Consumer Behaviour Theory - Coursework Example

In today’s age of tough competition, understanding consumer behaviour is a particular edge of a firm. There are many reasons why it is significant to understand consumer behavior. In some particular cases, this is to help enhance marketing strategy of a firm. At the other end, it could be all about trying to understand what are the actual needs of a particular target market, placing the firm at its advantageous side. Due to some considerations like these, consumer behaviour theory has become a significant component in all of the above points. The above perspectives particularly led to putting consumer behaviour theory at the centre point in understanding consumer behaviour. However, while consumer behavior theory remains an important component in the study of how consumers behave, it still remains insufficient when it comes to understanding how consumers exactly behave or act in real life. In real life, it might be tough to actually hard to predict one’s behaviour or tell something about how each individual may act. For this reason, the following statement is clearly expounded in the work at hand. “Consumer behaviour theory is all fine and well, but has nothing to tell us about how consumers act in real life”. ‘Consumer behaviour theory is all fine and well’ The reason why consumer behaviour theory is fine and well is because of its ability to provide at some point, relevant information about consumers’ needs, emotions, perceptions, learning and what motivates them to buy a certain brand or product (Michman et al., 2003, p.64; Walters, 1974, p.25). In some other areas, a consumer behaviour theory helps marketers understand beliefs and attitudes of a person (Dierks, 2005, p.75; Wright, 2006, p.290). A large number of theories pertaining to consumer behaviour are confined in this understanding. Based on theories, marketers may believe that consumers’ belief about certain brands or products may lead to the actual measurement of their attitude towards those brands or products (Hoyer et al., 2012, p.161; Shimp, 2008, p.161). However, this does not mean that consumer behaviour theory can definitely tell everything about how consumers act in real life. ‘Consumer behaviour theory does not tell about how consumers act in real life’ The hierarchy of affects. It is important to consider that there are many models of consumer behaviour that are designed to understand more of consumer attitudes, and not primarily actual behaviours, because in theory, a behaviour cannot be all intentional at all times (Lantos, 2010, p.556; Lake, 2009). For instance, other consumers are obliged to initiate certain outcome especially on purchase of goods or services, but the entire event can be influenced by other third parties or other factors. In fact, consumers may act based on standard learning, low-involvement, and experiential hierarchy, which means they respond to product or service based on problem-solving manner, limited knowledge, or on the basis of emotion (Philips, 1997, p.111). However in a certain study, it was revealed that due to the advancement of technology, primarily in the onset of Internet, consumers have momentarily grown their power and empowerment (Labrecque et al., 2013, p.257). This means that the consumers’ potential to respond to product or service may not only be limited to the hierarchy of effects, but above anything else, on the prevailing innovations or trends. The onset of social media networks allows customers to become more sophisticated. This is something that was hardly predicted by consumer behavior theory in the past, particularly in the case of the hierarchy of affects. Theory of reasoned action. Taking the case of ‘theory of reasoned action’ as a consumer behaviour theory, it is assumed that social pressures could lead to actual action of buying (Peter and Olson, 2007, p.152; Kardes et al., 2014, p.205). Therefore, this theory tries to measure behavioural intentions. However, it is clear that this theory also fully adhere to the idea that there are some uncontrollable factors that will hinder the actual purchasing process to take place. In other words, this theory alone cannot substantially explain how consumers really act in real life. In fact, a certain study reveals that the theory of reasoned action can be best justified when it has to be combined with other new factors such as perceived value, satisfaction, and intention of certain action and more (Kim et al., 2011, p.1159). For instance, in the real setting, consumers’ actual behaviour can be influenced by social pressures. In reality, social pressures are changing too, because of the prevailing dynamic culture. In fact, a certain brand or product for now may not be the ultimate trending in the future. This marks the dynamic influence of the social context in customers’ buying behaviour at the most specific level. However, the point that there are uncontrollable factors that will lead to the marketers’ inability to predict buying behaviour is a strong point to support the idea that consumer behaviour theory does not tell about how consumers act in real life. In the first place, the consumer behaviour theory, based on the case of ‘theory of reasoned action’ cannot eventually generalise how to explain for instance the overall consumer behaviour within the entire market setting due to the fact that there are existing other factors that can even explain much better of the actual prevailing context. Theory of planned behaviour. In addition, the ‘theory of planned behaviour’ may truly support the link between attitude and behaviour, by assuming that if a person’s attitude towards a product or brand is positive and significant others might have the intention to allow them to perform certain behaviour, that person might have the higher motivation to go for the predicted behaviour (Hansen and Christensen, 2007, p.45; King, 2008, p.17). This theory does not specifically tell about the issue or concern about the human need, which is another important indicator of one’s actual behaviour. In fact, a certain study incorporating the theory of planned behaviour reveals that the theory can explain the behavioural intention of the customers, but because the study is all about shopping online, one thing that the theory was clearly not able to justify was the issue as to what develops the needs of the customers and why prefer to go shopping online in the first place (Lin, 2007, p.433). These are all essential considerations prior to understanding the actual behaviour shown by a customer. Conclusion The work at hand presents the point that while a consumer behaviour theory is quite good in helping marketers to understand many things about the customers’ actual intention, say in purchase, it still remains to contribute nothing in telling about how consumers act in real life. The most important justification of this point lies on the idea that human behaviour is such a complex case to be considered, the reason why there are various theories with different points linked to understanding consumer behaviour at present. In fact, the thought of having more theories pertaining to consumer behaviour theory is a mere proof that knowing how consumers act in real life is such a complex process that can hardly be modeled in a general sense. For this reason, there are many theories associated with consumer behaviour theory justifying the point that they can all help predict human behaviour. However, not a single one of them can do so, and so therefore there is a need to combine or integrate them all, so that the real point may be revealed. However, this alone supports the idea that consumer behaviour theory cannot generally depict how consumers act in real life or in the actual setting. References Dierks, L. H. (2005) Trust as a Determinant of Consumer Behaviour Under Uncertainty: An Empirical Analysis of Consumers’ Reactions to a Random External Shock in Europe. Verlag: Cuvillier Verlag. Hansen, F., and Christensen, S. R. (2007) Emotions, Advertising and Consumer Choice. Oxfordshire: Copenhagen Business School Press DK. Hoyer, W. D., MacInnis, D. J., and Pieters, R. (2012) Consumer Behavior. 6th ed. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Kardes, F., Cronley, M. and Cline, T. (2014) Consumer Behavior. 2nd ed. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning. Kim, Y. H., Kim, M., and Goh, B. K. (2011) An examination of food tourist’s behavior: Using the modified theory of reasoned action. Tourism Management, 32(5), 1159-1165. King, C. V. (2008) Online Privacy and Security of Internet Digital Certificates: A Study of the Awareness, Perceptions, and Understanding of Internet Users. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest. Labrecque, L. I., Esche, J. V. D., Mathwick, C., Novak, T. P., and Hofacker, C. F. (2013) Consumer Power: Evolution in the Digital Age. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 257-269. Lake, L. (2009) Consumer Behavior For Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Lantos, G. P. (2010) Consumer Behavior in Action: Real-Life Applications for Marketing Managers. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Lin, H. F. (2007) Predicting consumer intentions to shop online: An empirical test of competing theories. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 6(4), 433-442. Michman, R. D., Mazze, E. M., and Greco, A. J. 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