The Influence of Advertising on Consumer Behaviour - Coursework Example

Abstract Advertising is one of the key marketing functions undertaken by many organization. This paper presents a proposal on the impacts of advertising on consumer behaviour. The main focus of the paper will be on cultural implications of advertising on consumer behaviour as opposed to the widely studied psychological implications. The methodology of the study will involve both primary and secondary data collection methods. In collection of primary data a semi-structured questionnaire will be used. For the secondary data, the data will be collected from companies’ annual reports, manuals and newsletters concerning how advertising has influenced consumer behavior. The study findings will be presented using tables and graphs for further analysis and to facilitate comparison Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1.3 Objective of the Study 5 1.3.1 Specific Objectives 5 1.4 Research Questions 5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10 3.1 Introduction 10 3.2 Research Design 10 3.3 Target Population 10 3.4 Sample Design and Procedure 11 3.5 Data Collection 12 3.5.1 Type and Sources of Data 12 3.5.2 Data Collection Instrument 12 3.5.3 Pre-testing 12 Data Collection Procedure 13 Data Analysis and Presentation 13 Ethical Issues 14 3.7 Limitations of the Study 15 Introduction Background of the Study Advertising is one the key marketing functions that businesses engage in. The sole objective of advertising is to motivate the consumer to purchase the products or services offered by the business. Many businesses spend a lot of funds on adverting in order to gain a competitive advantage and also maintain their market share. In most cases small or new businesses usually spend a huge amount of finance in advertising as opposed to well established and big companies. The discipline of consumer behavior has in the recent years been studied widely as an area of research. Sparked with the rapid developments that have taken place in the field of psychology, the study of consumer behavior has widely been explored (Otnes and Zayer, 2012). In order to understand consumer behavior, various researches have been conducted. Most of the studies usually focus on the feelings and undercover emotions that are exhibited by the consumer. On the grounds of the answers obtained, changes in the marketing mix are attained and also the streamlining of advertising occurs. This paper seeks to examine the influence of advertising on consumer behavior. The study will therefore examine how advertising influences people cultures and thus affecting consumer behaviour. Problem Statement Various studies have been conducted in order to examine the influence of advertising on consumer behavior. The many studies conducted in order to examine the impact of adverting on consumer behavior have often used the psychological influence of advertising. For instance Dinu, (2012) on the impact of advertising on consumer behavior in Romania. The study mainly focused on how advertising impacts of the minds of the consumers and therefore leading to the development of a mental brand image which further influences the customers to purchase the product. Additionally, similar studies on online advertising such the study by Priyanka (2012) discloses the fact that advertisers want consumer to think that online advertising can be as powerful as the advertising that is conducted on the television. It can be stated that the studies focused on how advertising can play with the minds of the consumers in order to influence their behavior. There is need to re- examining the influence of advertising on consumer behavior essentially using a different lense which is the cultural perspective. This paper will therefore examine the cultural implications of advertising on consumer behavior. The study will therefore examine how advertising influences people cultures and thus affecting consumer behaviour. 1.3 Objective of the Study The objective of this study is to investigate determine the cultural implications of advertising on consumer behaviour. 1.3.1 Specific Objectives The study will be guided by the following specific objectives. 1. To investigate the influence of advertising on consumer behaviour 2. To examine the various Theories and Models of Advertising and its Influence on consumer behaviour 3. To determine the effect of advertising from various cultures on consumer behaviour 1.4 Research Questions The study seeks to answer the following research questions. 1. To what extent does advertising influence your purchase behaviour? 2. Would you purchase a product that has you have not seen on an advertisement 3. What are the effects of advertising from different cultures on your buying behaviour? 4. What are the major effects of different types of advertising on your buying behaviour? Literature review The influence of advertising on consumer behaviour A number of studies have been conducted in order to examine the impact of advertising on consumer behaviour. Kumar and Raju (2013) conducted a study to examine the role of consumer behaviour on decision making. The study examined the relationship between independent variables which include behavioral aspect and attitudinal aspect of the buying behaviour of the consumer. The 110 respondents in the study disclosed that indeed advertising does have an implication on consumer decision making. According to Kumar and Raju (2013) based on the fact that buyers have to act on the grounds of incomplete information they usually encounter the risk in each purchase and non-purchase decision they make. The kind of risks that buyers perceive is dependent on the significance of the amount of relevant information concerning the product and the significance of a certain purchase. In most vases the additional information that is provided to the consumer will influence their behaviour. Consequently, the study concluded that advertising acts as a source of information w for the consumers which influence their purchase behavior. Angus, (2008) highlights that the strategic and effective communications of a product to consumers is the most important aspect towards the success of a brand in terms of influencing the consumer buying behaviour and perception towards the product. Consequently, businesses should strive to ensure that by undertaking active advertisement; the business will be able to attract the customers’ attention and building positive relations to entice customers to purchase the product. Since advertising has vital role in coordinating consumer purchases, it very important for companies to put in place all likely measures to influence, motivate and develop the desire to purchase and use the products or services of an organization. This is because advertising has a great influence on consumer behavior Fox (2006) highlights that a key impact of advertising on consumer behavior is that it results to attitude formation. Attitudes can be described as the tendencies and predispositions that influence