Consumer Motivation And Personality Chapter 3 PDF

CONSUMER MOTIVATION AND PERSONALITY Chapter 3  Chapter 3 Outline  Consumer Motivation and Personality  The Dynamics of Motivation  Needs  Goals  Need Arousal  Selecting Goals  Personality  The Features of Personality  Trait Theory  Personality Traits an...

CONSUMER MOTIVATION AND PERSONALITY Chapter 3  Chapter 3 Outline  Consumer Motivation and Personality  The Dynamics of Motivation  Needs  Goals  Need Arousal  Selecting Goals  Personality  The Features of Personality  Trait Theory  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  The Self and Self-Image  Consumer Motivation and Personality  Motivation is the driving force that compels people to act.  Motivation represents the reasons one has for acting or behaving in a certain way.  Needs are circumstances or things that are wanted or required, and they direct the motivational forces.  Personality consists of the inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how we think and act, which together form an individual's distinctive character.  Consumer Motivation and Personality  Consumers often purchase products and brands because advertisers have given them “personalities” that differentiates them from competing offerings.  Brand personification occurs when consumers attribute human traits or characteristics to a brand.  Consumer Motivation and Personality  A “brand personality” provides an emotional identity for a brand, which produces emotions and feelings toward it among consumers.  Ex: Dove's brand personality focuses on truth, aiming to attract women who reject superficial beauty standards. Dove's Real Beauty campaign promotes authenticity by highlighting diverse body types and revealing retouched images. Consumer Motivation and Personality  Brand personification is a form of anthropomorphism, which refers to attributing human characteristic to something that is not human.  Ex: Mickey Mouse, portrayed as a friendly, approachable figure who exhibits human traits such as emotions, speech. The Dynamics of Motivation  Motivation drives consumers to buy and is triggered by psychological tension caused by unfulfilled needs.  Individuals attempt both consciously and subconsciously to reduce this tension through selecting goals and following behavior that they think it will fulfill their needs and therefore relieve them of the tension they feel. The Dynamics of Motivation  Personality characteristics guide the goals that people set and the courses of action they take to attain these goals.  The interaction between a consumer's personality and their motivational drivers shapes their consumption patterns, product preferences, and responsiveness to marketing messages.  The Dynamics of Motivation Marketing Consumer Motivational Consumption Product Message Type Driver Pattern Preferences Responsiven ess Attending Trendy Responds well social events, clothing, to messages Extroverted Social dining out, gadgets that emphasizing Consumer Motivation engaging in enhance social benefits group social and events activities interaction Careful Responds to purchasing, Productivity messages focus on tools, focusing on hard- Achievement quality and educational efficiency and working Motivation reliable courses, long-term Consumer products, fitness benefits, structured equipment reliable routine courses Responds to  Needs There are two types of human needs:  1. Physiological needs are essential and fulfilling them sustains biological existence.  They include the need for food, water, air, and shelter.  2. Psychological needs are learned from our parents, social, environment, and interaction with others.  Among many others, they include the needs for self-esteem, prestige, affection, power, and achievement.  Needs  Physiological Needs: Basic survival needs.  Example: Access to food, water, and shelter (e.g., a homeless person seeking food).  Safety and Security Needs: Protection from physical and emotional harm.  Example: Having a stable job and a safe living environment (e.g., a parent seeking a safe neighborhood for their children).  Social Needs: Emotional relationships and connections.  Example: Building friendships and participating in community activities (e.g., joining a sports team).  Needs  Both types of needs affect consumers’ buying decisions.  For example: all individuals need shelter from the elements and therefore buy or rent homes.  However, the kind of homes they buy or rent is the result of psychological learned needs.  A young married couple working in Amman is likely to buy or rent an apartment, because they have no children.  A married couple in their 60s, whose children have left their home, may buy or rent a home in a managed community that has a pool, walking area, and other facilities, where they can meet new friends with who they can socialize and travel.  Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs  A psychological theory proposed by Abraham Maslow that categorizes human needs into a five-tier pyramid.  Individuals seek to satisfy lower-level needs before addressing higher-level needs.  Structure:  Physiological Needs  Safety and Security Needs  Social Needs  Esteem Needs  Self-Actualization Needs  Example: Think of the pyramid as a ladder: you can’t reach the top rung (self-actualization) without standing on the lower ones (physiological, safety, etc.). Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs  Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs  Physiological Needs: Basic survival needs such as food, water, and shelter.  Example: Ensuring regular meals or securing a place to live (e.g., a person seeking stable employment to provide for their family).  Safety Needs: Desire for security and protection from physical and emotional harm.  Example: Buying home insurance or choosing a safe neighborhood to live in (e.g., a family moving to a community known for low crime rates).  Social Needs: Desire for relationships, social connections, Belongingness and love.  Example: Joining a club or social group to build friendships (e.g., a student participating in extracurricular activities to make new friends).  Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs  Esteem Needs: Desire for self-esteem and recognition.  Example: Achieving a promotion at work or receiving praise for accomplishments (e.g., an employee striving for a leadership position).  