Buyer Behavior Issues Evaluation - Essay Example

Buyer behavior Introduction In the concept of regulating human behavior, culture proves to be a powerful aspect. Researchers have redirected their efforts on understanding the effects that culture would bring upon to behavior of the consumers, though, their endeavors are on a basis of piecemeal (i.e. they examine specific cultural aspects on specific consumer behaviors). Relatively, significantly little endeavors has been successfully made in the development of a general framework on the influences of culture attributed to consumer behavior examining effects of various cultural aspects on various consumer behavioral aspects simultaneously. This paper seeks to study the conceptual relationships of cultural effects on the behavior of the consumer based on the four dimensions of cultural differences. A number of consumer behavior aspects would be identified and compared to the four dimensions of culture; then relevant positions relating to the dimensions to behavior of consumers would be developed basing on the nature of their relationships. This is in relation to the automobile industry. Review on Consumer behavior Culture plays a significant role in regulating the behavior of humans (Schiffman and Kanuk, 1997, 150). Its impacts take the form of an automatic and natural influence on consumer behavior, and it is mostly not considered seriously. An exposure to persons with different cultural values, as well as custom, helps people realize the significant role culture is playing in molding their behaviors (Lynn, Zinkhan and Harris, 1993, 485). The understanding of culture in line with consumer marketing is crucial. This is because of the major reason that it shapes the behavior of the customers. Significantly, the recognition of the importance of culture has led into grown interest in researches across cultures (Sojka and TansuhJ, 1995, 461). Interestingly, quite a number of researches have managed to create a link between cultures and consumer behavior (McCracken, 1975, 6). Wallace (1965) directly associated consumer behavior to culture as he believed that culture is the encompassing force that constitute personality which intern determines the behavior, in this case of consumer. Individualism and Collectivism and their Consumer Behaviors effects This refers to a relationship between individual and the collectivity prevailing in a certain society (Hirchman, 1983, 197). It is exhibited by the manner in which people live together and are intimately linked to the norms of the society. The concepts of individualism explain societies where their loose ties between people. In such a society, everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and/or the immediate family. The concept of collectivism refers to societies where people are integrated into strong groups in which people protect each other in exchange for unquestionable loyalty. The consumers behaviors attributed to individualism-collectivism pertains to the behavior of persons in a given group, relationships with others and perception of themselves vis a vis others. These consumer behaviors are the influence by reference groups, self-concept, and information sharing, ethnocentrism and opinion leadership. Reference Groups A reference group takes the form of an actual or imaginary group or individual born of the existence of significant relevance upon individuals’ aspirations, evaluation and behavior (Park and Lessig). Witt (1970) defines reference group as a group taken as a frame by an individual in evaluating himself/herself and formation of attitude. Three means are known through which behavior can be influenced; value expressive, informational and utilitarian (Park and Lessig 1977). The reference group extent depends on a group’s behavior and identity. It is reasonable to think of a possibility of the existence of interpersonal influence brought about by individualism and collectivism, on the consumption behavior. A study by Shaw (1971) on the effects of individual interactions and communication on the cohesiveness of a group revealed reference groups have greater influence in consumption behavior, in case of greater group cohesiveness. In other terms, persons in a collectivist culture would want to conform in a group and as a result of such need; they are likely influenced by members of the same group. Marketing in such a collectivist culture would campaign for such groups as it would create more customers as a result of influence from the group. Information Sharing This refers to the extent in which the transmission of information by individuals to others about the domains of consumption exists (Hirchman, 1983, 197). It observes the tendency of sharing consumption and buying behavior information and the involvement of other people in that process. It significantly depends on the social ties and influences. The collectivists would be willing to share more information than the individualists. Therefore, the behavior of information sharing varies across cultures. This also depends on the cultural propensity to share the information. The collectivists, who value in-group ties, breeds individuals who use group members as a source of information. This is as opposed to the individualists who do not frequently seek information from people around them. Self-Concept Self-concept is defined as an attributes’ cognitive appraisal mediating and regulating behaviors. In a collectivism culture, the collectivity and identity