Chapter 4

Motivation

CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR

4-1
Learning Objectives
When you finish this chapter, you should
understand why:
1. It’s important for marketers to recognize that
products can satisfy a range of consumer
needs.
2. The way we evaluate and choose a product
depends upon our degree of involvement with
the product, the marketing message, and/or the
purchase situation.

4-2
Learning Objectives (continued)
3. Our deeply held cultural values dictate
the types of products and services we
seek out or avoid.
4. Consumers vary in the importance they
attach to worldly possessions, and this
orientation in turn has an impact on their
priorities and behaviors.

4-3
Learning Objectives (continued)
5. Products that succeed in one culture may
fail in another if marketers fail to
understand the differences among
consumers in each place.
6. Western cultures have a huge impact
around the world, although people in
other countries don’t necessarily ascribe
the same meanings to products we do.

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Learning Objective 1
• It is important for
marketers to
recognize that
products can
satisfy a range of
consumer needs.

4-5
Needs and Motivation
• Needs may be utilitarian or hedonic
• The desired end state is the goal
• The degree of arousal is drive
• Personal and cultural factors combine to create
a want – one manifestation of a need
• Motivation is described in terms of strength and
direction

4-6
Motivational Strength
• Motivational strength: degree of willingness to
expend energy to reach a goal
• Drive theory: biological needs that produce
unpleasant states of arousal (e.g., hunger)
• Expectancy theory: behavior is pulled by
expectations of achieving desirable outcomes

4-7
What Do We Need?

Biogenic Needs

Psychogenic Needs

Utilitarian Needs

Hedonic Needs

4-8
Motivational Conflicts
• Goal valence (value): consumer will:
• Approach positive goal
• Avoid negative goal
• Example: Partnership for a Drug-Free America
communicates negative consequences of drug
addiction for those tempted to start

4-9
Figure 4.1 Types of Motivational Conflicts

• Two desirable alternatives

• Cognitive dissonance

• Positive & negative aspects

of desired product
• Guilt of desire occurs

• Facing a choice with two

undesirable alternatives

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Specific Needs and Buying Behavior

NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT NEED FOR AFFILIATION

Value personal accomplishment Want to be with other people
Place a premium on products that Focus on products that are used
signify success (luxury brands, in groups (alcoholic
technology products) beverages, sports bars)

NEED FOR POWER NEED FOR UNIQUENESS

Control one’s environment Assert one’s individual identity
Focus on products that allow Enjoy products that focus on
them to have mastery over their unique character
surroundings (muscle cars, (perfumes, clothing)
loud boom-boxes)

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Levels of Needs in the Maslow Hierarchy

4-12
For Reflection
• Some studies show that an activity can satisfy
every level of Maslow’s hierarchy. What does this
say about the hierarchy?

• I like to work in the soil (physiological)

• I feel safe in my garden (safety)
• I can share my produce with others (affiliation)
• I can create something of beauty (esteem)
• My garden gives me a sense of peace (self-
actualization)

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Learning Objective 2
• The way we evaluate and choose a product
depends upon our degree of involvement with the
product, the marketing message, and/or the
purchase situation.

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Consumer Involvement
• Involvement: perceived relevance of an object
based on one’s needs, values, and interests
• We get attached to products:
• “All in One” restaurant tattoo on consumer’s
head
• Lucky magazine for women who obsess
over shopping
• A man tried to marry his car when his
fiancée dumped him

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Figure 4.3 Conceptualizing Involvement

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Levels of Involvement:
From Inertia to Passion
• Inertia is consumption at the low end of
involvement; decisions made out of habit (lack of
motivation)
• Flow state occurs when consumers are truly
involved
• Sense of control
• Concentration
• Mental enjoyment
• Distorted sense of time

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Table 4.1 Measuring Involvement

To me (object to be judged) is:

1. important _:_:_:_:_:_:_ unimportant
2. boring _:_:_:_:_:_:_ interesting
3. relevant _:_:_:_:_:_:_ irrelevant
4. exciting _:_:_:_:_:_:_ unexciting
5. means nothing _:_:_:_:_:_:_ means a lot
6. appealing _:_:_:_:_:_:_ unappealing
7. fascinating _:_:_:_:_:_:_ mundane
8. worthless _:_:_:_:_:_:_ valuable
9. involving _:_:_:_:_:_:_ uninvolving
10. not needed _:_:_:_:_:_:_ needed

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Purchase Situation Involvement
• Purchase situation involvement: differences
that occur when buying the same object for
different contexts.
• Example: wedding gift
• For boss: purchase expensive vase to show
that you want to impress boss
• For cousin you don’t like: purchase
inexpensive vase to show you’re indifferent

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For Reflection
• Describe your level of involvement with the
“product” and devise some marketing
opportunities to reach this group.

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Learning Objective 3
• Our deeply held cultural values dictate the
types of products and services we seek
out or avoid.

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Consumer Values
• Value: a belief that some condition is
preferable to its opposite
• Example: looking younger is preferable to
looking older
• Products/services = help in attaining value-
related goal
• We seek others that share our values/ beliefs
• Thus, we tend to be exposed to information
that supports our beliefs

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 Core Values
• Core values: values shared
within a culture
• Enculturation: learning the
beliefs and values of one’s
own culture
• Acculturation: learning the
value system and behaviors
of another culture

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 4-23

For Reflection
• What do you think are the three to five core
values that best describe Americans today?
• How are these core values relevant to the
following product categories:
• Cars?
• Clothing?
• Higher education?

4-24
Learning Objectives 4 and 5
• Consumers vary in the importance they
attach to worldly possessions, and this
orientation in turn has an impact on their
priorities and behaviors.
• Products that succeed in one culture may
fail in another if marketers fail to
understand the differences among
consumers in each place.

4-25
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
• Power distance
• Individualism
• Masculinity
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Long-term orientation

4-26
Table 4.2 Terminal and Instrumental Values

Instrumental Value Terminal Value

Ambitious A comfortable life

Capable A sense of
accomplishment
Self-controlled Wisdom

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List of Values (LOV)
• Identifies nine consumer segments based on
values they endorse; and
• Relates each value to differences in
consumption behaviors
• Example: those who endorse sense of belonging
read Reader’s Digest and TV Guide drink and
entertain more, and prefer group activities

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Means-End Chain Model
• Very specific product attributes are linked at
levels of increasing abstraction to terminal
values
• Alternative means to attain valued end states
• Laddering technique uncovers consumers’
associations between specific attributes and
general consequences

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Figure 4.4 Hierarchical Value Maps
for Vegetable Oil in Three Countries

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Learning Objective 6
• Western cultures have a huge impact
around the world, although people in other
countries don’t necessarily ascribe the
same meanings to products we do.

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Conscientious Consumerism
• Conscientious consumerism is a focus on
personal health merging with a growing interest
in global health
• LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability)
• Worry about the environment
• Want products to be produced in a
sustainable way

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Carbon Footprint Breakdown

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Materialism
• Materialism: the importance people attach to
worldly possessions
• “The good life”...“He who dies with the most
toys, wins”
• Materialists: value possessions for their own
status and appearance
• Non-materialists: value possessions that
connect them to other people or provide them
with pleasure in using them

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Chapter Summary
• Products address a wide range of
consumer needs.
• How we evaluate a product depends on
our involvement with that product, the
marketing message, and the purchase
situation.
• Our cultural values dictate the products we
seek out and avoid.
• Consumers vary in how important
possessions are to them.
4-35