and Row
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9. Ginzberg, E., et. al. (1966): Life Styles of Educated Women, New York Columbia University Press (Ch. 10: Lifestyles pp. 144-165) 10. Levy, S.J., (1967): Symbolisma and life style, New York 11. Havinhurst, R.J. and A. De Vries, (1969): Life styles and free time ativities of retired men, Human Development, Vol. 12, pp. 34-54 12. Wilensky, H.L., (1970): Emerging leisure styles: a microscopic prediction about the fate of the Organization Man, Society and Leisure, Vol. 4(1), pp. 149-174 13. Wind, J. and P. Green, (1974): Some conceptual, measurment, and analytical problems of life style research, in Wells, pp. 99-126 14. Husic, M., (2009): Lifestyle and Luxury Consumption, Doctoral thesis, School of Economics and Business in Sarajevo 15. Schutz, H.G., P.C. Baird and G.R. Hawke, (1979): Lifesyles and Consumer Behaviour of Older Americans, Praeger New York 16. Ruiz, J. I., (1990): Life styles and daily leisure (Victorias Case), in Filipcova, Glyptis and Tokarski 17. Husic-Mehmedovic, M., (2009): Lifestyle and Luxury Consumption, Doctoral thesis, School of Economics and Business in Sarajevo 18. Ibid 19. Rokeach, M.J., (1973): The Nature of Human Values, New York: The Free Press 20. Fraj, E. and E. Martinez, (2006): Environmental values and lifestyles as determining factors of ecological consumer behaviour: an empirical analysis, Journal of Consumer Marketing, 23/3, pp. 133-144 21. Kahle, L.R., (1983): Social Values and Social Change: Adaption to Life in America, Praeger, New York, NY i Kahle, L.R., (1986): The nine nations of north America and the value basis of geographic segmentation, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 50, pp. 37-47 22. Beatty, S., P. Homer and L. Kahle, (1998): Problems with VALS in international marketing research: An example from an application of the empirical mirror technique, Advances in Consumer Research, No 15, pp. 375-380 23. Peter, J.P. and J.C. Olson, (1994): Understanding Consumer Behavior, Boston: Irwin 24. Wells, W. and D.J. Tigert, (1971): Activities, interests and opinions. Journal of Advertising Research, Vol 11 No 4, pp. 27-34 25. Husic, M., (2009): Lifestyle and Luxury Consumption, Doctoral thesis, School of Economics and Business in Sarajevo 26. SRI Consulting Business Intelligence (2006): Understanding U.S. Consumers, April 2006, pp. 8 27. Ibid 28. Husic, M., (2009): Lifestyle and Luxury Consumption, Doctoral thesis, School of Economics and Business in Sarajevo
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Chapter objectives
Distinguishing different types of organizational markets Specifics of the organizational buyer Types of organizational purchase process Identifying participants and their roles in the process Models of the organizational buyer behaviour
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13. ORGANIZATIONAL BUYER BEHAVIOUR

When it comes to studying the behaviour of consumer, the focus of attention is, above all, on a consumer as individual. However, it would be wrong reducing the object of the study exclusively on the individual consumer as such it would be better to observe it either as a single person, or as a part and parcel of a certain market segment. On the contrary. Under the lenses of a scientific analysis the attention has been more and more intensively shifted towards the organizational buyer; or the organization that appears on market as a buyer of goods and services for its own production, intended for market or sales; or, on the other hand, for rendering services that would be impossible to provide without such sales. This, in turn, leads to a conclusion that the organization as buyer has a large number of its appearances. One must make a difference within the market intended for organizational customer accordingly. One should bear in mind that, if different authors on the subject are to be consulted, that certain differences in their attitude can be identified. A number of authors, for instance, makes a difference between markets for industrial manufacturing needs, markets of intermediaries, where it is not important if such a mediation has been done in the form of wholesale or retail sales, and, finally, market of governmental institutions the institutions of legislative, executive and judiciary powers, public licensed companies and agencies, etc.1. Within the context of this analysis, however, we would like to choose a somewhat different attitude. Its detailed description is to be presented in the analysis that follows.
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13.1 Types of organizational markets

Generally speaking, one can identify three types of buyers on organizational market: commercial, institutional and governmental institutions as a separate group of buyers (see in more detail Figure 54 below). Each one of the mentioned types of organizational buyers is to be presented in more details as this analysis continues.
Figure 54: Types of organizational buyers
Source: Ellis, N. (2010): Business to Business Marketing: Relationships, networks and strategies, Oxford University Press, pp. 32-62.
13.1.1 Commercial buyers

One can identify in the group of commercial buyers, and the figure above points to it, distributors, original equipment manufacturers, users organizations, and, finally, retailers. The first ones among them, distributors, have been also known as intermediaries or wholesalers. Their name, of course, refer to their basic function or task to distribute goods or products through distribution
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supply chains or channels, but also, at the same time, adding their own profit to the basic value of a product, an increased portion of the product price that will be, ultimately, paid by those who use their distribution services. These can be either original equipment manufacturers or manufacturers of certain parts used for the final product for instance, a part for a private car, manufacturing machine and like and consumers on the personal consumption market that happen to buy retail products. Nevertheless, we shall speak about them later on. Original equipment manufacturers are, in fact, firms that buy certain materials or parts from other suppliers, make them into their own final products, and, consequently sell them, naturally as their own brand name, to their own customers. In the process, it is an original equipment manufacturer that is to be understood as a kind of a focal firm, since it was them and not the other companies in the chain of manufacturing the final product, who need to deal both with suppliers and distributors. Or, even more concretely, the original equipment manufacturer appears as organizational buyer to suppliers of components and raw materials, but also as the vendor to customers of their own products. Users are such organizations that use goods and services they happen to buy on business market as a support for their own production process. Such goods and services are not, indeed, components that are built into the final product, but original equipment manufacturers also use them in its own production. In such a case, in other words, an original equipment manufacturer can also appear as a user, but for other set of goods and products and not for those that it directly makes into their own final product. Car manufacturers, such as General Motors, Toyota and many others, use in their manufacturing process different types of consumable goods machine tools, lubricants, cleaning equipment, etc. Manufacturers cannot do without them, they are forced to use them, but they are not components, products that are built into the final product car. And, finally, one can add to the group of commercial customers the one of retailers, who usually resell goods that had been purchased on organizational market to end users in such a way that they added, similar to distributors, their own value or profit to purchased goods. However,
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they differ from distributors, because they have often developed their own marketing functions, and secured larger budgets for developing their relations with their customers. In order to meet, subsequently, ever more sophisticated demands from customers, the majority of retailers also become more and more demanding towards their suppliers. The final effect of such type of changes, as a matter of fact, can be seen in the detail that many manufacturers, producers, are forced to sell their products to retailers in order to have their products reach the end user, customers, at all.
13.1.2 Institutional customers

Institutional customers function under somewhat different logic in relation to commercial ones. Instead of commercial firms, it is the public sector, or government, that fill in the role of organizations. Such a sector is characterized by many bureaucratic (red tape) steps and procedures that are, to a lesser or greater extent, not present among commercial customers. Nevertheless, it is evident that the principle of focusing on the needs of customers is still the largest one, either if the end customer, or user for that matter, is a sick person, student or traveller. One refers here to many organizational purchases that need to be done in order to secure functioning of hospitals, public transportation or universities. In order, for example, for public universities to function at all, the basic assumption is to secure chairs and desks, equip libraries, do the purchase and installation of computer equipment, and similar things. The similar situation applies to diverse non-for-profit organizations, such as different charities and religious organizations. They can also be classified as institutional customers. However, in difference from firms that run their operations following the logic of profit, non-for-profit organizations cannot base their existence and operations on such assumptions. It does not, however, mean that their practice in regard to purchase of products and services is somewhat softer than the one used by original equipment manufacturers. On the contrary, limitations imposed on them by budgetary financing stipulations can often be even tighter than the ones in the private sector.
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13.1.3. Governmental organizations as customers

To many companies on an organizational market, governments are interesting partners to do business with. It is true, however, that different governments have different political priorities. It can be seen, among others, in their spending on health, education and the military. At first, one might think that the first and foremost concern of any government is the welfare of its citizens or education so, in accordance with it, investments in health sector or education should be its priority. In reality, however, the actual situation appears to be quite different. Governments in certain developing countries, where such an orientation would be highly logical such as, for instance, Oman, Burma and Pakistan spend more on the defence than either on health and education combined2. And, then, it becomes an important piece of information for manufacturers and exporters of the most developed Western countries. In the period 19982001, for example, USA reached its exports of 9 billion, Great Britain 2.9billion, and France 2.1 billion, based solely on arms sales. A whole lot of people have been provided with employment in over 1,100 arms industry firms in 98 different countries including Colt in USA, Beretta in Italy, and BAE Systems in Great Britain. The area of healthcare is, naturally, interesting for organizational market as an area of governmental concern. The value of healthcare services, which have been purchased or sold abroad, is estimated to more than 3 trillion a year. Nowadays, e-health as an umbrella term for a special type of health consulting is particularly interesting, as well as some more recent Internet applications that can be delivered live. The future of e-health will depend, indeed, on a number of organizational stakeholders in such a process development banks, multilateral development agencies, nonfor-profit organizations, such as international foundations, professional bodies, academic and scientific institutions, and, last, but not the least, the private sector that produces medical products, render services, and offer information technology3. If one observes, however, local environment, where governments and their institutions appear as customers, the organisational market is characterized by certain features. One of them, for instance, is associated with the fact
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that, as a rule, national (domestic or local) suppliers often function as suppliers. On the other hand, it is expected that they also offer a minimum of costs. All this, as a consequence, leads to a practice of open bids, which excludes or reduces to the smallest possible extent a possibility of misuse. In addition, governmental purchases happen to be under very watchful and critical scrutiny of public opinions. Finally, governmental purchase on the organizational market is, as a rule, flooded with red tape backdrop, bureaucratic procedures and emphasized paperwork.
13.2 Specificities of organizational buying as compared to consumer buying market

