Consumer Psychology
Page 2
The Cycle of Consumption
It is essential to emphasise that process is key to understanding the world of consumption and I have used the term ‘consumption cycle ’ to do justice to the temporal and repeated sequence of events that occur continuously everywhere. The ‘consumption cycle ’ has been used in that sense by some authors (most recently by Cross, Leizerovici, & Pirouz, 2017) but many authors in the area of consumer psychology have recognised and acknowledged that buying is not the only part of consumer behaviour. Nevertheless the act of buying, rooted in the psychology of exchange and reciprocity has an established provenance and tends to dominate in discussions of consumer psychology (see for example Herrmann, 1997). Although an early definition of consumer behaviour (Jacoby, Berning & Dietvorst, 1977) emphasised the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of a wide range of ‘things’ such as goods but also services, time and ideas (op. cit., p. 22), the acknowledgment by a writer that consumer behaviour is more than just buying is often limited to a recognition of other preparatory and subsequent behaviours usually labelled as pre-purchase and post-purchase consumer behaviour (see for example Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard, & Hogg, 2006, p. 7) as if they were parasitic on the main consummatory activity of buying . My argument would be that although buying is the point of the exercise from an economic viewpoint, the behavioural sequence is often driven by social needs to share in a group activity and buying then becomes secondary. McNeal (2007, p. 10) defines consumer behaviour as being constituted by the three phases called pre-purchase, purchase, post-purchase and he also makes the important point that consumer behaviour is often dependent on others. This is an important way of distinguishing different kinds of consumer behaviour and different consumers. Children for example often won’t be able to buy but will persuade others like parents to buy for them. They will however play a significant role in post-purchase activities. I would want to extend that and suggest that certain groups will conduct the buying part of the consumption cycle in a different way from others. For example food is often bought in a market place using interpersonal communication. Or some goods are bought primarily on the Net. Arnould et al. (2002, pp. 5–6) emphasised the acquisition, use and disposal functions and the content of products, services and experiences thus recognising there were later stages that are integral parts of the consumption cycle. Finally in a well-known paper, Arnould and Thompson (2005) used the term ‘consumption cycle’ when referring to consumption in particular contexts, and different ways of consumption. In addition there are identifiable states of acquisition, consumption, possession , and disposition processes which can be analysed at different levels (op. cit., p. 871). Here now is my own contribution of the stages of consumption informed by the authors mentioned above.
Instigation
I have used this term to cover the beginning of any particular cycle of consumption although the day-to-day reality of consumption can embrace many different cycles for different products and they can be interacting simultaneously in the one individual consumer . As I write this I am consuming energy (the lights are on) coffee (an essential stimulant) and occasionally the chatter of others (information) next door. During the day (and possibly night) we are sampling our environment and noting things that need replenishing or that are missing or need renewing. This often occurs in the home . For example, we notice that a ceiling bulb light has gone out so should we replace it with a more expensive long-life one or try and get a cheaper short-life one? My shirt collar is frayed so I make a mental note to buy a new shirt. Do we write these down and make a list? Do you ignore the worn tyres on your car and don’t renew them yet as they are expensive to buy, so running a risk of a car accident or a fine during a random inspection by police? These are mindful and thoughtful decisions that are part of the routines of the everyday life of consumers and they occur in different situations and settings. But instigating in the sense of thinking ‘I might want/need/ desire this stuff…’ need not be mindful and conscious and could be triggered or primed by other thoughts or what comes through our senses as we experience our environment . Maybe being in a room with a high ceiling enables you to process information differently (Meyers-Levy & Zhu, 2007) or just seeing an Apple computer without even being able to recall it will cause us to think creatively (Fitzsimons , Chartrand, & Fitzsimons, 2008). Materialism is important as well. If you value and almost worship the goods that define you, you will constantly desire to renew old stuff and your identity will be largely defined by the things you own and display to others. So much of your time will be spent on your possessions , your house, and your car for example. We shall be looking at materialism and frugality in Chapter 12 in the section “A Quick Primer on Materialism”.
Preparation
This is the stage where the occasional scribbled note or a remembered ‘must get that sorted’ mental note is transformed into preparation for action. For many consumers we have to recognise that digital media, both social media and product browsing platforms will dominate this preparatory stage. But consumers also might think it is appropriate to turn the browsing and buying behaviour into a social event. Then you will need to text or maybe use some form of social media to organise your friends into a group. Are you going to eat or just have coffee? How much money do I have? The amount of preparation depends on the good or service required. So going to the corner shop is a few minutes preparation. Perhaps a quick ‘anyone else wanting anything?’ to other people and a check on keys and phone and out. Holidays however are a product that is marketed immediately after Christmas and into New Year which is a good six months before families usually go on holiday during the school holidays in summer so there’s plenty time for preparation there.
