Consumer Behavior Models

Customer behavior models help you understand your unique customer base and more
effectively attract, engage, and retain them. These models are either traditional or
contemporary.

Learning Model
All theories of buyer behaviour have been basically based on a learning model namely,
Stimulation-Response or more popularly known as SR model.

SR learning theory is very useful to modern marketing and marketers. According to the
learning model which takes its cue from the Pavlovian stimulus response theory, buyer
behaviour can be influenced by manipulating the drives, stimuli and responses of the buyer.

The model rests on man’s ability at learning, forgetting and discriminating. The stimulus
response learning theory states that there develops a bond between behaviour producing
stimulus and a behaviour response (S. R. Bond) on account of the conditioning of behaviour
and formation of habits. This theory may be traced to Pavlov and his experiments on
salivating dogs.

Pavlov’s experiments brought out associations by conditioning. According to the stimulus-

response, learning is dependent on drive, cue (stimulus), response and reinforcement as
shown in Fig.

1. Drive
2. Cue
3. Response
4. Reinforcement
Drive
Drive may be defined as any strong stimulus that forces action. It arouses an individual and
keeps him prepared to respond.

Cue
Cue or stimulus may be defined as any object in the environment perceived by the individual.
The aim of the marketing man is to find out or create the cue of sufficient importance that it
becomes the drive stimulus or elicits other responses appropriate to his objective.

Response
Response is an answer to a given drive or cue. When a man feels thirsty, he attempts to get
water at any cost. Here attempt to get water is a response to the primary drive of thirst.
“Response also includes attitudes, familiarity, perception and other complex phenomena”.
Responses may be generalized or discriminatory.

Reinforcement
Reinforcement or reward means reduction in drive and stimulus. It has been defined as
“environmental events exhibiting the property of increasing the probability of occurrence of
responses they accompany”. Thus, when consumption of a product or a brand of product
leads to satisfaction of the initiating need there is reinforcement.

Economic Model
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption
of goods and services. According to the economic model of buyer behaviour, the buyer is a
rational man and his buying decisions are totally governed by the concept of utility.

If he has a certain amount of purchasing power, a set of needs to be met and a set of products
to choose from, he will allocate the amount over the set of products in a very rational manner
with the intention of maximizing the utility or benefits.

Psycho-analytical Model
The psycho-analytical model draws from Freudian psychology. According to this model, the
individual consumer has a complex set of deep seated motives which drive him towards
certain buying decisions.

The buyer has a private world with all his hidden fears, suppressed desires and totally
subjective longings. His buying action can be influenced by appealing to these desires and
longings.

The psycho-analytical theory is attributed to the work of eminent psychologist Sigmund

Freud. Freud introduced personality as a motivating force in human behaviour.

According to this theory, the mental framework of a human being is composed of three
elements as shown in Fig.

1. Id
2. Super ego
3. Ego
Id
The id or the instinctive, pleasure seeking element. It is the reservoir of the instinctive
impulses that a man is born with and whose processes are entirely subconscious. It includes
the aggressive, destructive and sexual impulses of man.

Super ego
The superego or the internal filter that presents to the individual the behavioural expectations
of society. It develops out of the id, dominates the ego and represents the inhibitions of
instinct which is characteristic of man. It represents the moral and ethical elements, the
conscience.

Ego
The ego or the control device maintains a balance between the id and the superego. It is the
most superficial portion of the id. It is modified by the influence of the outside world. Its
processes are entirely conscious because it is concerned with the perception of the outside
world. It continues to influence consumer behaviour.

Sociological Model
According to the sociological model, the individual buyer behaviour is influenced by society
by intimate groups as well as social classes. That is, his buying decisions are not totally
determined by the concept of utility. That is his buying decisions are governed by social
compulsions as shown in Fig.

Sociological Model

This model represents the individual buyer behaviour which is influenced by society—by
intimate groups as well as social classes. That is, his buying decisions are not totally
determined by the concept of utility. That is his buying decisions are governed by social
compulsions.

