DIMENSIONS Of

CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR

16

CHAPTER - 11
DIMENSIONS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
INTRODUCTION
Consumer behaviour is a subset of human behaviour in general. The
fundamental process that shape behaviour in the area of buying are those that also
shape human behaviour in general. The study of consumer behaviour is very
much useful for understanding consumers needs attitudes and their brand choice
behaviour. The behaviour aspect of the consumer constitutes a major part of the
marketing man's job. The marketing man is better able to render customer
satisfaction if he can find answers to such questions as why does he buy certain
product at a certain place and in a certain manner'. Marketers use their knowledge
of consumer behaviour for market segmentation, targeting, product positioning for
planning marketing strategy etc.,
Consumer behaviour is complex in nature. The complexity of consumer
behaviour is mainly because of the differences among individual's personality,
attitude, perception, behaviour etc., Besides there are also factors such as family,
social class, references groups, culture, situation etc., Which influences consumer
behaviour. The interaction between these factors increases the complex nature of
consumer behaviour.

17

Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour

Behaviour does not make place in a vaccuin. We act in an environment,
which includes the actor, the object or the event of attention, and the situation in
which the observation is being carried out2. The major influences relevant to
consumer behaviour emerge from the external environment designed as social and
cultural influences, and the internal states, which are referred to as individual
influences, influences form external environment includes culture, subculture,
social class, reference group, family and situation. Advertisement also influences
buyer's behaviour. Internal or individual influences include personality and life
style characteristics of consumers, Interaction between theses factors makes the
study of consumer behaviour complicative3.

Variables affecting human

behaviour interact to such an extent that the familiar "other thins being equal"
assumption can lead to mistaken conclusion. Among the explanatory variables for
the choice process we may list enabling condition (e.g. cash in the enabling
conditions, change information received, income, price etc.) past experience and
personality traits that prevail among large group of people4.

18

Culture
The concept of consumer's sovereignty has been attacked by many writers
who advance particularly the notion that "the monarch allows himself to be
swayed by the cajoleries of his slaves"5. The broadest environmental factor
affecting consumer behaviour is culture. Cultures refer to the norms, beliefs and
customs that are learned from society and lead to common patterns of behaviour-6.
Man's specific wants are wholly determined by his culture. The specific wants of
mature individuals in our society are not rigid and fixed but rather malleable and
adaptable. Culture is sovereign. It is not an inflexible ruler, however it can itself
be modified and shaped in times by seller's efforts among other dynamic forces'.
One of the first writers to recognize the importance of culture in consumer
behaviour was an economist James Duesenberry. He said "In every case the kinds
of activities in which people engage are culturally determined; nearly all purchases
of goods are made... either to provide physical comfort or to implement the
activities which make-up the life or our cultures.
The impact of culture on society in so natural and so ingrained that its
influence on behaviour is rarely noticed. Yet, culture offers order. Direction and
guidance to members of society in all phases of human problem solemnly. Culture
is learned as a part of social experience. Culture as a concept is very broad ad it
embraces the whole society9. To better satisfy consumers markets have learned to
segment society in to smaller groups known as sub-culture

19

Sub-Culture
Certain segments may be represented as sub-cultures because they have
homogenous values and customs that distinguish them from society. Ethinic age
and geographical groupings may form sub-cultures because of differences in
norms, beliefs and behaviour. Ethinic groups include religions, racial and national
groups. Ethinic groups are considered as a part of sub-cultures when they have a
common heritage or environment that influences values and purchasing behaviour.
Geographical groups are identified as sub-culture because of differences in tastes
and behaviour. Members belonging to a sub-culture frequently buy the same
brands, read same magazines and newspapers and shop in the same type of stores.
Sub-cultures can play a dominant influence on purchase behaviour'''. The
influence varies depending on the strength of a consumer's association with the
sub-culture.
Social Class
Every consumer belongs to one social class or another. This social class
membership often serves as a frame of reference for the development of consumer
attitude or behaviour. Social class is defined as the "division of members of a
society into a hierarchy of distinct status classes, so that members of each class
have relatively the same status and members of all the other classes have either
more or less status"'

