Chapter 6

Social and Psychological

Influences on Buyer Behaviour
Sommers  Barnes
Ninth Canadian Edition

Presentation by
Karen A. Blotnicky
Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, NS

Copyright © 2001 by McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited

Chapter Goals
To gain an understanding of:
• The process of consumer purchase decision
making
• The importance of various information
sources on buying decisions
• The impact on purchasing caused by
reference groups, family, household, social
class, culture, subculture, motivation,
perception, learning, personality, attitudes,
and situational factors
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 SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
GROUP FORCES FORCES
Culture Motivation
Subculture Perception
Social class Learning
Reference groups Personality
Family and households Attitude

INFORMATION SITUATIONAL
BUYING-DECISION PROCESS FACTORS
Commercial When
sources Need recognition consumers buy
Where
consumers buy
Identification of alternatives

Evaluation of alternatives Why consumers

buy
Social sources Purchase and related decisions Conditions
under which
Postpurchase behaviour consumers buy
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Copyright © 2000 McGraw Hill Ryerson Limited

The Buying-Buying Decision
Process
The consumer goes through a series of decision-
making stages en route to a decision and
beyond:
1. recognition of an unmet need
2. choice of an involvement level
3. identification of alternatives
4. evaluation of alternatives
5. purchase and related decisions
6. postpurchase behaviour

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Variations in the
Purchase Process
• the consumer can withdraw at any
stage
• some stages may be skipped
• the stages are generally of varying
length
• some stages may be performed
subconsciously

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Level of Involvement
• influences the amount of effort the consumer will
devote to the purchase decision process
• involvement is higher when
• consumer lacks information about purchase
• product or service is considered important
• risk of a bad decision is perceived to be high
• product or service is socially important
• product or service has the potential to provide
significant benefits

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Identification and Evaluation of
Alternatives
• search for alternatives may be limited to
options close at hand or may be more extensive
• influenced by information available, confidence
in the information, and expected benefit or
value of additional information
• evaluation of alternatives is based on certain
criteria, which vary in importance across
consumers -- this is what make for the existence
of market segments

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The Purchase
and Related Decisions
• decision to buy is only the beginning of a
more complex decision process
• marketers must make it as easy as possible
for the customer to make these decisions
• the additional decisions that have to be made
include where to buy, how to pay for the
purchase, how to take delivery, whether to
buy the extended warranty, etc.
• purchase decision is influences by a series of
patronage buying motives

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Postpurchase Behaviour
• after a purchase, the consumer has learned a
number of things that affect future purchases
• also goes through a period of anxiety known
as cognitive dissonance;
dissonance consumer is not sure
whether he or she has made the right decision
• dissonance is greater when price is high,
when alternatives are similar, and when the
purchase is perceived to be important
• consumers try to reduce dissonance by
seeking positive reinforcement

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Information Influencing
Purchase Decisions
There are two sources of information:
• The commercial environment consisting of all
marketing organizations and individuals who
attempt to communicate with consumers.
• The social environment,
environment including
noncommercial word-of-mouth
communication and observation of others
using products.

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Cultural Influences
on Behaviour
• buying decisions are influenced by social forces
• culture has the most indirect impact; we are all
products of a handed-down culture
• cultural influences change very slowly over time
• ethnic subcultures have a profound effect on how
Canadians lead their lives
• the most obvious subcultural differences are
between French- and English-Canadians,
although many other ethnic subcultures exist

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Multiculturalism in
Canada
• Sub-cultures make for profitable market
segments across Canada
• Notable ethnic markets include:
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Chinese
• German
• Middle and Eastern Europeans are clustered in
the Prairie region
• Italian and Chinese populations are clustered in
Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver

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The Quebecois Market
• The Francophone market differs from the
Anglophone market in Canada and should be
treated as distinct
• It is large enough to be considered a culture,
rather than a sub-culture
• The French live across Canada, but the Quebec
region is different due to:
• Size
• Homogeneity
• Purchasing power
• Social and political orientation

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 Social Class Influence
• social class represents an interesting way to look
at a market; influenced by such factors as
education, occupation, and place of residence
• may be used as a basis for segmenting markets,
and may reflect the aspirations of consumers
• social classes exist whether people care to admit
it or not; differences in beliefs and attitudes exist
across class boundaries; and social class may be a
better predictor of buyer behaviour than income

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The Social Class
System
• The Upper (Old Money)
The Upper •
The Lower (New Rich)
Class
(2%) • The Upper (12%)
• Moderately successful business
The Middle
people, professionals
Class • The Lower (32%)
(45%) •White collar workers, technicians,
small business owners
The Lower •The Upper (38%)
Class •Blue collar (working class)
(54%) •The Lower (16%)
•Unskilled, chronically unemployed,
welfare poor
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Reference Group Influence
• reference groups are those with whom we
interact and who influence our attitudes,
values and behaviour
• small reference groups establish norms
that influence purchase decisions, and
their word-of-mouth is considered to be
more powerful than advertising and other
commercial forces
• the family and household are considered
to be very influential reference groups

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Psychological Factors
Impacting Purchasing

• Motivation and Need

• Perception
• Learning
• Personality and Attitude

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Motivation and
Need
Motivation, a need sufficiently
stimulated that an individual is moved
to seek satisfaction.
• Motives are either physiological or
psychological.
• Many different motives are often involved
in a purchase.
• Maslow presents a hierarchy of needs
which helps us understand motivation.

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
SELF-ACTUALIZATION
Needs for self-fulfillment
ESTEEM
Needs for self-respect,
reputation, prestige, and status
BELONGING AND LOVE
Needs for affection, belonging
to a group, and acceptance
SAFETY
Needs for security, protection, and order

PHYSIOLOGICAL
Needs for food, drink, sex, and shelter

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Perception
• The process of receiving, organizing and assigning
meaning to stimuli detected by the senses
• Impacted by selectivity:
• Selective attention —only those stimuli that
capture and hold attention can be perceived.
• Selective distortion —consumers alter information
that is inconsistent with their beliefs and attitudes.
• Selective retention —consumers retain only part
of what they perceive.

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Learning
• Changes in behaviour which result
from observation or experience
• Responses to stimuli are learned as
a result of rewards or punishments.
• Responses can become habits that
replace wilful behaviour.

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Personality and
Attitude
• personality is a pattern of traits that influence
behaviour; but it is not always clear how
personality affects consumption behaviour
• a consumer tends to act in a way that is
consistent with his or her self-concept
• attitude is one of the most important concepts
in understanding consumer behaviour; it is a
learned disposition to act in a certain way
• attitudes are formed over time, are slow to
change, and are excellent predictors of
behaviour
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Values and Lifestyles
• most valuable way of looking at
a market and its potential
• psychographic research is
considered to have transcended
demographic categories

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Situational Influences
• Five situations in which consumers find
themselves often influence their purchase
behaviour:
1. consider how time affects the decision to buy
2. physical surroundings often influence purchases
3. the terms and conditions surrounding the actual
purchase will influence the buying decision
4. the consumer’s objectives are important
5. the final buying decision is often influenced by
the consumer’s physical condition and mood

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