If one observes this topic in a comparative way, there are certain similarities that can be identified between consumer and organizational buying. Although the rationality attitude happen to be a prevailing feature of organizational buying, and emotions characterizes customers involved in personal spending, one can often see reverse situations that emotions prevail in organizational buying, and that a final consumer is buying while relying on a number of technical data and diverse sources of information. It is not, however, the only detail that comes as a warning that a division between these two markets and two types of buying is not always clearcut. But, despite the aforementioned, if a comparison is made with the personal consumer market, one can conclude that organizational customer buying is much more determined by features that are not so imminent to individual customer buying. However, there can be several characteristic features that can be particularly singled out. Or, even more concretely, the organizational market has been determined by certain specicities of both market and demand in relation to individual consumer market, as shown in Table 11.
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Table 11. Characteristic differences between buying behaviour on consumer buying and organizational buying markets Behaviour and characteristics Number of buyers Size of orders Value of orders Evaluating criteria Purchase initiation Level of risk Complexity of decision Information search Consumer buying market Normally large Small Normally low Social, individual Normally self Low to medium Low to medium Normally short Organizational buying market Normally small Large Normally large Price, value Normally others Medium to high Medium to high Normally long
Source: Ellis, N. (2010): Business to Business Marketing: Relationships, networks and strategies, Oxford University Press, pp. 32-62.
Different from the consumer buying market, above all, where the demand for goods is mostly of primary nature consumers buy on it in order to satisfy their own needs the demand on business markets has mainly been drawn from or derived. And, in fact, it means that it stems out from a demand of value on consumer buying market. Or, even more precisely, if there would not be a demand for a certain commodity on consumer buying market, manufacturers, processing industry manufacturers and distributors would not have any one to sell to their raw materials, fuel, components and like. A car, for instance, that we drive, is the final product composed of a large number of components metal, plastics, glass, rubber, etc. However, as the final product, the car has come out as the result of work by the whole chain of stakeholders raw materials suppliers, manufacturers and processing manufacturers of components, distributors. And they, each one for itself, when their work has been assembled into the car as the final product, contribute to the expected satisfaction of the prospective owner. Therefore, a demand for the car on the consumer buying market is of primary nature, whereas the demand for metal, plastics, rubber and
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other components that have been purchased on industrial market is, consequently, drawn out or derived. Organizational or business market, subsequently, has been crucially determined by so-called inelastic demand a demand that is not susceptible to price fluctuation. Demand for goods on market, however, is under the strong influence of price changes. Any price increase, for instance, has a decrease of demand for such specific goods as a consequence. And, in other words, it means that goods market demand is elastic, or changeable, depending on price for certain goods. The only exception to the rule can be those goods that satisfy basic human needs. Regardless of, for instance, how high the price of bread can go high up, the demand for bread will not change that much. The situation is quite different with organizational markets. They are characterized by derived demand, and such a demand, in turn, is characterized by comparatively more emphasized price insensibility, or a lack of elasticity on a shorter run. Due to such type of insensibility, one says for organizational or business demand markets to be characterized by inelastic demand. And they will determine such type of market as long as organisational or buying customers are ready to pay the price of goods that have been determined by the original manufacturer. Regardless, for instance, if oil becomes more expensive, the demand for it will not decrease in the amount of its increase of price as long as oil derivatives consumers are ready to bear the burden of increase in price. Organizational or business market is characterized by a so-called fluctuating demand the demand that is extremely sensitive to even the slightest changes in the fluctuation of primary demand on the consumer buying market. Such type of sensitivity conceals, as a matter of fact, within itself a great danger for firms transactions on business markets due to the so-called acceleration eect, or the acceleration impact that comes out as the consequence of fluctuating demand. It makes business deals with fluctuating demand a highly risky venture. Why? Simply said, the acceleration effect means that even the slightest percentage of change in the primary demand might cause multiple and greater changes on the derived demand of organizational markets. If, however, the company has not been prepared for potential changes of primary demand, it can be faced, almost overnight, with insurmountable business troubles.
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Whereas the customer buying, i.e. personal consumption, market can consist of millions of individual buyers, the number of buyers on the organizational market is relatively small. Under such circumstances, yet another specific feature of this market appears as natural. Business stakeholders have a great influence both on the price of products or services and on the sales conditions under which they are being offered on market. Or, even more concretely, the exposure to competition on this market is comparatively smaller than the one on the personal consumption market, so the possibility of striking a deal and a joint appearance and similar situations are more likely to take place. Although the number of buyers on the organizational market is relatively small it is by far smaller if compared to the personal buying market one should, as a rule, think about larger buyers. Quantities and values of individual buying and sales of stakeholders on business markets are by far larger than the values as shown on customer buying market. General Motors Company, for instance, buys each year goods on business markets worldwide in the value that surpasses the annual GDP of countries such as Ireland Portugal, Greece and Turkey4. It seems logical, therefore, that every individual buying process is more complex. Such a feature can be recognized, among others, in the fact that individual buying process includes involvement of a larger number of persons. They may have different functions, of course, (such as manufacture, supply, designing, maintenance), or different levels of education (engineers, MBA, university graduates, etc.), or different hierarchical levels attained (general manager, manager, middle level management, etc), or, in the course of buying process, they may fill in different roles (users, initiators, influencers, buyers, gatekeepers, decision-makers, approvers) etc. The rule must, of course, apply here that if the purchase of products involves large financial investments, a larger number of people will be included in the process of reaching a decision. They are confronted with relatively complex decisions, regardless if a larger or smaller number of persons happen to be a part of decision-making process, that always consist of several dimensions whether to go or not at all in purchase, what to buy, what quantities to buy, and, finally, from whom to buy. An engineer, for instance, may put together a specified list of needs, and it can be approved afterwards by
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the manager, but the final purchase, however, is carried out by a team of experts who spend all of their working hours on finding the best offer for goods that the firm needs. The involvement of a larger number of people in decision-making procedure on the organizational customer buying market also includes a reaching the decision within the group. Even more concretely, an individual person makes the decision on purchase on the personal consumption market. By doing so, it is exposed to different types of external and internal dealings and influences. For the organizational customer, however, the decision for purchase has not often been allowed to be carried out by a single person. On the contrary, a larger number of persons having been organized as team, or buying centre, often take part in the reaching the decision. One must not understand the term buying centrevii as the permanently organized body within the firm, nor as the body that is comprised always of the same people in all the situations. The buying centre, on the contrary, is the assumed group that might consist of entirely new persons, depending on what kind of purchase is to be accomplished. If, for instance, one refers to a routine purchase activity, the group might be even omitted from the process, and the actual purchase, based on the previously accepted plan, might be, in the end, carried out by the person in charge in the supply sector. If one is to think, however, on the financially more relevant purchases the purchase, for instance, of production lines it is highly likely that a number of specialists will participate in the decision-making process, or all the persons whose participation is a necessary precondition for reaching the best decision. All this, again, serves as a proof about the larger complexity of decision of purchase in organizational customer. Since it requires the most competent persons, it comes as no surprise that, in a situation of making decisions on organizational purchase, the team members that comprise the team the group, or buying centre - might often change in order to reach the right decision. All the decisions reached are not identical, and that, in turn, means that each and every one of them requires other team members that make the decisions, or only those who are thought to be the most
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A buying centre will be dealt with in more details in the remainder of this chapter.
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competent and most useful ones for the company. On the other hand, a presence of larger number of persons in reaching decisions might have caused different kinds of problems as a consequence. It is possible, for instance, to create gap, the lack of harmony between the perceived role of individual team member in decision-making and the actual role attributed to such a person in reality. In such a case, the internal conflicts within the group must be taken into account as a real possibility. Different attitudes as expressed by various team members that make purchase decision may also lead to conflicts in relation to criteria that need to be evaluated or preferred in the decision-making procedure, etc. As it is not characteristic for the individual customer, when the organizational customer is concerned, the formal aspects of procedures and activities must not be broken in the decision-making process on the purchase of products and services needed for the company, and that comply with basic company rules. Neither the technical complexity nor the value of products and services that are the subject of purchase are deemed to be of essential importance. The same formal rules do apply and must be observed when both smaller or larger values purchase are at stake, or if the purchase is done due to some urgent need, or in the regular supply procedure. In the end, all these decisions on purchase, regardless of differences that obviously can be identified between particular individual cases, must end with a kind of formal agreement reached between the customer and supplier. One must not, of course, reduce the formal aspects of procedures to a single aspect only. One might include under the formality of procedures, for instance, a relatively frequent practice that can be seen in the organizational customer who requires a number of details in relation to the particular product it intends to purchase. The individual customer, for instance, a household, may solely choose a certain model of desktop computer because it finds its colour agreeable. Such a possibility is excluded with organizational customer: it is more likely that the organizational customer will put forward certain requirements that must be met with the certain model of computer in terms of processor speed, memory capacity, and the size of hard disk, and all this with the previously stated price offer of such a product.
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Whereas the individual customer is relatively highly likely to accept as final the price already attached to the product as advertised in retail sale, or the service provider stated the same price as the final one; it is more likely for the organizational customer to use the form of public announcement and negotiations and to insist, for instance, on three different offers for the same service, or when negotiating the price under different conditions that might apply to specific features of product, terms of delivery, prices, etc. The very fact that purchase on the organizational market presupposes the involvement of a larger number of persons, and that it is followed by formal procedures and activities needed in the decision-making process; may have as a consequence and as a rule, a longer period of time between the moment when the initial need for purchase occurred and the actual purchase. And it can also mean that a marketing expert in the company may develop unrealistic purchase plans, if s/he is not aware of this feature of organizational buying. On the other hand, the fact that the organizational purchase lasts relatively longer, may have as a consequence the level of insecurity and risk involved with a larger number of variables. The insecurity and risk, for instance, stem out from changes that, in the meantime, might have taken place in the surroundings, and that are connected with the acquired purchase conditions. The organizational customer is also marked, without a doubt, by the rationality of purchase motives. In order, in fact, to reach the purchase decision, the organizational customer always, as a rule, poses the same question to itself - to what extent is such a purchase rational? Or, even more concretely, its goal is to attain the largest productivity possible, but it also needs to adjust it to the customers requirements. If such an envisaged goal is accomplished, the organizational customer will attain two more effects it will decrease the production costs and increase its profits. Such effects, in the end, will lead to the ultimate one the maximizing of profit. All this, however, does not mean that the organizational market is totally devoid of emotional dimensions when making its purchase decisions. On the contrary. Despite all the formal procedures and rationality aspects of purchase motives, the purchase decisions on organizational market cannot ignore the fact that such decisions are made by people, who happen to have
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in other firms either their friends, or individuals, or groups of people they have inclination for, and to whom, they are likely to give their trust in the similar environment under the same conditions with other suppliers. And not only that. In time, close connections are established between suppliers and customers that might have a direct influence on their professional relationship. The organizational buyers purchase has also been, of course, characterized by a reciprocal nature in exchange. What does it mean? Above all, it is the frequent practice that firms buy from each other. This type of reciprocity is referred to as the primary one, but it is often accompanied with another one described as indirect one, or the reciprocity where the purchase of certain items have been conditioned by selling of another item from another company. What seems to be the consequence of purchase that is carried out under the pretext of practice aforementioned, be it primary or indirect reciprocity? There are a larger number of such consequences. Nevertheless, one of the most obvious ones happen in terms of payment the price of purchased product is not being paid each time it has been bought, but, on the contrary, only the difference in price, once the mutual buying-selling transaction has gone through. An important thing to mention in the features that characterize the organizational customer purchase is the specific distribution channel. What is it all about? It has been mentioned that on the personal consumption market, for example, distribution centres have been in function of a particular mediation between the producer and consumer. Such an intermediary role has also been known on the organizational buyers market. However, it occurs, from a variety of objective reasons, more rarely than on the personal customer market. The reason lies in the fact that on the organizational buyer market the buying-selling stakeholders, buyer and seller, as a rule, rarely come into contact through an intermediary. They communicate directly to each other. The exceptions to such a practice are relatively rare they may occur in the situation, for instance, when buyers are diversified in their geographic locations and the value of products happen to be relatively low. Other situations, however, can also take place, they are possible, but they do occur not as often as the mentioned one.
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13.3 Types of organizational buying

The organizational buying, or the purchase on the organizational market, does not necessarily take place according to the same scenario. On the contrary. It is possible to make a difference between three characteristic situations in such an environment. Accordingly, it is possible to discern three types of organizational purchase routine, modied and new purchase. One can speak about the routine purchase and some authors refer to it also as a straight rebuy or repeated purchase, or buying that occurs repeatedly, when one places orders for a purchase in a routine manner. It is carried out by an individual who makes its decision based on the previously established parameters. Each firm, however, has a list of standardized products be it lesser value equipment, spare parts, or items needed for regular activities, such as diverse kinds of accessories, office supplies, chemicals, and like and, at the beginning of each year, the estimated list of annual quantities of such items that need to be procured is made, together with the schedule of supply, since such goods supply take place from time to time, mostly every three months, or once every six months. The basic question to be answered, of course, is when the company need to apply the routine buying? As a rule, one thinks of the situation when the item in question is of a lesser importance, or it is the item that has already been purchased many times in the past, so there is no need to do any additional search for relevant information. Yet another situation can also be identified if the company did business with the same supplier in the past, and based on the positive experience, the new purchase can be just another element for a further development of mutual partnership. The modified rebuy or purchase, or so-called limited problem solving, is used in the situation when the buyer wants to modify specification elements, or certain products had changed their previous features, or the market conditions changed such as the change in process, terms of delivery, etc. We can imagine, for example, the purchase of new vehicles, or electronic equipment or computers and similar items. The modified purchase happens quite frequently in such and similar situations. The changed terms or conditions require more time for deliberation and more efforts directed to processing of pertinent details, or, as a matter of fact,
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the limited deliberation of information that appear as the result of changes that affected ay stage of decision-making process. The modified purchase is used most frequently when the customer has not been satisfied with the previous collaboration, if it is not happy with the quality of goods delivered before, or if the business customers have expressed new requests. On the other hand, if the same type of purchase is to occur, there can be two characteristic approaches in purchase problem solving either a simple or complex one. A simple approach is always applied when one wants to purchase the known, familiar product, the product that is needed in the long run. It also happens when there is no real alternative for such a product, and if the real need for additional information is almost insignificant. If there are too many unknown features on the purchase product, and if there is a wide variety of suppliers available or present on the market, and if all this requires the analysis of a number of relevant pieces of information; the other, so-called complex approach to the modified purchase must be applied. Finally, the new task purchase takes place in all the situations when the customer wants to buy the product for the first time, or if it does not have any previous experience with such a product. One can imagine, for instance, the purchase in a situation when new materials are being promoted, or new technologies have been introduced, or when one wants to buy a new furniture, armed systems, real estate, installed components, etc. Naturally, such a purchase is subject to many unknown things and it involves certain risks. It is also natural to do more effort for gathering the relevant pieces of information in terms of the producer and suppliers, and related to the price, quality, terms of delivery, and like. It is true, however, that different situations might even apply when the new purchase is involved. The difference must be drawn between apparent forms of new purchase a classic and strategic new purchase. The first, classic new purchase, applies to situations when the new product is sought and it has not been purchased before, if one is to enter into collaboration with the new supplier with whom it did not work with before, or, finally, if there have been no developed business relationship with such a firm. On the other hand, the strategic new purchase applies to situations when the items or goods sought are of extreme strategic importance and/or of great
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value. In such a case, the customer takes a great responsibility, and, because of it, the customer needs to put great efforts in gathering and processing much needed information that can help reaching the right decision. All this presupposes the real need to involve more persons into the buying process. If, in the end, one would like to sum up briefly the features or characteristics of all the three buying situations aforementioned, it can be done in way as presented in the following Table 12.
Table 12: Features of three buying type situations Characteristics Time needed Persons involved in purchase Needed information Offered alternatives Novelty Decision-reaching complexity Frequency Repeated purchase little little minimal none none low often Modified purchase a lot of on average medium moderate several average medium from time to time New purchase a lot of large maximal a lot of high medium-high irregular
13.4 Participants and organizational buying process stages

13.4.1 Buying centre concept
The organizational or business purchase is always a complex thing and it involves a larger number of people or participants. All of them comprise a whole known also as a buying centre, which can be defined as the entirety of individuals and groups that participate in the decision-making process on purchase, who share the same common goals and risks that can arise from their decision5. Within the group, one can identify different roles of its members some of them are users, others make decisions, or influence them, the third ones are involved in realization of purchase, or they can influence the flow of information.
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The very term buying centre has its own history. More than fifty years ago, it was Cyert, Simon and Trow6 who realized that a certain number of managers had been involved into the process of organizational purchase, together with the buying agent. Such a concept was later on determined as the buying centre, and it was further made popular in the study Industrial purchase and creative marketing by Robinson, Faris and Wind, published in 19677. Webster and Wind8 did go a step further by having identified five basic roles in the buying centres users, influencers, decision-makers and doorkeepers. Bonoma9 complemented these roles having introduced the role of initiator, whereas Wilson10 added the role of analyst and observer into the list. Nowadays, one can find six roles within the buying centre in published sources. They are initiators, users, influencers, power delegators, buyers and doorkeepers. Some authors also add the seventh role that of decision makers (Figure 55)
Figure 55: Members in the process of organizational purchase
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Initiators are persons within the organization who first recognize the need for a certain product or service. More precisely, they are such type of persons within the organization gifted with most of ideas, they have the best developed and vibrant analytical spirit, and they are also the ablest ones, who can bring together their actual, current functions with those that the company might have in the future, if it develops in the direction desired. Users are considered to be the persons within the firm who are going to use the product or service. In other words, they are the ultimate product consumers within the organization. If you are, for instance, a secretary, you might have experienced a situation when, upon coming to work, you found a new computer on your desk, regardless if you have asked for it or not. If you did not have any influence on the purchase of computer, you do not expect the supplier to give you any special call. However, if you and your associates file in many complaints in view of certain faults or flaws found in the computer delivered, the seller can be faced with serious problems how to solve such a problem. And the actual solution might require substantial financial investments on behalf of the seller. Influencers are such members of organization who happen to be, in fact, the persons that either directly or indirectly may influence how the decision on purchase is made. In this concrete case, i.e. the purchase of computers, a head of office must be consulted in order to find out what kind of features or performance is expected from new computers. The head of office in such a case does not necessarily need to be authorized to make any decisions related to the computer purchase, but those who are given such power are likely to respect the specifics on the features s/he is supposed to prepare in order for the decision to be reached. That is why sellers pay due respect to such persons in the buying centre. Sellers often seek such people before they prepare an actual offer for their product or service and try very hard to find out from them the required features of products. Power delegators are persons who do have actual authority to decide on what particular suppliers a specific product or service will be, eventually, secured from. A middle level manager, for instance, may in certain situations, without the need to consult his superior and obtains his permission, or even without his awareness, make the decision what and
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when to buy. One must also bear in mind that certain powers in decisionmaking process do not necessarily mean that such persons have any influence on what they have purchased. On the contrary. The only person with such a privilege is the president of the company, who is the ultimate authority, and who, in the end, signs what and how certain things may be bought. Even the president itself does not make the decision, but the corporate body defined to do so by the companys statutes. Buyers or purchasers are the organizations members responsible for the actual purchase of the product or service needed to go through. The final purchase transaction, for instance, may be delegated to a purchasing agent, who usually does not participate in the decision making. In case when the company, for instance, needs to procure office equipment, the responsible selling agent may help your organization to reach the decision what brand of computer is the best for you. The company may subsequently allow its own purchasing agent to find the best solution for the organization, which includes the recommended brand and the best offer in regard to the actual price. Accordingly, it is the responsibility of the seller to maintain good relationships with the purchasing agent, based on mutual trust, in view of the future purchases by the firm s/he represents, regardless if the same company has earlier bought anything from the same seller. Gatekeepers are persons within the organization who control the flow of information in the buying centre. Or, even more concretely, they are some kind of guardians, watchdogs, or the persons who have authority to prevent sellers or their pieces of information to the buying centres members. It comes as no surprise that industrial traders so often try to build good relationships with such people. We often wonder why sellers are so kind and polite to the firms secretaries. Why they happen to be so attentive towards them, why they bring them chocolate or flowers, or ask them occasionally out for lunch? The reasons are more than obvious a secretary can be of exceptional help to you, but s/he can also block you in your attempt to gather diverse pieces of information within the organization s/he works in. The secretary may be of use to reveal the key names associated with the transaction you are interested in, his or her telephone numbers giving you valuable information on the working hours of the key members in the organizations buying centre, etc.
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And, finally, the decision makers are persons, or often also bodies within the organization, who make the final decision on the purchase if something is to be bought or not, what to buy, from whom to buy, etc.
13.4.2 The stages in the organizational purchase process