20
Relative wealth, power and prestige are three factors frequently employed
in estimation of social class12. An individual's behaviour is established by the
participation and pressure of his particular society or social group. An individual
eats, drinks and conducts in a way whereby it is not difficult to make out the social
group to which he belongs. These pressures atomizes individual behaviour to the
extent that he is not aware of his constant effort to act in a manner which conforms
to the norms or patterns imposed on him by his social group. This is the reason
why he cannot explain his behaviour or 'causes' for certain actions. This makes
man considerably different from the 'economic man', which he was long
considered to be, particularly from the buyer behaviour point of view".
The behaviour of consumers belonging to different social classes differs.
Research has revealed, for e.g. middle class women are more likely to be heavy
users of cosmetics than lower class women14.
It a consumer is asked why he like a particular product his answer will be
influenced by various factors such as status aspirations and his personal
associations. A single person is associated with many groups". These groups
influence consumer behaviour.
Reference Groups
An individual can be member of more than one reference group at the same
time. His behaviour as a consumer is influenced by the extent of association he is
having with reference group. Reference groups are those an individual uses (i.e.
refers to) in determining his judgement, belief and behaviour'''.

21

Reference group provides a means of social comparison.

Social

comparison is considered to be motivating force in consumer behaviour17

Reference groups are highly relevant and potent influence consumer
behaviour. Since a consumer belongs to more than one reference group it is
difficult to identify which group dominates. One study of brand choice behaviour
found group cohesiveness and brand similarities to be positively related"
According to Henry Assael involved product is likely to reflect the norms and
values of the group. A study by concanougher & Bruce found that reference
group has little effect on low involvement products. Products such as salt, tooth
paste, paper towel and plastic wrap have little visibility and are not relevant to
group norms' 9 .
Family
Family is one of the important social group to which every consumer
belongs. It is a primary social group where all the members have personal and
direct association. All family members can assume roles in the actual purchase
process Responsibility for some product and brand decisions generally resides in
a specific family member. Family members influence brand choice behaviour.
For e.g. husband may influence wife's brand choice2.
Family life cycle also influences consumer behaviour. The term life cycle
refers to the series of chances in the family status of the individual, as he grows
older.

The marriage of a single man causes him to become husband; the birth of
his first child makes him a father. When the children grows up and leaves him his
status again changes'''.
Individuals change of status in their family influences their behaviour as a
consumer. Their brand choice is also influenced by their role in the family.
Situation is one of the most important factors influencing consumer's brand
choice behaviour. Depending upon a set of circumstances faced by the consumer
in making a purchase, behaviour may take any number of directions. Thus,
consumer behaviour may be said as ending largely upon situation'''.
The term situation includes all those factors particular to a time and place of
observation which do not follow from knowledge of personal (intra-individual) or
stimulus (choice alternative) attributes and which have a demonstrable and
systematic effect on current behaviour23.
Both consumption and purchase situations influence brand choice
behaviour.
The consumption situation is the anticipated usage situation for the brand24
It includes what is being consumer? Where it is being consumed? When it is
consumed? And with whom it is consumed?

23

Purchase situation includes in store environment, which includes product

availability, price change, competitive deal, displays, sales person influence etc.,
Whether the product is being purchased for self use or for the purpose of giving
gift also influence choice behaviour.
Consumer's Mood State is also likely to affect brand choice25. Degree of
product involvement also determines. The extent of situational influence. Higher
the product involvement the less likely it is that situational factors will determine
behaviour. Lower the product involvement most to help it is that situational
factors determine behaviour.
If the purchase and situation are close in time, then the situation is likely to
influence brand choice. A consumer arranging for a party that evening may
purchase brands not ordinarily purchased.
A consumer seeing sharp reduction in price for a brand (Purchase situation)
may purchase that brand 26 . But a consumer purchasing for regular consumption
in future is most likely to buy the regular brands only and there is no situational
influence.
So far we have discussed external or environmental factors influencing
consumer behaviour. Let us now see the two internal influences on consumer
behaviour, consumer's personality and life style. Psychographic characteristics of
the consumer provides marketer with a richer basis for understanding consumer
behaviour27.

