Motivation and Values

• Consumer
Behavior
• Buying, Having, and
Being
 The Motivation Process
• Motivation:
– The processes that lead people to behave as
they do. It occurs when a need arises that a
consumer wishes to satisfy.
• Utilitarian need: Provides a functional or
practical benefit
• Hedonic need: An experiential need involving
emotional responses or fantasies
• Goal:
– The end state that is desired by the
consumer.
 The Motivation Process
• Drive:
– The degree of arousal present due to a discrepancy
between the consumer’s present state and some
ideal state
• Want:
– A manifestation of a need created by personal and
cultural factors.
• Motivation can be described in terms of:
– Strength: The pull it exerts on the consumer
– Direction: The particular way the consumer attempts
to reduce motivational tension
 Ads Reinforce Desired States
• This ad for exercise
shows men a desired
state (as dictated by
contemporary
Western culture), and
suggests a solution
(purchase of
equipment) to attain
it.
 Motivational Strength
• Drive Theory:
– Biological needs produce unpleasant states of
arousal. We are motivated to reduce tension caused
by this arousal.
• Expectancy Theory:
– Behavior is pulled by expectations of achieving
desirable outcomes – positive incentives – rather than
pushed from within
 Motivational Direction

• Types of Needs
– Biogenic needs: Needs necessary to maintain
life
– Psychogenic needs: Culture-related needs
(e.g. need for status, power, affiliation, etc.)
– Utilitarian needs: Implies that consumers will
emphasize the objective, tangible aspects of
products
– Hedonic needs: Subjective and experiential
needs (e.g. excitement, self-confidence,
fantasy, etc.)
 Motivational Conflicts
• Approach-Approach Conflict:
– A person must choose between two desirable
alternatives.
– Theory of Cognitive Dissonance: A state of tension
occurs when beliefs or behaviors conflict with one
another.
• Cognitive Dissonance Reduction: Process by
which people are motivated to reduce tension
between beliefs or behaviors.
• Approach-Avoidance Conflict:
– Exists when consumers desire a goal but wish to
avoid it at the same time.
• Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict:
– Consumers face a choice between two undesirable
Three Types of Motivational Conflicts

Figure 4.1
Negative Consequences
• The Partnership for a
Drug-Free America
points out the
negative
consequences of
drug addiction for
those who are
tempted to start.
 Classifying Consumer Needs
• Henry Murray need dimensions:
– Autonomy: Being independent
– Defendance: Defending the self against criticism
– Play: Engaging in pleasurable activities
• Thematic Apperception Technique (TAT):
– (1) What is happening?
– (2) What led up to this situation?
– (3) What is being thought?
– (4) What will happen?
– People freely project their subconscious
needs onto the stimulus
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Figure 4.2
 Classifying Consumer Needs (cont.)
• Specific Needs and Buying Behavior:
– Need for achievement: To attain personal
accomplishment
– Need for affiliation: To be in the company of others
– Need for power: To control one’s environment
– Need for uniqueness: To assert one’s individual
identity
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
– A hierarchy of biogenic and psychogenic needs that
specifies certain levels of motives.
• Paradise: Satisfying Needs?
– Distinct differences regarding the conceptualization of
paradise between American and Dutch college
students
 Criticisms of Maslow’s Hierarchy
• The application is too simplistic:
– It is possible for the same product or activity to satisfy
every need.
• It is too culture-bound:
– The assumptions of the hierarchy may be restricted to
Western culture
• It emphasizes individual needs over group
needs
– Individuals in some cultures place more value on the
welfare of the group (belongingness needs) than the
needs of the individual (esteem needs)
 Consumer Involvement
• Involvement:
– A person’s perceived relevance of the object
based on his/her inherent needs, values, and
interests.
• Object: A product or brand
• Levels of Involvement: Inertia to Passion
– Type of information processing depends on the
consumer’s level of involvement
• Simple processing: Only the basic features of the
message are considered
• Elaboration: Incoming information is linked to
preexisting knowledge
Conceptualizing Involvement
 Consumer Involvement (cont.)
• Involvement as a Continuum:
– Ranges from disinterest to obsession
• Inertia (Low involvement consumption):
– Consumer lacks the motivation to consider alternatives
• Flow State (High involvement consumption):
– Consumer is truly involved with the product, ad or web
site
• Cult Products:
– Command fierce consumer loyalty and perhaps worship
by consumers who are highly involved in the product
 The Many Faces of Involvement
• Product Involvement:
– Related to a consumer’s level of interest in a
particular product
• Message-Response Involvement:
– Refers to a consumer’s interest in processing
marketing communications
• Purchase Situation Involvement:
– Refers to the differences that may occur when
buying the same product for different contexts
Emotions versus Cognitions
• Many marketing
messages, such as
this ad for a cosmetic
company in Taiwan,
focus on emotions
rather than
cognitions.
 Measuring Involvement
• Teasing out the Dimensions of Involvement:
– Involvement Profile:
• Personal interest in a product category
• Risk importance
• Probability of making a bad purchase
• Pleasure value of the product category
• How closely the product is related to the self

