BUSINESS LAW PAGES 28-55Alternative Dispute ResolutionMa.docx

BUSINESS LAW PAGES 28-55
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Many firms find that using alternative dispute resolution
(ADR) methods to resolve their legal problems offers many
benefits. The term ADR refers to the resolution of legal disputes
through methods other than litigation, such as negotiation,
mediation, arbitration, summary jury trials, minitrials, neutral
case evaluations, and private trials.
alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
The resolution of legal problems through methods other than
litigation.
Why might a business prefer ADR to litigation? First, ADR
methods are generally faster and cheaper. According to the
National Arbitration Forum, the average time from filing a
complaint to judgment through litigation is 25
months.9 Because ADR is faster, it is usually cheaper.
According to the American Intellectual Property Law
Association, for cases valued in the $1 million to $25 million
range, the average total cost of patent litigation for each party
through the close of discovery is $1.9 million.10 Through the
end of trial, the average cost to each party is $3.5 million. Thus,
if a party can resolve a dispute through alternative dispute
resolution, this can save a significant amount of money.
Second, a business may want to avoid the uncertainty associated
with a jury decision; many forms of ADR give the participants
more control over the resolution of the dispute. Specifically, the
parties can select a neutral third party, frequently a person with
expertise in the area of the dispute, to help facilitate resolution
of the case. Third, a business may want to avoid setting a
precedent through a court decision. Fourth, a business may
prefer ADR because it is confidential. Fifth, because many

forms of ADR are less adversarial than litigation, ADR allows
the parties to preserve a business relationship.
Courts also generally support the use of ADR, which alleviates
some of the pressure on the overwhelming court dockets.
Congress has recognized the benefits of ADR methods through
its enactment of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of
1998. This act requires federal district courts to have an ADR
program along with a set of rules regarding the program.
Additional evidence of congressional support for ADR comes
from the passage of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act,
which mandates that federal agencies must create internal ADR
programs.
Primary Forms of ADR
LO 3-5 How are the various forms of alternative dispute
resolution used by businesses today?
Negotiation
Many business managers make frequent use of negotiation, a
bargaining process in which disputing parties interact
informally, either with or without lawyers, to attempt to resolve
their dispute. No neutral third party is involved. Thus,
negotiation differs from other methods of dispute page
51resolution because the parties maintain high levels of
autonomy. Some courts require parties to negotiate before they
bring their dispute to trial.
negotiation
A bargaining process in which disputing parties interact
informally to attempt to resolve their dispute.
Before negotiation begins, each side must determine its goals
for the negotiation. Moreover, each side must identify the
information it is willing to give the other party. Because
negotiation generally occurs in every case before a more formal
dispute resolution method is chosen, negotiation is not
necessarily considered an alternative to litigation.
Mediation
An extension of negotiation is mediation. In mediation, the
disputing parties select a neutral party to help facilitate

communication and suggest ways for the parties to solve their
dispute. Therefore, the distinguishing feature of mediation is
that the parties voluntarily select a neutral third party to help
them work together to resolve the dispute. The neutral third
party frequently has expertise in the area of the dispute.
mediation
A type of intensive negotiation in which disputing parties select
a neutral party to help facilitate communication and suggest
ways for the parties to solve their dispute.
Mediation begins when parties select a mediator. Each party
then typically writes a mediation brief to explain why it should
win. An important feature of mediation is that it allows multiple
parties to participate in a dispute. The parties take turns
explaining the dispute. One of the mediator’s main goals is to
help each party listen carefully to the opposing party’s
concerns. The mediator asks the parties to identify any
additional concerns. The parties begin generating alternatives or
solutions for the disputed points. The mediator helps the parties
evaluate the alternatives by comparing the alternatives with the
disputed points and interests identified earlier. Finally, the
mediator assists the parties in agreeing on a solution.
The mediation concludes when the agreement between the
parties is reached. The agreement is then usually put into the
form of a contract and signed by the parties. The mediator may
participate in the drafting of the contract. If one of the parties
does not follow the agreement, that party can be sued for breach
of contract. However, parties typically abide by the agreement
because they helped to create it.
If mediation is not successful, the parties can turn to litigation
or arbitration to resolve their dispute. However, nothing said
during the mediation can be used in another dispute resolution
method; the mediation process is confidential.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Mediation The primary
advantage of mediation is that it helps the disputing parties
preserve their relationships; this is especially attractive for
businesses with a working relationship they would like to

continue. A second advantage is the possibility of finding
creative solutions. The goal of mediation is to find a
compromise between the needs of various parties rather than to
find one party right and all the others wrong. A third advantage
is the high level of autonomy mediation gives the participants.
Instead of a neutral third party pronouncing a solution, the
interested parties work together to create a solution, and this
can make them more committed to following the agreement
afterward.
These benefits can obviously be very worthwhile. However, we
need to pay attention to the critics of the mediation process.
One criticism of mediation is that it creates an image of equal
parties working toward an equitable solution and thereby hides
power imbalances that can lead to the party with greater power
getting an agreement of greater benefit. A second criticism is
that some people who enter mediation have no intention of
finding a solution but, instead, use mediation as a tactic to draw
out the dispute.
Uses of Mediation Mediation is most commonly used in
collective bargaining disputes because it allows the workers to
maintain a relationship with their employer while still having
their needs addressed. Under the National Labor Relations Act
(NLRA), a union must contact the Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Services to attempt to mediate its demands before
beginning a strike to achieve higher wages or better working
hours.
Similarly, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) encourages the mediation of employment
discrimination claims. The EEOC has a mediation program that
uses mediators employed by the EEOC as well as external
mediators trained in mediation and discrimination law.
Mediation is also used extensively in environmental law
because environmental disputes are often best served by finding
a compromise between the frequently multiple parties.
page 52
Arbitration

One of the most frequently used methods of dispute resolution
is arbitration, the resolution of a dispute by a neutral third party
outside the judicial setting. Arbitration is frequently used in
disagreements between employees and employers, and it is
increasingly being used between consumers and businesses.
Arbitration is often a voluntary process in that parties have a
contractual agreement to arbitrate any disputes. This agreement
may stipulate how the arbitrator will be selected and how the
hearing will be administered.
arbitration
A type of alternative dispute resolution in which disputes are
submitted for resolution to private nonofficial persons selected
in a manner provided by law or the agreement of the parties.
Lawyers, professors, and other professionals typically serve as
arbitrators. The general qualifications for being an arbitrator are
honesty, impartiality, and subject-matter competence.
Additionally, arbitrators are expected to follow the Arbitrator’s
Code of Ethics. Typically, parties choose arbitrators from the
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services (FMCS), a
government agency, or the American Arbitration Association
(AAA), a private, nonprofit organization.
The Arbitration Hearing The arbitration hearing is similar to a
trial. Both parties present their cases to a neutral third party;
parties may represent themselves or use legal counsel. During
this presentation, the parties may introduce witnesses and
documentation, cross-examine the witnesses, and offer closing
statements. The fact finder offers a legally binding decision.
However, arbitration is also different from a trial in several
ways. First, the arbitrator often takes a much more active role in
an arbitration hearing than a judge takes in a trial, and the
arbitrator can question witnesses. Second, no official written
record of the hearing is kept in most arbitrations. Third, the
rules of evidence applicable in a trial are typically relaxed in
arbitration.
The Arbitrator’s Award The arbitrator typically provides a
decision within 30 days of the arbitration hearing. The

arbitrator’s decision is called an award, even if no monetary
compensation is awarded. The arbitrator’s decision differs from
a judge’s decision in several ways. The arbitrator does not have
to state any findings of fact, conclusions of law, or reasons to
support the award, and he or she is not as bound by precedent as
a judge is. Also, because the arbitrator was hired to resolve a
dispute between two parties, the arbitrator is more likely to
make a compromise ruling instead of a win-lose ruling.
Unlike the case in most other forms of ADR, the arbitrator’s
decision is legally binding. In certain cases, a decision may be
appealed to the district court. However, few of these cases are
appealed. The courts give extreme deference to arbitrators’
decisions.
The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the federal law enacted to
encourage the use of arbitration, explicitly lists four grounds on
which an arbitrator’s award may be set aside: (1) The award was
the result of corruption, fraud, or other undue means; (2) the
arbitrator displayed bias or corruption; (3) the arbitrator refused
to postpone the hearing despite sufficient cause, refused to hear
relevant evidence, or otherwise misbehaved to prejudice the
rights of one of the parties; (4) the arbitrator exceeded his or
her authority or failed to use that authority to make a mutual,
final, and definite award. In a 2008 decision, the U.S. Supreme
Court held that these grounds are the only grounds for appeal
and that the parties in an arbitration proceeding do not have the
ability to give the courts additional grounds to set aside a
decision.11
Consequently, in the United States, arbitration decisions are
generally upheld. In fact, the Fifth Circuit recently held that
“manifest disregard of the law and contrary to public policy are
the only nonstatutory bases recognized by this circuit for the
vacatur of an arbitration award.”12
Advantages and Disadvantages of Arbitration Arbitration may
be preferable to litigation for several reasons. First, arbitration
is more efficient and less expensive. Second, parties have more
control over the process of dispute resolution through

