Relationship between Personality Factors and Consumer Buying Behavior - Literature review Example

NSUMЕR BЕHАVIОUR Student’s Name: Course Code: Tutor’s Name: Date of Submission Introduction Consumer behavior is the analysis and study of groups and individuals as well as organizations and the processes all of them use to secure, make use as well as dispose the services, products or even experiences in order for them to satisfy their wants (Sarker 2013). There are several internal factors that affect consumer behavior in the process of buying their goods or services they buy for them to satisfy their needs. These include perception, learning, memory, motivation, emotions as well as personality (Mehmet 2012). Each internal influence affects consumers in different ways depending on what they buy to satisfy their needs (Chowdhury 2007). Different scholars and researchers have analyzed how these factors will affect consumers with the influences they have on the same. This report will analyze the personality factor and its influence on the consumer behavior depending on five different writers. Five sources will be analyzed depending on how the writer analyzes personality as an internal influence of consumer behavior. Consumer Behavior: Implications for Marketing Strategy by Pascale Quester, Dell Hawkins and Simone Pettigrew The book was gotten online from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=iQgnkgEACAAJ&dq=inauthor:"Simone+Pettigrew"&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwje5e-5jYPRAhUhD. It was retrieved on 7th December 2016. The reasons that made the book to be chosen include the in depth description of consumer decision making before making any purchases. It was a course book in class. The book was published in the year 2010 meaning it is six years old. The authors are experienced writers on consumer behavior and have written various editions on the topic of consumer behavior. The book targeted students on marketing as well as marketers. Students will add more knowledge in understanding consumers and how their decision is affected by some internal influences. Personality has been analyzed as one of the internal factors that affect the consumer decision making before buying products as well as services (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins 2010). The authors have defined personality as being made up of what makes human beings different from others. Different personality characteristics have been analyzed and the possible choices of purchase traits. Personalities such as sanguine, introverts and others have been shown and how they can affect the consumer behavior in making decisions as they buy (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins 2010). In the process of decision making the authors have taken into consideration the factor of personality as well as the environmental factors that shape individual’s personality and how this leads to consequent decision when it comes to buy (Quester, Pettigrew & Hawkins 2010). Influence of personality in buying consumer goods-a comparative study between neo-Freudian theories and trait theory based on Khulna region by Sandip Sarker. This source of information was found in the International Journal of Business and Economics Research Volume 2 number 3 from page 41-58. It was retrieved from http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijber.20130203.12.pdf on 7th December 2016. It was selected because of the success it has made in meeting the objective of analyzing consumer behavior. It has also analyzed the concept of personality as an internal influence of consumer behavior. The article was published online on 10th June 2013. This means that the article is two and a half years old. The author is a scholars and a researcher in School of Management and Business Administration, Khulna University and Business Administration Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh. He is experienced in the field of marketing hence the content of the article is relevant. The article is meant to help marketers, scholars as well as consumers to understand how personality affects consumer behavior and therefore leading to more satisfaction. The article describes personality as a status of individuals that comes as a result of interaction between the individual and environmental as well as social influences in life (Sarker 2013). It shows that human beings are different from one another with regard to their physical attributes as well as their personality or what describes them in general. The article has analyzed the different personality theories and how they affect individual’s buying choices. It acknowledges there is a close relationship between what individuals buy and their personalities. The author of this article recommends that marketers are supposed to understand the personalities of their customers so as they succeed in their selling process. Lifestyles of individuals are reflected in their personalities which is an internal influence of consumer behavior (Sarker 2013). The article advocates the use of psychographics which is a method to measure an individual lifestyle by marketers for them to be able to make their consumers happy and satisfied. People who have the same personality or live in the same social class may exhibit some similar traits which marketers are supposed to understand for them to maximize their sales (Sarker 2013). However the article still acknowledges that an individual usually have many personality traits hence marketers should use other theories together with the personality theory in assessing their customers. In development of appeal they should apply the rational aspects of their brands and other motives consumers hold unconsciously (Chowdhury 2007). Personality and Consumer Behavior: A Review by Philip Thomas Udo-Imeh, Nsobiari Festus Awara and Eyo Emmanuel Essien. This article is in European Journal of Business and Management volume seven number 18 from page 68 to 106. It was found on line from http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/EJBM/article/viewFile/23192/23751 and was retrieved on 7th December 2016. The article was selected because of its explicit explanation on internal influences on consumer behavior. It was found to be relevant because the authors have tried to discuss thoroughly on issues of consumer behavior. The article acts as a guideline to marketers as well as marketing students on how they should understand the different consumer behaviors for them to maximize their sales and the profitability of their organizations. The article was published on 2015 meaning it is two years old. This shows that it deals with the issues that are emerging in the marketing sector because it is not old and outdated. The authors are renowned writers and lecturers in the Department of Management Technology, University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria and Department of Marketing, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria (Udo-Imeh, Awara & Essien 2015). This shows the relevance of the article since it is written by scholars and experienced individuals in the marketing field. In writing this article, the authors were targeting marketers as well as students in the marketing faculty of any college or university. This was identified as the authors were trying to help their audience in understanding their customers and provide to them with a theoretical framework in their pursuit of understanding customers and making sales (Udo-Imeh, Awara & Essien 2015). The authors acknowledge that personality is one of the internal influences of consumer behavior. They have defined personality as characteristics that make a person different and unique from others (Gharibpoor & Amiri 2012). It controls