Howard–Sheth Model
John Howard and Jagdish Sheth presented their buyer model in 1969. It’s an integrated
model. It assumes a problem-solving approach in buying and adopts an input-output or
system approach in buying. Howard introduced learning process in buying. Satisfaction leads
to brand loyalty. Discontentment creates brand switching by the buyers.
 In other words, the logic of this model is that there are inputs in the form of stimuli. There are
outputs beginning with attention to a given stimulus and ending the purchase. In between
these inputs and outputs, there are variables affecting perception and learning.
These variables are “hypothetical” as they cannot be directly measured at the time of
occurrence. It explains the complex decision-making process a consumer goes through. A
diagram of this is shown in Fig. below:

The Howard Sheth model of consumer behavior suggests three levels of decision making:
1. The first level describes extensive problem-solving. At this level, the consumer does not
have any basic information or knowledge about the brand and he does not have any
preferences for any product. In this situation, the consumer will seek information about all the
different brands in the market before purchasing.
2. The second level is limited problem-solving. This situation exists for consumers who have
little knowledge about the market, or partial knowledge about what they want to purchase. In
order to arrive at a brand preference, some comparative brand information is sought.
3. The third level is habitual response behavior. At this level, the consumer knows very well
about the different brands and he can differentiate between the different characteristics of
each product, and he already decides to purchase a particular product.
According to the Howard Sheth model of consumer behavior, there are four major sets of
variables; namely:
1. Inputs: These input variables consist of three distinct types of stimuli (information sources)
in the consumer’s environment. The marketer in the form of product or brand information
furnishes physical brand characteristics (significative stimuli) and verbal or visual product
characteristics (symbolic stimuli). There are impersonal sources like mass media
communication and advertising, over which the firm has no control. However, the
information sources also include sales and service personnel who can add and help the
marketing efforts of the firm. The third type is provided by the consumer’s social
environment (family, reference group, and social class). This social source is personal and the
company/marketer has no control over this source. All three types of stimuli provide inputs
concerning the product class or specific brands to the specific consumer.
2. Perceptual and Learning Constructs: The central part of the model deals with the
psychological variables involved when the consumer is contemplating a decision. Some of
the variables are perceptual in nature and are concerned with how the consumer receives and
understands the information from the input stimuli and other parts of the model. For example,
stimulus ambiguity happened when the consumer does not understand the message from the
environment. Perceptual bias occurs if the consumer distorts the information received so that
it fits his or her established needs or experience. Learning constructs category, consumers’
goals, information about brands, criteria for evaluation alternatives, preferences, and buying
intentions are all included. The proposed interaction In between the different variables in the
perceptual and learning constructs and other sets give the model its distinctive advantage.
3. Outputs: The outputs are the results of the perceptual and learning variables and how the
consumers will respond to these variables (attention, brand comprehension, attitudes, and
intention).
4. Exogenous(External) variables: Exogenous variables are not directly part of the decision-
making process. However, some relevant exogenous variables include the importance of the
purchase, consumer personality traits, religion, and time pressure.

The decision-making process, which Howard-Sheth Model tries to explain, takes place at
three Inputs stages: Significance, Symbolic and Social stimuli. In both significative and
symbolic stimuli, the model emphasizes material aspects such as price and quality. These
stimuli are not applicable in every society. While in social stimuli the model does not
mention the basis of decision-making in this stimulus, such as what influences the family
decision? This may differ from one society to another.
Most scholars agree that the study of consumer behavior was advanced and given an impetus
by Howard Sheth Model. The major advantage and strength of the model lied in the precision
with which a large number of variables have been linked in the working relationships to
cover most aspects of the purchase decision and the effective utilization of contribution from
the behavioral sciences.
Finally, no direct relation was drawn to the role of religion in influencing the consumer’s
decision-making processes. Religion was considered as an external factor with no real
influence on consumers, which gives the model obvious weakness in anticipation of the
consumer decision.