24
Psychographic characteristics are consume Psychological characteristics
that can be measured. They are represented by two classes of variables life style
and Personality.
Life Style
A life style is broadly defined as a mode of living that is identified by now
people spend their time (activities); what they consider important in their
environment (interests); and what they think of themselves and the world around
them (environment)28
This mode of living differs among difficult classes or groups of people.
Life style affect individual behaviour as a consumer. His brand choice behaviour
is also influenced by life style. For example, upper and middle class women were
found to be somewhat more involved in fashion than their lower class counter
parts. Similarly, the brand choice behaviour of a college student and a middle age
man will not be same, since their life styles differ.
Personality
Like life style personality also influences consumer behaviour. It is a
lasting and general characteristic of individuals. Personality is more deep seated
than life style since personality variable reflect consistent evolving patterns of
behaviour. Personality varies from person to person. It is a complicated variable.
It includes an individual's physical appearance, character, behaviour etc. and it is
also influenced by other factors like culture. Since the personality is a lasting and
general characteristics of individual and also more deep seated it can be assumed

'75

that personality should be related to purchase behaviour. Such as assumption is

reasonable, but most studies have shown a weak relationship between personality
variable and purchase behaviour'''.
Consumer Decision Making
The constant increase in the variety of goods offered to him, the growing
tendency to buy more goods on the market rather than produce them at home, the
multiplicity of brands offered to him, the frequency of relatively small quality
differentials and the widely differing services offered by stores, all combine to add
to the difficulty of the consumers choice and to stress the importance of his being
able to buy with intelligence. Limited incomes of most of the consumers
accent their problem of choice making'''.
To analyse buyer one can view buyers as decision makers. Consumers
have to make many purchasing decisions for satisfying their current and future
needs. An average adult makes several decisions daily regarding, food, clothing,
shelter, transportation, recreation etc. In making these decisions buyers can use
many types of decision-making, ranging from highly extensive to routine. The
decision process used to purchase many products fall somewhere in between these
31
tw0 .

In highly extensive or complex decision-making the consumers evaluate

brands in a detailed and comprehensive manner. More information is sought and
more brands are evaluated than in other types of decision-making situations.

26
1. High priced products
2. Products associated with performance risks (medical products,
automobiles)
3. Complex products (stereo sets, home computers)
4. Speciality goods(sports equipment, furniture)
5. Products associated with one's ego, (clothing, cosmetics)32
For buying most of the durable product consumers engage in complex
decision-making. There are five stages in this decision process.

Problem recognition

: Search for information

Evaluate alternatives
Purchasing process and

Post purchase behaviour

Problem Recognition
Problem recognition results when a consumer recognize a difference of
sufficient magnitude between what is perceived as the desired state of affairs and
what is the actual state of affairs, enough to arouse and activate the decision
process "Actual State" refers to the way in which a need is already being met and
"desire state" is the way a person would like for the need to be satisfied.
Consumers become aware of the need through processing of information arising
internally and externally

33

There are numerous situations that may cause

consumers problem recognition to occur. Some of them are,

27

Depleted or inadequate stock of goods

Discount with the product they already own

Changes in environmental conditions and

Changing financial circumstances and marketing activities
After recognizing the need for purchasing a product the next step is

searching for more information about the product.

Search For Information
A consumer is in this stage if he or she senses a need for information upon
which to base a choice. The recollection of past experiences (drawn from longterm memory storage) might provide the consumer with adequate information for
the present choice. If the consumer has had no prior experience, he or she may
have to engage in extensive search of the outside environment for useful
information upon which to base a choice. How much information a consumer
gathers also depends upon situational factors.
Evaluate Alternatives
After collecting information next step is evaluating alternatives available.
There are two broad approaches for evaluating alternatives, I . Brand processing
and 2. Attribute processing. In brand processing the buyer assess one brand at a
time; examine several attributes of that brand. Similarly he assesses other
alternative brands and examines their several attributes. In attribute processing the
consumer examines a specific attribute and compares several other brands on that