how a person interacts with his or her environment. The authors of the article have analyzed exhaustively the different theories of personality and conclude that psychodynamic and traits theory are very relevant in understanding the consumer behavior. These theories can be used to predict the behavior of the buyers and they are used in developing the products they buy as well market segmentation (Udo-Imeh, Awara & Essien 2015). The theories explain that consumers will buy different commodities depending on their traits or how they behave. Different behaviors are characterized with different buying behavior according to the authors. Marketers should therefore understand the behavior of their customers as they accomplish their selling for more consumer satisfaction as well as realization of more sales. Personality and Lifestyles in Consumer Behavior by Alamgir Nasir The article was found online from https://www.scribd.com/doc/58139821/Personality-and-Lifestyles-in-Consumer-Behavior. It was retrieved on 8th December 2016. The reasons for selection of the article include how explicit the idea of personality as an internal influence on consumer behavior is elaborated. The article is relevant from the way the author explain his ideas of consumer behavior and how he has incorporated ideas of other scholars in his literature review. It is designed in a way that seems helpful to marketers as well as consumers in their pursuit to understand how personality brings about the lifestyle of an individual and how this affects the consumer in the process of purchasing (Nasir 2009). The article is seven years old since it was published on 18th July 2009. The information in the article cannot be outdated since its only seven years down the line and the same factors that were affecting consumers during that time still affect them. The author of the article, Alamgir Nasir was a student in the University of Dhaka department of marketing. He has shown deep research on the topic basically on the provision of a theoretical framework which guides marketers as well as consumers to understand their personality and how it will affect their purchasing or behavior. The article seems to target both marketers as well consumers because it describes in to details the various theories personality an personality types with regard to how they dictate the lifestyle of an individual thus setting his/her behavior (Nasir 2009). The author defines personality as the inner characteristics which are psychological and the ones which reflect and determine how human beings or an individual responds to the environment around him/her. The systems by Sigmund Freud pertaining to personality have well been analyzed by the article in the attempt to show they will further affect the consumer behavior. The article recognizes personality as the conflict between responsibility and gratification and this makes purchases choices to be as a result of unconscious motives thus explaining personality as an internal influence of consumer behavior. Personality makes an individual to have a specific lifestyle which further dictates the commodities to purchase for one to live smoothly according to the lifestyle. Assessing the Relationship between Personality Factors and Consumer Buying Behavior in South Eastern Nigeria by Agbo J. C. OnuAkhimien, Emmanuel ORJI, Marcus Garvey The article was found in the International Journal of Business and Social Science, volume five, number eleven, issue one which was published on October 2014. The article is also available online on http://ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol_5_No_11_1_October_2014/25.pdf. The article was selected because of the attempt it has made in taking consumer in a unique direction rather than the actual buying of products physically. It has analyzed internal factors which affect consumer behavior even including the problems associated with the problems suffered by consumers after purchasing. The paper was published on 14th October 2014. This means that the paper is two years old. The analysis on consumer behavior presented in the paper is not outdated and has played an important role to show how consumers are affected by their personality. The authors, Agbo J. C. Onu are a Phd holder and a senior lecturer in a university in Nigeria. Akhimien, Emmanuel is also a lecturer in the same country and ORJI, Marcus Garvey also a lecturer. The article targets marketers in the attempt to show them they should understand their consumers as they do their purchases. The article argues that personality consist of the attributes of a human being that makes an individual different from the other people (Agbo, Emmanuel & Garvey 2014). They argue that personality is permanent as well as consistent but it may change. The different theories of personality have been well analyzed in the way they affect how buyers do their choices in the purchases process with the influence of their personality. According to the article, the variety of commodities that an individual buy will be as a result of the personality. Self-concepts and personalities help in reflecting their personality as well as their lifestyles (Agbo, Emmanuel & Garvey 2014). The authors also criticize linking personality with the decisions made by consumers as they buy. They said that generalization on personality influence is not good because not all goods and services have cognizance of the factors of personality in patronage. They also agreed with other scholars such as Mehmet (2012) and pervin (1997) on the same issue of not taking into consideration personality in deciding the consumer decision of buying goods. Conclusion Different writers, scholars and researchers have tried to analyze the different internal factors that affect consumer behavior. Influence of personality in buying consumer goods-a comparative study between neo-Freudian theories and trait theory based on Khulna region by Sandip Sarker; Personality and Consumer Behavior: A Review by Philip Thomas Udo-Imeh, Nsobiari Festus Awara and Eyo Emmanuel Essien; Personality and Lifestyles in Consumer Behavior by Alamgir Nasir; Assessing the Relationship between Personality Factors and Consumer Buying Behavior in South Eastern Nigeria by Agbo J. C. OnuAkhimien, Emmanuel ORJI, Marcus Garvey are such sources. The writers have analyzed personality as an internal influence of consumer behavior targeting different audiences as analyzed. The sources are not old meaning they are providing relevant information about the same. References Agbo, J. C., Emmanuel, A. & Garvey, O. M (2014). Assessing the Relationship between Personality Factors and Consumer Buying Behavior in South Eastern Nigeria, International Journal of Business and Social Science, 5(11), 231-242. Chowdhury. I.A. (2007). Consumer Behavior. Bangladesh, Open University, Gharibpoor, M., & Amiri, F. (2012). The relationship between personality traits and virtual-web Based service brand personality: SEM method in Goggle context. Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research. 2(5), 4469-4476 Mehmet, M (2012) Personality effects on experiential consumption’ Elsevier Journal, Norway, Vol. 52, PP 94 -98 Sarker, S. (2013). Influence of Personality in Buying Consumer Goods-A Comparative Study Between Neo-Freudian Theories and Trait Theory Based on Khulna Region. International Journal of Business and Economics Research, 2(3), 41. doi:10.11648/j.ijber.20130203.12 Quester, P. G., Pettigrew, S. & Hawkins, D. I. (2010). Consumer behavior: implications for marketing strategy. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Udo-Imeh, P. T., Awara, N. F. & Essien, E.E. (2015). Personality and Consumer Behavior: A Review, European Journal of Business and Management , 7(18). PP. 98-106. Read More