As well as there being a wide variation in the time to prepare for purchase both in structuring the social rituals surrounding shopping and in the scrutiny of the costs and benefits of the different alternatives, this is an area where individual differences can occur. The study of differences between people has been a theme in the history of psychology from the earliest origins of the discipline (Revelle, Wilt, & Condon, 2011) and psychologists have established various ways of assessing these differences ranging from multiple choice questionnaires to in-depth interview schedules. One such difference is called ‘Need for cognition ’ (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982) which is measured using items like ‘finding satisfaction by deliberating hard and for long hours’ and ‘preferring a life to be filled with puzzles to be solved’ and asking respondents how much they agree or disagree with them. Need for cognition would appear to be a likely candidate to identify those consumers who spend much time and mental energy browsing different consumer options for products from those who make rapid choices on limited information.
The late Herbert Simon argued that we are not always rational and thought that our irrationality took specific forms and was worth exploring. He coined the term ‘satisficing ’, a hybrid of ‘satisfy’ and ‘suffice’ to describe how we make up our minds in real life. He also referred to rationality as bounded i.e. limited by the fact we are human and cannot mentally take into account all available information when selecting the best course of action. Imagine a consumer facing a major decision of which house to buy. There are a range of sources to browse through: local estate agents shops, local newspapers, dedicated web sites like Zoopla in the UK. So the potential buyer will have a good idea of how much he or she needs to spend to get what she wants and will settle for a ‘good enough’ choice. The decision making tree has many branches and not all of them will be explored. In his original paper Simon (1955) laid out the mathematical specification for rational choice. This usually consists of systematic evaluation of the utilities of all the different possible courses of action and he then argued that there is no evidence that human decision makers ever adhere to this or could possibly do so. Consequently at some point in exploring all the possible alternatives of buying this or that the consumer needs to stop and decide what would be a satisfactory price to pay and which one to choose. Si
mon argued that ‘level of aspiration’ would be a suitable candidate from ‘psychological theory’ (op. cit., p. 104) but with the benefit of over 60 years of hindsight we could consider other candidates such as need for cognition .
Consummation
This is buying ; purchasing goods and services. I have called it consummation because the consumption cycle bears a close resemblance in my opinion to a behavioral sequence with buying as the consummatory act . This does not imply that a behaviorist approach will dominate theorizing in the book and I shall adopt an eclectic stance to theory. Consummation is closure where the preceding stages lead to this final stage and it’s usually used in English as descriptive of eating or sex. I have extended the meaning to include shopping behaviour. The literature on shopping is extensive even if we restrict it to the underlying consumer psychology of shopping so in this section I shall only cover a fraction of the available literature.
There is a large area of research on sex differences in shopping that demonstrate women differ from men in several ways. For example, women’s store loyalty is more influenced by their satisfaction obtained from interaction with store employees, while for men loyalty is more influenced by satisfaction with impersonal dimensions and the store chain rather than the individual store (Audrain-Pontevia & Vanhuele, 2016). In another study (Tifferet & Herstein, 2012) women showed higher levels of brand commitment and higher levels of impulse buying than men, although there is a caveat that these differences are product dependent. In grocery shopping men (in comparison to women) considered price attributes of products as being significantly lower in importance, displayed lower levels of price involvement, reported referencing shelf price to a lesser extent, gave lesser consideration to promotional tactics focusing on low price, and bought on average fewer items but spent more money for each item they bought (Mortimer & Weeks, 2011). Some of these may confirm stereotypes of gender as High Street shopping is a public display and theatrical to some extent but the recent rise and rise of online purchasing might produce different results on gender differences. In a valuable study Phang, Kankanhalli, Ramakrishnan, and Raman (2010) investigated the role of demographic variables, including gender, on online searching a virtual store using ‘clickstream data’ which reflects the individual’s own steps as a consumer while visiting an online store (op. cit., p. 345) and so enables the researcher to distinguish and identify the different visit strategies used by consumers. It is already known that women seek leisure and enjoyment through shopping whereas men see it more as a job that has to be done (Bergadaa & Perrien, 1995). However online shopping does not have the same social milieu as High Street shopping as it is usually a solitary activity so would women still show different patterns of clickstreams compared with men? Not so. The analysis of over 1000 respondents and over 25,000 URL clicks showed no gender differences in the click patterns.
Bargains are sought by consumers and often these are driven not only by economic necessity to get the best value for money but by other needs as well. In an extensively referenced paper O’Donnell, Strebel, and Mortimer (2015) coined the phrase ‘Sport Shopper ’ to describe those shoppers who view bargain shopping as achievement. These are people who already enjoy shopping as a recreational activity and also enjoy and celebrate obtaining the best bargains going. The authors did this research in the USA and hopefully future research will emerge in other cultures such as China where retail consumption is growing.