arbitration. They choose the arbitrator and determine how
formal the process will be. Third, the parties can choose
someone to serve as the arbitrator who has expertise in the
specific subject matter. Fourth, the arbitrator has greater
flexibility in decision making than a judge has. Unlike judges,
who are bound by precedent, arbitrators generally do not have
to offer reasons for their decisions.
Other ADR Methods
Med-arb
Med-arb is a dispute resolution process in which the parties
agree to start out in mediation and, if the mediation is
unsuccessful on one or more points, to move on to arbitration.
In some cases, the same neutral third party may participate in
both the mediation and the arbitration. Some critics argue that if
parties know that the mediator may become the ultimate
decision maker, they will be less likely to disclose information
during the mediation stage. Others argue that having the same
neutral mediator-arbitrator offers faster resolution because the
third party is familiar with the facts of the case.14
med-arb
A type of dispute resolution process in which both parties agree
to start out in mediation and, if unsuccessful, to move on to
arbitration.
Summary Jury Trial
A summary jury trial is an abbreviated trial that leads to a
nonbinding jury verdict. Two advantages are inherent in this
method of dispute resolution. First, it is quick; a summary jury
trial lasts only a day. Second, because a jury offers a verdict,
both parties get a chance to see how their case would fare
before a jury of their peers. Each judge can set his or her own
rules. The judge advises the jury on the law, and each party’s
lawyer presents an opening statement and a limited amount of
evidence before the jury. The lawyers have limited time for
their presentations, and witnesses do not usually testify. The
jury reaches an advisory verdict, although the jury does not

know that its verdict is nonbinding. The parties then enter into a
settlement conference, where they decide to accept the jury
verdict, reject the verdict, or settle on some compromise.
Approximately 95 percent of cases are settled at this time.
However, if the case is not settled, it will go to a regular trial.
At that trial, nothing from the summary jury trial is admissible
as evidence.
summary jury trial
An abbreviated trial that leads to a nonbinding jury verdict.
Minitrial
A minitrial is similar to arbitration and mediation because it
involves a neutral third party. However, despite the presence of
a neutral third party, business representatives of the disputing
corporations participate and have settlement authority. Lawyers
for each side present their arguments before these executives
and the neutral adviser, who then offers an opinion as to what
the verdict would be if the case went to trial. The neutral
adviser’s opinion, like the jury’s verdict in a summary jury
trial, is not binding. Next, the corporate executives discuss
settlement options. If they reach an agreement, they enter into a
contract that reflects the terms of the settlement.
minitrial
A type of conflict resolution in which lawyers for each side
present their arguments to a neutral adviser, who then offers an
opinion as to what the verdict would be if the case went to trial.
This decision is not binding.
Early Neutral Case Evaluation
With early neutral case evaluation, the parties select a neutral
third party and explain their respective positions to this neutral,
who then evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the
case. page 55The parties use this evaluation to reach a
settlement. Eighteen federal district courts currently use early
neutral case evaluation.15
Exhibit 3-10
Forms of ADR

Private Trials
Several states allow private trials, an ADR method in which a
referee is selected and paid by the disputing parties to offer a
legally binding judgment in a dispute. The referees do not have
to have any specific training; however, because retired judges
often serve as referees, this method is often referred to as “rent-
a-judge.” The cases are often heard privately to ensure
confidentiality. The referee writes a report and files it with the
trial judge, but a dissatisfied party reserves the right to request
a new trial before a trial court judge. Private jury trials with
experienced jury members are becoming more popular today as
well. Private trials have been criticized because they seem to
provide faster and cheaper justice for those who can afford the
initial fee and because they hide the trial from the public eye.
private trial
An ADR method in which a referee is selected and paid by the
disputing parties to offer a legally binding judgment in a
dispute.
Unit I:
Introduction to Consumer
Behavior and Decision-Making
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I
1. Discuss how the field of marketing is influenced by the

actions of
consumers.
1.1 Analyze how the actions of consumers impact an
organization.
3. Explain how consumers interpret information about products
and
people.
3.1 Describe factors that will impact how consumers view and
ultimately purchase products and services.
7. Explain the steps of the consumer decision-making process.
7.1 Explain the steps in the consumer decision-making process
and how they relate to consumer behavior.
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior is the process of individuals or groups
purchasing or using products or services to satisfy desires
and needs.
• Consumers are very different based on age, gender,
family, social class, race, and lifestyles.
Global community
(Geralt, 2013)
Marketing’s Impact on Consumers
• Popular culture: This encompasses forms of

entertainment that the mass market produces and
consumes. It is used as inspiration for marketers.
• Role theory: This is the view that much of consumer
behavior resembles actions in a play. Marketers must
provide each of us “actors” with the props we need
to play our various roles.
Consumption
• Motivation: These are processes that
lead people to behave as they do.
• Drive theory: These are biological
needs.
• Wants vs. Needs:
– Need for affiliation (e.g., people in
groups)
– Need for power (e.g., sports cars,
extra loud music)
– Need for uniqueness (e.g.,
individual qualities)
Apple
(Zjazjoie, 2012)
Consumer Decisions
• Constructive processing: This is

the thought process that
evaluates the effort the consumer
will need to make a choice versus
the amount of effort to get the
job done.
• Three buckets of consumer
decision-making are listed below.
– Cognitive is deliberate and
rational.
– Habitual is behavioral and
unconscious.
– Affective is emotional and
instantaneous.
Influences
• Cognitive
• Habitual
• Affective
Information
• Searching
• Choices
• Communication
Marketing

• Market
Research
• Strategy
Cognitive Decision Making
Steps involved with the consumer decision process are listed
below.
• Step 1: Problem recognition
– Consumers recognize a need.
• Step 2: Information search
– Consumers search for potential products or services that will
fulfill the need.
• Step 3: Evaluate alternatives
– Consumers evaluate multiple alternatives.
• Step 4: Product choice/decision
– Consumers decide to purchase a product or service.
Habitual Decision-Making
Habitual decision-making describes the choices
we make with little effort.
• Purchase momentum: This occurs when our
initial impulse purchases increase the
likelihood that we will buy even more.

• Maximizing solution: This is the desire to
arrive at the best result possible.
• Prospect theory: This describes how people
make choices in terms of gains and losses.
Nutella
(WerbeFabrik, 2017)
Heuristics: Mental Shortcuts
• Co-variation: This can be associations among events that
may or may not influence each other.
• Country of origin: This is an association of products to
certain countries.
• Familiar brand names: This is associated with reliability.
• Higher prices: This is associated with increased quality.
References
Geralt. (2013). Hand, ball, faces, world [Image]. Retrieved from
https://pixabay.com/en/hand-ball-faces-world-population-
1592415/
WerbeFabrik. (2017). Nutella, chocolate, delicious
[Photograph]. Retrieved
from https://pixabay.com/en/nutella-chocolate-delicious-sweet-
2064069/

Zjazjoie. (2012). Apple, red or green, fresh [Photograph].
Retrieved from
https://pixabay.com/en/apple-green-or-red-fresh-choice-
1676683/
This presentation is
copyrighted by Columbia
Southern University.
Use of this video without the express
written consent of Columbia Southern
University is prohibited.
MAR 3211, Consumer Behavior 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1. Discuss how the field of marketing is influenced by the
actions of consumers.
1.1 Analyze how the actions of consumers impact an
organization.
3. Explain how consumers interpret information about products

and people.
3.1 Describe factors that will impact how consumers view and
ultimately purchase products and
services.
7. Explain the steps of the consumer decision-making process.
7.1 Explain the steps in the consumer decision-making process
and how they relate to consumer
behavior.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
Learning Activity
1.1
Unit Lesson
PowerPoint Presentation
Foxall and Sigurdsson (2013) article
Article Review
3.1
Unit Lesson
Shateri, Nayebzadeh, and Roknabadi (2016) article
Article Review
7.1
Unit Lesson

Article Review
Reading Assignment
In order to access the following resources, click the links
below.
Click here to access the Unit I PowerPoint presentation. (Click
here to access a PDF version of the
presentation.)
Foxall, G. R., & Sigurdsson, V. (2013). Consumer behavior
analysis: Behavioral economics meets the
marketplace. The Psychological Record, 63(2), 231–238.
Retrieved from
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&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi
n.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=87083913&site=ehost-
live&scope=site
Shateri, F., Nayebzadeh, S., & Roknabadi, A. D. (2016).
Evaluating advertisement: The role of customer's
decision-making style, innovativeness, and ideology.
International Journal of Information, Business
and Management, 8(4), 159–177. Retrieved from
&url=http://search.proquest.com.library
resources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/1814292332?accounti
d=33337
UNIT I STUDY GUIDE

Introduction to Consumer
Behavior and Decision-Making
https://online.columbiasouthern.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-
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UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Unit Lesson
When you think of consumer behavior, what thoughts come to
your mind? Why do you think that there is a
consumer behavior course included in most marketing degree

programs? There are many definitions of
consumer behavior, but the main concepts involve studying how
people choose goods and services to fulfill
any wants or needs they may experience. Consumer behavior is
truly an ongoing process in which marketers
attempt to understand behaviors in order to fulfill the needs of
the consumer. Another focus of consumer
behavior is the spending habits of consumers. There is a need
for organizations to understand this behavior
as it relates to consumer buying. Identifying the stages of the
consumption process provides a good
perspective on how organizations accomplish this, beginning
with the pre-purchase stage where marketers
need to understand how a consumer begins the buying process.
Providing valuable information on the
worthiness of the product or service might be effective during
this stage. Subsequently, during the purchase
stage, the marketer should look to make the experience a
pleasant one. Finally, during the post-purchase
stage, the consumer decides if the product or service has truly
fulfilled his or her need. Think about a product
that you purchased recently. Was it a pleasant experience? Did
the product fulfill your needs? Would you
recommend it to friends? These are all questions that the
marketer is asking.
As marketers look to examine the
needs of consumers, it is
important to understand that the
most economical and effective
method for an organization to
meet consumer needs is to
identify a target market. The target
market is the group of people on
which marketers will focus their

marketing efforts. You are
probably wondering why
marketers would not prefer to
target everyone, which seemingly
would reach a larger market and
provide greater exposure. The
simple answer is that marketing
departments do not have
unlimited marketing budgets. It is
not financially feasible to attempt
to reach everyone. A better
method is to focus on a certain
group of individuals who would
most likely be interested in a
company’s product or service.
Understanding the needs and
wants of this group is paramount. The process of identifying the
target market begins with segmentation. This
involves dividing a broad population into subsets of consumers
based on several criteria. The first criterion we
will discuss is demographics, which involves looking at
characteristics such as age, gender, family structure,
social class/income, and race/ethnicity. Another criterion could
be geographic, which speaks to the region of
the country or world, region in a country, neighborhood, or even
the size of the city in which the consumer
lives. The psychographic criterion relates to personal values
that will drive perception and motivations. Finally,
the behavioral criterion utilizes the specific interests, rate of
use, and brand familiarity of the consumer. Once
a marketer has completed this segmentation process, he or she
can better identify a detailed description of
the target market.

