Amity School of Business
Amity School of Business
PRINCIPLES OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Module 2
External Influences on Buying Behavior
Manita Arora
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A. The Traditional “Black Box”
Model
External External
world world
Consumer’s
mind
Inputs Outputs
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B. The Consumer Information Processing
Approach
External External
world
CIP world
model
Inputs Outputs
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Consumer Information-processing
• The consumer information-processing
approach aids in understanding
consumptive behaviour by focusing on the
sequence of mental activities that people
use in interpreting and integrating their
environment.
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WHAT INFLUENCES
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR…………..??
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Culture is the basic values, perceptions, wants &
behaviors learned by a member of society from
family &other important institutions .
E.g. An American bride wears a white dress on her
wedding while a white dress is worn on occasion of
mourning in India.
Characteristics of Culture
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1. Culture is learnt (not imbibed by birth; but instilled)
2. Culture facilitates communication
3. Culture is adaptive
4. Culture is prescriptive
5. Culture makes living more efficient
6. Culture is socially shared and regulates the society
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Elements of Culture
1. Values
2. Norms
3. Rituals
4. Myths
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Sub-culture categories are:
(i) Nationality: Indian, Srilanka, Pakistan ,
(ii) Religion: Hinduism, Islam
(iii) Race: Asian, black, white
(iv) Age: young, middle aged, elderly
(v) Sex: Male, Female
(vi)Occupation: Farmer, teacher, business
(vii) Social class: upper, middle, lower
(viii) Geographic regions: South India, North-eastern India
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Cross cultural marketing: Objectives and Policies
Cross-cultural marketing is defined as ―the effort to
determine to what extent the consumers of two or more
nations are similar or different.
This will facilitate marketers to understand the
psychological, social and cultural aspects of foreign
consumers they wish to target, so as to design effective
marketing strategies for each of the specific national
markets involved.
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The effort to
determine to what
extent
Cross-Cultural
Consumer Analysis
the consumers of
two or more
nations are similar
or different.
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Cultural Variations in
Nonverbal communication
7 Nonverbal variables……
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• SOCIAL CLASS
Social class is more of a continuum, i.e., a
range of social positions, on which each
member of society can be place. But,
social researchers have divided this
continuum into a small number of specific
classes.
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Characteristics of Social Class
• Rank Ordering
• Relative Permanence
• Internal Homogeneity
• Distinct from income
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Social Classes Structure:
1. Upper Upper
2. Lower Upper
3. Upper Middle
4. Lower Middle
5. Upper Lower
6. Lower Lower
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Social Status Amity School of Business
• A social status of an individual usually comprises
of an individual’s attitude, class and prestige.
• It depends on the way he carries himself socially
or the position at which he is in his work or
family or even in his group of friends.
• The social status of an individual influences his
consumption pattern.
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Basis of Classification of Groups
Nature of Membership
Frequency of Contact
Degree of Formality
Freedom of Choice
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Reference Groups
• A reference group is defined as “an actual or
imaginary individual or group conceived of having
significant relevance upon an individual’s evaluations,
aspirations, or behavior” (Park and Lessig, 1977, p.
102).
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Functions of reference group
– Influence:
(influences the individuals to adopt attitudes and behaviors that are
consistent with norms of group)
– Informational:
(acceptance of information from others)
– Comparative (value-expressive):
(identification with values of others)
– Legitimization:
(legitimize an individual’s decision to use same product as the group)
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Consumer related Reference Groups
• Friendship Groups
• Shopping Groups
• Work Groups
– Formal work groups
– Informal work groups
• Virtual Groups or Communities
• Brand Community
• Consumer Action groups/ Consumer organizations
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Reference Group Appeals
• Celebrity Appeals
• Expert
• Common Man
• The Executive & Employee Spokesperson
• Trade or Spokes-characters
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Opinion Leaders
• Individuals tend to act as opinion leaders
for specific goods or services.
• Information sometimes flows from mass
media to opinion leaders to consumers;
sometimes flows directly to consumers.
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WHAT INFLUENCES CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR?
Family
The family is the most important
consumer-buying organization in
society, and family members
constitute the most influential
primary reference group.
A more direct influence on
everyday buying behavior is the
family –namely, one’s spouse and
children.
Family Amity School of Business
• Classification of Families
– Authoritarian Families
– Neglectful Families
– Democratic Families
– Permissive Families
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Traditional Family Life Cycle
• Stage I: Bachelorhood – Young single adult living apart from
parents
• Stage II: Honeymooners – Young married couple
• Stage III: Parenthood – Married couple with at least one child
living at home
• Stage IV: Post parenthood – An older married couple with no
children living at home
• Stage V: Dissolution – One surviving spouse
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The Eight Roles in Family Decision-Making Process
1. Influencers
2. Gatekeepers
3. Deciders
4. Buyers
5. Preparers
6. Users
7. Maintainers
8. Disposers
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Roles of Household Members
in the Consumer Decision Process
• Husband – Wife Decisions
– Husband-dominant family decision making
– Wife-dominant family decision making
– Autonomic family decision making
– Syncratic family decision making
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Family will continue to be an
Important Influencer……….