The very buying centre concept does warn about the complexity of organizational buyer purchase process. If one is to analyse such a process in more details, the impression on complexity may be supplied with valid argumentation. As a matter of fact, it is possible to identify several stages or bypasses within the entire purchase or supply process. However, the majority of authors recognize eight separate stages in the organizational buyers purchase process a problem recognition, general need description, products specification, supplier search, proposals submission, supplier selection, order specification, and performance review (Figure 56).
Figure 56: The stages in the organizational purchase process
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The process of any purchase begins with the problem recognition, or when someone in the firm recognizes the problem or identifies the need that can be fulfilled by the purchase of goods or service. And the problem may be just anything for instance, a development of a new product, the need to buy new raw and processed materials, or a machine failure happens and there is need for a spare component, the need to buy equipment because the existing one has been outdated, different daily consumables, the purchased materials do not fit the purpose, dissatisfaction with the actual service rendering, a more favourable price or better quality of product is sought, etc. All this, naturally, must be understood as a warning that problem recognition is the key stage in the entire purchase process. Once the problem is recognized, the general need description follows. It is the stage when general features of required product or service has been determined, as well as the quantities that need to be procured for the companys needs. Products specification is logically the next activity that follows the general need description. The best technical features of the product that is to be procured are being decided upon and specified (Figure 57).
Figure 57: Example of supplier evaluation11
In the study Sourcing in China: Strategies, Methods and Experiences, where the outsourcing of European firms on the Asian markets has been analyzed, the following criteria were ranked in evaluating products according to their importance that they happen to have as an average value for buyers (5 = very important and 1 = not important). Selection criterion Quality Price Delivery reliability Technical know-how Geographical location After- sales services Average importance 4.8 4.2 3.5 3.0 2.3 2.3
Source: G. Nassimbeni & M. Sartor (2006)
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Precisely written specifications or selection criteria such as, for instance, represented in the example above, allow the buyer to reject the products that do not meet the standards specified, or the products that are too expensive to him/her, etc. It is true that one frequently experiences the situation when the buyer and someone from suppliers side work out together such selection criteria, and define jointly the level of their importance for the supplier evaluation. In such a case, the supplier who has been involved into the buyers specification procedure has a clear advantage in comparison to a potential competition. The supplier search comes after the specification. The search can be, of course, conducted in different ways by reviewing yellow pages of suppliers, by conducting computer online search, following the ads, with a participation on trade fairs, by making telephone calls to other firms in order to have recommendations for certain companies, etc. Once each company has been evaluated according to the previously set specification criteria, the buyer will have a short list of qualified suppliers. Once the qualified suppliers have been shortlisted from the overall listing, and it does not matter how this list, in fact, has been put together, the buyer created all the preconditions for proposals submission from potential suppliers. The buyer will request the shortlisted suppliers to submit their proposals in accordance with selection criteria. Once all the proposals have been duly submitted, the buyer will do an appropriate analysis and evaluate each and every proposal. Some of the shortlisted suppliers may also be eliminated at this stage, and only after the selection has been completed in such a manner, the remaining suppliers will be asked to officially present their proposals to the buyer. Supplier selection follows after the proposals submission. In order to choose the final supplier, the buying centre must do yet another important activity it must specify the desired characteristics expected from the supplier and identify its own assessment for each and every one of them. Based on such data, the suppliers with proposals submitted will be duly ranked. Many buyers, for instance, are likely to think that one of the good signs for a display of quality can be seen in the fact that a certain supplier had been awarded with ISO standard certificate. Or, if the buyers have
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already introduced stocks maintenance system, they may prefer JIT (Just in time) system. Many buyers also find important to consider services that may be rendered after the purchased product has been effectively acquired. The price, after all, is an important thing for any organizational buyer, etc. In addition, it often happens that a buyer approaches the suppliers it is inclined to, and tries to conduct additional negotiations with the ultimate goal to have better prices and other purchase conditions obtained before the final selection. It is important to mention here that the buyer does not select the one and only supplier each time it wants to buy something. On the contrary, it often happens that the organizational buyer selects two or more suppliers. But, in such a case, the logic applies that the majority of all the purchase is to be ordered from the most reliable supplier, whereas the rest is procured from other suppliers. Order specification is the seventh stage in the entire purchase process conducted by the organizational buyer. Once the supplier has been selected either one or several of them the organizational buyer must place the order and conclude the agreement with the supplier. The order is usually placed by the buyers supply department. The order itself is a complex transaction, since it involves a great deal of details, such as technical specifications, requested quantities, expected time of delivery, a procedure in case the product is returned, warrants, etc. Performance review (some authors also use the term after-purchase assessment) is the last stage with which the organizational buyer purchase process comes to the end. Its essence can be seen in the buyers need to try to find the answer if it really did a good job, once the product has been bought. Or, even more concretely, if the product purchased meets and to what extent the criteria set up in specification, and if there is a need to do any corrections of relationships or not. The organizational buyer might ask its users to help assess such a need by asking them to evaluate the product in question themselves in compliance with certain criteria. The satisfaction of business buyers with the product delivered is most commonly evaluated. Deviations from goals set, or some other details, may also be taken into consideration such as a comparison between the evaluation of goods delivered and the average marks of certain criteria in its assessment. (Figure 57). The actual mark or grade that suppliers receive after the purchase has
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been done, may have certainly in different ways influenced the decision on the future relationship between the organizational buyer and its supplier it may secure the continuation of their collaboration and strengthen their mutual business dealings, but it can also lead to a breach or even ending of the collaboration. Although the organizational purchase procedure may appear as a simple linear progression (as shown on Figure 56), it is often not the case in real life. Sometimes some of the stages may appear concurrently to each other or without the order of steps envisaged. If here is, for instance, a routine or modified purchase, it often happens that some of the steps are missing, especially the first and the second one, and frequently even those from steps four to seven. Some buying centre members may be, afterwards, involved only with certain purchase procedure stages, whereas there is no need for their participation in other stages.
13.5 Basic influences on the organizational purchase process

Organizational buyers on the business market are exposed to the influence of many economic and personal factors. Sometimes, one set of factors may exert a stronger influence than the others, or vice versa. If, for instance, the offers by different suppliers do not differ too much, the personal factors will prevail, but, on the other hand, if there is a definite difference between the offers, the economic and rational factors will be the most dominant influence factors. It can be generally said that one may identify four particular types of influences on the organizational buyers decisions external, internal, individual and relational (Figure 58).
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Figure 58: Basic influences on the organizational purchase process
13.5.1 External influences on the organizational buyers decisions

There are many external factors they may have influence on the organizational buyers decision. One should particularly mention five of them socio-economic changes, globalization of business dealings, subtlety and power of buyer, market stagnation, and, finally, mentality of process rather than of a product. Socio-economic changes are directly reflected on the organizational buyer behaviour. The global economic crisis, for instance, that had swept the world in 2007, had as a consequence the crisis of trust into the banking system and the impossibility to secure capital much needed for functioning and development of companies. It had, among others, resulted in slowing down of activities in the building of new homes market, and, subsequently, it also affected all the firms connected to such a sector both those who render their financial services, and those that manufacture and sell building materials, those that offer engineering consulting services, etc. Or, a great increase in price of oil and fuel costs, which had affected the world in the second half of the first decade in 21st century, caused a chain effect on such business dealings that happen to be rather dependent on fuel costs. It can
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be best shown on the example of air carriers and airplane manufacturing industry. The increase of fuel costs, on one hand, caused a drop in number of passengers to most air carriers, whereas, on the other hand, made business dealings for airplane manufacturers quite difficult. The globalization of business dealings must be understood as a necessary by-product of contemporary business. In other words, in order to secure their transactions, organizational buyers have been forced to buy worldwide, on the global world market. Such a fact has as a consequence the need of organizational buyers to adjust to such situations starting from the fact that they need to have separate departments for global business communication, for timely following the information flow that happen to be important for the company, and ending with the need to become capable of rendering their own services whenever asked. The increase of sophistication and power of buyers can be best seen in the fact that customers increasingly become ever more demanding in their expectations in view of quality, supplier reliability and like. Such a change came to surface as the logical consequence of the contemporary business dealings. Organizational buyers become increasingly better informed, and their purchase power becomes ever more focused because of the increasing practice of mergers with other companies, etc. One of the external influence factors on the organizational buyer is the market stagnation. It has become a prominent feature of so-called mature markets of Europe and North America, where one can see the more evident overcapacity, the increase of competition and a decrease of profits, and the fact that customers expect greater value for less money from their suppliers. The principle of mentality oriented more towards a process rather than a product refers to the change or direction under the new circumstances. Ever more concretely, suppliers become less oriented on a presentation of their products, whereas their marketing orientation and approach is more directed to the awareness how to meet rigorous specifications ad customers demands on the market. Products and services that suppliers offer nowadays are not, indeed, enough for one to observe differences
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among them. The difference has become ever more evident in the way how they see their approach to problem-solving, and on the firms ability to display their readiness to comply with such an attitude.
13.5.2 Internal influences on the organizational buyers decisions

One can single out six possible factors out of the internal group of factors that are related to the organizational buyer purchase - nature of firms business, structure, supply policy, supply ethics, system, and, finally, technology. The nature of a firms business is, by no means, one of the most important internal factors that determine the organizational buyer purchase. Companies can be categorized according to the way they organize their business activities, and such activities can e based on three crucial principles, such as: On the production directed towards specific requests of individual buyers, which, as a rule, are quite demanding in terms of technology used and its products are manufactured in larger series. On the so-called mass production, where the large quantities of standardized products have been secured with the basic aim to satisfy the needs of a mass consumer. On the participation in the making of the final product in a production chain, either if the company manufactures some components of the final product, or appears as the manufacturer of original equipment - as the originator of the final product brand. One of the internal factors is the structure of purchasing. Some firms have been organized to manage all their purchases from a single centralized department, for, in this way, they can exert a better control over the purchasing process, and, at the same time, decrease their purchase costs. Such a practice is, among others, quite usual in public licensed companies and public service companies, but it can also be observed in certain commercial companies. However, the centralized purchase does have its opposite side. The single buying centre policy - especially if one
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thinks of, for instance, multinational companies decrease the possibility of appropriate response for customers local needs. Such needs can be drastically different. And, in turn, it can misfire and come back as a boomerang to the overall companys business dealings. Bearing in mind such an aspect, business organizations frequently revert to the so-called decentralized purchase, since such a framework allows them to meet the local demands, both in terms of product delivery, which decentralized supply prefers, but also in terms of the products quality, price, terms and manner of delivery, etc. Another important internal factor is the purchasing policy. A supplier may want to increase its own volume of business transactions. It is often carried out under the influence of the firm that procures products and services from the supplier and the same firms strategic commitment. It will always be the case, for instance, when the strategic commitment of the purchase company happens to be lean dealings where the stock of components or parts is held at minimum or if the responsibility for all the purchase decisions has been transferred for any reason to higher decision-making levels. That is why the firms strategic commitment that buys products or services happens to be of great importance for marketing experts on the organizational market. As a matter of fact, such experts need to assess what kind of expectations are likely to be found in the firms that buy products for their own purchase supply department - is it, perhaps, led by its own desire to get the product with the best performance features through the supply chain, or, eventually, to receive the best offers that usually also mean the lowest prices. The price may, of course, also determine the way marketing firms will decide on the course of direction of their future activities. Purchasing ethics is also an essential part within the overall process of reaching decisions on purchase, and the very manner of purchase in any company. Each organization, in fact, has developed a kind of its own ethical code. Starting from set principles, the superior management levels remind their purchase departments from time to time on the basic principles of ethical practice that need to be duly observed. One may find such an attitude in guidelines by a British engine manufacturer, for instance, where it is even specifically expressed or written what is to be expected from its staff in maintaining good professional relationships with their suppliers.
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Such relationships have been based on a mutual respect and recognition of joint interests and well-being of both firms. It is also written there that it is expected from the purchase department staff to build the relationship of trust with the companys suppliers, and to establish high standards for keeping the integrity of both sides12. One of the important internal factors that determine the organizational buyer purchase is the purchasing system. Since the pace of changes in many sectors has greatly accelerated, it encourages firms to compete among themselves and see to it how quickly they can deliver their products to the market. That is why the conditions on contemporary market do require more and more from the suppliers to do many things in order to be ahead of their competitors, to use the sophisticated contemporary technologies, especially those that, above all, accelerate the information flow and decrease the time of delivery to their potential customers, in case they happen to choose them as their supplier. Finally, the important internal factor for the organizational buyer purchase is the purchasing technology. Internet, for instance, had exerted a great influence on the ways of communications between the firms and how they trade with each other. It is of equal importance the increase of the number of transactions that take place within e-commerce. The answer to such a question why? is rather simple. Internet facilitates online search that potential suppliers do in order to find their buyers. It also enables firms to become a part of the network with other companies in similar or related industries, and to combine their requests for products. It also enables networked customers to join their forces and to appear as large buyers to their suppliers, etc. In the end, all these activities make the possibility of an electronic auction a reality.
13.5.3 Individual influences

There are three key factors related to individual features of those who take part in the decision making process in purchasing activities and that affect the organizational buyer purchase. They include a perception of consequences, the scope of personal inuence, and, finally, social factors.
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The essence of the first among these three factors, the one of the perception of consequences, is linked to the fact that different persons might be involved in the organizational purchase process. Accordingly, the basic question in all this is to what extent the decisions by such persons in the purchase process have been made under the perception of their own, personal responsibility for such decisions made if such a person may give the credit to itself, or if that same person feels guilty for the wrong decision made. In the first case, the perception is in function of personal self-encouragement to continue with the same practice in the future, whereas the second example means the pressure on the same person that may impose many limitations in similar situations to come. The second situation, of course, causes more problems, since it creates the sense of guilt and makes the person to look like a loser. Such an emotion may cause a series of other equally damaging manifestations. Yet another individual feature that may be of essential influence on the purchase decision making process may be attributed to the extent of personal influence. The personal influence in the decision making department may be of crucial importance for reaching the purchase decision. Even more concretely, some managers have a greater control over the information flow and available resources within the company. Such a position often enables them to have the most decisive influence within the decision making purchase department. One can say in general that purchase managers are the most important persons in reaching the decision if the certain purchase is to be repeated or not, whereas the higher management levels or boards happen to be more influential in high risk, single purchase transactions, such as new production lines or business premises. Finally, one of the individual characteristics refers to so-called social relationships. What do we mean by this? It is, simply, the fact that some managers can develop closer personal relations with suppliers either through activities outside the business environment, or to enjoy, for any other reason, the inclination of certain persons, or many of them for that matter, that happen to be in charge of the firms supply activities. And, in such a case, there is a relationship based on personal loyalty and proclivity, which may push aside many objective evaluation criteria.
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13.5.4 Relational influences

As one of the four separate types of influence on the organizational buyers decision, a relational influence refers to the relationship between the customer organization and other stakeholders in the industrial network that organization is a part of. In the relationship and behaviour that organizational buyer displays as its features, one can discern two indicative, mutually exclusive, approaches relational and transactional ones. A relational approach is based on emphasizing the relationship that rests on long term commitments and trust. Such an approach shows a tendency to support and instigate each other, so, in accordance to such behaviour, the people in purchase departments act in a manner that is both characterized by being co-operative and constructive. A transactional approach, however, starts from entirely opposite assumptions. This approach presupposes that relationships are short term situations, and where the exchange is sometimes built on the principle of doubt. They have the tendency to cause the purchase behaviour that can be described as polite but distant and like. The styles of managers that enter into buying-selling relationship may, of course, influence the nature of relations between different companies. It is thought that transformational leaders those who try to raise awareness on others and promote positive changes in individuals, department and organization, respectively may exert a positive influence on supply chains performance outside their own firm in the turbulent environment. Quite opposite to this, the transactional leaders those who try to meet the current demands with the emphasis of keeping the standards within the market exchange are not so well adjusted for managing the relationship trust that is required in a highly dynamic context of business operations. It seems that the transactional management style, where formality and centralized decision making are more frequent, can better use stable business setting, and where the status quo is needed for success in purchase the one that follows day by day logic, as, for instance, in the chain supply offer for several stronger customers or buyers13.
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13.6 Organizational buyer models of behaviour