orientations roots from the system of the society while in the individualistic culture, self-orientation emphasis and identity roots from the individual (Hofstede, 1980, 202). The collectivists are more likely to view themselves as part of an integrated fulsome and less different individuals that the individualists. Family Orientation The collectivists claim a sense of belonging and existence of a good relationship amongst themselves. Family orientation then plays a critical role in collectivism aspect. The individuals campaign for s a self-identity, as opposed to that of the collectivists which develops from the social system (Hofstede, 1980, 203). The individualists’ ranks lower in family orientation. Therefore, it can be concluded that a culture supporting relationships with others will assign great importance to the family ties which will intern influence their consumption patterns. Opinion Leadership This refers to the capability and tendency of individuals to influence the purchasing choices of other people (Schiffman and Kanuk, 1997, 107). The main motivation of an opinion leadership process is the relationship strength between individuals even though the opinion leader gains nothing by sharing information. This is an implication that people in the collectivism society are willing to share their opinion with others in the same group. Therefore, it is fair to conclude that people from individualism cultures are less likely to be leaders of opinion that those from the collectivism culture (Marshall and Gitosudarmo, 1995, 9). Ethnocentrism This concept circulates around the universal propensity of people viewing their group as the universal center. This is mainly to elucidate other forms of social units from the perception of their group and rejecting people who are culturally dissimilar while unknowing accepting people with similar cultural practices like them (Booth, 1979, 56). Ethnocentrism is also considered a system in which people draw lines between social in-groups they identify with and out groups which they perceive as different. (Shimp and Sharma 1987, 280). Therefore, ethnocentrism awards to individual that sense of belongingness and identity. As a matter of fact, people from the collectivist culture are most likely to show the ethnocentric culture than the individualists. Uncertainty Avoidance and Its Consumer Behavior Effects Human life is coupled with the basic fact of uncertainty concerning the future and the means they can cope with high levels of uncertainty by the help of technology, religion or law. It is reasonable to say that humans will always face an uncertain future, and they should probably be conscience of it. The concept of technology, religion and law then forms a means through which humans defends them against the prevailing circumstances (Hirchman, 1983, 197). Uncertainty avoidance takes the form of cultural members feeling threatened by unknown or uncertain occurrences. It as well addresses the means through which a culture tackles the future aspects of life. Different cultures handles uncertainty in different ways. These cultures are transferred through institutions as schools, the state and family. Collectively, they are reflected in the values held by people of a given society. Ability to tolerate risks is one of the main concepts building uncertainty avoidance (Hirschman, 1983, 198). Therefore, in the event of identifying consumer behavior attributable to uncertainty avoidance, it is most relevant to assess the element of risk or the level of uncertainty involved as it forms the larger behavior affected. Hence below is a discussion of consumer behaviors attributable to uncertainty and they are brand loyalty, perceived risk, information search and innovativeness. Perceived Risk The concept of perceived risk is defined as the perception of the consumer towards uncertainty and the resulting consequences of purchasing a product or service (Dowling and Staelin 1994). The concept of risks plays a principal role in making purchase decisions as each and every consumer has buying goals linked to a purchase (Hoover, Green and Saegert 1978). Therefore, it follows that the greater sense of uncertainty perceived by a consumer in a purchase attracts greater consequences of involving in the purchase of a wrong product, and then the experienced perceived risk by the consumer is greater. Therefore, perceived risk submits to the cultural concept in terms of uncertainty avoidance. Individuals who are high on uncertainty avoidance do not entertain ambiguity and at the same time experience higher levels of anxiety and stress. In addition, they are also less willing to take risks. Therefore, when they perceive high risk on a given product; they will not purchase the product as they would rather go for a less risky one. Brand Loyalty Brand loyalty refers to the persistent preference and purchase of the same product or brand (Shiffman and Kanuk 1997, 152). Previous study has shown that diverse consumer groups did indeed associate brand loyalty with perceived risk (Hoover, Green and Saegert, 1978, 106) simulating the relationship to a positive one. It is argued that consumers perceive the associated risk of a product or service category, and then remain loyal to a specific brand to minimize the level of uncertainty and the consequences that might emerge as a result of purchasing a different brand. A study conducted by Kanwar and Pagiavlas (1992) proved that U.S and Indian consumers utilizes brand