Self-Actualization Needs: Fulfillment of personal potential and creativity.  Example: following passions like art, music, or personal development (e.g., an individual writing a novel).  Limitations of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Limitations:  Cultural Bias:  Maslow’s theory is based on Western individualistic values.  Example: In collectivist cultures (e.g., many Asian societies), community needs may take priority over individual self-actualization.  Lack of Empirical Support:  Limited scientific evidence supports the strict hierarchy of needs.  Example: Research shows people may chase social or Esteem needs even when physiological needs are unmet, like a person seeking social validation despite being in financial hardship.  Limitations of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs  Oversimplification:  The model simplifies complex motivations into a linear scale.  Example: Individuals often address multiple needs at once, such as seeking companionship (social needs) while striving for a career goal (Esteem needs).  Individual Differences:  Personal experiences shape individual motivations differently.  Example: A successful artist may prioritize self- actualization through creativity over basic security needs.  Limitations of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs  Subjective Self-Actualization:  The definition varies widely among individuals.  Example: For one person, self-actualization may mean career success; for another, it may mean personal relationships.  Motivation Overlap:  Needs can overlap across different levels.  Example: A person may seek recognition (Esteem need) while still needing social connections (social need), reflecting parallel motivations.  The Role of Maslow's Theory in Advertising  Framework for Advertising:  Provides a foundation for developing advertising demands.  Example: A health food brand creates ads focusing on physiological needs (e.g., energy and nutrition) to attract health- conscious consumers.  Focus on Shared Needs:  Enables targeting of need levels likely shared by large audience segments.  Example: A skincare company promotes products that enhance appearance and social acceptance, appealing to a large audience seeking beauty and confidence.  Facilitates Product Positioning:  Assists in positioning and repositioning products effectively.  Example: A luxury car brand positions its vehicles as symbols of status and prestige, attractive to Esteem needs for recognition and success.  Goals  Goals are the sought-after results of motivated behavior, and all human behavior is goal-oriented.  There are two types of goals:  1. Generic goals are outcomes that consumers seek in order to satisfy physiological and psychological needs. (healthy eating)  2. Product-specific goals are outcomes that consumers seek by using a given product or service. (fitness tracker)  Goals  For example: when a student tells his parents that he wants to become an entrepreneur, he expresses a generic goal.  If the student says he wants to earn an MBA for a specific university, he expresses a product-specific goal.  Need Arousal  Most of an individual's needs are dormant much of the time.  The arousal of any need at a specific moment in time may be caused by biological stimuli, emotional or cognitive processes or stimuli from the outside environment.  For example: A drop in blood sugar level or stomach contractions will trigger a awareness of a hunger need.  Need Arousal  Ex: A decrease in body temperature will induce shivering, which makes the individual aware of the need for warmth.  Most physiological cues are involuntary, but they arouse needs that cause uncomfortable tensions until they are satisfied.  For example: a person who is cold may turn up the heat in his or her bedroom and make a mental note to buy a warm sweater to wear around the house.  Need Arousal  In cognitive arousal, random thoughts can lead to a cognitive awareness of a need to act.  For example: a greeting card company’s ad might remind a viewer that her grandchild’s birthday is next week, and that it is time to run out and purchase a gift and a birthday card, and be ready for the birthday party.  Many promotional messages are cues designed to arouse consumer needs.  Selecting Goals  Typically, consumers set purchase- related goals that satisfy more than one need.  For example: People buy clothing for protection and to look good.  The motivation to select goals can be either positive or negative.  People may feel a driving force toward some object or condition or a driving force away from some object or condition.  Selecting Goals  For example: a person may be encouraged to start exercising in order to avoid health problems (i.e., negative outcome) or in order to look more attractive and dynamic (i.e., positive outcome).  Positive outcomes the people seek are called approach objects.  Negative outcomes that people want to prevent are called avoidance objects.  Selecting Goals  For example: a college is an approach object that a high school graduate who is motivated by the desire for higher education.  Another person knows that his parents would criticize him if he does not go to college, so he goes to college to avoid being criticized. This is a avoidance object.  Personality  Personality consists of the inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how people think and act.  The deeply ingrained characteristics people call personality influence an individual's product choice.  Personality  They affect the way consumers respond to marketers’ promotional efforts, and when, where, and how they consume many product and services. The Features of Personality  Most researchers agree on the following about personality:  1. Personality reflects individual differences: Because the inner characteristics that make up an individual's personality are a unique combination of factors, no two individuals are exactly alike.  Nevertheless, many individuals may posses as single or even a few personality characteristics, but not  The Features of Personality  For example: some people can be described as “high” in consumer ethnocentrism (i.e., do not accept foreign-made products).  Other people can be described as “low” in ethnocentrism (i.e., not reluctant to buy foreign-made products).  