One can identify in the sources available a larger number of purchase decision making models on the organizational market. The first ones among them are connected to prices, business transactions costs, limitations in view of selection of product and management of material. The latter models emphasize, in addition to the aforementioned ones, other aspects the interests of those involved in the purchase process, a possibility of avoiding risks, relationship with other persons within the buying centre, the customer and consumer satisfaction, and a few other elements. In accordance to the aforementioned differences, one can subdivide all the behaviour models on the organizational market into three groups traditional, classic and behaviouristic ones. The first two groups, the traditional and classic models, respectively, require just a mere piece of information about them, whereas the third group, the so-called behaviouristic models required a somewhat more detailed attitude. Traditional models point out the primary economic factors in decision making. One can discern two characteristic model versions within them, as follows: Minimal prices model, which begins with the assumption that the goal is to reach the minimal price, and all this is based on the assumption that the buyer has gathered complete information about the market and that substitutes are of the same quality. Nevertheless, since the assumed conditions cannot be realized on the market, the model loses its useful value. Minimal costs model, which tries to reduce the overall costs to a minimum. The reduction of costs is possible to attain in several ways, where the most frequent one is the purchase of materials and components of poor quality. Classic models have been developed based on the awareness that the purchase process can be explained by a single one, or a few variables, but such a notion has not been applied in detail within the group of models offered. One can single out two characteristic models within this group:
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Buygrid model, which is general enough to be applied on all the purchase situations, but, at the same time, it is equally relevant to be important for individual customers. This model, though, makes a difference between three purchase situations new task, routine and modified rebuy ones and between eight stages of purchase that explains the order of organizational purchase problem recognition, product specification, specification description, search for and evaluation of potential sources, proposals submissions, assessment of submissions and suppliers, order process selection, and the evaluation of performance review of both products and suppliers. Robinson Stindus model consists of five stages problem recognition, product purchase, meeting the goal, harmonization of performances with goals and tasks, internal and external limitations with the description of basic actions that each stage encompasses. On the other hand, this model also presupposes two directions that certain activities might take a logical flow of purchase decision making, on one hand, and it allows, on the other hand, a search for solution for the stages ha we have not been happy with in the first attempt.
13.6.1 Behaviouristic models

The essence of this type of model is, simply said, in an attempt to explain the behaviour within the organization through behaviour of individuals or a group within the organization. One can also discern within this group two basic models simple and complex behaviouristic models.
13.6.1.1 Simple behaviouristic models

This group of models try to explain the organizational buyer behaviour in view of individual or group variables personality features, loyalty to a brand or supplier, the purchase behaviour style and perceived risk. It is possible, in compliance with such an approach, to make a difference between the three most characteristic behaviouristic models. They are:
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Personality features model, which tries to explain the purchase decision making by personality variables. Several types of motives and needs are used for such a purpose the motif of strengthening ones own ego, the motif for climbing the hierarchy, the need for security, or the combination of some of aforementioned variables. The model offers a conclusion that relies on the assumption that, by knowing the personality features, one can predict the purchase style behaviour or the factors and elements that will be of importance when the purchase decision is to be made. Loyalty supplier model, which begins with the premise that the loyalty on the industrial market has been much more emphasised and lasts longer than the loyalty on the personal consumption market. Business relationship between a customer and supplier, based on such a loyalty, are insurmountable barrier for new suppliers who hope to enter the same market. The model is based on the network of four groups of variables traditionally aimed variables, such as price, quality, delivery, service; buyers experience with diverse sources, which is expressed in the form of opinion acquired on certain suppliers; the organizational variables, which refers to the effects of specific organizational structure on the purchase itself; and the factors and rules of behaviour that facilitate decision making. Perceived risk model, which is based on Levitts perceived risk model of industrial purchase. Levitts model is based on the buyers insecurity while evaluating alterative courses of action. According to this model, the risk perceived refers to the insecurity when deliberating on the actual emergence of a certain event, on one hand, and the insecurity of the same events results, on the other hand. The key issue in the whole concept is how to reduce or decrease the perceived risk. According to this model, it can be made possible by several types of activities:
a) gathering and processing of information on the problem that has
generated the risk, b) reducing risk strategy, since the level of the goal set has also automatically determined the risk level, and there is a need to adjust the risk degree with the real and useful details when setting the goals,
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c) loyalty to brand and product or to the supplier, since it reduces the
risk, and d) the scope of investment into purchase, since investing is not limited to financial expenditures only, but also on spending on time and human resources that take part in decision making process.
13.6.1.2 Complex behaviouristic models

The most common feature of complex behaviouristic models, and one can find a number of them in available sources, can be narrowed down to the process where the customer on the organizational market can reach the decision on purchase similar to the process that the customer on the personal consumption market also goes through. In other words, one cannot reduce the organizational purchase on economic factors only, but, just as it happens with this type of market, as well as with the personal purchase, a number of many other, psychological, sociological and surroundings factors that both direct and limit the purchase process flow can be identified. A special theoretical attention should be given to two models within this group of models that deal with organizational purchase process. One refers here to Webster-Wind and Sheth models, respectively. Webster-Wind model or organizational purchase has been characterized by the fact that it tries to explain the purchase process as an act, and not as a process. The model represents the structure comprised of four groups of variables surroundings factor, organizational factors, the supply centre factors, and the individual features of purchase participants (Figure 59).
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Figure 59: Structural elements in Webster-Wind model of organizational purchase
The figure above, of course, refers to yet another aspect of Webster-Wind model. Each one of the four groups of variables implies a network of diverse types of influences. Surroundings, for instance, includes influences that come from the state, trade unions, associations; organizational variables are, again, the common denominator for influences that emerge as the result of goals, technology and structure; the buying centre inuences involve the purchase activities influences and the roles that the buying centre members have; and, finally, the individual variables include a personality, perception, experience and other personal features. Webster-Wind model belongs to the so-called general models. And it means, in fact, that, with some minor adjustments, it can be applied to a number of different situations and conditions. The model complexity is the result of opinion where the purchase process has been understood as a multidimensional process, the process has been determined, in addition to certain economic, by some other components, above all, social and psychological ones.
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What is considered to be the flaw in the model comes out from the fact that it wants to encompass all the influence factors without attempting to bring them together. Its other deficiency can be seen in its static nature it is not possible to transfer the experience, having been gathered in a single act of purchase, by a feedback influence to the new process of reaching the purchase decision. It is generally thought that Sheth model of organizational purchase has by far best specified particular groups of variables, which are important from the standpoint of their influences on the purchase decision, as well as on their precise interconnection (Figure 60).
Figure 60: The structure of Sheth model of organizational purchase
The previous figure also reflects the structure of Sheth model of organizational purchase. It can be seen from it, that the organizational buyer purchase process has been, in fact, the result of four groups of variables: Elements of psychological area, which include all the variables related to understanding of decision maker in the organizational purchase, and
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which refer to the ability of product to satisfy the usual and specified criteria applicable on the product itself, such as quality, price, time of delivery, and like. It is obvious that the possibilities of the decision maker on organizational purchase depend, of course, on its personal features its level of education and lifestyle, its previous experience, its level of information about the product and supplier, etc. Elements related to business buyer purchase and organization. It is considered that variables related to purchase are, for instance, the types of purchase, terms for delivery, time constrictions, the sense of risk involved with purchase and like. As far as the variables related to the organization, one may distinguish, at least, a few of them the size of company, its business orientation, the level of centralization, etc. Variables related to decision making within the organization and conflict solving methods that are related to decision making. The decision making process in the organization related to purchase may follow two different scenarios it can be displayed in the form of an individual person who reaches the decision, or, it can appear as the decision making within the group. In the latter case, it is, again, possible to experience different types of conflict that may arise. Some of them, for instance, stem out from different criteria in evaluation of features and differences in expectations from the product and supplier. Some other, again, are related to the selection of different approaches in decision making, the differences in defining the goals, etc. Situational variables presuppose the entire set of influences that are related to the organizational buyer decision making on purchase caused by the situational factor. Those variables, however, do not have the constant and/or identical influence on the organizational buyer behaviour. The model, therefore, does not aspire to specify this group of variables and interconnect them in a meaningful way with other influences within the model.
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1. Name three main organizational markets and their characteristics. 2. Who can be a commercial buyer? Give an example. 3. Describe specific of the organizational buying compared to consumer market. 4. What is a routine purchase and how it is conducted? 5. Name and describe members in the process of organizational purchase. 6. Describe and two stages in the organizational buying process. 7. Explain internal influences on the organizational buyers decisions. 8. What is a difference between traditional and classic model of organizational buying behaviour?
References
1. Kesic, T. (2006), Ponasanje potrosaca, OPINIO doo, Zagreb 2. Burrows, G. (2006), Kalashnikov AK47, Trigger Issues S, New Internationalist Publications, Oxford 3. Scott, R.E. & Palacios, M.F. (2002), E-Health: Challenges Going Global, in: Scott, C.E. & Thurston, W.E. (eds.), Collaboration in Context, University of Calgary, pp. 45-55. 4. Hutt, M.D. & Speh T.W. (2001), Business Marketing Management, A Strategic View of Industrial and Organizational Markets (7th ed.) Dryden Press (HBJ) 5. Kotler, P. (2001) Upravljanje marketingom, analiza, planiranje, primjena i kontrola (= Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control), 9. izdanje, Mate, Zagreb 6. Cyert, R.M., Simon, H. and Trow, D. (1956), Observation of decision, Journal of Business, Vol. 29, pp. 237-248 7. Robinson, Patrick J., Charles W. Faris, and Yoram Wind (1967): Industrial Buying and Creative Marketing, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, Inc. 8. Webster, F.E. & Wind, Y. (1972), Organizational Buying Behaviour, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 9. Weslcy J. Johnston and Thomas V. Bonoma, The Buying Center: Structure and Interaction Patterns, Journal of Marketing, 45 (1981), pp. 143- 156
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10. Wilson, D. (1999): Organizational Marketing, International Thompson, London 11. Nassimbeni, G. & Sartor, M. (2006) Sourcing in China: Strategies, Methods and Experiences, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills 12. Ellis, N. & Higgins, M. (2006), Recatechizing Codes of Practice in Supply Chain Relationships: Discourse, Identity and Otherness, Journal of Strategic Marketing, 14, pp. 327-350 13. Hult, G.T.M., Ketchen, D.J. & Chabowski, B.R. (2007), Leadership, the Buying Centre and Supply Chain Performance: A study of Linked Users, Buyers and Suppliers, Industrial Marketing Management, 26, pp. 393-403
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PURCHASE AND POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR
Chapter objectives
Understand purchase stages Explain the reasons for various purchase frequencies The influence of direct marketing on purchase Post-purchase evaluation and behaviour Methods of keeping consumers and creating loyalty
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14. ORGANIZATIONAL BUYER BEHAVIOUR

Purchase and post-purchase evaluation, as emphasised before, constitute the elements of output data of the purchase decision-making model presented in this study. They will be explained in detail below.
14.1 Behaviour during purchase

Why do people purchase products and services? In other words, what motivates them to do it? This question is inevitable in any serious analysis of purchase as one of the elements of the decision-making process. Tauber provided a partial answer to it in 19721. There are two groups of motives that make a person purchase, he believes. The first one is: personal motives the differentiation from everyday routine, sensual stimuli, learning about new trends, etc. Some of them are, however, difficult to identify separately, such as playing roles as a motive of purchase. In other words, purchase is a part of an obligation within a role that an individual has a role of a housewife, an employee in charge of supply, etc. Another personal motive is pleasure that purchase provides. Purchase therefore does not always have a specific goal that has to be achieved. It can simply give pleasure. People with these personal traits will probably shop whenever they want to celebrate something or to deal with depression caused by a life situation of any kind. Personal motive to purchase can also be physical activity i.e. the need for this activity due to health, fitness or any other reasons.
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Social motives of purchase, as the second type of motives, are miscellaneous. A possibility to make new friends or a simple observation of people that a shopping activity enables is one of them. Another one is communication with people with similar interests, whether it is a communication with salespeople or other consumers. Going shopping can also be motivated by an opportunity to communicate with the members of a specific reference group, considering that some shops function as a meeting point for the members. The feeling of social status is another social motive of purchase, gained by going shopping in certain types of shops. Finally, enjoying haggling can be another motive to shop.
14.2 Purchase planning

Purchase is an activity that, in order to be completed looks for the answers to at least two questions: what to buy and where to buy? Regarding the first question, it is possible to identify three types of purchase: fully or partially planned and unplanned buying. The first, fully planned buying occurs when a consumer intends to buy a product that has a special meaning for him. Long-lasting products have those characteristics, as well as products that demand significant financial means from the family budget, such as buying a car, furniture, appliances etc. These facts, especially the meaning of a product and the level of financial expenditures result in a high level of consumer involvement in the process of purchase decision-making and in the very act of purchase. In other words, there is no possibility for a purchase to happen without a previous information collection, comparing products of different brands from different perspectives, etc. Such approach results in the entire dilemma being solved before the very purchase. The consumer therefore knows what product and brand to buy and usually knows in which shop to buy it as well. Situation is different with the partially planned buying though. It implies a significantly lower level of consumer involvement. The reason for this is that, during the decision-making process, a consumer only pays attention to certain details regarding the product he wants to buy. More precisely, only the product that he wishes to buy is problematic. As a rule, other
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details stay out of any serious pre-purchase consideration with this type of purchase. The choice of brand, for example, is usually left for the very act of purchase and is made at the shop while buying a specific product. This situation therefore leaves a much wider space of marketing influence over a consumer. For instance, his decision can be largely influenced by mass media communication. A salesperson at a shop can significantly influence the decision as well, etc. In the case of unplanned buying, we cannot speak about any level of prepurchase consumer involvement. In other words, everything happens at the moment of shopping and at the shop. Product and brand are both chosen there, as well as other details such as the design, the method of payment etc. Such a situation, for instance, occurs with all forms of impulsive purchase.
14.3 Purchase frequency

