Chapter 7
Consumer Decision
Making
Introduction
• Decisions
– Requires a choice between different behaviors
– Marketers are interested in consumers’
purchase behaviors
• Model of consumer decision making
– All aspects of affect and cognition are involved
7-2
Introduction cont.
– The integration process is the key process by
which knowledge is combined to evaluate two
or more alternative behaviors and select one
– The outcome is a choice, represented
cognitively as a behavioral intention (BI)
7-3
Introduction cont.
7-4
Decision Making as Problem Solving
• Consumer decision making is a goaldirected, problem-solving process
• Consumer problem solving is a continuous
stream of interactions among
– Environmental factors
– Cognitive and affective processes
– Behavioral actions
7-5
Decision Making as Problem Solving
cont.
• Generic model of consumer problem solving
7-6
Decision Making as Problem Solving
cont.
– Five basic stages or subprocesses
•
•
•
•
•
Problem recognition
Search for alternative solutions
Evaluation of alternatives
Purchase
Postpurchase use and reevaluation of chosen
alternative
7-7
Decision Making as Problem Solving
cont.
– Generic model often provides an imperfect
account of actual problem-solving processes
• Actual consumer problem solving seldom proceeds
in a linear sequence
• Actual problem-solving processes involve multiple,
continuous interactions among consumers’ cognitive
processes, their behaviors, and aspects of the
physical and social environment
• Most problem-solving processes actually involve
multiple problems and multiple decisions
7-8
Elements of Problem Solving
• Three basic elements of problem solving
– Problem representation
•
•
•
•
Serves as a decision frame
End goals
A set of subgoals organized into a goal hierarchy
Relevant product knowledge
7-9
Elements of Problem Solving cont.
7-10
Elements of Problem Solving cont.
– Choice alternatives
• Consideration set
– Choice criteria
• Only discriminant consequences can be used as
choice criteria
• The relevant choice criteria for a decision depends,
in part, on the particular set of choice alternatives
under consideration
• Vary in evaluation
7-11
Elements of Problem Solving cont.
– Integration process
• Perform two essential tasks
– The choice alternatives must be evaluated in terms of the
choice criteria
– One of the alternatives must be selected
• Two types of integration procedures can account for
these evaluation and choice processes
– Formal integration strategies
– Heuristics
7-12
Elements of Problem Solving cont.
– Formal models of the integration process involved in
evaluating and choosing among choice alternatives
7-13
Elements of Problem Solving cont.
– Compensatory integration processes
• Multiattribute model
– Noncompensatory integration processes
•
•
•
•
Conjunctive
Disjunctive
Lexicographic
Elimination by aspects
– Combination processes
7-14
Elements of Problem Solving cont.
– Consumer heuristics
• Search
• Evaluation
• Choice
– Decision plans
• Vary in their specificity and complexity
• Concern intentions to perform particular behaviors in
highly defined situation
• Increase the likelihood that the intended behaviors
will be performed
7-15
Problem-Solving Processes in
Purchase Decisions
• Extensive decision making
– Usually involves a substantial amount of search
behavior
– Involves several choice decisions and
substantial cognitive and behavioral effort
– Likely to take rather long periods
7-16
Problem-Solving Processes in
Purchase Decisions cont.
• Limited decision making
– Amount of effort ranges from low to moderate
– Involves less search for information than
extensive decision making
– Choices typically carried out fairly quickly
• Routinized choice behavior
– Requires very little cognitive capacity or
conscious control
7-17
Problem-Solving Processes in
Purchase Decisions cont.
• Effects of end goals
– Optimize satisfaction
– Prevention
– Resolve conflict
– Escape
– Maintenance (satisfaction)
7-18
Problem-Solving Processes in
Purchase Decisions cont.
• Effects of goal hierarchies
– Provides useful structure
• Effects of involvement and knowledge
– Low involvement, low knowledge
– Low involvement, high knowledge
– High involvement, high knowledge
– High involvement, low knowledge
7-19
Problem-Solving Processes in
Purchase Decisions cont.
• Environmental effects
– Four types of disruptive events, or interrupts
•
•
•
•
Unexpected information
Prominent environmental stimuli
Affective states
Conflicts
– Goal
– Approach-approach
7-20
Problem-Solving Processes in
Purchase Decisions cont.
– Avoidance-avoidance
– Approach-avoidance
– Interrupts
• Implications for marketing strategy
– Routinized choice behavior
– Limited decision making
– Extensive decision making
7-21
Summary
• Examined consumers’ decision-making
processes as they choose between
alternative behaviors
• Learned about the primary focus on
purchase choices of products and brands
• Discussed how to treat decision-making as
a problem-solving process in which the
consumers’ cognitive representation of the
problem is key to understanding the process
7-22
Summary
• Considered what is involved in problem
representation
• Examined how consumers’ problem-solving
processes vary widely
• Described how consumers’ end goals, goal
hierarchies, product knowledge, and
involvement affect the problem-solving
process
7-23
Summary
• Discussed how various aspects of the
decision environment affect the problemsolving process
• Drew implications of these concepts for
marketing strategy
7-24