International Journal of Advanced Research in ISSN: 2278-6236

Management and Social Sciences Impact Factor: 7.065

TRADITIONAL MODELS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: AN OVERVIEW

R.VIJAYALAKSHMI,Ph.D (Research Scholar), Department of Commerce, Alagappa University,

Karaikudi-630004.
Dr.T.R.GURUMOORTHY,Professor & Head, Department of Commerce, Alagappa University,
Karaikudi-630004.

ABSTRACT
The purpose of the research work is to study the traditional models of consumer
behavior. The study starts with objectives of traditional models of consumer behavior
overview. Consumer behavior in general and also examines the various theories and
available to understand consumer behavior. Theories of consumer behavior and models are
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a natural extension of human behavior theories. The two major consumer categories
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represent the basis for understanding how they guide the reverse models and theory under
each. It was ascertained that in terms of cognitive and humanistic, the varied theories and
models under them all have special attribute. These represent the basis for the selection of
the theory or model suited to person product or service category. These models also help
special marketing strategies like position and market dividing the total numbers of market
and sub group of people.
Keywords : Traditional models, consumer behavior, Micro Economic, Macro Economics,
Behavior economic, Stimuli models.
INTRODUCTION
A model can be describe as a simplify representation of reality. It simplifies by incorporation
only those aspects of reality that model builder. Other aspects that are not of interest only
add to the effortlessness of the situation and can be unobserved. Thus an architect’s model
of a building may not show furniture arrangements if that is not important to the building’s
design. In the way, consumers in modeling regulars should feel free to exclude any aspects
that are not relevant to their behavior. Since we have define consumer behavior as
concerning a decision process, models that focus on this process will be of significant
interest to us.

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 International Journal of Advanced Research in ISSN: 2278-6236
Management and Social Sciences Impact Factor: 7.065

Any given property or process can be modeled in a variety of ways. We can model
something by verbally relating it, by representing it with diagram or arithmetical symbols, or
by characterize it with some physical classes such as electrical contemporary models. The
most important of consumer –behavior models are verbal, often supported by a schematic
drawing.
Consumer–behavior models can be classified in terms of scope. Some are designed to
represent a very specific aspect of behavior, such as consumer’s repetitive purchasing of the
same brand over a period of time. Others are much more comprehensive because they
attempt to include a great variety of consumer behaviors. These inclusive models are less
depth in nature so that they can represented many diverse environments.
Models are devised for a variety of reasons, but the two purposes for developing most
consumer models are assisting in constructing a theory that guides research on consumer
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behavior and to facilitate gathering what is presently known about consumer behavior. This
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entails identifying the relevant variables, indicating their characteristics, and specifying their
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interrelationships, that is, how they influence each other.

Developing theory is an interrelated set of concepts, definitions, and propositions that
presents a systematic view of some phenomenon. It presents a logical viewpoint that is
useful in understanding some process or activity. More specifically, a theory has four major
functions: description, prediction, explanation and control. In its predictive role a theory is
used to foretell future events, as when learning theory is used to predict what brand names
will be easier for consumers to remember. Theory can be used for explanation in order to
learn the underlying causes of some event or activity. This would occur when we want to
understand why consumers regularly purchase the same brand of soup. Although it is
possible events without understanding their causes, knowing why something happens
greatly enhances our ability to predict its occurrence. Control is the capacity to control or
regulate future events. This has been extremely difficult in the behavior is far from present
capabilities. In this way models a present a unified view of what is known about consumer
behavior and help identify what remains to be explored.
Another primary motivation for using models is to serve as a learning aid. In this role,
models provide a structure helpful for organizing knowledge about consumer behavior into
a logical pattern that is easier to comprehend. They also remind us of the interrelations

