Psychological State of Consumer Behavior - Case Study Example

Psychological State of Consumer Behavior, Perception Name Institution Abstract Introduction Consumers are influenced by a number of factors before making decisions on the items to purchase. One of these factors is their mental perception; a psychological influence of consumer’s behavior. Marketers need to know how consumers perceive sensory stimuli, their reasoning towards messages they receive regarding the company’s products for them to make informed decisions on the best strategies to employ in winning consumer loyalty. Consumers purchasing decisions is narrowed down to image of the products and messages conveyed about the product. This paper focuses on five articles that talk of consumer perception issues; the significance of consumer perception, steps in information processing, the elements of perception, the considerations in perception, and the techniques of measuring consumer perception. According to Brown (2009), Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well as the study of how they are purchased. Background of the reviewed articles The article by Bamoriya and Singh links the relationship that might exist between demographic factors and information seeking behavior among consumers, and factors that affect consumer attitudes towards advertising. Demographic factors include age, occupation, gender, residence and education, these factors affect the urge with which consumers seek information related to products and services. Tsang, Ho and Liang in their article are more concerned about mobile advertisement and the impact it has upon consumer’s purchasing decisions. The entertainement, informativenes irritation, content and credibility of mobile advertisements are some of the most important factors that affect consumer behavior. This article digs deeply into this issue through investigative approach. The article by Saadeghvaziri and Seyedjavadain is concerned about two themes. It talks more of the perception consumers have attached to mobile advertisements and the impact it has on their behavior. Additionally, it focuses on advertisements in general by investigating the link between consumers’ perception of advertisements in general with their behavior. The article puts forward different hypotheses to indicate the authors’ assumptions. Ünal, Ercis and Keser in their article narrow down their findings to more specific areas of mobile advertising and consumer behavior. Aspects such as personalization of mobile advertisements and attaching incentives to mobile ads are of interest in this article. Incentives in this context are benefits that consumers may get by participating in mobile ads programs. Here too, hypotheses were formulated by the authors prior to their investigation. The links between consumers’ attitude or behavior and use of text, still pictures and motion pictures in advertisements is related in the article by Sung and Cho. According to their hypotheses, motion pictures have the most impact on consumers’ attitudes since they catch their attention and are retained in memory for long than still images and text. Scope and objectives of the reviewed articles The articles covered the definition of consumer perception, the elements of the concepts of consumer perceptions, mental processes that lead to sensory perception, and the implications of consumer perceptions to managers. The main specific objectives of the reviewed articles were found to include the following; To determine the effects of information seeking behavior on attitude towards advertising (Bamoriya and Singh, 2011). To identify the impacts that influence consumer attitude toward mobile advertising (Tsang, Ho and Liang, 2004). To examine the different attitude toward mobile advertising and advertising-in-general Saadeghvaziri and Seyedjavadain, 2011). To link the different attitudes toward mobile advertising between youth and adults (Ünal, Ercis and Keser, 2011). To establish The influences of three media types (text, still pictures and motion pictures) on attitudes immediate attitude and delay attitude toward mobile advertising (Sung and Cho, 2012). Methodology Methodology in this context is the procedure that was followed in gathering information from respondents. The procedure in gathering information in each article was done differently, however, in all the articles an independent and dependent variables were chosen. Relationships among them were demonstrated and a hypothesis formulated. The dependent and independent variables were as follows; I. Bamoriya and Singh (2011) The information was based on already existing literature and a model from Pollay and Mittal (1993). The method was quantitative and questionnaires were used. The number of respondents was 320. Units of analysis were as illustrated below; a) The relationship between information seeking behavior and three factors were demonstrated. The independent variables (IV) were age, sex, occupation and education while the dependent variable (DV) was information seeking behavior. b) Attitude towards advertising was chosen as the dependent variable while product information, hedonic, social image, falsity, materialism, and good for economy were the independent variables. Relationships among the entire variables were demonstrated. c) Relationship between attitude towards advertising (DV) and information seeking behavior (IV) was demonstrated. II. Tsang, Ho and Liang (2004) The method was conducted in Taiwan based on prior research materials. Quantitative methodology was employed and the number of respondents was 380 out of the total 430 that were supplied with questionnaires. The following were the units of analysis; a) Attitude towards mobile advertising (DV) was relate to other independent