Regardless of the type of purchase though, fully or partially planned or unplanned buying, in each one of them another variation can be identified: whether it is a trial, repeated, or a purchase with long-term trust. What are the characteristics of each one of them? Trial purchase is significantly characterized by the fact that it is a first purchase. This can regard a product or just a brand. In both cases however, trial purchase is a sort of exploration of a product, an activity during which the product is evaluated. This means that trial purchase is always related to a product one has no experience with whatsoever. A consumer decides about the purchase based on the information that he has collected in different ways, or based on his own need to try a new product. Let us assume, for instance, that a new toothpaste is launched onto the market. A number of consumers, regardless of being loyal to other brands, will try the new product. The reason can be its marketing promotion or the curiosity of how much the characteristics of the product emphasised in the marketing promotion are compatible with the real situation. A stimulant can also be the wish to try a new brand, without any influence of promotional activities.
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Repeated purchase occurs when a consumer, after the first purchase, decides to buy the same product or brand. If it occurs, a repeated purchase can mean a few things. First of all, it means that the consumer evaluated the product positively. If it is a new brand, it shows that this brand proved to be better than other ones. On the other hand, in the case of repeated purchases it is logical to expect that greater quantities are bought than during the initial purchase. Finally, a repeated purchase often means the creation of loyalty towards a certain brand of product. Finally, the third type of purchase is purchase with long-term trust. It occurs in two forms. The first one is a purchase that is the result of loyalty to a brand. In this case the purchase is often a shortened process. Namely, it is reduced to a mere decision about the product that needs to be bought, but not the brand, which is assumed due to the existing loyalty. Pre-purchase information collection is also reduced to the search for one brand only: the brand one is loyal to. Another instance of a purchase with long-term trust is the purchase of permanent products. The possibility of a trial purchase in this case is excluded. The relation of long-term trust is created during the first purchase. Buying a fridge, dishwasher, car etc is a classic example of such a purchase. You are clearly going to have the product for several years. This then means that it has to be the product in which you have trust at the very act of purchase, because you cannot just go and buy another one if it proves to be unsatisfactory. This sort of experiment is simply not an option.
14.4 Direct marketing

Along with the above, other forms of purchase are used. For instance, so-called direct marketing is increasingly popular nowadays: an activity where a salesperson makes direct efforts towards the target consumer, using one or more media (direct sale, direct mail, telemarketing, cable TV, e-mail, etc) in order to get a response2. Even though this is a purchase with a single denominator, it is possible to identify several forms of it, as the above definition implies. We can therefore identify several types of
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direct marketing. One of them is face to face sales or direct sales, the oldest method of direct marketing that includes presentations and demonstrations to consumers in their homes and that is used a lot worldwide nowadays. According to the official data, the turnover via direct sales worldwide in 2006 was $132 billion, $17 billion of which was in the EU. There are different forms of direct sales: sales door-to-door, house demonstrations, delivery and sales in the house, order collection and finally street sales. One of the types of direct marketing is direct mail, the form of sales at a distance, whose point is in communication with potential consumers via the media that describes the product. The buyers, more precisely, place their written, telephone or e-mail order and receive the product by mail. As media for establishing the contact, letters can be used, as well as catalogues, newspaper and magazine additions, television, radio, telefax or email. Among the significant forms of direct marketing is that of catalogue sales, nowadays certainly a basic type of selling via mail that is used in many areas of sales: that of clothes and footwear, audio and video equipment, hardware and software, toys, electronic devices etc. Another form of direct marketing is telemarketing, a type of personal sales where contact with consumers and sales of goods or services are achieved primarily by informing consumers via direct phone calls. Today this method of shopping is increasingly used. In the USA, for instance, telemarketing makes up over 20% of total sales. Its share in total sales is going to grow radically in a relatively short period of time though. Telemarketing is mainly aimed at individual, unknown consumers. There is data in literature claiming that the biggest growth in telemarketing is with young consumers, particularly people aged between 25 and 34. On the other hand, this form of direct marketing is most commonly aimed at the educated city population, because this is the segment of consumers who are in a constant rush and value shopping fast, without having to go to shops. Online marketing, also known as internet advertising is among the forms of direct marketing as well. This is a set of promotional activities that aim at the promotion of services and goods via online media and the internet.
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The birth of the Internet led to enormous changes in the methods of advertising, primarily because it enables the reduction of information distribution costs, has a greater speed of dispersal covering a wider range of potential users. Finally, other forms of direct marketing are television marketing and marketing of other mass media with direct response, as well as kiosk marketing. In all this we must not forget the structure of consumers that use direct marketing. Who are the consumers that are prone to using it, who practice it more than others? Grouping this type of consumers is possible through a large number of features. One of them, for instance, is purchase power, i.e. the socio-economic position of consumers. If we observe the relation of direct marketing affinity with socio-economic status, we notice that consumers from higher social layers are more prone to it, the consumers with the socio-economic position above the average. Having extensive purchase experience is related, to a certain extent, to purchase power. One can assume that consumers with a better socio-economic position have a more extensive buying experience, which implies a greater affinity with direct marketing as well. One of the factors used for this classification is consumers age, including some other variables that accompany it. Namely, relatively young consumers are more attracted to direct marketing. This group includes consumers aged about 40. On the other hand, it is practiced more by married couples with small, pre-school children, especially if both parents are employed. Finally, recognising the affinity to direct marketing is also related to some other variables that can be marked as psychological features. Some consumers, for example, due to their personality traits, have a greater affinity towards accepting new products. Others have a more distinguished feature of comfort orientation, in which case they prefer some of the forms of direct marketing to the physical effort that a purchase process implies, such as walking, comparing products etc.
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14.5 Post-purchase evaluation

It would be wrong to believe that, with the act of purchase, the interest of product and service providers for the consumers ends. The reason is that for them it is very important what the post-purchase reaction of the consumers will be: positive or negative. It depends on whether the consumers will start trusting a specific product or brand, whether they will become loyal to it and trust the company that provides it, the salespeople etc. Market competition that businesses are exposed to forces them to show the same intensity of interest for their consumers after a purchase. Namely, in order to keep a consumer, they have to establish a relation based on a partnership with him. This manifests in a large number of forms. One of them is assembly service for the product that producers or providers of certain products such as furniture, washing machines etc. offer free of charge. Salespeople often practice offering help with learning how to use a product. This help does not only come in written form, as manuals. On the contrary, it is becoming increasingly more common to get practical instructions provided by personnel trained for this, who help consumers learn how to use a product through a system of home visits during a purchase, or after it, responding to consumers requests. The buyer, as a rule, is also provided with suitable warranties that accompany a product. They are important for several reasons: they reduce insecurity during purchase, increase the trust in the provider, are a precondition of building loyalty to the brand, etc. Tougher market conditions, of course, imply stricter demands regarding warranties. Instead of semi-annual and annual, nowadays businesses mainly offer warranties that last for several years, some of them even up to five years. The range of offers in the post-purchase partnership with consumers implies additional products that supplement the bought product. If, for instance, a consumer buys a computer, good customer service implies offering him a compatible printer, scanner, internet connection device, etc.
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Post-purchase partnership, after all, can be manifested in various ways: as prize games for the consumers, sending gifts on special occasions etc. Gifting is not just a part of post-purchase strategy for product and service providers. It can be an integral part of the purchase act. Giving gifts to customers after their purchase is rather common nowadays, even in BH, especially if they exceed a certain value. Then an item of clothing can be gifted, a perfume, or something else. Regarding the purchase act, the reaction to it in the form of product evaluation can occur in different forms: as neutral reaction, expressed satisfaction or dissatisfaction depending on whether the product meets consumers expectations, exceeds them or fails to meet them. Therefore it is very important how consumers evaluate the bought products because of the feeling the product causes, including the service during the purchase, the politeness of salespeople etc, is a precondition of the consumers future relationship with the product, brand and the shop in which it is bought. Regarding the reaction to a purchase, in reality, one of three occurs. The first one is that the product matches the pre-purchase expectations. This is a complete post-purchase balance between the expectation and the experience. The established balance determines a certain post-purchase feeling. This is not a feeling of delight, but it is neither a disappointment with the purchase. We can say that this feeling is neutral. The second form of a post-purchase product evaluation is the product exceeding expectations. This situation results in the feeling of pleasure, often delight, but also in trust and even loyalty to the product, the brand, the company, and the shop where it was bought. Finally, in the post-purchase evaluation it is objectively possible and it often occurs that the product is below the pre-purchase consumer expectations. In such situations it is logical that a post-purchase reaction in the form of dissatisfaction is expressed. Dissatisfaction as an emotional reaction is not the only reaction though. In other words, it can result in various types of reactions. The consequence, for instance, can be a consumer complaint regarding the bought product. It depends on a number of factors whether a complaint occurs. First of all, on the meaning the consumer relates to
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the product and the price he paid. For instance, if he considers that he paid a significant amount of money for a product, it is logical to expect his complaint if he is dissatisfied with it. The knowledge about the specific product also affects the decision about a complaint. Greater knowledge implies a greater possibility of it, and vice versa. The decision about it is closely related to the experience of doing it. Failures with any previous complaints can discourage a person, just like positive experiences would motivate them to it. The consequence of the expressed consumer dissatisfaction can be the decision never to buy that product again. However, if we follow the path it leads to, we see that this is not the last reaction in a row. As a rule it is followed by the decision not to buy any other products of the same brand.
14.6 Keeping consumers

This is not the worst that can happen though. We mustnt exclude the possibility of consumers spreading negative information regarding the product: to inform others about their dissatisfaction with the product, its malfunctions, the differences between the characteristics a product has and those advertised by the company using various media. Consumers can do this by telling their friends, acquaintances, or speaking about them publicly in any other way. This way the individual dissatisfaction can lead to a chain reaction and cause much more damage than an individual product abandonment does. All this raises another group of questions related to post-purchase evaluation and consumer reaction. How to keep the current consumers? Many believe that keeping the existing consumers is more important than gaining new ones. Why? Because the consumers we keep imply longterm loyalty and they spread positive feedback regarding the product and salespeople, the shop and all other outlets owned by the same company. The relevance of keeping consumers is doubtless, which implies another question: How to keep the consumers we have? In theory but also in marketing practice, several techniques for keeping consumers are
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recognised. Some of them are explained below. One of them, for instance, is the individualisation of marketing, i.e. the marketing approach to every single consumer and his demands. The practice of unanimous communication that necessarily assumes mass media communication with consumers, therefore, is not a technique to be relied on in the future. Among the techniques of keeping consumers is certainly the total quality control as well. For it to be possible, it implies the obligation of the management to be close to their clients and always ready to respond to their requests, to react directly and affect the continuous quality improvement of their products. One of the methods of keeping consumers is by conducting consumer surveys about product satisfaction. Satisfaction can be achieved in two ways. The first one is a classic method, an approach based on the logic of waiting for the consumers to react, where reaction is always related to the expression of dissatisfaction in the form of claims, complaints etc, or there is no reaction whatsoever. The second approach does not wait for reactions in order to respond once the dissatisfaction is already expressed it precedes the reactions by collecting details about the manifestation of dissatisfaction through surveys and it prepares actions to reduce or avoid dissatisfaction entirely. The reason for a negative consumer reaction can also be an unrealistic pre-purchase expectation. Therefore, as a method of keeping consumers, the creation of realistic consumer expectations is often mentioned. If it is applied, it excludes the possibility of eventual glorifications and disappointments by what one gets. Keeping consumers, after all, is related to providing warranties to a great extent. If a warranty is provided, the feeling of financial and psychological risk during a product purchase is decreased.
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1. 2. 3. 4. What motivates people to purchase? Is purchase a planned or unplanned activity? How is purchase with long-term trust created? Explain the definition, advantages and disadvantages of telemarketing. 5. What is the role of warranty in keeping consumers?
References
1. Tauber, E.M. (1972): Why do people shop?, Journal of Marketing, Vol 36 pp.46-59 2. Koschnick, W.J. (1995.): Dictionary of Marketing, Gower
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XV chapter
COMMUNICATION AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Chapter objectives
Understand the role and importance of communication Review the communication process Explain the roles and elements in a communication process Analysis of message source credibility Comparison of the credibility of formal, informal and neutral sources Advantages and disadvantages of using spokespeople Analysis of noise and obstructions in communication Review of marketing communication mix elements Understand how a message is created
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One of the main reasons to analyse consumer behaviour is to create an adequate communication mix that will reach the target audience. A companys communication with its environment can be planned or unplanned. Along with promotion, all other elements of marketing mix continuously send a certain message to consumers. For successful marketing communications a company has to understand that everything it does sends a message to its audience. Every contact with a product brand delivers a message that can improve or worsen the consumers image about the company and/or its products. This is why the entire marketing mix has to be consistent. The level of price or the existence of discount for instance tells us about the image or quality of a product, which creates a picture about the consumers evaluation of a product or service. Distribution channels, whether mass, selective or exclusive, form a picture about the availability of a product to everyone or only to a selected market group. Finally, a product should communicate the desired image by its packaging, design, colours etc. Communication can be verbal (written or oral) or visual (picture, colour, logo).
15.1 Communication model

Simply defined, communication is the transfer of a message from a sender to a recipient via media. Along with these four basic components (sender, recipient, message and media) communication would not be possible without feedback1.
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Figure 61: Communication model2
The message sender is usually the initiator of communication, and this source can be formal or informal, i.e. an individual or an organisation. The information available to the sender is transferred into a message through a coding process. Coding turns the message into symbols, pictures, words and images. The resulting message is verbal (oral or written) or non-verbal (an image, symbol, gesture), appealing to reason or to emotions. Most commonly the combination of a verbal and non-verbal message gives most information to the target audience. Media is a communication channel through which a message travels from the sender to the recipient. It can be paid for or unpaid, printed or electronic, personal or impersonal. Personal channels represent a direct communication between the sender and the recipient and are used when products are expensive, complicated to use or highly risky. Impersonal communication represents every media without personal contact or direct feedback3. A message reaches the desired recipient via media. The recipient of the communication message is the target audience, which can be different from
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target market. Audience are the consumers that specific communication is aimed at, while market is comprised of all the consumers that the complete marketing mix is aimed at. Communication can be created for the complete target market, but very often the target audience is only the part of the target market that we created the specific communication campaign for. The message recipient decodes it in order for it to be interpreted correctly. It depends on the experience, personal traits and mood of the message recipient. Sometimes, if the message sender and recipient do not have a common experience ground, do not share a same or similar way of thinking, the message is misinterpreted and its impact is negative. A recent example for that is a TV advertisement for Pepermint bonbons and the slogan For breath that will be remembered, followed by very unpleasant images of things, animals and food that smell bad. The mental association that this advert for breath freshener caused among the audience was very negative.
Figure 62
Finally, feedback depends on the media used in communication. In personal communication the response is available immediately, whether it is expressed verbally or non-verbally. In impersonal communication feedback must be explored by various pre- and post- tests.
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15.2 Message source credibility

Credibility of sources from which information is received is one of the key factors that affect the reception of a message. Credibility is built in several ways. One of them is the benefit that the message sender has. In the case of commercial salespeople who receive commission from the products they sell, their credibility is questionable. This is the reason people trust informal sources more (friends, family, colleagues): because they do not get paid by the company involved. This is also why people trust newspaper or magazine articles as neutral sources more than a paid marketing message. Today the most common method of building trust is by social responsibility4. If a company is perceived by the public as one responsible toward its employees, consumers and the environment, it is likely to build a good reputation. A company with a good reputation is trusted more because it is believed to act correctly, legally and honestly in any situation.5
Figure 63: Trust in sources
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Some companies go very far with social ethics. For instance, Caterpillar issued The Code of Worldwide Business Conduct and Operating Principles in 19746. Among other things, it states that The most valuable property of a company is the reputation achieved by its integrity. If this reputation is tarnished, consumers, investors, suppliers, employees and people who sell our products and services will be attracted to other, more appealing companies. We intend to keep the same high standard of integrity everywhere. We will keep our word. We will not promise more than what is reasonable to expect we are able to fulfil, nor will we accept obligations that we do not intend to fulfil. Research conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2006 showed that consumers trust the information they get via newspaper articles or TV programs (77%) more than that from advertising (23%). Further, it showed that consumers trust the informal sources most (friends and family), then the neutral sources (official analysis and reports), and finally they trust the formal company sources least. Regarding the trust in institutions, non-government organisations are trusted most (60%), then media (34%), companies (12.5%), and finally government sources and bodies (8%).
15.3 Spokesperson
In order for the consumers to be ready to trust a message a company wants to send, management has to make sure it is heard by the people who have the consumers trust. This is why companies hire celebrities, employees, experts or common people to promote their products. Depending on the nature of a product, there are various spokespeople that will present them. It is up to managers to decide who gets most trust of their consumers and the public in general. Marketing messages with celebrities often get most attention. Companies hire famous and successful actors, musicians, sportspeople to become the companys trademark. However, research has shown that this is not always the best choice. Celebrities are efficient with products with high
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psychological or social risk or with products that include the elements of good taste and self-image. They are less successful presenting products related to high financial of physical risk7. Research has also shown that the products that do not have a welldefined image can develop it through celebrities, borrowing some of the characteristics that the marketer wants associated with the product.8 On the other hand, a negative image of a personality does not become better after he/she is associated with a companys positive image, even though the companys image worsens in this situation. Many companies forget the importance of employees as spokespeople. For many consumers it is the very care about employees that shows a companys social responsibility best. Most consumers believe that the way a company treats its employees plays an important role in purchase decision-making. This is why one must not forget that the employees are often the representatives of a company with most credibility. They represent their company 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, not just during working hours9. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, common people in the role of spokespeople are trusted most. Then follow the experts and representatives of nongovernment sector. The sources within companies are trusted significantly less.
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Figure 64: Spokespeoples credibility
15.4 Communication barriers