28
attribute. Then a second attribute may be selected for compassion, and so on.
These two information-processing strategies are referred to as choice by
processing Brands (CPB) and choice by processing Attributes (CPA) respectively.
By evaluating alternating consumers select one brand for purchase. So, the next
step is purchasing process34.
Purchasing Process
Consumer selects a store to make the purchase after considering, store
location, atmosphere, attributes etc. Inside the store his purchasing behaviour is
influenced by several factors such as merchandising techniques, store labour,
displays product shelving, pricing strategy, packaging and personal selling effects.
Situation surrounding the purchase also influences purchasing process'''.
Consumers make two types of purchase; trial purchases and repeat purchases36.
Research evidence indicates that when consumers purchase a new brand about
which they may be uncertain, they tend to purchase smaller quantities than they
would if it were a familiar brand37
Post Purchase Behaviour
Consumers evaluate the products while using it in the light of their
expectation. The degree of post purchase analysis that consumers undertake is
likely to depend on the importance of the product decision and the experience
acquired in using the products. If the product lives upto expectation they will
probably buy it again. If the product is not upto their expectation they will search

29
more suitable alternatives. Thus, post purchase behaviour serves as a feed for
further purchases,
Low-Involvement Decision-Making
Most studies have been devoted to situations requiring complex decisionmaking. Such situations assume that consumers are highly involved in decisionmaking. But, in most of the decision-making situations consumers are not at all
involved or less involved. A low involvement purchase is one where the
consumer does not consider the product sufficiently important to his or her belief
system and does not strongly identify with the thinkingly.
For example, when a consumer purchases cleaning powder, it is unlikely
that a process of information search will be initiated to determine brand
characteristics. Not is the consumer likely to evaluate alternative brands to
identify the most favoured one, rather than searching for information she receives
it passively. The consumer sits in front of the T.V. and sees an advertisement for
Vim Cleaning powder that describes it as "cleaning better than other cleaning
powders" the consumer is thinking about anything but cleaning powder. The
advertisement is not proper evaluated. Some bits and pieces of information are
received without any active cognitive process. The need to purchase arouse
simply because the amount of cleaning powder in house is running low. The
consumer purchases Vim cleaning powder in house is running low. The consumer
purchases Vim cleaning powder because of the familiarity produced by respected
advertising. The brand is seen on the store shelf and is associated with advertising

30
theme produces sufficient stimuli to buy that brand. Under low involvement
conditions, consumers do not form an attitude towards the brand as relatively
neutral since it is not associated with any important benefits tied to self or group
identification. The hierarchy of effects for low involvement product is quite
different from that for high involvement.
Sometimes consumers mostly engage in habitual buying when the product
being purchased is frequently purchased and not of much importance for the
consumer. Brand loyal consumers make mostly habitual purchase decisions.
Purchasing by habit provides two important benefits to the consumer. First it
reduces risk, second it facilitates decision-making. Habit is a means of reducing
purchase risk when the consumer is highly involved, with the product. Habit also
simplified decision-making by minimizing the need for information search.
Decision-making is not an easy job. It is influenced by numerous factors.
Brand Loyalty
There are different approaches to the definition and measurement of brand
loyalty40. Brand loyalty is a topic of much concern to all marketers. Every
company seeks to have a study group of unwavering customers for its products or
service. Because research suggests that than increase in market share is related to
improved brand loyalty 41 . Thus brands that seek to improve their positions have to
be successful both in getting brand users and in increasing their loyalty.

31

One definition of brand loyalty indicates that it is not simply repeat

purchasing behaviour but should be defined in terms of six necessary and
collectively sufficient conditions. According to this definitions brand loyalty is a

Biased (non-random)

: Behavioural response (purchase)

Expressed over time

By some decision making unit

With respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands

Is a function of psychological (decision-making evaluative) processes'''.