Consumer at coffee shop
(Pexels, 2016)
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Criteria Characteristics Example
Demographic Age, gender, family structure,
social class/income, family
life cycle, race/ethnicity
Identifies who the
consumer is and where
he or she is in life
Geographic Region of the country or
world, region in a country,
neighborhood, size of city the
consumer resides
Location in world or
country in which the
consumer lives
Psychographic Personality, perceptions,
values, beliefs

Reflect for weeks on a
purchase or buy quickly
Behavioral Special interests, rate of use,
brand familiarity
Soccer player, traveler,
healthy living
Table 1.1: Segmentation criteria
Involvement refers to the relevance in the consumer decision-
making process. What this suggests is that the
consumer’s perceived familiarity with the product, message, or
situation will have an impact. Product
involvement is simply the consumer’s level of interest in a
particular product; in contrast, message
involvement refers to the influence that media vehicles have on
the consumer. Finally, situational involvement
refers to whether the consumer is in a store, on a website, or at
a location where the product or service
is consumed.
Think about the theme stores and restaurants that we frequent
and how that theme encourages us to stay
longer and enjoy the environment or situation. Through all of
this, perceived risk is important—the greater the
risk, the less likely the consumer will be to make the purchase.
Perceived risk refers to any negative
consequence associated with the decision. This can involve
monetary risk, functional risk, physical risk, social
risk, or psychological risk. As expected, the monetary risk
involves a poor choice associated with the
exchange of too much money. Functional risk relates to a
situation when the product does not function as

expected, and physical risk is one that may physically harm the
consumer. Social risk involves a results that
may affect the consumer’s self-esteem, confidence, or image.
Finally, psychological risk reflects on the loss of
self-respect with a poor buying decision. The goal of the
marketer is to reduce these perceived risks as much
as possible in order to encourage and influence the consumer.
Employing the segmentation and target
marketing concepts allows the organization to most effectively
position its organization and products/services.
Positioning refers to how the company would like to be
perceived in the minds of the target market. It portrays
a distinct image that differentiates the organization and its
product or service offerings from its competitors.
This is also referred to as unique selling proposition (USP),
which encompasses why the consumer will
purchase one product over another.
The consumer decision-making process provides a model by
which marketers can better understand the
process that a consumer moves through as he or she makes
decisions to buy or not buy a product or service.
The process is complicated even more in today’s world as there
are so many options for the consumer to
choose. Additionally, so many factors influence the process.
Look at the consumer decision-making
process below.
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title
Generally, marketers apply a rational perspective in attempting
to understand decision-making. This implies
that marketers gather, integrate, and interpret as much
information about consumers as possible. The study
of the consumer decision-making process suggests that
marketers are studying exactly how consumers are
making decisions that lead to buying.
Within this continuous attempt to understand consumer
behavior, technology has played an important role.
These advances seem to be arriving at a faster pace every day.
Technology has played a role in consumer
behavior throughout history from the advent of the telephone to
the television and now to the 24/7 access to
the Internet. One thing that has not changed is the marketer’s
need to understand and fulfill the consumer’s
value proposition. The value proposition is defined as the value
perceived by the consumer—not the
marketer. Through observation and the use of sophisticated
tracking system technology, marketers can now
view and record shoppers’ behavior and reactions to different
products, displays, and situations.
In any business, the consumer is the most important person in
the transaction. It is logical to assume that as
marketers increase their understanding of what makes the
consumer tick, the better prepared they are to
meet the needs of that consumer. The fields of psychology,
sociology, and anthropology all play a role in this
level of understanding. Consumer behavior is continuously

evolving, as human beings are extremely complex
beings. It is also important to remember that as consumers buy,
not only the organization benefits, but also
the overall health of the economy benefits.
Reference
Pexels. (2016). Adult, bar, coffee machine [Photograph].
Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/adult-bar-
coffee-machine-1846748/
Table 1.2: Think of a recent purchase you made and how you
might have proceeded through the consumer decision-
making process without even realizing it. Now, think about how
a marketer might use this model in putting together
effective marketing strategies for an organization.
Problem recognition: This is the first step where a
consumer becomes aware of the need for a new
product/service.
Information search: The consumer is now actively
gathering information and facts about
products/services that might fulfill his or her needs.
Evaluation of alternatives: The consumer reviews and
evaluates, giving it a mental try.
Product choice: The consumer makes a decision to
purchase the product/service.

a Assoc. Prof., Bursa Uludag University, Faculty of Economics
and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business
Administration,
Bursa, Turkiye, [email protected] (ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0903-
7638)
b PhD. Student, Bursa Uludag University, Institute of Social
Sciences, Bursa, Turkiye, [email protected] (ORCID ID: 0000-
0001-6808-8465)
Cite this article as: Ozdemir, E., & Akcay G. (2019). The
effect of gender identity on consumers’ impulse buying
behavior and the moderating role
of biological sex. Business and Economics Research Journal,
10(5), 1109-1125.
The current issue and archive of this Journal is available at:
www.berjournal.com

The Effect of Gender Identity on Consumers’ Impulse Buying
Behavior and The Moderating Role of Biological Sex
Erkan Ozdemira, Gamze Akcayb
Abstract: Biological sex is a demographic variable whose effect
has been examined in
consumer researches for many years. However, the effect of
gender identity, defined as
the existential femininity or masculinity of individuals, has
started to be examined in
consumer researches since the 1960s. In the literature, there are
studies investigating
the effect of biological sex on consumers’ impulse buying
behavior. However, studies
investigating the effect of gender identity on consumers’
impulse buying behavior and
whether this effect differs in terms of biological sex are quite
limited. The aim of this
study is to investigate the effect of gender identity on the
consumers’ impulse buying
behavior and whether the effect of gender identity on the
consumers’ impulse buying
behavior differs in terms of biological sex as a moderator
variable. Research data were
collected from consumers in Bursa via face to face survey
method. The data obtained
were evaluated by structural equation modeling to determine the
effect of gender
identity on impulse buying behavior. As a result of the analysis,
it was found that
feminine gender identity positively affected impulse buying

behavior, whereas
masculine gender identity did not affect impulse buying
behavior. In the research,
biological sex was also analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it
was found that according
to females, the feminine and masculine gender identity were not
effective on impulse
buying behavior. In addition, it was found that according to
males, feminine gender
identity was effective on the impulse buying behavior and
masculine gender identity
was not effective on impulse buying behavior.
Keywords: Biological Sex,
Gender, Gender Identity,
Impulse Buying Behavior,
Structural Equation Modeling
JEL: M31, M30, M39
Received : 05 August 2019
Revised :-
Accepted : 04 October 2019

Type : Research
1. Introduction
The concept of gender identity, which has been researched in
the field of psychology for many years,
has started to be researched in the fields of marketing and
consumer behavior in recent years. Although
gender identity is closely related to “biological sex” and
“gender” concepts, it is a different concept. While
biological sex expresses the biological aspects of being female
and male, gender expresses the psychological,
social and behavioral characteristics of females and males
(Pryzgoda & Chrisler, 2000: 554). Gender identity
is defined as existential femininity or masculinity of individuals
(Spence, 1984: 83). In other words, gender
identity expresses how individuals describe themselves
according to their feminine and masculine personality
traits (Palan, 2001: 1). Gender identity, which is a
psychological structure, is also a social structure that
reflects the culture in which we live (Kacen, 2000: 346). The
meaning of being a female or a male is
Business and Economics Research Journal Vol. 10, No. 5,
2019, pp. 1109-1125 doi: 10.20409/berj.2019.218
1110 Business and Economics Research Journal,
10(5):1109-1125, 2019

determined by the society (Stets & Burke, 2000: 1) and in a
society, individuals with personality traits that
are considered appropriate for females are called “feminine”
and individuals with personality traits that are
considered appropriate for males are called “masculine” (Özkan
& Lajunen, 2005: 103). For this reason,
females often describe themselves as “feminine” and males
often describe themselves as “masculine”.
Although these are traditionally accepted definitions in society,
females can see themselves as “masculine”
or males can see themselves as “feminine” (Stets & Burke,
2000: 1).
Until the 1960s, the femininity and masculinity scales
considered feminine and masculine personality
traits as opposing poles. In other words, it is accepted that an
individual can exhibit only feminine or
masculine personality traits but not both feminine and
masculine personality traits (Gill, Stockard, Johnson
& Williams, 1987: 375). Opposing this view, Bem (1974)
developed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and
evaluated individuals in three dimensions as feminine (high
femininity, low masculinity), masculine (high
masculinity, low femininity) and androgynous (high femininity,
high masculinity). In the following years, this
categorization was extended and individuals were evaluated in
four dimensions as feminine (high femininity,
low masculinity), masculine (high masculinity, low femininity),
androgynous (high femininity, high
masculinity) and undifferentiated (low femininity, low
masculinity) (Bem, 1977; Spence, Helmreich & Stapp,
1975). However; in this study, only “femininity” and