But the shopping basket, or collection of branded collectable store bags swung over one arm, or the delivery truck from Amazon that inconveniently arrives when you are out; these are not quite the end of the shopping expedition, sprint, or marathon. Because there is a price to pay for all this fun online or excited browsing in the mall. Paying often involves waiting in line and the store will have a policy of minimizing the time between finishing shopping and paying so ensuring that there are plenty tills and they are all staffed. The shop manager will ensure that. So the line between goods-in-the-basket/trolley and payment is also usually filled with distractors like sweets for families shopping and is designed to get you out as soon as possible. Why? Once a decision to consummate i.e. purchase is made, there is a discomfort which is often called post-purchase conflict resolution or cognitive dissonance because you will have inevitably rejected some alternative brands that you liked to some extent in favour of the one you decided on. Other words used are ‘purchase regret ’ and ‘buyer’s remorse ’. We’ll discuss this in more detail when we look at the next stage.
Exploration
You have arrived home , put the bags down, switched the kettle on and sat down. Or you ordered online and there is a very large cardboard box for not such a big purchase waiting for you at home . “Well, let’s see what we bought!” This stage in the consumption cycle is a relatively under-researched area although I shall give you some analyses and descriptions from psychology and social science that can explain some of it. Firstly the box is opened, the layers of paper and plastic are removed and there is what you have spent your money on. There are several things that have happened. The purchase has changed location. It is no longer in the store or in the catalogue—it is here in the everyday, ordinary setting of your home . You now own it—it belongs to you. If someone else had bought it for you and it was seen as a gift then there is some more in the way of rituals and the psychology of gift giving will be explored in Chapter 10 in a section on “Gift-Giving”. The purchase has been made and no doubt if you chose it there were other similar possible purchases in the store or on the website that you also liked but didn’t select. You then are in a position of rejecting something you also liked and your mood might change slightly. You feel regret after your choice.
Now it’s time to look at these important changes in more detail. The changes in mood are often due to cognitive dissonance and we’ll look at that in the next paragraph. The changes in the role of the purchase from being on show and in public to being in the house and home could be described as a shift from sacred to profane, a term used by Durkheim and discussed later in Chapter 2 in section called “Émile Durkheim and Sacred/Profane”. You now own the purchase. The change in value simply as a consequence of ownership is called the endowment effect . It occurs when you own the purchase and it becomes part of you. Trading it later can occur of course but it is often perceived by you as a loss which you are averse to. Consequently you will value it more when you try and sell it and will often want more money than you originally gave for it.
Cognitive dissonance can occur when two thoughts in our minds contradict each other. In the context of consumer choice one might be the knowledge that I didn’t buy that smartphone and the other could be the belief that the smartphone I rejected was one that I liked and had many good points, although not as many as the one I chose. These two thoughts about what I did (reject one brand in favour of another, chosen one) and what I thought (the rejected one was still a good option) because they are in a dissonant state create a state of mental discomfort which itself drives certain changes in one’s mind. Research on cognitive dissonance is extensive and it would not be appropriate to summarise the various summaries that are available (e.g. Harmon-Jones & Harmon-Jones, 2007 ) so I have selected the most recent (at the time of writing) and relevant summary at least for consumer psychology i.e. Hinojosa et al. (2017). I have taken the key concepts as laid out in their Table 1 and applied them to the situation called exploration in the consumer cycle. The dissonance is found in a free consumer choice and we are assuming that the choice made is not perfect and there is some dissonance between the linked cognitions described as ‘I bought Apple smartphone’, ‘I didn’t buy Samsung’ and ‘I liked Samsung’. This state of dissonance acts as a driver or motivation to change one’s thoughts in a direction where the dissonance is reduced. If for example Apple as a brand is firmly embedded in the consumer’s mind with other associated concepts like ‘innovative’, ‘cool’, ‘sophisticated’ and so on whereas Samsung does not have this privileged brand
ing and is less linked and in that sense a weaker brand then the easiest way to reduce dissonance is to devalue Samsung on the lines of ‘I never really liked Samsung anyway’ to enhance one’s choice of Apple. Devaluing Apple requires more mental work. If both the mental representations in the mind of the consumer of Apple and Samsung are difficult to change then another dissonance reduction strategy might be to trivialize the decision on the lines of ‘why bother thinking this matters? Surely there are more important things in life than deciding between different makes of phones!’ These and other strategies and theories involve the self -construct for example and go far beyond the simple theory put forward by Leon Festinger in the 1950s but can be found in Hinojosa et al. (op. cit.).
Is that the end of the cycle? Purchase has been made and the product enters the environment of the home . It doesn’t stop there and the history of what we own and how we use these possessions forms a large and essential part of this book. I need though to include in the rest of the consumption cycle not just the process of how goods that we acquire seep into the fabric of our life at home , at work or at leisure but also how they become part of our mental equipment. Because that is consumer psychology and although psychologists have been quick to advocate the importance of people in our lives and how that is an important factor for both mental health and happiness, less attention has been devoted to the world of stuff. Some things that we buy are consumed quickly and then replenished while others are more permanent and might sit there in the various rooms that we call home . 3 They acquire extra meaning and sometimes can become part of lives and become wrapped up in that peculiar mixture of nostalgia for memories from the past and desire to renew that constitutes home .