This definition suggests that consumers can be loyal towards more than on

brand i.e. multi brand loyal. Brand loyalty not only selects some brands but also
rejects certain brands from a set of alternatives. Brand name may be more
important for some products than for other 43 Users of product vary as to their
loyalty to a specific brand or supplier. For consumer products it is usually
necessary to use marketing research to measure loyalty. While consumer products
such can often be directly observed44 Brand loyalty is one of the most heavily
researched areas of consumer behaviour. But very little is positively known about
it".
"George H. Brown in one of his earliest studies of repeats purchasing
behaviour identified four loyalty patterns.

32
Unindividual Loyalty: A panel member but only one brand in a
product category. This is the classic instance of "we have our
customers and out competitor have theirs".
: Divided Loyalty: A panel member divides her purchases between
two or sometimes three or four, brands in a product category. A
divided loyalty purchase pattern look like this:
ABAABABBABAorlikethis:ABA CBCCABACBA
BCAB
: Unstable Loyalty: A panel member purchases brands A and B in the
following
Order: AAA ABBBB This pattern is an indicator that the
consumer has
Switched individual loyalty from A to B.
: No Loyalty: The brands in a product category are purchased in a
completely random order46,
Consumers are not always brand loyal. They often switch to other brand
expecting more satisfaction.
Brand Switching
Since man is a developing animal, a learning, a learning animal and social
animal it would be absorb to assure that the preferences of any members of any
households remain unchanged overtime and unaffected by their environment.
There are three outstanding possible reasons for change in preferences,

33

.) Advertising
: Choices of other consumers and

Prices and preferences

It has been observed, however, that advertising is more concerned with

persuading people to switch from one brand of commodity to another. If one
interprets different brands of a commodity) e.g. tooth paste as goods which supply
the same characteristics in different proportions, a good part of a brand advertising
may be integrated as our attempt to inform people of the characteristics of a given
brand'''. It may result in brand switch over. It is obvious that preferences of
consumers are affected by what others consume and prices of different brands.
Some consumers engage in brand switching because they become
dissatisfaction or bored with a product, others because they are more concerned
with price than with brand barne48.
The phenomenon of consumer brand shifting is a central element
underlying the dynamics of the market place. Subsequent purchase data can
provide some insight into consumer brand switching49.
We cannot conclude that all consumers are brand loyal or disloyal. But,
most of the consumers engage in decision making before purchasing a product
brand.

34

Review Of Literature
Situation is identified as a factor influencing brand choice behaviour only
recently. Of the few studies make in this area Russell W. Belk 's5 article "An
explaratory.. Assessment of situational Effects in Buyer Behaviour" is popular.
This article reports an explanation of the amounts and the patterns of variance in
selected purchase context. Situation has been defined for the purpose of the study
as all those factors particular to a time from and place of observation which do not
follow from knowledge of personal (intra-individual) and stimulus (choice
alternatives) attributes, and which have a demonstrable and systematic effect on
current behaviour. He selected two consumer products snack and meat in which
situational effects were neither blatant nor impossible to image and situational
,inventories were identified for each product sources of behavioural variances and
patterns of variance were identified for both the products. The results of the
analysis made showed that choice among snack product is dependent upon
consumption and purchase situations effects on product preferences, a smaller role
for the general attractiveness for each product and a smaller but important role for
individual differences in response preferences. The result of this study show
sizeable situational influence on brand choice behaviour. Situational main effects
and interactions provide nearly half of the explained variance in meat and snack
preferences.

35

Another study concluded by "Miller & Ginter"51 investigates situational

variation both in brand choice behaviour and attitude. This study measures
situational variation in observed/reported brand choice behaviour and also asses
whether situation specific measures improve the measured relationship between
attitude and behaviour. Specifically the authors have extended previous research
by 1) using competing brands in a narrowly defined product category and 2)
considering self-reports congruence. The research issues were examined through
testing of the following hypotheses.
HI

Purchases level of specific brands vary differentially across

situations.

1-12

Attribute importance vary differentially across situations

H3

Perceptions of specific brands vary inferentially across

situations

H4

Situation specific measurement of attribute importances and

perceptions improves prediction and brand choice over
general (non-situational) measurement.