Various barriers occur in communication channels, obstructing the undisturbed flow of a message. There are two types of barriers in communication: selective perception and psychological noise.
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Selective perception enables the consumers to pay less attention to the messages that are of little or no importance to them and focus on those that are very relevant. Watching TV adverts, consumers often change the channel while promotional messages are on. These are so-called zippers. Marketers respond to this by emitting the same adverts on several different channels simultaneously10. Zappers operate in a similar way, speeding up the adverts using video recorders or DVD players. Finally, grazers continuously wander through channels, not getting too involved in any of the programs, and their attention is the most difficult kind to trap with an advert.
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Psychological noise occurs as the result of inattention or partial concentration of the message recipient. When we think about several things simultaneously or do several things at once, the level of concentration for each is significantly lower. If a person is daydreaming about the coming holiday during a business meeting, they can miss an important piece of information. The same goes for advertising messages. If we take a look at the Vogue magazine, we will notice that the first 30 to 50 pages are adverts only. Amongst this amount of brands, not one will stand out. Rumours are another problem for successful communication. They are unverified claims about an event that circulate orally and change its content in the process. Their characteristics are the non-verification of data, transfer of claims about this data and the change of content during the transfer11. Newspaper articles, TV and radio programs are also prone to rumours or so-called soft information: allusions and gossip. This sort of information about a company most commonly comes from a competitor. This does not reduce their significance though, for the recipient of the message will have an incorrect image about the company and form his attitude based on it12.
15.5 Forms of marketing communication

Marketing communication mix consists of five basic elements: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Advertising Public relations Personal selling Sales promotions and Direct marketing
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Figure 66
The most visible marketing activity is advertising because it uses mass media. In short, it is every paid form of communication by an identified sponsor who promotes ideas, goods and services via mass media13. Public relations create a positive image about a company in the eyes of all interest groups, including the public (via media), employees, consumers, the local community etc. This activity also uses mass media but not through a direct lease of space but by announcing their news. Personal selling represents face-to-face communication, i.e. it is interpersonal. It is used when an expensive, complicated or highly risky product or service is presented. Activities that add value to a product for an indefinite period of time and stimulate purchase directly are known as sales promotions14. It includes activities such as discounts, economic packaging, prize games, coupons and samples, product tasting etc. Direct marketing represents direct communication between the sender and the recipient that does not have to be interpersonal. Direct mail, the Internet, phone, catalogues etc are used here as media.
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15.6 Message creation

During message formation in the communication process, it is important to make several decisions. The first one regards whether to use one-sided or two-sided argumentation, i.e. whether to only show the good sides of the product or both good and bad. The first impression is that we should use one-sided argumentation i.e. only present the positive features of a companys product/service, for why would we say something negative about ourselves. Finally, consumers never want to hear about the bad sides of their favourite product. In favour of two-sided argumentation is the fact that if we do not reveal the bad sides of the product, our competitors will, and when they do it will certainly not be subtle. One-sided argumentation is used by traditional companies and it is generally advised to use it with a sympathetic audience. If the audience is highly educated and in a critical mood, they are more likely to prefer hearing the opposing view and a two-sided argumentation is advised15. It is particularly effective in situations of personal selling when a salesperson can immediately face the disagreement of a consumer, or when consumers have already been exposed to the negative claims of competitors16.
Figure 67
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Comparative advertising occurs when our product is compared to one or more competitors products. Pepsi and Coca-Cola often use this type of communication in their campaigns. Research has shown that if independent sources are used to prove the superiority of our brand, or the opinion of relevant experts, it can contribute to the creation of positive attitudes about the brand and purchase decisions of consumers17. On the other hand however, comparative advertising unnecessarily gives room to the competitors, pays the media space to mention them or even use their logotype. Eventually this can lead to consumers confusion about whose advert it actually was.
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1. Why is communication studied together with consumer behaviour? 2. What is the role of individual elements in the communication model? 3. Explain the process of coding and decoding using an example. 4. What increases and what decreases the credibility of message source? 5. When should celebrities not be used as spokespeople? 6. How can selective perception be avoided? 7. Explain the elements of communication mix. 8. What are the disadvantages of two-sided argumentation? 9. What are the advantages of comparative advertising?
References
1. Schiffman, L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, Prentice Hall 2000, 7. izdanje, Zagreb: prevod Mate, p. 228 2. Chisnall, M.P. (1995): Consumer Behavior, McGraw-Hill Compani, p. 286 3. Brkic, N. (2003): Upravaljanje marketing komuniciranjem, Ekonomski fakultet u Sarajevu, Univerzitet u Sarajevu, p. 199. 4. Swaen, V. i J. Vanhamme, (2005): The use of Corporate Social Responsibility Arguments in Communication Campaigns: Does Source Credibility Matter?, Advances in Consumer Research, Volume 32, p. 590 5. Davis, A. (2005): PR od A do Z: sve sto treba da znate o odnosima s javnoscu uz pomoc 501 pitanja, Adizes, Novi Sad, p. 175 6. Cutlip, S.M., A.H. Center i G.M. Broom, (2003): Odnosi s javnoscu, MATE, Zagreb, 2003, p. 463 7. Chew, F. and K. Soohong, (1994): Using Concept Mapping To Go Beyond the Source Credibility model in Assessing Celebrity Message Congruence, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in journalism and Mass Communication, Atlanta, GA, p.6
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8. Chew, F. i K. Soohong, (1994): ibid 9. Verschoor, C. C., (2006): Consumers consider the importance of corporate social responsibility, Strategic Finance, August, 2006., p. 20 10. Kaufman, C.F. i P.M. Lane, (1994): In Pursuit of the Nomadic Viewer, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 4-17 11. Rot, N., (1978): Osnovi socijalne psihologije, Zavod za udzbenike i nastavna sredstva, Beograd, p. 18 12. Vercic, D., F. Zavrl, P. Rijavec, A.T. Vercic i K. Laco (2004): Odnosi s medijima, Masmedia, Zagreb, p. 163 13. Brkic, N. (2003): ibid, p. 11 14. Brkic, N. (2003): ibid, p. 12 15. Schiffman L. i L. Kanuk, (2004): ibid, p. 246 16. Crowley, A.E. and D.H. Wayne, (1994): An Integrative Framework for Understanding Two-Sided Persuasion, Journal of Consumer Research, March, pp. 561-574 17. Rose, R.L., P.W. Miniard, M.J. Barone, K.C. Manning i B.D. Till (1993): When Persuasion Goes Undetected: The Case of Comparative Advertising, Journal of Marketing Research, 30, August, pp. 315-330
XVI chapter
PURCHASE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
Chapter objectives
The meaning of decision in consumer behaviour Analysis of levels on which decisions are made Define theoretical approaches to decision-making Analysis and comparison of theoretical approaches to decision-making Understand Schiffman-Kanuk model of consumer behaviour
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16.1 Theoretical meaning of decision
Making a purchase decision is a complex process. In order to deal with its substance and dimensions though, it is necessary to answer a crucial question: what is a decision as a theoretical term? A decision, generally speaking, can imply a selection between two or more alternatives. If we apply this determinant to consumer behaviour, we can say that there are no decisions without the existence of at least two alternatives. In consumer behaviour these alternatives can vary in the range of to buy or not to buy, to choose brand A or brand B, to spend time in X or Y way, etc. Without these and similar alternatives, one cannot speak about the existence of free will. In this case we identify force, i.e. socalled Hobsons choice. In real life however, the situations when there is no possibility of purchase selection are very rare. More precisely, consumers are almost always in a situation of choosing between two or more alternatives. Therefore they can make various decisions related to purchase and consumption (Table 13).
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Table 13: Types of choices related to purchase and consumption Category of decision Basic decision about purchase or consumption ALTERNATIVE A Buy or consume a product (service) Buy or consume a specific brand the usual brand a basic model a new brand brand on sale a national brand ALTERNATIVE B Not buy or consume a product (service) Buy or consume other brand other famous brand luxurious or status model the usual brand or some other famous brand brand that is not on sale a specific shops brand Buy in some other kind of shop (low price shop) in another shop goods from a shop in a shop one needs to travel to Pay with credit card Pay in instalments
Decisions about buying or consuming a brand
Decisions about the channel of purchase
Buy in a certain type of shop (mall) in the usual shop at home (phone, the Internet) in a nearby shop Pay in cash Pay the entire bill when it arrives
Payment decisions
Source: Adapted from Schiffman and Kanuk, 2004, pp 438
16.2 Levels of decision-making

Making a decision about buying a product or service should not be viewed as a one-time act. It is a process that requires various levels of involvement of those who make the decision. Some situations, for instance, require a high level of involvement in searching for information necessary to decide. In other situations however, such involvement is absolutely unnecessary. Depending on the level of involvement though, we can identify three
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basic levels of consumer decision-making: limited and extensive problemsolving, and routine purchase behaviour. Routine purchase behaviour is relatively frequent in every consumers life. In the purchase decision-making, this behaviour can be characterized by one of two possible scenarios. The decision-maker can, first of all, rely on what he already knows about the product without searching for any additional information. It is possible to search for some information though, without losing extra time or affecting the decision significantly. Which one out of the two scenarios will happen depends on the persons experience with the product or service. For instance, if a consumer has the set criteria for evaluating the brand, there is no doubt that the decision will be made according to the first scenario, i.e. that he will rely on what he already knows about the product, without searching for additional information. If he has a certain experience with a product or a set of products though, but not any firmly set criteria, it is not excluded that he will reach for more information that would justify his positive decision. Limited problem-solving is a more complex level of decision making, as compared to routine behaviour. It can be expected in the situations when consumers have the set criteria for evaluating the category of the product and the brand, but not a definite affinity towards the brand within the group. This is when consumers need additional information in order to make the purchase decision, in order to recognise the subtle differences among the existing brands. The search for the information is therefore a precondition of a purchase decision. Extensive problem-solving is certainly the most complex level of decisionmaking. The precondition for a purchase decision is an abundance of information that has to be collected in advance, in order to build the criteria or narrow down the selection onto a small number of brands that should be considered. The reason for this is that a consumer does not have sufficiently developed criteria for the evaluation. The low level of criteria can refer to the category of a product or certain brands in this product category. The type and amount of information necessary for a consumers decision-making depend on the level of underdevelopment of the criteria.
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16.3 Theoretical approach to consumers decision-making

In theory, it is possible to identify a large number of approaches to explaining consumer behaviour in purchase decision-making. Four most prominent ones, however, are the so-called pure theoretical approaches: economic, passive, cognitive and emotional. They are explained below.
16.3.1 Economic approach

Economic approach to decision-making relies on the theory about socalled economic man. In other words, a man is a rational being. All his decisions are based on economic parameters. Decisions about the purchase of product and services are therefore also based on them. More precisely, the crucial elements for the decision about a specific product are the price, payment method and date, warranties, conditions that competitors offer etc. All the above, as well as other economic parameters influence a consumers purchase decision. Are they sufficient though? The critics of the economic approach rightfully point out a few arguments on which they base the stance that this approach is too idealistic and too simplified. In order for a man to act rationally, he has to be capable of making a perfect decision, they claim. On the other hand, in order to be able to make such a decision, he has to include several elements: has to be aware of all existing alternatives, capable of evaluating positive and negative sides of each alternative, and capable of choosing the best alternative. In real life however, the inclusion of all these elements is hard to achieve. There are many reasons for this. Various levels of a humans finiteness are some of them. Human beings are finite primarily in their skills and habits. Due to this finiteness, whether it refers to skills only, habits only, or both, humans are often not aware of all the available alternatives, neither are they able to view them from all perspectives. Human finiteness is also manifested in the fact that human personality is characterized by specific values and goals. The system of values is a variable
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that is formed in the process of peoples upbringing, primarily within a family and in an early childhood, and then in the social community, school, etc. This system of values is a particularity of each person and it is impossible to bring different subsystems of value under different economic parameters as an umbrella system or common denominator that they all follow in the same manner. Finally, people are finite in the amount of knowledge available to them. This sort of finiteness varies from man to man. However, it also, to a lesser or greater extent, depends on the amount of knowledge an individual has, and hinders a person from making an economically perfect decision. The above sorts of finiteness, as well as many others, therefore force one to give up on the possibility of making a perfect decision at the very beginning, and to be content with a good enough or acceptable decision, or a decision that in some other way refers to its insufficiency and deviation from perfection.
16.3.2 Passive approach

This approach to explaining consumer behaviour in purchase decisionmaking can also be considered one-sided, simplified and unrealistic. The reasons for this can be found in the elements it is based on. The foundation of the approach is that humans are impulsive and irrational beings, and that, therefore, there are no values that significantly determine their structure and way of life. On the contrary, humans are often subject to all sorts of external influences. If these are the determinants of a human personality in general, it is logical that they refer to humans as consumers of products and services as well. In other words, humans are impulsive and irrational as consumers, which means that they are subject to, among other things, the interests and promotional actions of product and service providers. All the problems of the passive approach stem from its incorrect theoretical foundation. Impulsiveness and irrationality are not foreign to humans.
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However, they are not primary determinants of humans not in general neither as consumers. Reality is different than that though. The structure of a human personality is much more complex, structured from a multitude of elements and it is almost impossible to reduce it to one of them. If this is the case, and it must be, then it is unrealistic to expect that consumers are, as a rule, the subject of someones manipulation: producers, providers etc. The reality, on the contrary, is just the opposite: consumers are rarely subject to manipulation, and every effort to manipulate them can have a boomerang effect on anyone who attempts it, creating extremely high-prices. In reality, in other words, consumers play an equally important role and often dominate over the product and service producers and providers. For instance, in order to make a purchase decision, along with the product of a specific producer, they often decide to search information concerning alternatives, other producers products, and based on that choose a product that they believe offers the most. The choice of a product, especially a cheap product, can also be affected by the consumers current mood. This mood often leads to impulsive purchase.
16.3.3 Cognitive approach