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 International Journal of Advanced Research in ISSN: 2278-6236
Management and Social Sciences Impact Factor: 7.065

between relevant variables. Therefore, as we concentrate on one particular variable,

reference to the model will remind us to consider how it interacts with other variables to
influence behavior.
MODELS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
A multiplicity of such model exist, each taking a to some extent special view of regulars.
Those chosen for presentation here are well known and represent traditional approaches to
the study of consumers, while more contemporary viewpoints are presented next.
TRADITIONAL MODELS OF CONSUMERS
The earliest comprehensive consumer models were actually devised by economists seeking
to understand to economic systems. The traditional models can be explained in the four
models. Partly because they have undergone some innovation these models still influence
modern views of consumers.
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MICROECONOMIC MODEL
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The classical microeconomic approach, developed early in the nineteenth century, focused
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on the pattern of goods and prices in the entire economy. Thus, micro economists
concentrated on explaining what consumers would purchase and in what quantities these
purchases would be made. Therefore, micro economists chose to ignore why consumers
develop various needs and preferences and how consumers rank these needs and
preferences.
The resulting theory was based on a number on a number of assumptions about consumers.
Primary among these were the following:
1. Consumers’ needs and wants in total, unlimited and therefore cannot be fully
fulfilled.
2. Given a limited budget, consumers’ goals are to allocate available purchasing dollars
in a way that maximise satisfaction of their wants and needs.
3. Consumers independently develop their own preference, without the influence of
others, and these preferences are consistent over time.
4. Consumers have perfect knowledge of the utility of an item; that is, they know
exactly how much satisfaction the product can given them.

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 International Journal of Advanced Research in ISSN: 2278-6236
Management and Social Sciences Impact Factor: 7.065

5. As additional units of a given product or service are acquired, the marginal

satisfaction or −utility provided by the next unit will be less than the marginal
satisfaction or utility provided by previously purchased units.
Given these assumptions, economist argued that perfectly rational consumers will
always purchase the good that provides them with the highest ratio of additional
benefit to cost. The good this benefit/ cost ratio can be expressed as a ratio of its
marginal value to price (MU/P). Therefore, it can be shown that the consumer would
seek to achieve a situation where the following expression holds for any number (n)
of goods:
MU1 = MU2 = MU3 MUn

−−−− −−− −− =……..= −−−−−−

P1 P2 P3 Pn
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If anyone products ratio is greater than the others, the consumer can achieve
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greater satisfaction per dollar from it and will immediately purchase more of it. Provided
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there is an adequate budget, the consumer will continue purchasing until the products
declining marginal utility reduce its MU/ P ratio to a position equal to all other ratios.
Additional purchasing of that good will then stop. Although the micro economics model has
had an important influence on your understanding of consumers, it provides a severely
limited explanation of consumer behavior, with a major deficiency being its highly
unrealistic assumptions. In addition, consumers lack perfect knowledge regarding products,
and they often influence each other’s preference. Also appear to use many variables in
addition to price to assess a products cost and many frequently use price as a measure of
product quality as well as cost. These unrealistic assumptions may not have hindered the
usefulness of this model in explaining the behavior of an entire economics system, but they
certainly are not as useful in purchase situations in marketing and others.
MACROECONOMICS MODEL
Macroeconomics focus aggregate flows in the economy – the monetary value of goods and
resources, where they are directed, and how they change over time. From such a focus, the
macroeconomics draws conclusions about the behavior of consumers who influence these
flows.

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 International Journal of Advanced Research in ISSN: 2278-6236
Management and Social Sciences Impact Factor: 7.065

This deal with two economics facts of life: higher-income families spend a smaller
proportion of their disposable income than do lower income families, but as economic
progress raises all income levels over time these size do not appear to change. That is, lower
– income groups do not significantly change the proportions of income devoted to spending
as economic progress results in an increase in their income. The relative-income hypothesis
explains this apparent contradiction by arguing that people’s consumption standards are
mainly influenced by their absolute income levels. Therefore, the proportion of a family’s
income levels is rising at the same time.
BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS
Traditional economics focused on the results of economic behavior ( supply,
quantity, demanded, prices and the like) rather than actual behavior of complicating of
consumers themselves. Behavioral influences on consumer were viewed as complicating
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factors which could be assumed to cancel each other out. George katona found this
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approach lacking and argued that an appreciation of how psychological variables influence
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consumers could lead to a deeper understand of the behavior of economic agents. Katona’s
viewpoint, now known behavioral economics, was fostered by important changes which
occurred in our economy.