36

The findings of this study support the argument that explicit consideration
of situational contexts may contribute to the understating of consumer behaviour.
In addition, the use of brands in this study demonstrates that situational influence
is not restricted to grossly different product types. The results showed situational
influence is not restricted to grossly different product types. The results showed
situational variation in purchase level, attribute importance and perceptions.
William 0. Bearden & Arch G. Woodside52 has studied interactions of
consumption situations and Brand attitudes. The objective of the study was to
examine an aggregated situational attitudinal model behavioural intention with a
multiplicative interaction term included. By empirically testing the model across
both brands and situations, the relative importance of the object and situational
variable were assessed. Those situations that consistently interact with attitudinal
measures across brands were examined. Variables corresponding to individual
consumption situations were used with an aggregated attitude towards the object
variable to predict brand behavioural intentions.
The results of the study supports the hypothesis that situations are
influencial in the formation of behavioural intentions and that a better
understanding of choice behaviour is possible if more that attitudinal measures are
used to explain behaviour. According to authors of this article future research is
needed to explain the circumstances producing specific situations that interact with
consumer attitudes to affect brand intentions.

37

The article "Person-Situation Segmentation's Missing Link"53 offered a

general framework which positions situation and person within situation as
theoretically legitimate and potentially useful bases for segmenting demand and
targeting marketing strategy. It discusses the conventional market segmentation
theory and practice from a person situation perspective.
The analytical behavioural and demand analysis justifications for the model
are first presented. The extents to which usage situation or person situation
segments conform to Kotler's three criteria for segmentation were also discussed.
After laying this foundation, several of the currently popular segmentation
techniques including psychographic and benefit segmentation are reinterpreted
from a person situation perspective.
The

person-situation framework provides a structure for integrating

different bases by reducing them to a common higher order basis. According to

the author Peter R. Dickson such an approach should help marketers assess the
overall synergic effect of their marketing strategy.
The article "contextual influences on the meanings ascribed to ordinary
consumption objects"54 offered a social-psychological paradigm for studying how
individuals ascribe meaning to a contextual object when they encounter it.

38

Authors approach differs from much of the consumer research (e.g. brand
identification, multi attribute attitude models, and most categorization studies) that
focuses on information about categories of objects that individuals already have
stored in memory. It also suggests that typical product perception studies might be
incomplete to the extent that they assume subjects "correctly" ascribe meaning to
stimulus products. The article examined this assumption and explored how
consumers ascribe meaning to products. The authors began with a perspective on
object meaning. An experiment was conducted for testing several hypotheses
concerning how the kind and amount of context affects the meaning people ascribe
to ordinary consumption objects (and label they use to identify those meaning).
Results of those hypotheses tests supports the view that is, in different situations
persons ascribe different meaning for ordinary consumption objects.
The objectives of Rajendra K. Srivastava55 and other's study "A customer
Oriented Approach for Determining Market Structures" was
: To examine the predictive ability of the usage situational taxonomy (via
cross validation), since the usefulness of the entire framework is dependent
on taxonomy.
To illustrate that when product/services have multiple uses (are suitable for
several types of usage situations) hierarchical clusters may be misleading,
as they require exclusive group membership. Over-lopping market
structures are more appropriate under these circumstances; and

39

Show that interactions among situation, person and product factors may be
more managerially meaningful then main effects.
In that study a framework for market analysis based on customer
perceptions of substitutability-in-use was presented.

It was shown that

interactions among situation, product and person factors may be more

managerially meaningful than the main effects.
Sales person expertise is one of the purchase-related situations. A study''
was made on the effects of price and salesperson expertise on customer purchasing
behaviour. The following two hypotheses were tested for the purpose.
An increase in the level of perceived salesman expertise will product

HI

a shift in a product's demand curve to the right, that is product sales

will be greater at given prices under high versus low salesman
expertise conditions.
H2

An increase in the level of perceived salesman expertise will

produce a decrease in a product's price elasticity.