variables; entertainment, informativeness, irritation, credibility, and permission. b) Relationship between intention to receive mobile ads (IV) and two dependent variables was demonstrated; attitude towards mobile advertising and incentives. c) The link between consumer behavior after receiving mobile ad (DV) and consumer’s intentions to receive mobile ads (IV) was then shown. III. Saadeghvaziri and Sayedjavadani (2011) Relevant prior studies were used and the research was conducted in Iran. Quantitative approach was used with 571 respondents. The units of analysis included; a) Attitude towards mobile advertising was chosen as the dependent variable and related with other independent variables; irritation, informativeness and trust. b) The dependent variable, attitude- towards advertising in general was linked with other independent variables; irritation, informativeness and trust. IV. Unal, Ercis and Keser (2011) It was conducted in Turkey based on other researches. Quantitative questionnaire survey methodology was used in the study. 380 respondents representing 95 % of the questionnaires a) Attitude towards mobile advertising was chosen as the dependent variable while entertainment, informativeness, irritation, and credibility were chosen as the independent variables. b) Permission based personalization (IV) was related with attitude towards mobile advertising. c) Consumer’s intention to use mobile advertising (DV) and two independent variables were related; incentives and attitude towards mobile advertising. d) The following independent variables (intention and age, youth or adults) were linked with consumer’s acceptance- rejection behavior. V. Sung and Cho (2012) This was done in South Korea based on original research that was conducted using experimental approach. Quantitative questionnaire survey was used. Influences of three media type were demonstrated; text, still images and motion images. a) Immediate attitude toward mobile advertising (DV) was related with the following independent variables (text, still pictures, and motion pictures). b) Attitude towards mobile advertising changing over time (DV) was related with the same parameters as in V (a) above; text, still pictures, and motion pictures. Major findings of the articles 1. Bamoriya and Singh (2011) The author found out that Demographic factors such as age, occupation, education and sex have no impact on information seeking behavior. Consumer attitude toward advertising is affected by product information, hedonic, social image, good for economy, whereas falsity and materialism do not. Information seeking behavior affects attitude toward advertising. 2. Tsang, Ho and Liang (2004) The following were the findings of the three authors; They found out that the perceived entertainment, informativeness, credibility and permission of mobile ads affect attitude towards mobile advertising. Perceived irritation does not affect attitude towards mobile advertising. Consumer attitudes are different for permission based and general mobile advertising. Attitudes toward mobile advertising affect consumer intentions to receive mobile ads. Providing incentives for receiving mobile ads can affect consumer intentions to receive mobile ads. Consumers’ intentions to receive mobile ads affect their behavior after receiving mobile ads. 3. Saadeghvaziri and Sayedjavadain (2011) The authors found out that; The perceived irritation of mobile advertising does not affect the attitude towards mobile advertising. The perceived informativeness and trust affects the attitude towards mobile advertising. The perceived irritation of advertising- in- general does not affect the attitude towards advertising- in- general. The perceived informativeness and trust of advertising- in – general affect the attitudes towards advertising –in- general. 4. Unal, Ercis and Keser (2011) The author’s findings were; The perceptions of mobile advertising as entertaining, informative and reliable are effective on attitudes towards mobile advertisement. The perception of mobile advertising as annoying is not effective on attitudes towards mobile advertisement. The personalization of mobile advertisements is effective on the attitude towards mobile advertisements. The permission-based sending of mobile advertisements is effective on the attitude towards mobile advertisements. The incentives towards mobile advertising are effective on the intention to use mobile advertisements in consumption. The attitudes in mobile advertisements are effective on the intention to use mobile advertisements in consumption. The intention to use mobile advertisements in consumption is effective on acceptance-rejection behavior. There are differences between mobile advertisements acceptance-rejection behaviors of youth and adults. They found this to be stronger for the youth and less strong for the adults. 5. Sung and Cho (2012) Sung and Cho found out that; Still pictures would have a greater impact on immediate attitude than would text, and then the motion picture would have a greater impact on immediate attitude than both of still pictures and text. Attitudes towards motion pictures, still images as well as text would increase over time. Implications for consumer behavior theories and practices from the articles Consumer perception theories help marketers and company managers assess how the customers perceive them. With this knowledge, they can modify their advertisement strategies to boost their customer loyalty and maximize sales. The following are some consumer perception theories; self-perception, describes how individuals develop an understanding of the motivations behind their own behavior; price perception, the feeling by customers on whether they are being charged fair prices for the commodities bought or not; and benefit perception, where customers relate the benefit