loyalty as a method of cabbing the element of risk. Therefore, it is a deduction that people who are high on uncertainty avoidance stands a greater chance of remaining loyal to a given brand while purchasing goods and services as compared to ones from lower uncertainty avoidance cultures. Innovativeness This concept is defined as the willingness expressed by consumers to adopt to new brands and product in particular consumption domain. (Hirschman, 1981, 199). In a significant manner, it is related to the level of tolerance exhibited in risk and uncertainty. Intuitively, individual with lower tolerance on risk and uncertainty or ambiguity are less likely to explore new products and services and by this character, they are against the spirit of innovation. They are likened to the people high on uncertainty avoidance as they cannot tolerate a given level of ambiguity in their lives. Information search A consumer with less ambiguity tolerance and risk taking propensity also pushes for the need to engage in a thorough search for information before engaging in any purchase of any product. Information search applies in those products that bear unpleasant consequences if in any case; a wrong purchase decision was made. It is noteworthy to indicate that information search deems to be more helpful in situations where high uncertainty levels are attached to a purchase of a product. The ability to be a risk and uncertainty tolerant proves to bear a massive influence on the consumer’s behavior of information search (Gamer and Thompson, 1986, 203). On the same note, Hirschman (1981) came to a conclusion that there exists significant distinctions in the transfer of information between cultures and these differences are directly associated with uncertainty avoidance in the various cultures. Similarly, a consumer high on uncertainty avoidance is most likely be able to seek for more information as a means of reducing the level of risk associated with any purchase of a product. Masculinity and Its Effects on Consumer Behaviors Another significant concept subject to different approaches from different societies is that of duality of sexes. This concept seeks to address the question as to whether the biological differences between females and males are having implications on their social roles. The predominant social set up requires men to be assertive while women play a nurturing role (Murray and Manrai 1993). This pattern has led to the dominance of men in economics, politics and around the households. An analysis between masculinity and femininity is shown through the following. Family Decision Making Family decision making has been studied by quite a number of researchers such as Webster (1994). This study area with particular interest in cultural perspective of masculinity and femininity is important because the perceptions and attitudes toward sex roles are instigated by the cultural norms and values influencing the structure of decision making and the aspect of responsibility (Kim, Laroche and Zhou, 1993, 52). Consumers from such cultures that highly rate musicality are likely to engage in decision making; that is husband dominant than those rating femininity highly. Power Distance and Its Consumer Behavior Effects Human inequality is a basic concept encompassed in power distance. Such levels of inequality are evident in areas with prestige, power and wealth and are assigned different emphasis in different societies (McClelland, 1975, 6). It is evident that the only variations across culture are how dominance is integrated into social existence. Estate, caste and class are the main rank inequalities differentiating various functional areas (Bohannan, 1969, 100). The consumer behavior attributable to power distance should be influenced by the difference in culture associated with the respect degree assigned to power and authority characters in a society. Conclusion There exists a possible relationship between consumption behavior and culture. However, this is an area where not so much has been done (Kahle, Beatty and Homer, 1989, 83). Based on the above discussion, the concept of individualism is exhibited through such behaviors towards the reference group’s influence, opinion leadership, information sharing, and ethnocentrism, self-concept, family orientation. Uncertainty avoidance implicates itself as perceived risk, innovativeness, and brand loyalty and information search. Musicality affects decision making in families. This paper endeavors to understand the concept of culture and the resultant effects on consumer behavior. It also derived a relationship between culture and consumer behavior giving possible ideal situations that can be exploited by the marketing industry to understand consumers and give them full satisfaction. There is a clear difference on how different cultures handle issues pertaining to purchasing and consumption. It has become significantly influential for marketers to examine the intricacies of marketing as reflected on different cultures due to the rapid global growth of business in the current days. However, there exist a shortage on studies linking consumer behavior to culture in the confines of large scale production of goods and services. This paper provides relevant information for the marketing industry to hit a larger number of clientele having known how to treat different cultures according to their norms and values (Mager and Wynd, 1993, 101). 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