a person to react in a consistent manner during a certain period of time. In some cases the immediate objective of advertisers to get an immediate action of the consumer. This implies that the consumer should react in several ways which includes purchasing the product and also buying the product. In most cases, consumers may not respond in the stated ways as a result a lag develops between the exposure to advertising and the action created by the consumer. Advertising however results to the development of both positive and negative attitudes by consumers which may further influence their purchase behavior. For examples various advertisements antismoking and antidrug have the objective of creating a negative attitude whereby the consumers should lose the likelihood of purchasing such products. Advertising has also been useful in enhancing the communication of products or services to consumers this has assisted in boosting the positive feeling of the consumers towards the products or services provided by the company. A case in point is the use of celebrity endorsement in advertising. According to Taleja (2010), testimonials’ used by promoters can be traced back to the 19th century when medicines were patented. Firms have been known to juxtapose their products and themselves using celebrity endorsers such as athletes and actors with the expectations that such celebrities may help boost their marketing or corporate communication effectiveness attempts for no less than a century now. Ergin and Akbay (2010) argues that celebrities are known to enjoy enormous public recognition and often impact powerful influence upon endorsing given products. As a result of this, celebrities help enhance the awareness of various advertised brands by creating positive feelings towards the brands. According to Ergin & Akbay (2010), the endorsement celebrity power originates from three aspects that include attention, sincerity, and persuasion. Attention makes it much easier to penetrate the marketing clutter and enables the endorsed brand more noticeable to given target audience. Theories and Models of Advertising and its Influence on consumer behavior A research conducted by Mortimer (2002) discloses that consumers usually pass through various stages prior to making a decision to buy a certain product. According to Mortimer (2002) the various stages that consumers pass through in order to come up with a purchase decision are critical for any advertiser. He demonstrates that the various stages that consumers go through are basically the cognitive and the affective stages. Studies conducted in the past have revealed a link between the involvement and the cognitive process which has resulted to the inception of the Elaboration Likelihood Model of attitude change. The model is composed of two basic routes, the peripheral route and the central route. The two routes give an indication that consumers who are actively involved or those who can quickly process information, can experience additional cognitive response. Consequently, advertising can become more persuasive if exposed in a strong and logical argument. The latter direction occurs when less effort is required by the consumers in order evaluate the argument thus advertising which consists of approaches such the use of music and celebrity endorsement are actually more real when it comes to persuading consumers (Mortimer ,2002) . An additional theory is the FCB grid theory. The theory propagates that consumers react to advertisement through the manner in which they think and feel. The theory majorly categories products into low involvement and high involvement feel or think which further influences the manner in which consumers react to a certain product (Mortimer , 2002). Huang (2001) highlights that the PAD model which entails pleasure, arousal and dominance is another crucial model that influences the manner in which consumers behave. The model consists of every emotional state that consumers posses and other feelings that come about. The model can assist in examining the emotions of people and how they behave due to the exposure to advertisement. Cultural Influences that exist in Advertising and how they Influence Consumer Behaviour Although advertising is beneficial to businesses and even the consumers, it does have an impact on culture. When approximated the average exposure to advertising for Americans ranges between five hundred to one thousand commercial messages each day. Societies in other cultures are also exposed to American advertisements. As Noreen (2010) discloses, one cannot travel to Asia , Africa and Latin American and not be exposed to the elements of the American culture on the urban life of this particular societies. The American culture has greatly been influential in advertising and therefore influencing the behaviour of many consumers across the world. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction This chapter presents the procedures and techniques that will be used in the collection, processing and analysis of data. To meet this objective, it will thus look at research design, target population, data collection instruments, data collection procedures and finally data analysis. 3.2 Research Design According to Noum, (2007), research design is the outline, plan, scheme that is used to generate answers to research problems. The study will implement a descriptive survey design. The method is chosen since it is more accurate and precise since it involves description of events in a cautiously planned way (Babbie, 2004). Additionally, Berg and Gall (1996) note that descriptive research produced statistical information about aspects of a study that interest many business organizations. Descriptive studies will be used not only for the purpose of description but also for the determination of relationships between variables at the time of study. 3.3 Target Population Cooper and Schindler, (2003) describe a population as the group that the study focuses on. Target population in statistics is the specific population about which information is desired. A population is a well-defined or set of people, elements, services, and events, group of things or households that are being investigated. Data will be collected from students from each year based on the fact that their perspectives may vary. This is as presented on the Table 1.0 below Table 3.1: Study Population Sections Population (Frequency) First Year University Students 27 Second year University Students 24 Third Year University Students 39 Forth Year University Students 46 Total 136 Selecting of students from each year of study is very relevant for the study. The University of Birmingham has students from different cultural backgrounds, ages and gender and therefore the findings that will be derived from the students will be very useful for the study. 