they gain from purchase of the goods with the information in the advertisements, this is mainly applicable to nutritional foods. From the research conducted by Bamoriya and Singh (2011) it is evident that demographic factors have no influence on information seeking behavior and that information seeking behavior affects attitude towards advertising. This can be explained by the fact that consumers at all age groups, education levels and other demographic parameters have needs and their mental perceptions with regard to information provided on a number of products does not vary, perception is a function of cognitive mental functions which is does not depend on demographic factors. However product information affects advertising attitude, managers should therefore provide detailed and true information regarding the products they offer for customers to attach positive attitude in their advertisements. From the findings of Tsang, Ho and Liang (2004), incentives to customers receiving mobile ads affect their attitude towards receiving mobile ads. This correlates well with the benefits perception theory. The customers attach the benefits they receive from the incentives following receipt of the ads with positive attitude towards mobile advertisements. Managers therefore need to ensure they attach their ads with some benefits so that customers may develop a positive attitude towards them. From the findings of Saadeghvaziri and Sayedjavadain (2011), perceived informativeness and trust of advertisements among the customers affect their attitude towards advertisements in general. This clearly demonstrates that the personal drive for customers to make purchase is linked to their trust and believes in the information reflected in the advertisements (Brown, 2012). If the information in the advertisement is reliable and trustworthy, customers will tend to develop a positive attitude towards advertisements in general because they build their trust in the company’s information over time. From the results of the findings of Unal, Ercis and Keser (2011), it can be argued that personalization of mobile ads is effective towards development of positive attitudes towards mobile ads. This is linked to the self-perception theory which explains the relationship between consumers’ personal traits with their motives to making purchases. Managers in businesses organizations should appreciate the fact that consumers differ in their personalities hence should develop their ads in a way that caters for them all. This way, consumers will develop positive attitudes mobile advertisements which ultimately lead to increased business sales. Motion pictures have a profound impact on mental perception. It leads to retention of long term memory hence build a positive attitude among the final consumers on the products on offer. Still images and texts do so to a lesser extent since their processing leads to short term memory, however with time, memory builds with continued exposure. This implies that managers need to develop company’s ads in such a way that graphic images are incorporated so that consumers develop long term memory of them. If they however design their ads to be in form of texts, then they should continually expose their potential consumers with the same texts (Hannagan and Bennett, 2008). Limitations of the reviewed articles The reliability of the data indicated in research conducted by Bamoriya and Singh (2011) is in question. This is because the place in which the data was collected was not indicated in the article. The number of respondents, 320, was also too low to be used as a representative of the entire consumer population in the market. The articles’ authors drew their conclusions based on data collected mainly from the Middle East, which does not give a picture of consumer perception behavior in other parts of the world. Conclusion Consumer perception is an important factor that managers need to put into considerations when designing advertisements meant at winning a large customer base in the market (Rookes and Willson, 2000). The five articles clearly demonstrate the link between various consumer traits with advertising in general with emphasis put on mobile advertising. For managers, they need to modify their design of advertisements in a way that it caters for personality of consumers and is predictive of consumer’s psychological thoughts about the company’s products. References Bamoriya and Singh(2011) The effects of information seeking behaviour on attitude towards advertising.: a systems approach. Sudbury, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Brown, D. (2012). Understanding consumers through a practical approach:. Boston: Pearson. Brown, H. (2009). Perception, theory and commitment : the new philosophy of science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hannagan, T. & Bennett, R. (2008). Management : concepts & practices. Harlow, England New York: Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Melody M. Tsang, Shu-Chun Ho, and Ting-Peng Liang, (2004): International Journal of Electronic Commerce,Volume 8, Number 3, , pp. 65. Retrieved from http://www.ijec- web.org/past-issues/volume-8-number-3-spring-2004/ijecv8n3-5/ Rookes, P. & Willson, J. (2000). Perception : theory, development, and organisation. London Saadeghvaziri and Seyedjavadain (2011): The different attitude toward mobile advertising and advertising-in-general.Calif press Sung and Cho (2012): The influences of three media types (text, still pictures and motion pictures) on attitudes (immediate attitude and delay attitude) toward mobile advertising;volume 3, spring 2012 Ünal, Ercis and Keser (2011) New Attitudes towards Mobile Advertising – A Research to Determine the Differences between the Attitudes of Youth and Adults York: Routledge. Read More