CONTEMPORARY MODELS
The Contemporary Model is described and explains models of consumer behavior.
The contemporary models can be three models can be explained.

 Nicosia model
 Howard- Sheth Model
 Engle- Blackwell- Miniard Model

NICOSIA MODEL --- Francesco Nicosia was one of the first consumer- behavior modelers to
shift focus from the act of purchase itself to the more complex decision process that
consumers engage in about products and services. He presented his model in flow-chart,
resembling the steps in a computer program.

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 International Journal of Advanced Research in ISSN: 2278-6236
Management and Social Sciences Impact Factor: 7.065

The model is views as representing a situation where a firm is designing communications to

deliver to consumers, and consumers, and consumer’s responses will influence subsequent
actions of the firm. Generally, as shown in figure 1 the model contains four major
components or fields : the firm’s attributes, the consumer search for and evaluation of the
firm’s output and other available alternatives, the consumer’s motivated act of purchase
and the consumer’s storage or use of the product. Nicosia assumes that the consumer is
seeking to fulfill specific goals and that initially there is no history between the consumer’s
and the firm, so no positive or negative predispositions toward the firm exits in the
consumer’s mind. The consumer will properly become forced to gain in order at this point,
and search activity is likely to occur. Some search activity will involve:
HOWARD SHETH MODEL--- Howard Sheth Model depicted in figure 2 serves as an
integrating framework for a very sophistical comprehensive theory of consumer behavior.
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Howard-Sheth Model theory easy understand the buyer behavior.

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 Extensive problem solving

 Limited problem solving
 Routinized response behavior

INPUT VARIABLES--- Input Stimuli are depicted in the left segment of the model as stimuli in
the environment.
OUTPUT VARIABLES--- the five output variables in the right hand portion of the model are
the buyer’s observable response to stimuli inputs.
 Attention
 Comprehensive
 Attitude
 Intention
 Purchase behavior

Constructs dealing with information processing and learning constructs dealing with the
buyer’s formation of concepts.

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 International Journal of Advanced Research in ISSN: 2278-6236
Management and Social Sciences Impact Factor: 7.065

ENGLE- BLACKWELL- MINIARD MODEL--- The Engle-Blackwell-Mininard model was

originally developed in 1968 by Engle, Kollat, and Blackwell and has gone through numerous
revisions. Most recently the model has been contributed to by Mininard in conjunction with
Engle and Blackwell’s.
The scheme, shown in figure 3 depicts consumer behavior as a decision process of five
activities which occur over time. 1. Motivation and recognition, 2. Search for information, 3.
Alternative Evaluation, 4. Purchase and 5. Outcomes. As shown in the model, variables are
grouped into four general categories: a) Stimuli inputs, b) information processing, c)
decision process, d) variables influencing the decision process.
Characteristic of the individual and environment influences such as the urgency of need.
Any information inputs are subjects to information processing activities which the consumer
uses to derive meaning from stimuli.
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CONCLUSION
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Marketers must have admission to information about consumers, buying habits and which
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typess of media they favour, in order to extend convincing message programs. By deeply
analyze special consumer behaviour models marketers can appreciate that consumer
behaviour concept influence the growth of marketing communication strategy. By using this
model they can estimate the information needed to classify and select target markets.
These models also help special marketing strategies like position and market dividing the
total numbers of market and sub group of people.
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5. Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong (1999), “Principles of Marketing”, Eighth edition, Prentice
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