Findings of this study that price and salesman expertise influence

consumer's purchasing behaviour. For some products and within specific ranges,
price decisions may be far less important for customer's purchase decisions may
be far less important for customer's purchase decisions than other marketing
variable for example, sales message and the creditability of the communicator.
Alfred A. Kuchn57 in his article "Consumer Brand Choice as a learning process"
has discussed the following questions. What do we know about brand choice?

40
What behavioural mechanism appears to underlie this phenomenon? Is such
behaviour habitual? Is learning involved? Does repeated purchasing of a brand
reinforce the brand choice response? What is the relationship between consumer
purchase frequencies and brand shifting behaviour? In the light of available
empirical data and a model which appears to describe them.
Result showed that most recent purchase of the consumer is most likely to
influence brand choice behaviour but it is not the only one, which influence and
brand choice. Many families use a mix of brands of frozen orange juice, because
of the unavailability of specific brands in all the stores, among which the
consumer shifts in the course of his week-to-week shopping trips. Whenever a
great amount of time has elapsed since the consumer's last purchase of the
product, the brand he last brought has little influence on his choice of a brand-the
probability of his buying any given brand in this case is approximately equal to the
market share of the brand and most consumers have a low probability of buying
several other brands.
The article title situations and social action: "Applications for markets of
recent theories in social psuchology"58 described some development in social
psychology theories and discusses some of the implications for market research. It
concentrated on social situations and examined a situation-act model. The model
of social behaviour described provides an approach to analyzing social actions.,
which can be applied to different specific situations. The study of the relationship

41

between situations and social actions is seen as potentially useful understanding

consumer behaviour.
The purpose of the paper "Consumer intention and behaviour-a not on
research and challenge to researchers"59 is the identification of an important source
of weakness in the assumptions which underpin much current market research
practice in the development of new products. This paper examined the wide
spread attempts of market researcher to predict consumer choice on the basis of
the survey respondents verbally expressed intentions to buy new brands. In
particular it assesses Fishbein behavioural intentions model, which represents the
most sophisticated technique available for such work Theoretical experimental
and practical evidence is obtained to demonstrate the futility of assuming linear
continuity between intentions and behaviour in the prediction of many
managerially relevant aspects consumer behaviour, notably choices of new brands
which will be introduced into established product classes.
Thus the discussion in this chapter on different aspects of consumer
behaviour and the review of past studies on situational influence on brand choice
shows that there is considerable scope for research in this area. The present study
is an attempt in this direction.

42
I. Sarin & Gopalakrishnan, Marketing in India, Madras, Orient Logmans Ltd., 1969,

PP 1421 55.
2. Marketing management and Behavioural environment, Perry Bliss, Prentice
Hall Inc, New Jersy, 1970, PP 95-97.
3. Dorothy Cohen, Consumer Behaviour, Random House Business Division,
New York 1981, PP.14-15.
4 A.S.S. Etenberg & E.G. Pyatt (eds) Consumer Behaviour Aske
Publications, England, 1971, P.13.
5

Ruby Turner Norris, The Theory of Consumer Demand, New Haven, Yale

University Press, Nov.1941 P,62.

6. Henry Assael, Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Action, California,
Kent Publishing Co., 1987, P.297.
7. The Theory of Consumer Demand, Opcit, PP.63-64.

8. James, S. Duesenberry, Income Saving and Theory of Consumer

Behaviour, Cambridge, Mass: Harward University Press, 1949, P.19.
9. Leon G. Schieffrnan and Leslie Lazer Kamuk, Consumer Behaviour, New
Delhi, Prentice Hall of India, 1990, P.507.
10.Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Action, Opcit, PP.328-330,
11. Leon G. Schieffman and Leslie Lazer Kamuk, Consumer Behaviour, Opcit,
P.436.
12. David Popenece Sociology, 2'1 edition, New Jersy, Prentice Hall Inc.,
1974, PP.251-58.

43
13. Sar n & Gopalakrishnan, Marketing in India, Opicit, P.143,
14. William D. Wells, "Seven questions about life style and Psychographics" in
Boris W. Bunkers & Helmut Becker, editions, 1972, Combined
Proceedings (Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1973), P.464.
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