Unlike the previous two, the cognitive approach to explaining consumer behaviour in decision-making builds its foundation on the conception of humans as cognitive beings. Using this philosophy, it sees a consumer as a person who bases and solves the problem of purchase decision-making by thinking. What does this actually mean? A few details must be paid attention to. In order to base a decision on thinking, a consumer must, first of all, search for information about the chosen brands and shops. Based on the collected information, he is then capable of forming attitudes and affinities toward certain brands, shops etc. The attitudes and affinities created this way are a precondition for the purchase decision-making that follows.
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Regarding the collection of information about products, brands and shops, another question is raised: how much information? Can complete information be realised at all? If this is not possible, is there an amount of information that can be considered necessary, optimal, sufficient, and if there is, what is it? There is no doubt that complete information is only possible as an ideally typical category. It is not possible to realise it in real life. However, even if it was, a real consumer acts differently. In other words, he never tends to collect all the information he can. He stops the search for information when he finds that there are a sufficient number of preconditions to make a satisfactory decision. If, in accordance with the above, we want to determine the position of the cognitive approach, it could be observed as a kind of middle value in between the economic and passive approach to explaining consumer behaviour. Why? The reason is that a consumer here, just as in the economic approach, is not capable of making a perfect decision because he does not have all the information, i.e. all the knowledge necessary for making such a decision. Instead of persisting on the completeness of the information, he is satisfied with the information that enables the making of a satisfactory decision. This information, like in the passive approach, can be the result of manipulative suggestions and actions of the producers and providers of products and services.
16.3.4 Emotional approach

This approach is also considered a purely theoretical approach to explaining consumer behaviour in decision-making. Its foundation is the thesis that real life is not the same as theoretical constructions. In real life, mass buying is not based on the previous careful information collection and evaluation of alternatives. On the contrary, they are often impulsive, carried by emotions and special moods. This impulsive purchase therefore uses two sorts of preconditions: emotions on the one hand, and mood on the other. What do they mean and how to determine them?
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In marketing, emotion can be defined as a response to the environment, the state of impulse that precedes action. There are an unlimited number of emotions that depend on the person and the culture. As a rule however, we can classify them into positive such as hope, happiness, satisfaction; and negative emotions: anger, sorrow, envy, jealousy, hatred, fear etc. Emotions are often used in advertising food, cosmetics, fashion clothes, underwear and non-alcoholic beverages. Initiated by various stimuli such as words, music or images, emotions represent a state of impulse that precedes action. For instance, anger, pride, love and sorrow stimulate tension that initiates action. What is the essence of an emotional decision? The accent is not on the pre-purchase collection of information but on the feelings or emotions: joy, fear, love, hope, magic. More precisely, instead of searching for information in order to make the best decision, the logic is to follow the matrix: go for it, you deserve it etc. You will buy, for instance, famous brands of clothes not because you look better in them, but because you feel better due to the brand status. Mood as a precondition of decision-making can be defined as a state of feeling or spiritual state at a given moment. Unlike emotions that are always a response to the environment, mood is the state that already exists at the moment of receiving an impulse from the environment. For instance, a consumer already has it at the moment of experiencing an advert, shop, brand or product. Along with that, moods are states that are inclined to be long-term, that way influencing an impression that a person creates and their appearance for hours, days, sometimes weeks. You will say, for instance, that it is lovely if your mood is pleasant, but that it is a problem if you are sad, worried, angry or just dull or sluggish. Considering the above, there is no doubt that mood is an important variable in consumer behaviour. It depends on the mood when consumers are going to buy and where, what sort of shop, in their own town our out of it, etc. Mood will significantly affect whether a person shops alone or in
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company with friends, colleagues, parents. And finally, mood affects how consumers react at the very place where they shop. All this can be considered the reason salespeople try to affect the mood of consumers. They do this in various ways. For instance, they try to influence the mood by decorating the exterior, parking space, or a combination of attractive external colours of the building. They then try to affect the mood within the interior: the combination of colours, the arrangement of shelves, etc. The general atmosphere in a shop is relevant as well: the kind of music, lighting, salespeoples behaviour etc. Why is mood so relevant? Because of the consequences certain moods lead to. For instance, it depends on ones mood how much time they spend in a shop, what the chances are of them buying a product they came there for, etc.
16.4 Schiffman-Kanuk model of decision-making

Schiffman and Kanuk developed their own model of purchase decisionmaking. If we try to group their model into one of the theoretical models and if we adopt it as our own in this analysis, we could say that, according to the logic of its foundations, it is a specific combination of two models: cognitive and emotional.
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Figure 68: Simple model of decision-making
Source: Schiffman and Kanuk, 2004, p. 7
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The model includes three relevant components: input data, process and output data. The last one of them, output data, that includes purchase and post-purchase behaviour, is analysed in a separate chapter. Below we will continue to analyse the first two components of the model.
16.4.1 Input data as an element of the mode

Input data, according to the Schiffman-Kanuk model, is the first component of the decision-making process as a unit. If we carefully review the structure of the elements included in the input data though, we start to wonder whether its name was well-chosen. What is input data then? It is the entirety of external influences to which a consumer is either temporarily or permanently exposed to as a person, affecting his values, attitudes and finally his behaviour. If we try to identify all the influences, they would all, according to the similarity be classified into two large groups: socio-cultural influences on the one hand and marketing activities on the other. Socio-cultural influences are crucial for the nature of a human personality. The system of values that a person builds is related to them, as well as the attitudes one adopts. The range of socio-cultural influences is wide. Family influence is certainly in this group. According to many, it is primary too. It is an influence that a person is exposed to throughout life, being strongest in ones childhood because it is then that a humans personality traits are formed. It does not stop later on, in puberty or even the stage of human biological maturity. On the contrary, family atmosphere, family system of values and all other elements of family life, according to the principle of connected containers, are transferred to all its members. The next important influence from the group of socio-cultural influences is the influence of social classes that individuals belong to, as well as the stratification layers within them. How is it manifested? First of all, it affects the formation of a persons attitudes and values. More precisely, it is
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common for a person to adopt the attitudes and values that are dominant in their social class or a stratification layer within it as their own. However, the external manifestation of those attitudes and values is even more relevant for an individual. It is difficult to understand it without the behaviour pertaining to a specific class or an individual stratification layer within it. We are interested in how a human behaves as a buyer and consumer of goods and services of course, how class position or a stratification layer affect the choice of a suit brand, food products, restaurants, holiday destination etc. The influence of culture and subculture is another socio-cultural influence. It implies cultural standards that are dominant for a region, a people or a society. The influence of subcultures of some social groups is equally important: of confessional, professional, age groups and many others. There is no doubt that within each culture one can identify the difference between consumer behaviour typical for a teenage population and that of older or old age groups. Likewise it is common for peoples behaviour, including their consumer behaviour, to be determined by their profession: the fact that they belong to either a group of manual workers, technical intelligence, or university professors etc. Finally, the inuence of informal and other non-commercial sources must not be ignored, as separate kinds of socio-cultural influences. Various influences that affect individuals belong to this group. Let us imagine, for instance, our friends comments about the furniture we have chosen and intend to buy, or about a theatre play we intend to see, a journey we want to go on, etc. These comments can doubtlessly have a certain, sometimes crucial influence on an individuals decision, because it came from the people we care about and because these people have no other interests other than the wish to help you. Similar effect can be achieved by some other informal and non-commercial sources: newspaper articles, articles in reputable magazines, etc. The other group of external influences that a consumer is exposed to comprises of marketing activities, i.e. various actions through which companies want to reach the consumers, inform them and persuade them to buy their product. One of these activities is advertising in mass
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media: via television, radio, print, new media such as the Internet, etc. Direct marketing is another important marketing activity. It is the activity through which a salesperson, in order to exchange goods with a consumer, makes a direct effort aimed at the target consumer, using one or more media (direct sale, direct mail, telemarketing that now includes mobile phones along with landline phones, cable TV, email, communication systems, etc.) to receive a response2. In other words, this is a form of propaganda directly aimed at the target group of consumers. As direct marketing means catalogues are used, coupons, letters, free phones, mailing lists etc. Along with the fact that this sort of marketing business affects the attitudes and behaviour of potential buyers, its use saves time for both buyers and sellers: actions are often performed momentarily, so this form is considered rational. Personal selling is also classified as a marketing activity. It is every form of presenting products that implies direct communication with consumers. Its significance is in the fact that salespeople try to motivate the buyers to make a decision. People, Jeffrey Gitomer points out, do not like to be sold to, but love to buy. The job of an excellent salesperson is to create an atmosphere in which people will want to buy.3 What is this actually about? Some research has shown that only 30% of consumers come to a shop to buy a specific brand. Most consumers, therefore, can be motivated to buy a product or service at the very place of sales. In order to function like that however, i.e. in order to respond to individual wishes and needs, it is essential that the salesperson has a large amount of information about the product or service, as well as presentational and selling skills that he can use to persuade the buyer about having made the right choice. Marketing activities also include the selection of distribution channels: mutually dependent organisations involved in the process that makes products and services available for use or consumption. Distribution channels imply a route that a final product takes from the factory door to the final consumer, i.e. a group of individuals and organisations that direct the flow of the product from the producer to the consumer. There are various distribution channels: channels for products for final consumption,
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channels for industrial products, and finally multiple marketing channels. Regardless of the kind of distribution channels though, they can affect the attitudes and behaviour of specific consumers.
16.4.2 Process as an element of the model

If we observe it as a part of the model of purchase decision-making, process implies the method in which consumers make a purchase decision. In order to understand this process as a unit, specific preconditions must be provided, such as knowing certain psychological variables: motivation, perception, learning, personality, attitudes, etc. If process is observed as a method consumers use to make purchase decisions, then it is possible to identify three basic stages of it: need recognition, pre-purchase information collection, and finally, evaluation of alternatives. What is the essence of each one of them?
16.4.2.1 Need recognition

Need recognition is the first stage of making a purchase decision. In order to speak about the recognition of a need, one has to face a certain problem first. This is not all though. In order to cause a need, there must exist and be noticed by a consumer a certain difference between a real condition i.e. a consumers current situation and the situation he wants to be in. This difference must be above the level of acceptable. If such a difference is not achieved, neither the need nor the motive to fulfil it will be caused. The above situation can be explained by a concrete example. Let us assume that this person is the owner of a one-room flat. He has a wife and a child. Let us assume that he wants to extend his family by having two more children. Such intention, however, places several problems for the man. One of them is the problem of accommodation: where to live? The extension of a family implies the need for a larger flat. How to solve it? Various scenarios are possible: renting a larger flat, or buying a new, larger
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flat, appropriate for a large family. In this case the choice of scenario is not relevant. What is relevant is that a new need that follows the extension of the family has been recognised.
Figure 69: The influence of the level of difference on need recognition
Source: Engel, Blackwell, Miniard, 1995, p. 1774
Only one type of problems that cause needs is mentioned in the above example. Problems come in different forms though. For instance, we can differentiate between inactive and active problems. Inactive problems are those that a consumer is not aware of, but can lead to communication or stimulate a consumers mental processes towards problem recognition in some other way. The role of producers, when a new product appears on the market, is to inform consumers about it in an adequate way and stimulate the need for it in them. Unlike them, active problems are those that a consumer is aware of. Our example with the accommodation for an extended family is one of them.
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Further on, we can identify routine, urgent, planned and unplanned problems. Routine problems are those in which the difference between the situation a consumer is in and the one he desires is expected. Therefore these situations, such as buying daily groceries and other home products, imply momentary action, according to the standard, routine rules set well in advance. Planned problems are also in the group of expected problems, and unlike the routine problems, they do not require immediate solutions. Buying semi-permanent and permanent products whose purchase is planned (a house, car, scholarship etc) are among them. Unlike routine problems, urgent problems are not expected. For instance, you have a car accident, which leads to unexpected expenses for fixing your vehicle. You did not expect this problem, but the action taken to solve it, in order for you to be able to drive your car again, must be immediate. Unplanned problems are also not expected. Unlike urgent problems though, their solution does not require immediate action. If a new fashionable item appears in the market, a large number of consumers will feel the need to buy it. Such action is not something one cannot live without though, and therefore it does not require immediate action. Regardless of the type of the problem, its understanding is the process that often depends on a series of factors or variables. In order to illuminate their meaning, it is enough to list the examples for several of these variables. Three are pointed out here. One of them is certainly the change of life conditions. It is enough, for example, to imagine the situation of a consumer who, after living a bachelors life, got married and had children. He is now in entirely new life conditions, with new needs that require a completely new structure of consumption. These types of life conditions change with each new life cycle. Among the variables of problem understanding is also the change of the environment. For instance, you get hired by a reputable company after your studies, get a relatively good position, acquaintances from higher social layers and start socialising with them. These are entirely new circumstances - in this case, the referent group was changed - and this changes the structure of your needs. Instead of non-conventional dressing you are suddenly in the situation where a suit and a tie are obligatory,
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instead of McDonalds restaurants you get oriented towards reputable restaurants and a different style of food, etc. Another variable of understanding a problem and fulfilling a need related to it is the change of nancial conditions of any specific consumer. Let us imagine, for instance, a man who worked for wages and based on his income had a certain lifestyle. Then he wins a lot of money from a betting shop. This fact would certainly bring a lot of changes in this mans life: he would buy a house, a car he did not even consider before that point, etc. The scenario can also be the opposite: for a person to move from a position of wealth to one of poverty, which would also force him to make radical changes, including the changes related to consumption.
16.4.2.2 Pre-purchase search for information