Personality allows marketers to categorize consumers into different groups based on one or several traits because consumers who belong to a given segment are often “high” on a specific personality characteristic while consumers from another segment score “low” on that same characteristics. The Features of Personality  2. Personality is consistent and enduring: Usually a person’s personality tends to be both consistent and generally enduring.  Marketers cannot change consumers’ personalities to fit their products.  But if marketers know which personality characteristics influence specific consumers’ responses, they can appeal to the relevant trait in their target consumers.  The Features of Personality  For example: If a marketer knows that one of the company’s products attracts consumer innovators, it can create marketing messages that appeal to innovative consumers.  3. Personality may change: Even though personality is generally enduring, under certain circumstances, personalities change.  For example: Major life events, such as marriage, birth of a child, or change of job strongly affect personality.  Trait Theory  Trait theory focuses on empirical measures of personality in terms of psychological characteristics, called “traits”.  Traits are personal characteristics that set one person apart from another.  Traits theorists use personality tests (or inventories) to pinpoint individual differences in terms of “high” versus “low” scores on specific traits.  Trait Theory  These personality tests measure such traits as innovativeness (how receptive a person is to new products) among other traits.  Researchers have discovered that personality traits are linked to consumer consumption of wide range of product categories rather than specific brands.  For example: a statistical correlation between a given personality trait and whether or not an individual regularly eats peanut butter is more likely to occur than a correlation between that trait and the brand of peanut butter purchase.  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  The following are some personality traits that provide useful insights about consumer behavior.  1. Innovativeness  2. Dogmatism  3. Social Character: Inner- versus other- directedness  4. Need for Cognition (NFC)  5. Materialism  6. Fixated consumption  7. Compulsive consumption  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  1. Innovativeness: is the degree of a consumer’s willingness to adopt new products and services shortly after the products are introduced.  One study discovered four motivational factors that inspire consumer innovativeness:  1. Functional factors: reflect interest in the performance of an innovation.  2. Hedonic factors: relate to feeling fulfilled by using the innovation.  3. Social factors: reflect the desire to be recognized by others because of one’s pursuit of innovation.  4. Cognitive factors: express the mental stimulation experienced by using an innovation.  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  2. Dogmatism: is one’s degree of rigidity-the opposite of being open- minded-toward information and opinions that contradict one’s belief and views.  Highly dogmatic consumers tend to be more receptive to ads that contain appeals from authority figures, such as celebrities and experts.  Low-dogmatic consumers are more receptive to messages that stress factual differences, product benefits, and other  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  3. Social Character: Inner- versus other-directedness:  Inner-directed consumers rely on their own values or standards in evaluating new products and are likely to be consumer innovators.  Other-directed consumers look to others for guidance as to what is appropriate or inappropriate and are unlikely to be consumer innovators.  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  4. Need for Cognition (NFC): measures a person’s desire for or enjoyment of thinking.  Consumers who are high in NFC respond to ads that contain a lot of product-related information and descriptions.  Consumers who are relatively low in NFC are attracted to the background or peripheral features of an ad such as a well-known celebrity.  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  5. Materialism: measures the extent to which a person is preoccupied with purchasing and showing off physical possessions that are mostly nonessential and often eye-catching luxury goods.  Highly materialistic consumers define themselves by acquiring possessions.  They value buying and showing off their belongings, are often self-centered and selfish, and often do not experience personal satisfaction or happiness from their possessions.  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  Consumers who are less materialistic do not define themselves by what they posses and are more interested in seeking fulfilling experiences and enjoying them, often with others.  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  6. Fixated consumption: refers to collectors’ and hobbyists’ habit of accumulating items that are related to their interests and show them off to friends others with similar interests.  People collect anything: from free items, such as matchbooks from hotels and restaurants they have visited, to expensive items such as vintage motorcycles and cars, and art,  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  7. Compulsive consumption: is addictive and out-of-control buying that often has damaging consequences for both the compulsive shopper and those around him or her.  Compulsive shoppers purchase items that they do not need and often do not end up using, and many require psychological intervention in order to eliminate or control severe compulsive shopping.  Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior  8. Ethnocentrism is the consumer's willingness to buy or not buy foreign-made products.  Highly ethnocentric consumers feel that it is improper or wrong to buy foreign-made products because of the resulting economic impact on the domestic economy.  Nonethnocentric or less ethnocentric consumers usually evaluate foreign-made products more objectively for their extrinsic characteristics (e.g., “How good are they?”).  Reference  Schiffman L. G., Wisenblit J. L. (2015) Consumer Behavior, 11th Edition, Pearson , Global Edition.