“masculinity” dimensions of gender identity were
examined.
Impulse buying has been researched in the marketing literature
for many years and the first
researches on impulse buying date back to the 1950s. In these
researches, impulse buying was defined as an
unplanned buying (Clover, 1950; Stern; 1962). For instance,
Stern (1962) defined impulse buying behavior as
a situation involving all purchases made by the consumer
without making plans before shopping and
distinguished it into four categories. These categories are pure
impulse buying, reminder impulse buying,
suggestion impulse buying and planned impulse buying. In the
pure impulse buying type, the consumer buys
a product that differs from routine buying habits. In the
reminder impulse buying type, when a consumer
sees a product during shopping, he/she remembers that he/she
needs it and buys it. In the suggestion
impulse buying type, the consumer buys the product when
he/she first sees the product, although he/she
has no knowledge about the product. In the planned impulse
buying type, a consumer enters the store with
the intention of buying certain products but buys different
products with the effect of discounts, etc.
In later years, the scope of impulse buying was expanded and
researchers focused on the personal
characteristics, psychological and emotional states of consumers
(Rook an& Hoch, 1985; Rook, 1987; Rook &
Gardner; 1993). One of these researchers Rook (1987) defined
impulse buying behavior as a result of the
consumer experiencing a sudden, strong and persistent urge to
buy a product immediately. Impulse buying
behavior was defined by Rook and Fisher (1995) as a tendency
of the consumer to buy a product

spontaneously, unreflectively, immediately, and kinetically.
Beatty and Ferrell (1998) defined impulse buying
as a sudden purchase without the pre-shopping intention of
consumers to buy a specific product category or
to meet a specific need.
In the consumer behavior literature, there are studies
investigating the effect of biological sex on
consumers’ impulse buying behavior (Ghani & Jan, 2011;
Ekeng, Lifu & Asinya, 2012; Khan, Hui, Chen & Hoe,
2016; Sangalang, Siochi & Plaza, 2017). However; in recent
years, the importance of gender identity, which
expresses masculinity and femininity, is emphasized as much as
biological sex. For many years, traditional
approaches have argued that females should exhibit feminine
personality traits and males masculine
personality traits in accordance with biological sex. However;
nowadays, females have started to exhibit
more masculine personality traits, attitudes, and behaviors, and
males have started to exhibit more feminine
personality traits, attitudes, and behaviors due to social and
cultural changes (Çabuk & Köksal Araç, 2013:
28). It is thought that these changes in the gender identity will
affect the consumers’ impulse buying behavior
and the studies investigating the effect of the gender identity on
the consumers’ impulse buying behavior
should be included in the literature.
This study aims to reveal the effect of gender identity on the
consumers’ impulse buying behavior
and whether the effect of gender identity on the consumers’
impulse buying behavior differs in terms of

1111 Business and Economics Research Journal, 10(5):1109-
1125, 2019
E. Ozdemir – G. Akcay
biological sex as a moderator variable. It is thought that this
study will contribute to the literature in terms
of theoretical and practical aspects.
Within the scope of the study, firstly information about gender
identity and impulse buying behavior
was given, and literature was examined and gender studies on
impulse buying behavior were examined.
Then, the methodology of the research and the findings obtained
as a result of the analysis were given. In
the conclusion part, the contributions of the study to the
theoretical and practical aspects were evaluated
and suggestions for future researches and businesses were
presented.
2. Literature Review and Research Hypotheses
2.1. Gender Identity
When the literature on consumer behavior is examined, it is
seen that various terms such as “sex-
role self-concept” (Golden, Allison & Clee, 1979; Allison,
Golden, Mullet & Coogan, 1980; Stern, 1988) and
“sex/gender-role identity” (Kahle & Homer, 1985; Jaffe &
Berger, 1988) have been used instead of gender
identity. However; in recent studies (Palan, 2001; Martin &
Gnoth, 2009; Ye & Robertson, 2012; Çabuk &
Köksal Araç, 2013), the term “gender identity” has been
frequently used. Similarly, the term “gender identity”
has been used in this study. However, in the literature review
part of this study, the terms used instead of

gender identity have been expressed as used in the researches.
The gender identity, which began to be studied in the
psychology literature in the 1930s, was the
subject of consumer research for the first time in the 1960s.
Scales developed to measure gender identity in
the 1970s began to be used in consumer research. Since the
1990s, gender identity has been frequently
investigated in consumer research (Palan, 2001: 1). In some of
these studies, the relationship between
gender identity and product or brand preferences of consumers
has been examined. For instance, Aiken
(1963) investigated the relationship between factors affecting
the consumers’ choice of dress and personality
variables. As a result of the research, a positive relationship
was found between femininity and interest in
the dress, decoration in the dress and conformity in the dress. In
another research, Vitz and Johnston (1965)
investigated whether the image of the cigarette brand preferred
by masculine smokers is masculine. As a
result of the research, a positive relationship was found between
the masculinity of smokers and the
masculine image of the preferred cigarette brand. Kahle and
Homer (1985), who examined the effect of sex-
role identity on consumers' preferred foods at lunch, concluded
that sex-role identity was only effective on
a few food preferences. Worth, Smith, and Mackie (1992) aimed
to find the relationship between consumers’
self-perceived schema (femininity/masculinity) and the
feminine or masculine image of products. As a result
of the research, it was seen that regardless of their biological
sex, masculine consumers preferred a product
with a masculine image and feminine consumers preferred a
product with a feminine image.
Fischer and Arnold (1990), who investigated the relationship

between gender identity and
consumers' shopping for Christmas gift, found that more
feminine consumers were more involved in
shopping for Christmas gift. In another study, Palan, Areni, and
Kiecker (2001) examined the relationship
between gender identity and consumers' gift shopping. Research
findings showed that feminine consumers
were more individual-focused and masculine consumers were
more object-focused in gift shopping. Another
finding of the study was that masculine consumers remembered
their gift-giving experiences more than
feminine consumers. Kılıçer, Boyraz, and Tüzemen (2016)
investigated the effect of gender role identity on
the consumers’ gift-buying behavior. As a result of the research,
it was found that androgynous consumers
bought fewer gifts and undifferentiated consumers bought more
gifts.
Martin and Gnoth (2009) investigated male consumers’
responses to the gender identity of male
models in print advertisements. As a result of the research, it
was seen that male consumers preferred
models reflecting their gender identity. In the study of Yağcı
and İlarslan (2010), the effect of gender role
identity on consumers’ attitudes towards advertising and
consumers’ buying behaviors was examined. As a
result of the research, it was found that feminine consumers
reacted positively to feminine advertisements
10(5):1109-1125, 2019

and bought products with feminine advertisements, while
masculine consumers reacted positively to
masculine advertisements and bought products with masculine
advertisements.
Ye and Robertson (2012), who investigated the effect of gender
identity on product involvement and
brand loyalty in terms of generation Y consumers, found that
femininity had a positive effect on product
involvement and masculinity had a positive effect on brand
loyalty. In the conceptual study conducted by
Çabuk and Köksal Araç (2013), gender identity was examined
as a psychographic market segmentation
variable in consumption researches.
2.2. Impulse Buying Behavior
In the marketing literature, early research on impulse buying
behavior focused on defining and
explaining the concept (Clover, 1950; Stern, 1962; Rook &
Hoch; 1985; Rook, 1987). In recent years,
researches on impulse buying behavior have generally
investigated the factors affecting impulse buying
behavior. Different classifications were made by the researchers
regarding these factors. In this study, the
factors affecting impulse buying behavior were classified as
“external factors”, “internal factors”, “situational
factors related to consumers” and “demographic characteristics
of consumers”.
Some of the impulse buying behavior researches investigated
the effects of external factors such as
store environment, promotional activities, staff’s behavior,

product characteristics on impulse buying
behavior. For instance, Virvilaite, Saladiene, and Bagdonaite
(2009) investigated the factors affecting impulse
buying behavior and found that product characteristics (price,
etc.) and characteristics of store environment
(store type, store layout, staff, etc.) had an effect on impulse
buying behavior. Another researcher Tinne
(2011), examined the factors affecting impulse buying behavior
on superstores. As a result of the research,
it was found that price strategies (the price of product, etc.),
store characteristics (display of product,
behavior of salesperson, etc.), situational factors (popularity of
product, etc.) and promotional activities
(specific brand offer, advertisements, etc.) had an effect on
impulse buying behavior. Rasheed, Yaqup, and
Baig (2017) who investigated the factors affecting the impulse
buying behavior of consumers in shopping
centers concluded that store atmosphere, payment facilities,
point of purchase display and promotional
activities had an effect on impulse buying behavior. Husnain,
Rehman, Syed and Akhtar (2019) examined the
effect of in-store factors on the generation Y consumers’
impulse buying behavior in small cities and found
that in-store factors such as store environment, sales
promotions, friendly store employees had a positive
effect on impulse buying behavior.
Mehta and Chugan (2013) aimed to determine the effect of
visual merchandising dimensions on
impulse buying behavior. They found a positive relationship
between impulse buying behavior and window
display, floor merchandising, promotional signage and a
negative relationship between impulse buying
behavior and in-store form/mannequin display. Similarly,
Gudonaviciene and Alijosiene (2015) who
investigated the effect of visual merchandising dimensions on