Pre-purchase search for information is the second relevant stage in the process of purchase decision-making. When does it start? Simply stated, it is the process that starts right after the recognition of a need that can be fulfilled by a purchase or consumption. What sort of information a consumer will look for largely depends on the purchase situation. High-risk purchase decisions, such as decisions that imply significant financial means to buy permanent products (a house, car, house appliances etc.) lead to a more complex search and evaluation of information. And the opposite: low-risk decisions result in simple tactics of the information search and evaluation. Unless a purchase is a routine one, the search for information as a precondition of purchase decision-making occurs in different situations. Regarding this, we can identify different dimensions of information search. We shall define three in our analysis: the level, direction and order of information search. Let us first analyse the difference in the level of information search. This level in fact provides answers to a large number of questions: how many brands should be considered, how many shops to visit, how many product
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features to evaluate, how many information sources to consult, how much time to spend on the search, etc. The answers to all these questions depend on whether the purchase is a routine one or a new and complicated one. In the former case the need for information is generally smaller, and in the latter it is significantly larger in all the listed perspectives. However, the answers to these questions are in a direct relation with the consumers personality traits: whether he is open for communication or not. The direction of information search is another situation that determines the dimension of the search. In order to make a decision, consumers can ask themselves a large number of questions: what brands to consider, what shops to visit, what product features to evaluate, what sources of information to use, etc. The direction of the search also depends on a large number of variables: the level of search first of all, but also the consumers personality. A larger need for clarity, for instance, affects both the level and the direction of the search. The direction of a search can also be affected by marketing activities that direct consumers towards specific brands, shops etc. The order of a search is also relevant for the information search. It answers the questions such as: in what order to evaluate the brands, visit shops, evaluate product features or use the information, etc. Information can be collected from various sources. In order to make a purchase decision, consumers mainly orient towards internal or external sources, often combining the two. Internal sources are in fact consumers previous experiences with the product or products they intend to buy, and the information and knowledge gathered before the need occurs. If there is such an experience, if consumers manage to restore the saved knowledge before making a decision, then the need for external information is generally smaller. They then often give up on the search for external information and proceed to make a purchase decision based on the internal search. The internal source of information is very important for making a decision about the selection of a shop. Generally consumers choose the shops they are used to and they have good experience with, often without any additional search for information about other, better shops. Likewise,
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not even the most attractive marketing activities will make them choose shopping at a shop they have had a bad experience with and whose image in their perception is negative. If consumers do not have any previous experience with the product they plan to buy or if their experience with it is limited and they decide that the information stored in their memory is insufficient, it is logical to expect them to search for the information from other, external sources. They include the information consumers can get through various marketing activities: adverts, directly from salespeople and in other ways, but also through non-commercial sources: from family members, friends, from newspapers and magazines, etc. The very act of purchase can also be considered as external information. Men and women have a different approach to shopping. Most women find shopping relaxing and fun, they love to shop and they enjoy it. Men often feel just the opposite: they do not find it relaxing or fun, neither do they enjoy it. Therefore, due to differences in price between specific producers and salespeople, purchase can stimulate the interest for the additional information search. The goal is simple: to save money by shopping smart, i.e. by comparing prices. The Internet is another external source of information and its influence today on pre-purchase information search is significant. One of the reasons is that all serious businesses today have their web-sites with all relevant information about the products they offer. They provide the data about product specifications, retail prices, comparison with competitors products etc. Regarding the external sources of information necessary for making a purchase decision, the following rule applies: the lesser the knowledge about a certain category of a product, the greater the effort to search for external information about it. If consumers have less knowledge about the product category and the purchase is relevant, demanding significant financial means, the logical consequence is to reserve more time for shopping and to search for information before the purchase more intensively.
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In real life consumers often combine internal and external information sources. The situations when they do in fact probably occur most frequently. Regardless of the source of information that will be used in order to make a purchase decision, we can identify differences in the intensity of prepurchase information search. This intensity depends on a large number of various factors or determinants. However, they can all be classified into four large groups: situational, product, retail and consumer-related factors. Situational factors consist of many different determinants of the intensity of information search. One of them is the level of social acceptability of a product. For instance, if you need to buy a perfume for yourself, the brand will often not be relevant. If you need to buy a perfume for someones birthday though, you will take care about the social acceptability of the perfumes brand. Another situational factor is the time pressure related to decision-making. Imagine, for instance, that for one day you are in a large city to which you rarely travel, and that you need to make several different purchases while you are there. The limited available time pressures you and forces you to change many rules in the process of purchase decision-making: it reduces the amount of information on which you base your decision; it often excludes the comparison between different shops, etc. Finally, experience related to a product one wants to buy is another situational factor. If it is the first purchase, i.e. the purchase with no previous experience or a purchase about which we have unsatisfactory experiences, this situation will surely result in the need for a greater amount and variety of information. If we need to buy a product about which we have extensive previous experience though, the need for a large amount of information will be reduced, sometimes entirely excluded. There are many product factors, as factors on which it depends whether the information search will be more or less distinguished. One of them is the interval between two purchases. In the case of a long interval, a consumer will have the need for more information during his new purchase. The reason for this is simple: a new, better brand may have been launched in the meantime, or the old one could have been improved, etc. All this requires a more detailed information search as a precondition of the new purchase decision.
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One of the product factors is related to the existence of a large number of alternative product brands. If consumers believe that there are significant differences between specific brands, their information search will be much more intensive and comprehensive than if he perceived all those brands as approximately the same. The changes in the product development are another product factor. With daily food products these changes are relatively insignificant. Therefore not every new decision about buying them will require new information. If we need to buy a computer though, it is a product characteristic for frequent changes. Therefore every new purchase requires new information in order not to make a bad decision. The price is also one of the most significant product factors. At least two kinds of variables are relevant here. If you need to buy a TV set, surely your need for information will be stronger than if you are buying a product worth several KM (Convertible Marks). You will be interested in the prices of different brands of TV sets, the prices of the same brand with different providers, the relation between the price and the warranty, and a lot of other information. Frequent changes of prices are typical for this sort of product. If we need to buy one, therefore, a detailed search for information will precede the purchase decision, but the decision may be delayed for a certain time due to the possibility of price change. Retail factors are a separate group of factors that affect the intensity of the information search. There are a large number of factors in this group. One of them, for instance, is the perception about the level of dierences that exist among retailers. In the case of the perception of these differences being large, it is certain to result in a greater search for information before making a final purchase decision. Another factor in this group is politeness of salespeople. Salespeople, in other words, can be what makes one decide to purchase in that retail shop despite the fact that the price of a product is slightly higher than elsewhere. Some other parameters related to retail as a factor can affect the intensity of the information search: the proximity of retail shops, the range of products they offer etc. Finally, a large group of factors on which the intensity and comprehensiveness of the information search depend is related to the
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consumers themselves. Therefore, the intensity of the information search necessary for purchase decision-making depends on a large number of consumer features. One of them, for instance, is consumer demographic characteristics. Younger people have a greater need for information than the older that rely on experience more. The educated also have a stronger need for information than those with a lower level of education. The need for information, therefore, is in a direct relation with personality traits. A non-dogmatic person, for instance, is more prone to information search than a more or less dogmatic one that cares about the loyalty to a brand more. It is relevant whether the person takes pleasure in shopping or not. If they do, the need for information will be much stronger, and if they do not, loyalty to the familiar brands prevails. Previous knowledge about a specific product is another factor related to consumers. If this knowledge is greater, the need for additional information is smaller and purchases often become routine. If it is smaller, the need for information is much greater.
14.4.2.3 Evaluation of alternatives

In theory, one can find various approaches to the issue of the evaluation of alternatives. Schiffman and Kanuk, for instance, base their approach on the thesis about two types of consumer information that are used for the evaluation of potential alternatives. The first type is the so-called evoked group or a list of brands that a consumer plans to select from. This group is relatively small and as a rule includes three to five different brands. Regarding this group, the principle applies that the greater the experience of a consumer, the larger the number of brands in it. The existence of an evoked group or consideration group implies the simultaneous existence of two more groups of brands. The first one is the unwanted group, i.e. the group of brands that a consumer finds unacceptable or less worthy and does not take into consideration. The second one is the inactive group: the brands that a consumer perceives as those with no advantages and that make him indifferent (Figure 70).
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Figure 70: Evoked group as a subgroup of all brands in a certain class of products
Adapted from: Schiffman&Kanuk, 2004, p. 448
The second type of consumer information that is used for the evaluation of potential alternatives is the criteria applied in the evaluation of each individual brand within the evoked group. These criteria are often formed considering the important features of a product. Regarding personal computers for instance, the speed of information processing will surely be one of the criteria, as well as the price, size of hard drive, whether it is portable, etc. The criteria for a colour TV are significantly different though: the quality of picture, warranty, additional equipment, price, size of screen, etc. Wrist watches would be evaluated in an entirely new way. The criteria for the evaluation of potential alternatives for them, for instance, would be: whether an alarm is included, the price, strap, whether it is waterproof, quartz machinery etc.
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It seems however, that this approach to the evaluation of alternatives is not the best solution and that some others are theoretically acceptable. One of them, for instance5, starts with the need to determine the evaluation criteria, primarily the most significant ones: so-called critical selection criteria as determinants that direct the flow of a product purchase. There are a large number of such criteria. However, some of them occur relatively more frequently than others in the evaluation of different sorts of products and therefore direct the flow of their purchase more frequently. Three of them will be pointed out here: the price, product brand and the country of origin. What are the reasons for this? Price is certainly one of the criteria for the evaluation that is most frequently mentioned. Despite this however, it is necessary to know that its significance in relation to other criteria varies from product to product. Its relevance is in a direct relation to the level of life standard. The following rule applies here: the higher the standard, the less relevant the price is as a criterion for purchase decision-making. Another criterion for the evaluation of products is the brand. A large number of products are chosen based on a brand as a synonym for product quality. The name of brand is also used as a status symbol so by buying a renowned brand one actually buys social status. Due to all this, producers and traders spend significant means in order to develop the desired image of their brand. The country of origin of a product is another criterion of the evaluation. A product can be perceived as quality only due to the fact that it originates from a specific country or of poor quality because it originates from another one. All German products are generally perceived as good quality, and all those coming from undeveloped or developing countries as poor quality. Therefore, claiming that a product is partially or entirely produced in a country considered to be providing good quality, such as Germany, The USA, Japan etc., is a common scenario. A few things should be noted here. In most cases only one or two of these criteria represent relevant determinants of the choices that direct the flow
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of a purchase of a certain product. The more permanent and expensive a product is, the larger the number of the selective criteria. There are two basic approaches in using the above as well as many other criteria for product evaluation. The first one is known as the noncompensational, and the second one as compensational rule of decisionmaking. What is their essence? The first, non-compensational rule of decision-making that is used, as a rule, when a highly-evaluated feature cannot compensate for other poor features, occurs in several forms. One of them is the rule of separation. Its essence is in the consumer determining what the minimum performance of every chosen feature is that evaluated brands have to achieve. If these minimum values are reached, the final choice will be made by summarising all evaluated values and selecting the product with the highest total grade. One of those variants is known as the rule of linking. For every considered feature the minimal acceptable level is determined, i.e. the minimal acceptable threshold that the feature has to reach. By determining this sort of minimum, a large number of alternatives are eliminated, which makes the decision-making easier from the very beginning. The second approach to product evaluation is known as the compensational rule of decision-making. The essence is in a consumer allowing the possibility of various product features to be evaluated as either positive or negative. It is important that positively evaluated features, i.e. the advantages a product has can compensate for the negatively evaluated features i.e. the product weaknesses. The logic used in this approach is the following: every brand is valued according to the previously selected criteria, these criteria then add up, and selected is the brand that receives the highest grand total of all features.
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What is Hobsons choice? Explain routine purchase behaviour. Define theoretical approaches of decision-making. What are the specifics of Schiffman-Kanuks model of decisionmaking? 5. List some sorts of problems in purchase decision-making. 6. What are the internal sources of information and what is their significance? 7. How do consumers evaluate alternatives? 1. 2. 3. 4.
References
1. Schiffman, L.G. i L.L. Kanuk (2004): Ponasanje potrosaca, MATE, Zagreb 2. Rocco, F. (1993): Rjecnik marketinga, Masmedia, Zagreb 3. Gitomer, J. (2007): Mala crvena knjiga prodaje - 12,5 nacela velicanstvene prodaje: Kako uspjesno prodavati zauvijek, Zagrebacka skola ekonomije i menadzmenta, Zagreb 4. Engel, F.J., D.R. Blackwell and W.P. Miniard (1995): Consumer Behavior, The Dryden Press 5. Kesic, T. (2006): Ponasanje potrosaca, Opinio, Zagreb
SUBJECT INDEX
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SUBJECT INDEX
A
Absolute threshold of perception 82, 84 AIO xiii, 17, 18, 263, 265, 266 American Marketing Association (AMA) 5 Artefacts 217, 226 Attitude change xi, 163, 164 Attribution theory xi, 156, 158
B
Baby-boom generation xiii, 242 Behavioural theory of personality x, 103 Beliefs 214, 218 Black box 5, 14 Business-to-Business Marketing (B2B) 11 Butterfly curve 85, 377
C
Causal research 27 CETSCALE 121 Claritas PRIZM 263
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Cognitive dissonance theory xi, 156 Commercial buyers xiv, 278 Communication barriers xv, 339 Communication model xv, 333 Conclusive research 27 Conditional learning xi, 131 Consumer sovereignty 7 Consumption stage 7 Cultural changes xiii, 223
D
Descriptive research 27 Differential threshold of perception 82 Digital revolution 4 Direct marketing xiv, 322, 341, 342, 361 Disposal stage 7, 378 Dogmatism 107, 378
E
Emotional motives 51, 57 Ethics vii, 1 Ethnocentrism 95, 121 Evaluation of alternatives xv, 370 Exploratory research 26 Extensive problem-solving 351
F
Family life cycle xii, 183 Focus groups 40 Frustration 58, 59
Subject index
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G
Generation X xiii, 244, 246, 247, 250 Generation Y 246, 247, 250 Generation Z 248 Generic goals 54 Gestalt theory 92 Governmental organizations xiv, 281
H
High-context cultures 227 Hobsons choice 349, 374 Horneys socio-psychological theory 104, 105, 121
I
In-depth interviews 25, 27, 39 Information search 283 Innovativeness 106, 107, 108, 121, 268 Institutional customers xiv, 280 Interpretivism 25, 26
J
Just Noticeable Difference (JND) 83
L
Limited problem-solving 351
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LOV xiii, 263, 265, 273 Low-context cultures 228
M
Maslows hierarchy x, 51, 57, 58, 59, 65, 71 Materialism 78, 95, 111, 241 McClellands theory 60, 71 Metaphor analysis 41 Model learning xi, 137 Monochromic cultures 229 Motivational research 66
N
Negative goals 55 Neo-Freudian theory of personality x, 104 Non-traditional family life cycle xii, 188 Norms 176, 220
O
Observational learning 140, 141, 142
P
Pavlovs theory 130, 132 Personality traits x, 100, 113 Polychromic cultures 229 Positive goals 55 Positivism 25
Subject index
381
Post-purchase behaviour 7, 13, 317, 359 Post-purchase evaluation xiv, 317, 325 Primary needs 53 Problem/need recognition 7 Product-specific goals 54 Projective techniques 40, 69 Psychoanalytic theory of personality x, 101 Psychographic segmentation xiii, 257, 262 Purchase xiv, 7, 11, 13, 121, 179, 283, 317, 319, 320, 321, 347, 349 Purchase stage 7 Purchase with long-term trust 321, 322, 329
Q
Qualitative research ix, 31, 39 Quantitative research ix, 28, 32
R
Rational motives 57 Reismans social theory 105 Repeated purchase 292, 322 Repetition 133 Rituals xiii, 225 Rokeach Value System RVS 263 Routine purchase 351
S
Schiffman-Kanuk model of decision-making xv, 357 Secondary needs 54 Selective perception 340
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Self-image 115, 116 Sensory 77 Sensory adaptation 82, 84, 85, 94 Social character of personality 108 Spokesperson xv, 337 Status groups xii, 207 Subliminal perception 82, 86, 94 Symbols 14, 86, 93, 215, 223, 225, 227, 231, 334
T
Trial purchase 321 Tricomponent attitude model 152
V
VALS xiii, 17, 18, 197, 263, 268, 269, 274
W
Webers Law 82, 83, 84

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Consumer Behaviour

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Melika Husi-Mehmedovi Slavo Kuki Muris ii

Proofreading: Publisher: For publisher: Reviewers: Design&DTP Year of publication:

Sarajevo, April 2012 Authors

Melika Husi-Mehmedovi . Slavo Kuki . Muris ii

Melika Husi-Mehmedovi . Slavo Kuki . Muris ii

Melika Husi-Mehmedovi . Slavo Kuki . Muris ii

I chapter CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING

II chapter CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH

III chapter MOTIVES AND MOTIVATION

Melika Husi-Mehmedovi . Slavo Kuki . Muris ii

VI chapter LEARNING AS A FACTOR OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

VII chapter ATTITUDES

VIII chapter FAMILY

IX chapter SOCIAL CLASSES

Melika Husi-Mehmedovi . Slavo Kuki . Muris ii

10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6

XII chapter LIFESTYLE

XIII chapter ORGANIZATIONAL BUYER BEHAVIOUR

XIV chapter PURCHASE AND POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

Melika Husi-Mehmedovi . Slavo Kuki . Muris ii

XV chapter COMMUNICATION AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

XVI chapter PURCHASE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

SUBJECT INDEX ....................................................................................................................................................... 377

1. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING

Melika Husi-Mehmedovi . Slavo Kuki . Muris ii