3.4 Sample Design and Procedure Sampling involves selecting a given number of subjects from a defined population represent the population (Cooper & Schindler, 2003). Additional, Naoum (2007) defines a sample size as finite part of a statistical population whose properties are studied to get information about the whole. The major method used when deciding on the sample size is the extent to which the sample’s size is representative of the population. Since the population of the study will be small, the study will be conducted through a census approach targeting 27 first year students, 24 second year students , 39 third year students and 46 fourth year students . The selected sample will be useful in determine the effect of advertising on consumer behavior. 3.5 Data Collection 3.5.1 Type and Sources of Data The study will collect both primary data and secondary data. Primary data will be collected using questionnaires. For the secondary data, the data will be collected from companies’ annual reports, manuals and newsletters concerning how advertising has influenced consumer behavior. 3.5.2 Data Collection Instrument In collection of primary data a semi-structured questionnaire will be used. The researcher will ensure that the questionnaire is kept short and structured with mostly multiple-choice selections in a likert scale to guarantee uniformity in response and to encourage involvement. The questionnaires are preferred in this study because respondents of the study are literate and quite able to answer questions asked adequately. Questionnaires are frequently used to obtain important information about a population under study. The questionnaire will be carefully designed and tested with a few members of the population for further improvements. This will be done in order to enhance its accuracy and validity of data to be collected for the study. 3.5.3 Pre-testing A pilot study or Pre-testing will be conducted to ascertain that the questions are relevant, plainly understandable and make sense before the research tools are finally given to sample group. The pre-testing aims at evaluating the reliability of the research tools including the wording, sequence and structure of the questions. The pilot study will involve 4 respondents from students in every year of study. The respondents will be conveniently chosen since statistical conditions are not essential in the pilot study (Cooper and Schindler, 2003). The Pilot study also has the objective of refining the questionnaire so that respondents in the major study will have no problem in answering the questions. This will contribute to improve the content validity and reliability of the data that will be collected. Nonetheless, results obtained in the pilot study will not be included in the final data analysis. Data Collection Procedure Self-administered questionnaire will be used in this study to collect quantitative data. The researcher will assure the respondents that information collected will be for research purpose only and the responses from the respondents will be treated anonymously. The researcher will obtain an introductory letter from the University to collect data from the students then personally deliver the questionnaires to the respondents and have them filled in and then collect immediately. The drop and pick later method cannot be done when the sample group is University students this is because they are usually not very reliable and they cannot be found in one specific place. As a result, the questionnaires will be given to the students and collected immediately after they provide their answers. Data Analysis and Presentation After data collection, completed questionnaires will be edited for consistency and completeness. Data clean up, explanation and analysis will then follow the editing. Data editing, clean up, coding, and tabulation will be conducted in order to detect any inconsistencies in the responses and allocate specific numerical values to the answers for further analysis is done. The data will then be analyzed through the use of the descriptive statistics. The descriptive statistical tools (SPSS V.17.0 and Excel) will assist the researcher to describe the data. Analyzing the mean score and standard deviation will be done using The Likert scale. The findings of the study will be presented using graphs and tables for further analysis and to enable comparison. This will generate quantitative reports through percentages, tabulations and measure of central tendency. Ethical Issues Various ethical issues will be considered when conducting this particular study. The study collects useful information for businesses and therefore, the researcher holds an ethical obligation to hold this information with utmost correctness. The respondents will be assured of confidentiality of information given to make them at ease to respond to the questionnaire. Also the consent of the participant will also be needed before they take part in the research. The potential subjects to be involved in the study must authorize his/her participation in the research study, preferably in writing or through oral consent (Sales and Folkman, 2000). It is therefore essential to talk to the students first before giving them the questionnaires to fill. This will ascertain that the learners are able Another ethical consideration is to respect each participant as a person capable of making an informed decision regarding participation in the research study. As a researcher I will ensure that the participant has received a full disclosure of the nature of the study, the risks, benefits and alternatives, with an extended opportunity to ask questions. In addition I will not take any action that leads towards influencing the views of the participants or the answers that they provide for the study, Another ethical issue that will be considered in the research is to ascertain that deception is not used when doing the research. As argued by Sales and Folkman (2000) using deception jeopardizes the integrity of the informed consent process and can potentially harm your participants. I will therefore inform the participants to offer their genuine opinions instead of providing answers that are similar or that are not true. Many University students have the tendency of copying from each other or even providing false answers. I will therefore advice the participants to offer genuine opinions based on the fact that the findings of the study can be relevant to even them. 3.7 Limitations of the Study The researcher anticipates a hard time in getting respondents to respond to the questions as the respondents are busy. To overcome this set back, the researcher will make prior arrangements with employees to agree on a time when they can be met to fill the questionnaires. Further, the researcher face time constraint as the researcher is required to find the respondents when they are not very busy. References Angus, D, 2008, Theory and Measurement of Consumer Behaviour, Cambridge University Press. Babbie , E, 2004, The Practice of Social Research. Sage. . Gall, D, Borg, R, Gall, P, 1996, Educational Research (6th ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman Publishing. 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