impulse buying in clothing and footwear stores
found that visual merchandising dimensions that most affect
impulse buying behavior were “window
displays” and “in-store design”.
the effects of internal factors such as
mood, emotional states, impulsiveness, hedonism on impulse
buying behavior. In one of these studies, Rook
and Gardner (1993) examined the effect of positive and negative
moods of consumers on impulse buying
behavior. As a result of the study, it was found that consumers
with positive moods are more prone to
impulse buying behavior than consumers with negative moods.
Beatty and Ferrell (1998) who investigated
the antecedents of impulse buying behavior found that the
positive mood of consumers led to impulse buying
behavior by creating the urge for impulse buying. However, the
negative mood had no such effect. Graa and
Dani-elKebir (2012) aimed to reveal the effect of consumers'
emotional states on impulse buying behavior.
As a result of the study, it was found that the feelings of
pleasure and arousal of consumers had a positive
effect on the impulse buying behavior and dominance had a
negative effect on impulse buying behavior.
Yu and Bastin (2010) investigated the relationship between
hedonic shopping value and impulse
buying intention. As a result of the research, it was found that
hedonic shopping value was positively related
1125, 2019

to impulse buying intention. This finding shows that hedonic
experiences may create more impulse buying
behavior. Gunawan (2016) who examined the relationship
between hedonic consumption and impulse
buying behavior found a positive relationship between hedonic
consumption and impulse buying behavior.
Türk (2018) investigated the effect of hedonic and utilitarian
consumption tendencies on impulse buying
behavior. The results of the research showed that hedonic and
utilitarian consumption tendencies had a
positive effect on the impulse buying behavior and hedonic
consumption led to more impulse buying
behavior than utilitarian consumption.
the effects of situational factors related
to consumers such as time availability, money availability,
family influence on impulse buying behavior.
Beatty and Ferrell (1998) found that money availability created
positive emotions for consumers and those
positive emotions produced an urge to buy impulsively. In
addition, time availability positively affected in-
store browsing. Therefore, the urges to buy impulsively were
produced. Virvilaite et al. (2009) who proposed
a theoretical model of impulse buying behavior found that
situational factors related to consumers such as
consumer time, influence group had an effect on impulse buying
behavior. Husnain et al. (2019) examined
the generation Y consumers’ impulse buying behavior in small
cities and found that time availability and
family influence factors positively affect impulse buying
behavior but money availability negatively.

In literature, another factor affecting the consumers’ impulse
buying behavior was the demographic
characteristics of consumers. According to related studies, the
most investigated demographic characteristic
of the effect on the consumers’ impulse buying behavior was
gender. Studies investigating the consumers’
impulse buying behavior in terms of gender are discussed in
detail below under a separate heading.
2.3. Gender and Impulse Buying Behavior
When the studies investigating the consumers’ impulse buying
behavior in terms of gender were
examined, it was seen that these studies generally focused on
“biological sex”. Some of these studies aimed
to reveal the effect of biological sex on the consumers’ impulse
buying behavior. In one of the related studies,
Ghani and Jan (2011) found that biological sex had no effect on
the consumers’ impulse buying behavior. In
the study of Ekeng et al. (2012), it was found that biological sex
had an effect on the consumers’ impulse
buying behavior and that females had more impulse buying
behavior than males. Khan et al. (2016)
investigated the effect of biological sex on generation Y
consumers’ impulse buying behavior for fashion
apparel products. The results of the study showed that
biological sex affected generation Y consumers’
impulse buying behavior for fashion apparel products.
Sangalang et al. (2017) found that biological sex did
not affect consumers’ impulse buying behavior.
In some of the studies examining consumers’ impulse buying
behavior in terms of gender, it was
aimed to reveal whether the consumers’ impulse buying
behavior differed according to biological sex. For
instance, Akagün Ergin and Özdemir Akbay (2011) investigated

whether the consumers’ impulse buying
behavior in apparel and food product categories differed by
biological sex. As a result of the study, it was
found that females exhibited more impulse buying behavior than
males. Rana and Tirthani (2012)
investigated whether the consumers’ impulse buying behavior
for readymade garment products differed
according to biological sex. They found that the consumers’
impulse buying behavior did not differ according
to biological sex. In the study of Awan and Abbas (2015), it
was investigated whether the consumers’ impulse
buying behavior differed according to biological sex and as a
result of the research, it was found that males
made more impulse buying than females. Özgüven Tayfun
(2015) who investigated whether the consumers’
impulse buying behavior in grocery shopping differed according
to biological sex found that females made
more impulse buying than males. In another study, Gandhi,
Vajpayee, and Gautam (2015) examined whether
the consumers’ impulse buying behavior for beverage products
differed according to biological sex. As a
result of the study, it was found that females exhibited more
impulse buying behavior than males.
As seen in the literature review above, there are studies
investigating the effect of biological sex on
the consumers’ impulse buying behavior, but there are no
studies investigating the effect of gender identity
on the consumers’ impulse buying behavior and whether this
effect differs according to biological sex. Based
10(5):1109-1125, 2019

on the literature review, the following hypotheses have been
created to determine the effects of feminine
and masculine gender identity on consumers’ impulse buying
behavior and to reveal whether these effects
differ significantly according to biological sex.
H1: Feminine gender identity has a positive effect on
consumers’s impulse buying behavior.
H2: Masculine gender identity has a positive effect on
consumers’s impulse buying behavior.
H3: The effects of feminine and masculine gender identity on
consumers’s impulse buying behavior
differ significantly according to the biological sex of the
respondents.
H3a: The effects of feminine gender identity on consumers’s
impulse buying behavior differ
significantly according to the biological sex of the respondents.
H3b: The effects of masculine gender identity on consumers’s
impulse buying behavior differ
significantly according to the biological sex of the respondents.
The research model created based on the literature review is
shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Research Model

3. Research Methodology
The aim of the study is to determine the effects of femininity
and masculinity dimensions of gender
identity on the consumers’ impulse buying behavior and
whether these effects differ significantly according
to biological sex. In the study carried out on the consumers in
Bursa, the convenience sampling method was
used by taking into consideration the limiting factors such as
cost and time.
Research data were collected between 01-31 August 2018 by
using face to face survey method. As a
result of the study, 426 questionnaires were obtained and the
data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 23 and
Smart PLS 3.2.8 package program.
The questionnaire used in the research consists of three parts.
The first part consists of 5 categorical
questions to determine the demographic characteristics of the
participants. In the following two-part, the
Likert scale was used to measure the consumers’ gender identity
and impulse buying behavior.
The short form of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI)
developed by Bem (1981) was used to determine
the consumers’ gender identity. The original form of BSRI

including 60 personality traits consists of Femininity
scale (20 feminine personality traits), Masculinity scale (20
masculine personality traits) and Social
Desirability scale (20 neutral personality traits) (Bem, 1974).
Similarly, the short form of BSRI including 30
Femininity
Masculinity
Impulse Buying
Behavior
Biological
Sex
H1
H2
H3a
H3b
1125, 2019
personality traits consists of Femininity scale (10 feminine
personality traits), Masculinity scale (10 masculine

personality traits) and Social Desirability scale (10 neutral
personality traits) (Bem, 1981). In research,
Femininity scale including 10 feminine personality traits and
Masculinity scale including 10 masculine
personality traits were used in the short form of BSRI to shorten
the time to answer the questionnaire. The
validity and reliability of the short form of BSRI were
investigated by Özkan and Lajunen (2005) on the
university students of Middle East Technical University. As a
result of the research, the scale was accepted as
valid and reliable in Turkey.
A scale including 5 items and developed by Weun et al. (1997)
was used to measure the consumers’
impulse buying behavior. Validity and reliability of this scale
were investigated by Torlak and Tiltay (2010). As
a result of the study, the scale was accepted as valid and
reliable in Turkey.
4. Data Analysis and Findings
In the analysis of data, firstly, frequency analysis was
performed to determine the demographic
characteristics of the participants. Then, the validity and
reliability of the scale dimensions used in the
analyzes were analyzed. Finally, the proposed research model
was tested by Structural Equation Modeling
(SEM) using Smart PLS 3.2.8.
4.1. Findings on Demographic Characteristics of the
Participants
The data related to the demographic characteristics of the
participants were examined by frequency
analysis. The data related to the demographic characteristics of
the participants are shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of the Participants
Demographic Characteristics N %
Biological Sex
Female 184 43.2
Male 242 56.8
Age
≤ 20 14 3.3
21-30 224 52.6
31-40 131 30.8

41-50 48 11.3
≥ 51 9 2.1
Education
Primary Education 6 1.4
High School 86 20.2
Undergraduate 232 54.5
Master Degree 89 20.9
Doctoral Degree 13 3.1
Marital Status
Single 212 49.8
Married 214 50.3
Income (Turkish Lira / TL)
≤ 2000 TL 83 19.5
2001 TL - 3000 TL 122 28.6
3001 TL - 4000 TL 132 31.0
4001 TL - 5000 TL 70 16.4
≥ 5001 TL 19 4.5
Total 426 100

10(5):1109-1125, 2019
As shown in Table 1 above, the majority of the participants
were male (56.8%) and between 21-30
years old (52.6%) consumers. In terms …
International Journal of Information, Business and Management,
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
ISSN 2076-9202
159
EVALUATING ADVERTISEMENT: THE ROLE OF
CUSTOMER’S
DECISION-MAKING STYLE, INNOVATIVENESS, AND
IDEOLOGY
Fatemeh Shateri
Department of Management, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Yazd, Iran

Shahnaz Nayebzadeh *
Department of Management, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Yazd, Iran
Abolfazl Davoudi Roknabadi
Department of Design and Clothing, Yazd Branch, Islamic
Azad University, Yazd, Iran
* Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Abstract
Advertisement is one of the most important ways of attracting
consumers and informing
them of new products and services as well as changing their
attitudes. Most suppliers try to
apply various advertisements to lead consumers toward their
products. By doing so, they
also try to create positive attitudes among the consumers of
their products. Moreover, a
great number of consumers with intense interest in innovation
provide the profits of the
companies which produce new products. In other words, the life
of these suppliers
depends on such consumers. Therefore, being aware of the
behavioral characteristics of
such consumers helps the managers of the companies which
tend to produce new products,
and significant investment is made to attract such consumers.
The current study presents
new definitions and models based on evaluation of
advertisement: customers’
decision-making style, innovativeness and ideology.
Keywords: decision-making style, innovativeness, ideology

