Consumer Behaviour

Models II
 The Howard Sheth model (1969)
 Through their model, Howard and Sheth explain the buying
decision process that a buyer undergoes, and the factors that affect
his choice decision towards a brand.
 The process starts when the buyer is exposed to a stimulus. As a
result of the exposure, stimulus ambiguity occurs, which leads to
an overt search for information.
 The information that is received is contingent upon the interplay
between the attitudes and the motives.
 In other words, the search for information and the conclusions
drawn would be filtered by perceptual bias (that would be a result
of attitude, confidence, search and motives).
 It may alter the existing patterns of motives and choice criteria,
thereby leading to a change in the attitude towards the brand,
brand comprehension, motives, purchase intention and/or action.
 The final purchase decision is based on the interaction between
brand comprehension, strength of attitudes towards the brand,
confidence in the purchase decision and purchase intention.
The Howard Sheth model (1969)
 The actual purchase is influenced by the buyer's intentions and
inhibitors, which he confronts.
 The entire process is impacted by various exogenous variables
like the importance of purchase, price, time available to make
the purchase, social and cultural influences etc.
 After the purchase, the buyer experiences satisfaction if the
performance matches and exceeds expectation; this
satisfaction would strengthen brand comprehension, reinforce
the confidence associated with the buying situations, and
strengthen the intention to repeat purchase of the brand.
 With a satisfying purchase decision, the buyer learns about
buying in similar situations and the behavior tends to get
routinized. The purchase feedback thus influences the
consumers’ attitudes and intention.
 The Howard Sheth model (1969)
 The model is an integrative model that incorporates many of the
aspects of consumer behavior; it links together the various
constructs/variables which may influence the decision making
process and explains their relationship that leads to a purchase
decision.
 It highlights the importance of inputs to the consumer buying
process. It was one of the first models to divulge as to what
constitutes loyalty towards a specific product.
 It helped gain insights in to the processes as to how consumers’
process information. The model is user friendly and is one of the
few models which has been used most commonly and tested in
depth.
 However, the limitation lies in the fact that the various constructs
cannot be realistically tested; some of the constructs are
inadequately defined, and thus do not lend to reliable measurements.
 Nicosia’s model
 The various components that are further distinguished
into main fields and subfields of the model are
marketer's communication affecting consumer’s
attitude, consumer's search and evaluation, purchase
action, consumption experience and feedback.
 The first field ranges from the marketer (source of
message) to the consumer (attitude); the second from
the search for to the evaluation of means/end(s)
relation(s) which forms the preaction field; the third
field relates to the act of purchase; and the fourth to
feedback. The output from one field acts as the input
for the next.
 Nicosia’s model
 In the first field, the marketer communicates with the
customer and promotes an unfamiliar product to him;
depending upon the existing predispositions and his
evaluation, the consumer develops an attitude.
 In the second field, the consumer searches for information and
evaluates it based on his attitudes; thereafter, he develops a
motivation to act.
 In the third field, he makes and purchase and in the fourth
field, he would provide feedback and also memorize his
experience and learning for future use.
 Thus, the firm communicates with consumers through its
marketing messages and the consumers react through an act of
purchase. Both the firm and the consumer influence each
other.
 Engel, Blackwell and Kollat’s
Model: Engel-Blackwell-Miniard
Model
 Information received from marketing and non-
marketing stimuli feeds into the information-
processing section of the model.
 The information section of the model comprises
various stages like exposure, attention,
comprehension, acceptance and retention.
 After passing through these stages, it goes into the
memory.
 Then this information that is stored in the memory
acts as an initial influence on the need recognition
stage. If internal information is inadequate there is a
search for external information.
 Engel, Blackwell and Kollat’s
Model: Engel-Blackwell-Miniard
Model
 The model focuses on the decision process stages:
need recognition, search, pre-purchase alternative
evaluation, purchase, consumption, post-purchase
alternative evaluation and divestment.
 “Divestment” as a construct was additionally added
as a modification over the EKB model.
 Divestment relates to options of disposal, recycling
or remarketing. The entire process is influenced by
environmental influences and individual differences