Nicosia Model
Nicosia model of consumer behaviour was proposed by Nicosia (1976).This model
concentrates on the buying decision for a new product. Human being is analyzed as a system
with stimuli as the input and the behaviour a is the output. This model focuses on the
relationship between the firm and its potential consumers. The model suggests that messages
from the firm (advertisements) first influences the predisposition of the consumer towards the
product or service. Based on the situation, the consumer will have a certain attitude towards
the product. This may result in a search for the product or an evaluation of the product
attributes by the consumer. If the above step satisfies the consumer, it may result in a
positive response, with a decision to buy the product otherwise the reverse may occur.
Looking to the model we will find that the firm and the consumer are connected with each
other, the firm tries to influence the consumer and the consumer is influencing the firm by his
decision. Nicosia model explains the consumers’ buying behaviour from the marketers’
perspective as shown in Fig.
Nicosia Model
1. Stage I
2. Stage II
3. Stage III
4. Stage IV
Stage I
Firm’s Attributes and Consumer’s Attributes: The first stage is divided into two sub-
stages: firm’s attributes and the consumer’s attributes. An advertising message from the firm
reaches the consumer’s attributes. Depending on the way the message is received by the
consumer, a certain attribute may develop, and this becomes the input for stage two.
Stage II
Search and Evaluation: Stage II is the area of search and evaluation of the advertised
product and other alternatives. If this process results in a motivation to buy, it becomes the
input for field three.
Stage III
Decision: The result of motivation will arise by convincing the consumer to purchase the
firm products from a specific retailer. Field three consists of the act of purchase.
Stage IV
Feedback: Field four consists of the use of the purchased item. This involves feedback of
both the firm and the consumer after purchasing the product.
 Firm’s feedback sales data
 Consumer’s feedback—consumer’s attitude based on experience and predispositions on
future firm’s messages.
  With this model Nicosia was able to represent consumer’s behavior when receivers of
a message and has agents in the buying process generated by that flow of information
from a company.
 The Nicosia model of consumer behavior offers no detail explanation of the internal
factors, which may affect the personality of the consumer, and how the consumer
develops his attitude toward the product. For example, the consumer may find the
firm’s message very interesting, but virtually he cannot buy the firm’s brand because
it contains something prohibited according to his beliefs. Apparently it is very
essential to include such factors in the model, which give more interpretation about
the attributes affecting the decision process.

Engel Kollat Blackwell Model

The Engel Kollat Blackwell Model of Consumer Behavior was created to describe the
increasing, fast-growing body of knowledge concerning consumer behavior. This model, like
in other models, has gone through many revisions to improve its descriptive ability of the
basic relationships between components and sub-components.
The Engel Kollat Blackwell Model of Consumer Behavior or consists of four distinct stages;
1. Information Input Stage: At this stage the consumer gets information from marketing and
non-marketing sources, which also influence the problem recognition stage of the decision-
making process. If the consumer still does not arrive to a specific decision, the search for
external information will be activated in order to arrive to a choice or in some cases if the
consumer experience dissonance because the selected alternative is less satisfactory than
expected.
2. Information Processing Stage: This stage consists of the consumer’s exposure, attention,
perception, acceptance, and retention of incoming information. The consumer must first be
exposed to the message, allocate space for this information, interpret the stimuli, and retain
the message by transferring the input to long-term memory.
3. Decision Process Stage: The central focus of the model is on five basic decision-process
stages: Problem recognition, search for alternatives, alternate evaluation (during which
beliefs may lead to the formation of attitudes, which in turn may result in a purchase
intention) purchase, and outcomes. But it is not necessary for every consumer to go through
all these stages; it depends on whether it is an extended or a routine problem-solving
behavior.
4. Variables Influencing the Decision Process: This stage consists of individual and
environmental influences that affect all five stages of the decision process. Individual
characteristics include motives, values, lifestyle, and personality; the social influences are
culture, reference groups, and family. Situational influences, such as a consumer’s financial
condition, also influence the decision process.

It can be seen that many of the elements of the model are similar to Howard Sheth model of
consumer behavior, however the structure of presentation and relationship between the
variables differs somewhat.
The Engel Kollat Blackwell Model of Consumer Behavior incorporates many items, which
influence consumer decision-making such as values, lifestyle, personality and culture. The
model did not show what factors shape these items, and why different types of personality
can produce different decision-making? How will we apply these values to cope with
different personalities? Religion can explain some behavioral characteristics of the consumer,
and this will lead to better understanding of the model and will give more comprehensive
view on decision-making.