Introduction
To the companies, survival within the very competitive
environment of today’s world is
not possible unless through acquiring competitive privilege
which means the market
power of the companies [1]. Competitive privilege is the
additional attractiveness of the
offers made by the company in comparison with other
competitors in customers’ eyes.
This includes a set of abilities and capabilities which allow the
organization to show a
better performance than competitors. Therefore to achieve this
privilege, an organization
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
ISSN 2076-9202
160
must notice both its external situation and its internal
capabilities [2]. Regarding what
already mentioned, investors and stockholders in capital market

need information which
helps them with making decisions in terms of evaluating the
quality of companies’ profits
and determining companies’ survival capabilities and strength
within the competitive
market. Determining the effects of product market competition
and industry structure on
the quality of companies’ profits can help with accurate
assessment of future survival
capabilities of organizations and the effect of competition on
earnings, and leads to
conscious decision making [1]. In this respect, using
advertisement results in changes in
the knowledge, attitude and behavior of the audience.
Informing, encouraging, reminding,
strengthening the relationships, and accelerating the
correspondence are among the
functions of advertisement, and evaluating the effects of
advertisement on each of these is
a necessity for the organizations who consider advertisement as
a requirement for
development and growth. Furthermore, one of the criteria for
measuring successfulness in
organizations is the degree to which the organization has

managed to realize its goals.
Here the successfulness of every organization is determined
according to the goals of the
organization. This has been addressed in the literature of
management as efficacy. Efficacy
is, indeed, the degree to which an organization meets its goal.
To measure the efficacy in a
given organization, some goals must be considered in advance.
Then, the programs
designed to achieve these goals are compared [3].
With regards to the fact that consumers are divided into various
groups, there exist
different tastes within the market, which are frequently
subjected to change. Considerable
expenses are spent on advertisement. To achieve a proper
position in the market and to
realize success, certain factors are required to come together
[3]. This refers that what
content must be conveyed to the audience at what time, through
what media, and in what
manner, so that maximum effectiveness is achieved [4].
Therefore in this paper,
decision-making style, innovativeness, and ideology are
considered, which are among the

Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
ISSN 2076-9202
161
most effective individual factors in evaluating advertisement
and attracting customers.
Furthermore the new model is presented based on a
comprehensive review of the research
background.
Review of Related Literature
Within the present competitive market environment, where
solely products and services
are not sufficient to attract a new market or even to retain the
current market and
customers, it is believed that the emotional aspect of the
products is the key distinction in
the ultimate selection of the product and the price that the
customers will readily afford;
also that the main emphasis is on promotion and improvement

of the products with
trademarks which meet the emotional needs of the consumers
[5]. Therefore advertisement
is regarded as one of the main tools of communication with the
audience of the
organizations and the organizations are trying to leave the most
effects on the customers
by affording the least possible expenses. Any professional
marketing will lack efficiency
without advertisement. This is why advertisement is regarded as
investment rather than
expenditure despite its fairly high costs. This effective tool is
no more for buying and sale
only; rather it is an important tool for conveying a message or
introducing a goal. One of
the most important steps in any advertisement plan is evaluation
of the effects of
advertisement. By studying the effects of advertisement and its
relation with the goals of
the organization, one can make changes in advertisement
budget, form and content of the
messages, type of media and communicative channels, and even
the time and conditions of
implementing the advertisement so that it will be more efficient

than before [3]. In this
respect, only the advertisement will be successful which can
attract the audience, leave
and evocative effect, stimulate buying reaction of the audience,
and awaken their sensory
perception. Therefore, it is required to apply a set of factors in
order to affect the
audience’s perception and sensation and to realize the
anticipated goals of advertisement.
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
ISSN 2076-9202
162
Hence only the factors should be applied which objectively
convey the message to the
audience, involve their trained mind, and contain effective
components [6].
Advertisement Evaluation
Generally, display advertisement is divided into three main
categories. The first category

includes the commercials which are usually displayed between
TV programs. The second
category is called subliminal advertisement, and finally the
third category is considered as
intangible advertisement. Due to its key role in determining the
goals and measuring the
results, efficacy has a long history in promotion, advertisement
in particular. For the first
time, Levis (1989) the author of the book “Propaganda”,
proposed his well-known
four-word manner (notice, interest, desire, and attempt) to make
the advertisement more
efficient. Since then, the criterion became one of the most
important issues in
advertisement discussions. Therefore, awareness of the factors
which are effective in
assessment of commercial advertisement helps the marketers
and advertisement designers
in designing high-quality and efficient advertisements. The
most important of these factors
include:
Attitude towards the brand: attitude towards the products and
services can affect

assessment of advertisement because consumers are responding
to the advertisement
affected by their own attitudes towards the products. Attitude
towards the advertisement
affects the consumers’ buying intentions and mental
backgrounds regarding the brand. A
customer with a positive attitude toward a brand gradually
moves toward commitment.
This issue is so critical and can be regarded as the most
important achievement of an
advertisement. When a brand which has created a positive image
in customers’ mind is
re-advertised or other products and services of the same brand
are advertised, customers
pay considerable attention to the advertisement of that brand.
This is a great step in
establishing a group of loyal customers [7].
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
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163

Self-efficacy in remembering: remembering the brand is the
second stage of brand
awareness and is tied to the consumer’s ability to recover a
brand from his memory when a
relevant sign is presented. According to Keller, remembering
the brand depends on the
customers’ ability in recovering data from their memory [7].
Brand buying intention: buying intention is a concept
particularly considered in marketing.
Buying intention of a given product is depended to the attitudes
towards that product.
Today, buying intention reflects the consumer’s predictable
behavior in future shopping
decisions, which significantly contributes to the formation of
the consumers’ attitudes. In
fact, buying intention is a pattern of conveying attitudes
regarding a future purchase [7].
Attitude toward advertisement: attitude toward advertisement is
defined as the background
to respond to a particular advertising stimulant, desirably or
undesirably, through a given
display context. Attitudes formed toward advertisement affect
the consumers’ attitudes

toward the brand and their buying targets. If the ultimate goal
of advertisement is to create
a positive attitude toward advertisement and the brand,
increasing the likelihood of buying
through a positive emotional response to the advertisement can
be the best measure for
evaluating advertisement effectiveness. Various research show
that a positive emotional
response to advertisement has a correlation with brand
recognition and positive attitude
towards the brand as well as the consumers’ buying intentions
[6].
Decision-making style: consumer’s decision-making style refers
to the mental orientation
indicating how a consumer selects. Consumer’s decision-making
profile is very critical to
marketers and advertisers [8]. Sproles and Kendall (1986)
define consumer’s
decision-making style as a tendency or mental inclination which
describes the consumer’s
orientation toward selecting [9]. The eight decision-making
styles proposed by Sproles and
Kendall are as follows: 1) perfectionist and sensitive to
premium quality; these individuals

are systematically seeking for the premium quality of a product
and do not suffice to the
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
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164
products in “good enough” category. 2) Sensitive to brand;
individuals who buy more
expensive products with a well-known brand. They prefer to buy
expensive and famous
brands and believe that products of higher quality are more
expensive. They usually select
advertised brands. 3) Stylish and innovative; the privilege of
these individuals is that they
prefer products of new style to old-fashioned ones [8]. 4)
Sensitive to price; these
consumers value money and generally include individuals with
considerable awareness of
prices, low prices in particular, who are seriously seeking for
the best value for the money

they pay [10]. 5) Looking for entertainment; the most important
characteristic in this
category is enjoyable shopping. Previous studies showed certain
factors inhibiting the joy
of shopping including worrying about time. However, certain
efforts have been made to
add joy to the act of shopping [11]. 6) Careless and impulsive;
these are individuals who
do not have any plan for their shopping. It seems that they do
not notice the amount of
money they spend and usually regret for their decisions. These
individuals tend to buy in
the moment (impulsive buying) [10]. 7) Confused due to so
many alternatives; this style of
decision-making examines the factors confusing the consumers
due to the variety of
products. Data from these factors analyze the problems related
to the variety of products
and brands. Furthermore, experimental data can also help with
better perception of this
factor [11]. 8) Habit-oriented and committed to brand; these are
individuals who usually
buy from the same brand and supermarket [10].
Thought: human is regarded as sophisticated when compared

with other creatures.
Psychologists try to attribute the same behavioral
characteristics to different individuals.
Individuals’ personality reflects their traits and behavioral
preferences, and includes
instructions, emotions and intuitive behaviors. Individuals’
reactions in different situations
are led by their personality, and conscious selection can prevent
response to various
stimuli from being accidental. Due to personality differences,
individuals use their mental
abilities differently. Hence, perception of the surrounding
environment and others and the
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
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165
related decision making will also be different. Meyers and Brigs
have managed to
determine four opposing preferences based on Young’s studies.
These include energetic

preferences, data collecting, decision making, and lifestyle [12].
Extroverts/Introverts: extroverts act upon taking energy from
other individuals and objects
while introverts use their internal energy and their own ideas
and concepts. Extroverts
focus on the surrounding world, individuals, things, and tasks
and explicitly express their
feelings. They enjoy communicating with other individuals.
They like dynamicity and are
hopeful to the future and success. They first act and then think
about what they have
already done. On the contrary, introverts avoid expressing their
feelings. Sometimes they
get tired of communicating with too many individuals. They
also think well before they act
[13].
Table 1: Key features of introverts vs. extroverts [13]
• They have calm and well-considered behavior.
• They talk less.
• They are usually self-contained.
• They think before they talk.