Aspects such as personalization of mobile advertisements and attaching incentives to mobile ads are of interest in this article. Incentives in this context are benefits that consumers may get by participating in mobile ads programs. Here too, hypotheses were formulated by the authors prior to their investigation. The links between consumers’ attitude or behavior and use of text, still pictures and motion pictures in advertisements is related in the article by Sung and Cho. According to their hypotheses, motion pictures have the most impact on consumers’ attitudes since they catch their attention and are retained in memory for long than still images and text.

Scope and objectives of the reviewed articles The articles covered the definition of consumer perception, the elements of the concepts of consumer perceptions, mental processes that lead to sensory perception, and the implications of consumer perceptions to managers. The main specific objectives of the reviewed articles were found to include the following; To determine the effects of information seeking behavior on attitude towards advertising (Bamoriya and Singh, 2011). To identify the impacts that influence consumer attitude toward mobile advertising (Tsang, Ho and Liang, 2004).

To examine the different attitude toward mobile advertising and advertising-in-general Saadeghvaziri and Seyedjavadain, 2011). To link the different attitudes toward mobile advertising between youth and adults (Ünal, Ercis and Keser, 2011). To establish The influences of three media types (text, still pictures and motion pictures) on attitudes immediate attitude and delay attitude toward mobile advertising (Sung and Cho, 2012). Methodology Methodology in this context is the procedure that was followed in gathering information from respondents.

The procedure in gathering information in each article was done differently, however, in all the articles an independent and dependent variables were chosen. Relationships among them were demonstrated and a hypothesis formulated. The dependent and independent variables were as follows; I. Bamoriya and Singh (2011) The information was based on already existing literature and a model from Pollay and Mittal (1993). The method was quantitative and questionnaires were used. The number of respondents was 320.

Units of analysis were as illustrated below; a) The relationship between information seeking behavior and three factors were demonstrated. The independent variables (IV) were age, sex, occupation and education while the dependent variable (DV) was information seeking behavior. b) Attitude towards advertising was chosen as the dependent variable while product information, hedonic, social image, falsity, materialism, and good for economy were the independent variables. Relationships among the entire variables were demonstrated. c) Relationship between attitude towards advertising (DV) and information seeking behavior (IV) was demonstrated. II. Tsang, Ho and Liang (2004) The method was conducted in Taiwan based on prior research materials.

Quantitative methodology was employed and the number of respondents was 380 out of the total 430 that were supplied with questionnaires. The following were the units of analysis; a) Attitude towards mobile advertising (DV) was relate to other independent variables; entertainment, informativeness, irritation, credibility, and permission. b) Relationship between intention to receive mobile ads (IV) and two dependent variables was demonstrated; attitude towards mobile advertising and incentives. c) The link between consumer behavior after receiving mobile ad (DV) and consumer’s intentions to receive mobile ads (IV) was then shown. III. Saadeghvaziri and Sayedjavadani (2011) Relevant prior studies were used and the research was conducted in Iran.

Quantitative approach was used with 571 respondents. The units of analysis included; a) Attitude towards mobile advertising was chosen as the dependent variable and related with other independent variables; irritation, informativeness and trust.

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