• Segmenting by Involvement Levels:

– Involvement is a useful basis for market segmentation
 Strategies to Increase Involvement
• Appeal to hedonic needs
– e.g. using sensory appeals to generate attention
• Use novel stimuli
– e.g. unusual cinematography, sudden silences,
etc.
• Use prominent stimuli
– e.g. larger ads, more color
• Include celebrity endorsers
• Build a bond with consumers
– Maintain an ongoing relationship with
consumers
 Values
• Value:
– A belief that some condition is preferable to its opposite
(e.g. freedom is better than slavery)
• Core Values:
– General set of values that uniquely define a culture
• Value system: A culture’s unique set of rankings of
the relative importance of universal values.
– Enculturation:
• Process of learning the value systems of one’s own
culture
– Acculturation:
• Process of learning the value system of another
culture
– Cultural beliefs are taught by socialization agents (i.e.,
parents, friends, and teachers)
 Core Values
• Cleanliness is a core
value in many
cultures.
 Application of Values
to Consumer Behavior
• Useful distinctions in values for consumer
behavior research
– Cultural Values (e.g. security or happiness)
– Consumption-Specific Values (e.g. convenient
shopping or prompt service)
– Product-Specific Values (e.g. ease-of-use or
durability)
• Virtually all consumer research is ultimately
related to identification and measurement of
values.
 Measuring Cultural Values
• The Rokeach Value Survey
– Terminal Values: Desired end states
– Instrumental Values: Actions needed to achieve
terminal values
• The List of Values (LOV) Scale
– Developed to isolate values with more direct
marketing applications
– Identifies nine (9) consumer segments based on
the values they endorse
– Relates each value to differences in
consumption
 The Means-End Chain Model
• Laddering:
– A technique that uncovers consumers’ associations
between attributes and consequences
• Hierarchical value maps:
– Show how product attributes are linked to desired end
states
• Means-End Conceptualization of the Components
of Advertising Strategy (MECCAS):
• Message Elements
• Consumer Benefits
• Executional Framework
• Leverage Point
• Driving Force
 Syndicated Surveys
• Large-scale commercial surveys
• Voluntary simplifiers:
– Believe that once basic needs are sated,
additional income does not add to happiness.
• Examples:
– VALS 2
– GlobalScan
– New Wave
– Lifestyles Study
 Materialism
• Materialism:
– The importance people attach to worldly
possessions
– Tends to emphasize the well-being of the
individual versus the group
– People with highly material values tend to be
less happy
– America is a highly materialistic society
– There are a number of anti-materialism
movements
Consumer Behavior in
the Aftermath of 9/11

• Following 9/11, ads

addressed people’s
fears in various
ways. This ad was
created as part of the
Advertising
Community Together
initiative.