• They speak more slowly and gently.
• They can focus their concentration.
• They work on one project at once.
• They tend to spend their time alone.
• They avoid being the center of attention.
• They are rather cautious and hesitant.
• They have warm and friendly behavior.
• They talk more.
• They are more dynamic.
• They speak fast and loudly.
• They are easily distracted.
• They easily shift the topic.
• They prefer to be with others.
• They tend to be the focus of attention.
• They first act, and then think about it.
Contemplative/emotional: a logic individual in Meyers-Brigs
theory makes rational
decisions. He observes the shortages and criticizes. He gives
value to the reality and is

motivated by his tendency to succeed. An emotional individual,
on the contrary, does not
make rational decisions. He considers value for sympathy and
harmony. To an emotional
individual, politeness is more important than reality. He is
motivated by the tendency to be
appreciated [14].
Table 2: Key features of emotional vs. logical [13]
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
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166
• They are friendlier while treating others.
• They feel sensitive about their emotions
regarding others.
• They are usually moderate and considerate.
• They meet the ceremonies and traditions of
social life.

• They avoid conflict and confrontation.
• They start conversation with greetings.
• They might seem excited and thrilled.
• They may lack venture and self-confidence.
• They usually call people with first name.
• They are usually engaged in service jobs.
• They are less friendly in their treatments.
• They may seem as lacking emotions.
• They might be inconsiderate and relentless.
• They usually seem serious and
hardworking.
• They may argue for fun.
• They are usually impassive.
• They go directly to the heart of the matter.
• They seem conservative and realistic.
• They are usually assured and insistent.
• They seldom call people with first name.

Intuitive/Sensual: according to Meyers-Brigs, an intuitive
person is an individual with
strong sixth sense. He pays attention to meanings, relations,
likeliness, and deduction. He
notices the future and does not carefully consider the details.
Sensual individuals, on the
contrary, have strong five senses. They trust at their own
experiences. They live in the
moment, regard common sense, and use their skills. While
learning, they consider practice
and application [14].
Table 3: key features of sensual vs. intuitive [13]
• They have simple and clear verbal patterns.
• They have continuous and chain thoughts.
• They are more accurate; they use facts and
real instances.
• They use language as a tool.
• They are well aware of their body.
• They are attracted to jobs requiring realism
and practice.
• They are less likely to get a university

• They have sophisticated verbal patterns
abundantly using compound sentences.
• They have deviant thoughts; they jump
from one to another.
• They are more imaginative; they frequently
use simile and metaphor.
• They use language for themselves.
• They are rather adrift in their mind.
• They are usually attracted to jobs requiring
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
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167
degree.
• They prefer non-fictional contents for study.
• They speak with short and explicit words.

• They consider the details.
• They clearly remember the past.
• They listen as far as others explain all their
thoughts.
creativity.
• They are more likely to get university
degrees.
• They prefer fictional contents for study.
• They repeat and restate their word.
• They speak about world issues and general
images.
• They predict the future.
• They usually complete others’ words.
Judgmental/Observer: according to Meyers-Brigs, a judgmental
person likes to work with
planning and order. He considers work ethics and believes in
“first work, then play”. An
observer individual, on the contrary, loves freedom. He does not
like planning and

organizing. He is flexible and believes in “first enjoy, then
work”. His goals can easily be
changed. He adapts to new situations. Finishing the job is not
important to him; rather, he
considers the way of performing it. He does not judge people,
things, and phenomena;
rather, he observes them the way they are and obtains data from
them [14].
Table 4: key features of observer vs. judgmental [13]
• They are more friendly and less conventional
• They are more playful.
• They can adapt to the environment very well.
• They may delay things.
• They might be hesitant and confused.
• They prefer slower rhythms.
• They usually have messy appearance.
• They usually dress casually.
• They are likely to change their goals.
• They prefer to start projects.
• They are more conventional and formal.

• They are more serious.
• They like to take the responsibility.
• They tend to decide quickly.
• They are certain and their opinions are often
strong.
• They prefer fast rhythm (hurry).
• They have tidy appearance.
• They usually dress formally.
• They like to set some goals and to achieve
them.
Innovativeness
Innovativeness is a personality trait often reflecting tendency to
change. Innovative
consumers are an important part of the market to marketers.
Earnings from the new
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016

ISSN 2076-9202
168
products admitted by innovative consumers play a key role to
many organizations.
Appropriate perception of decision-making styles of innovative
consumers is too critical in
marketing. Consumer’s decision making style is the mental way
in which the consumer
experiences shopping and consumption. These styles can help
the researchers of
consumers’ behavior obtain a deeper understanding of
consumers’ behavior. With regards
to the gap observed in research background, innovativeness is
solely described as a
personality trait in consumers’ innovative behavior [15]. As
Inkles and Smith state, the
main feature of innovative individual has two aspects; the
internal corresponding to the
opinions, values and feelings; and the external corresponding to
the environment [16].
A review of previous research on the effective factors in
advertisement evaluation
Table 5 presents a summary of previous research regarding
advertisement evaluation

selected as the theoretical base of this study, upon which the
conceptual model is designed.
Table 5: a summary of previous research on advertisement
evaluation
Ref. Researcher(s) Year Population Variables under study
findings
1 Shariat 2007 People of
Isfahan
Advertisement
effectiveness, people’s
attitudes, advertisement
characteristics
TV channels, animated structure,
attractive packaging, informing
bout the quality, background, and
price on TV.
2. Samady 2009 Customers of
Refah Chain
Supermarkets

in Tehran
Evidence of brand,
customers’ satisfaction,
customers’ attitudes,
relations of brand,
intentions of re-buying
Brand evidence and relations
have positive effects on
satisfaction, attitude, and
behavioral intentions.
3. Kheiry 2010 Customers of
Shahrvand
Chain
Supermarkets&
Grand Mall in
Tehran
Buyer’s marital state,
size of family, level of

education, income, age,
having children below 6
years old
Buyers of generic products are
characterized with demographic
features such as being married
and being young.
4. Javadin 2010 Zones of
Tehran
Commitment,
satisfaction, value,
resistance to change,
emotions, brand trust
Brand specific value and trust are
the most effective factors in
consumers’ behavioral patterns
and attitudes of commitment.

Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
ISSN 2076-9202
169
5. Shah
Mohammadi
2011 Inhabitants of
zones 1,2,3,4
in Mashhad
Proper pictorial
manners, audience’s
notice, message
structure, display
methods, amount of
trust
TV commercials between hot
programs attract the audience’s
attention; the attractiveness of a

program is important in attracting
the customer and his notice to the
commercial. This can make the
audience trust at the
advertisement and follow it.
6. Amirshahi et
al.
2011 Students of
Islamic Azad
University,
branch of
Science and
Research,
Tehran
Innovativeness and
buying decision-making
styles
Cognitive innovativeness is

correlated with “perfectionist and
sensitive to premium quality”;
emotional innovativeness is
correlated with “sensitive to
brand”, “stylish and
fashion-oriented”, and “looking
for entertainment”.
7. Heidarzadeh
et al.
2011 The following
four observer
variables:
Speed of
remembering,
attitude toward
the brand,
brand position,
buying

intention
Advertisement,
intangible representation
of the brand, audience
involvement,
advertisement
promotion, demographic
factors
Intangible advertisement of the
brand affect the consumer’s
unconscious in short-term.
8. Kafash pour
et al.
2011 Students of
higher
educations in
Firdausi

University of
Mashhad
Attitude toward online
advertisement, gender,
entertainment,
informing
Users’ perceived value of
entertainment and informing has
a significant correlation with
attitude toward online
advertisement. Furthermore,
gender has modifier effect on the
relationship between perceived
value of entertainment and
informing and attitude.
9. Moradi et al. 2012 University staff Personal
decision-making style,
responsibility, group

Corporative decision-making
style of the managers is the best
predictor of the employees’
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
ISSN 2076-9202
170
consulting
corporative
managerial
decision-making style
responsibility
10 Amiri et al. 2013 Employees of
Sepah Bank,

Branch 18,
Ardabil
Commercial
advertisement, attracting
customers, sales
promotion, public
relations, normal data
distribution
Sales promotion has the greatest
impact in attracting new
customers.
11 Kheiry et al. 2013 Students of
Islamic Azad
University,
Science and
Research,
Tehran
Brand attachment, brand

experience, brand
satisfaction, brand
attitude, knowledge of
brand, brand
commitment,
consumers’ tendency to
afford additional costs,
promotion of word of
mouth regarding the
brand
Consumers’ experience and
attitude affect the formation of
brand attachment. No significant
relationship was observed
between consumers’ knowledge
and satisfaction with brand
attachment. Consumers with
brand attachment show higher

levels of brand commitment,
promote word of mouth regarding
the brand, and tend to afford
additional costs of the brand.
12 Tabatabayi
Nasab &
Arjmand
2014 Buying decision-making
styles, aspects of innate
innovativeness, aspects
of consumers’
personality
No significant relationship was
observed between the three
identified clusters in aspects of
innate innovativeness and the
three aspects of neo-personality.
However, there is a difference

between the clusters in two
aspects of neo-personality.
Findings indicate a correlation
between Neurosis personality and
emotional innovativeness.
However, no significant
relationship was observed
between other aspects of
Vol. 8, No.4, 2016
ISSN 2076-9202
171
neo-personality with cognitive
and emotional innovativeness.
13 Shahbandar
Zadeh and

Khosravi
Laghab
2015 413 students of
Khalij Fars
University,
Bushehr
Economic beliefs, social
beliefs, moral beliefs,
legal beliefs,
advertisement
usefulness,
advertisement attitudes
Economic beliefs in
advertisement, moral beliefs in
advertisement, legal beliefs in
advertisement, and advertisement
usefulness affect individuals’
attitudes towards advertisement.

14 Wesley 2006 Shopping
centers in the
U.S Market
SES/Demographic
learning styles, main
reason for visiting, the
intention of visiting the
center etc.
Complexity of the history and the
consequences of consumer’s
decision making style
15 Sara
Sapuletea
Et al.
2009 B.S students in
Netherland
High price, low price,
consultant, decision

making
Managers and official employees
benefit from the effects of
consulting in decision making,
which can result in exploration of
better solutions to decision
making.
16 Park et al. 2010 Young
consumers in a
particular area
of the country
Cognitive
innovativeness, quality,
price awareness,
confused due to variety
of choices, brand
awareness, stylish and
fashion-oriented,

looking for
entertainment, impulsive
and careless,
habit-oriented,
committed to brand,
emotional
innovativeness
Cognitive and emotional
innovativeness can lead to
various buying styles.
17 Dianoux et al. 2010 Students of the
first or second
year of
Management
Advertisement, higher
attention, better
memory, attitude
Nationality (in given parts of

Europe) is not …
The Psychological Record, 2013, 63, 231–238
CONSUMER BEhAvIOR ANALySIS:
BEhAvIORAL ECONOMICS MEETS ThE MARkETPLACE
Gordon R. Foxall
Cardiff University
Valdimar Sigurdsson
Reykjavik University
The extension of behavior analysis into realms beyond the
traditional experimental
analysis of animal behavior makes possible the investigation of
areas of human behavior that
have previously been the province of such disciplines as
cognitive psychology and
microeconomics. This extension has taken two forms, which
have, although usually
separately, contributed to the translation of behavior analytic
methods and results into the
study of behavior in natural settings. The first is the application
of behavior analytic methods
to the broader realm of behavior, often incorporating field
experimental designs that
maximize the continuity of the laboratory- based study of
behavior with the applied sphere of
activity. Applied behavior analysis exemplifies this tendency
par excellence. Another
example is the way in which the use of methods of scientific
analysis and interpretation,
developed and honed in behavior analysis in its more traditional

contexts, has given birth in
recent decades to behavioral economics, which combines the
experimental methodology of
operant psychology with microeconomics. Behavioral
economics has also been successfully
combined with the analysis of behavior in general as well as
with applied behavior analysis
in human contexts. The second trend has been toward the
interpretation of behavior, the
complexities of which preclude an experimental analysis, based
on an extrapolation of the
principles of behavior that have been demonstrated in controlled
experimental settings. in all
of these enterprises, the aim has been to enlarge the capacity of
behavior analysis to elucidate
human activity in natural settings, with the aim of
demonstrating that a behaviorist
understanding can be provided for such behavior, and
sometimes with the aim of modifying
that behavior. in this paper, we describe an extension of
behavior analysis toward
understanding the behavior of human consumers in market
contexts; specifically, we are
concerned with the ways in which behavioral economics has
been taken a stage further to
embrace the analysis of human consumers’ behavior in natural
settings provided by market
economies. in short, we are arguing for consumer behavior
analysis as an integral component
of applied behavior analysis.
Since its inception, consumer behavior analysis has been
understood as the application
of behavioral economics to consumer behavior in marketing-
oriented economies (Foxall,
2001, 2002). it has, therefore, been concerned primarily with

human behavior, in naturally
occurring settings, subject to marketing influence. This does not
rule out in any way
comparative methodologies: the behavior of non- human
animals, the use of experimental
methods, the analysis of subsistence economies (e.g., through
barter), and so forth. in time
these may well form part of the core of consumer behavior
analysis; for the moment, the
emphasis is on marketing- oriented economies. The unifying
framework for this research is
INTRODUCTION TO ThE SPECIAL ISSUE
DOI:10.11133/j.tpr.2013.63.2.001
232 Foxall and SigurdSSon
the Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM), which has formed the
basis of the exploration of
behavioral economics in consumer behavior analysis.
Why behavioral economics? Behavior is economic in the sense
that it can be studied
as the allocation of a limited number of responses to produce an
array of benefits; at the
same time, this allocation incurs costs (Staddon, 1980). This
covers all that behavior
analysts study as operant choice: it is not that the behavior
itself is inherently economic but
that certain tools can be brought to bear in its analysis. The
benefits and costs relate
ultimately to biological fitness and are seen most graphically in
the acquisition of primary

reinforcers, in the course of which potentially fitness-
enhancing alternatives are foregone.
But secondary reinforcers also play a central role in the
relationship of individual conduct
to biological fitness via economic choice.
operant behavior is therefore economic behavior in that it is the
allocation of a
limited number of responses among competing alternatives. This
has become enshrined
in definitions of rewards found in biology and neuroeconomics,
which cast them as
“stimuli for which an organism will work” (e.g., Rolls, 2008,
pp. 118–119). Classically
conditioned behavior is not economic behavior in this sense; it
does not require behavior
at all on the part of the organism and therefore there arises no
conception that the
organism is expending responses in order to obtain a
biologically or socially relevant
outcome. Both matching analysis and behavioral economics are,
therefore, theories of
behavior in general interpreted in economic terms. They lead to
the conclusion that all
behavior is choice and can be analyzed in economic terms:
operant behavior is economic
behavior. To the extent that we embrace this conclusion, there
is no need for a separate
subdiscipline of behavioral economics; behavioral economics
would be, rather, a
technique or methodology that can be applied to all behavior
analytic research.
Consumer behavior analysis has a more restricted sphere of
application—human
economic and social choices that involve social exchange—and,
if we are to address

what is commonly understood as economic behavior, we must
delineate the subject
matter with some care. it is the understanding of exchange that
is crucial to the definition
of economic behavior in this more restricted sense.
The ultimate maximand of operant/economic behavior is
inclusive fitness; genetic
influences determine that this is met by the establishment of
certain goals represented by
primary reinforcers, and by association, secondary reinforcers
are established that have
similar effects. Genes therefore determine the goals of
behavior—reinforcers, rather
than particular behaviors; specific appropriate instrumental
behaviors are selected
environmentally through the contingent availability of primary
and secondary
reinforcers.
The Behavioral Perspective Model
At the heart of consumer behavior analysis is the BPM (Foxall,
1990, 2010), which
adapts the idea of the contingencies of reinforcement and
punishment to accommodate
research into the nature of human consumers’ economic and
social choices (Figure 1).
Behavior Setting Scope
Closed Open
Accomplishment CC2 CC1Fulfillment Status consumption
Hedonism CC4 CC3Inescapable entertainment Popular
entertainment

Accumulation CC6 CC5Token-based consumption Saving and
collecting
Maintenance CC8 CC7Mandatory consumption Routine
purchasing
Utilitarian Reinforcment
Informational Reinforcement
Utilitarian Punishment
Informational Punishment
Consumer Behavior Setting
Learning History
Consumer Situation
Consumer Situation
Behavior
High utilitarian reinforcement Low utilitarian reinforcement
High informational reinforcement Accomplishment
Accumulation
Low informational reinforcement Hedonism Maintenance
Figure 1. Summative Behavioral Perspective Model.
233IntroductIon

The antecedent events that set the occasion for consumer
behavior compose the
consumer behavior setting. This consists of all the physical
(including temporal) and social
(including verbal) discriminative stimuli and motivating
operations that signal and
enhance the likely outcomes of behaving in a particular way.
Behavior settings facilitate or
inhibit consumer movement and choice and form a continuum
from the most open (where
numerous behavioral options are available to the consumer and
positive reinforcement
predominates) to the most closed (where few behaviors, perhaps
only a single response, are
available and negative reinforcement is prevalent). The
consumer’s learning history is the
cumulative effect of rewarding and punishing outcomes of past
consumer choice.
Consumer behavior is shaped by three broadly defined
consequences. utilitarian
reinforcement derives from the satisfaction produced by buying,
owning, and consuming
economic goods. informational reinforcement is provided by
feedback on the consumer’s
performance, especially the social status produced by
conspicuous consumption. Finally,
aversive consequences are the costs of consuming: relinquishing
money, waiting in line,
forgoing alternative products, and so forth. Four operant classes
of consumer behavior are
defined based on the pattern of high/low utilitarian and
informational reinforcement that
maintains them (Figure 2).

Closed Open
entertainment
collecting
Maintenance CC8 CC7Mandatory consumption Routine
purchasing
Utilitarian Reinforcment
Informational Reinforcement
Utilitarian Punishment
Informational Punishment
Consumer Behavior Setting
Learning History
Consumer Situation
Consumer Situation
Behavior
High utilitarian reinforcement Low utilitarian reinforcement
High informational reinforcement Accomplishment
Accumulation

Low informational reinforcement Hedonism Maintenance
Figure 2. Operant classes of consumer behavior.
Maintenance consists of activities necessary for the consumer’s
physical survival and
welfare (e.g., food) and the fulfillment of the minimal
obligations entailed in membership of
a social system (e.g., paying taxes). Accumulation includes the
consumer behaviors involved
in certain kinds of saving, collecting, and installment buying.
Pleasure includes such
activities as the consumption of popular entertainment. Finally,
accomplishment is consumer
behavior reflecting social and economic achievement:
acquisition and conspicuous
consumption of status goods and displaying products and
services that signal personal
attainment. Both types of reinforcers figure in the maintenance
of each of the four classes,
though to differing extents. Adding in the scope of the current
behavior setting leads to the
eightfold classification depicted in Figure 3, which shows the
variety of contingency
categories that exclusively constitute a functional analysis of
consumer behavior.
Closed Open
entertainment

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