Science of Consumer Behavior Paper

This paper explores the science of consumer behavior, focusing on personality traits and demographics that influence purchasing decisions. The Big Five personality traits theory and demographics transition are examined to make recommendations for marketing strategies.

Running head: SCIENCE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
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Science of Consumer Behavior Paper
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Word Count: 1836

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Table of Content
Science of Consumer Behavior.......................................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
Big Five Personality Traits Theory..............................................................................................3
Demographics Transition (DT)....................................................................................................6
Recommendations........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................8
References....................................................................................................................................9

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Science of Consumer Behavior
Introduction
The science of consumer behavior deals with assessment of factors, norms, and beliefs
that influence consumers’ decision-making process. The decision making process is subdivided
into three categories perception, intuition, and reasoning. The behavior of consumers is
considered to follow given metrics that can be studied for the betterment of marketing strategies,
and consumer targeting campaigns. For instance personality theories can be evaluated to assess
how consumers are likely to behavior based on their individual preferences and disposition.
Moreover, demographic theories are important in the assessment of how people are willing to
spend their funds based on age, sex, and race-based preferences (Mulyanegara, Tsarenko, &
Anderson, 2009). This information will be used to make inference on how the three participants
are likely to make their decision on which laptop to produce.
Big Five Personality Traits Theory
According to the American Psychological Association, personality is defined as the
combination of distinct individual qualities, behavior, and thinking patterns that differentiate
people. From the questionnaires submitted by the three individual it is clear that they all have
distinct personality based on their individual responses to question 1,2,3, and 13. The Study of
personality is normally centered on two areas. The first area focuses on the discerning of the
individual differences in given personality characteristics; for instance, irritability and
sociability. The other area examines the connection between various qualities and their influence
on the person as a whole (Sharma, 2012).

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Three Respondents (2, 3, and 4) will be examined with regard to the Big Five personality
traits theory; as a way of assessing how their distinct characteristics influence their laptop
procurement behavior. There are five facets of this theory that will be examines and their overall
appear and influence on the spending habits of the three respondents. The five areas are openness
to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (Dai, 2017). The
information derived from the theory analysis will be used to make conclusions and inferences
about the willingness and likelihood of individuals to spend money on different laptop options
(Grimes & Warshauer, 2008).
Openness to experience is used to define a person’s depth, complexity, and originality
with regard to their experiential life. There are several descriptive words that are normally tied to
a person’s openness to experience; such as, imaginative, artistic, original, insightful, and curious
(Dai, 2017). When an individual is highly rated in terms of openness to experience he or she
tends to have a wide range of interests, welcoming to new things, and unconventional thoughts.
Respondent 2 can be defined as having high openness to experience due to her response to part
(d) of question 3 (strongly agrees). Therefore, respondent 2 will be willing to procure different
types of laptops regardless of whether or not she is familiar with them. Respondent 3 has
moderately high openness to experience; as such, he will be willing to buy different laptop types
but will moderately high deviation to unfamiliar makes and brands. Respondent 4 has a weak
openness to experience; therefore, she is relatively opposed to procurement of laptop brands and
makes that she is not familiar with (Han, Hsu, & Sheu, 2010).
Conscientiousness refers to self-restrain and behavior control that is directly dictated by
social norms and rules. Therefore, an individual is normally defined as being efficient,
responsible, reliable, organized, and thorough based on their ability to fulfill social expectations

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(Dai, 2017). Respondent 2 has considerably high conscientiousness because she highly agrees in
response (e) of question 13 to being careful and efficient. This response means that she is willing
to procure a laptop that requires one to take great care when handling; for instance, laptops with
double screens. Respondent 3 has significant low conscientiousness (response of highly
disagrees) meaning that he will be opposed to the idea of buying a laptop that demands
considerable care or is too expensive. Respondent 4 has substantial high conscientiousness
(response of highly agrees) meaning she will be willing to buy a laptop regardless of whether or
not is demands considerable care to maintain (Mulyanegara, Tsarenko, & Anderson, 2009).
Extraversion is used to describe a person’s strong attitude towards the material world and
social aspects. Therefore a person is normally defined with regard to the following adjectives:
energetic, assertive, outgoing, enthusiastic, active, and talkative (Dai, 2017). Respondent 2 can
be defined as being high extraverted due to a strongly agree response in part (a) of question 13.
As such, it is to be expected that respondent 2 will be willing to procure the most popular or
socially trending laptop. Respondent 3 is also high extraverted and will most likely buy a laptop
based on what others are recommending or praising. Respondent 4 is moderately extraverted; as
such, she will employ the options of others to partly influence her decision on which laptop to
procure (Picazo-Vela, Chou, Melcher, & Pearson, 2010).
Agreeableness is normally associated with a friendly and optimistic person who can be
defined as being any combination of the following: kind, trusting, forgiving, appreciative,
sympathetic, and generous (Dai, 2017). Respondent 2 demonstrate a high level of agreeableness
because of her response to part (c) of question 13 (strongly agrees) meaning she is kind and
sympathetic to other. This means she is likely to procure a laptop based on the advice of friends,
family, and sellers. Respondent 3 has a significantly low level of agreeableness meaning he is

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not particularly sympathetic or kind to other. Therefore, he is not likely to value the option or
recommendation of others based on the best laptop to procure; as such, the laptop procurement
decision is unilaterally his. Respondent 4 shelters a high level of agreeableness meaning that she
is likely to care about the options and recommendations of other when procuring laptop (Shook
& Bratianu, 2010).
Neuroticism is commonly associated with individuals who are frequently plagued by
distress; thereby demonstrating the resultant cognitive and behavioral tendencies such as:
worrying, moodiness, anxiety, and self-pity (Dai, 2017). Respondent 2 has a high level of
neuroticism based on her response in part (b) of question 5 (high agrees). The fact that she is
moody means that she can easily change he mind on what laptop to procure. Respondent 3 has a
very high level of neuroticism indicating that he is likely to have differing option on which
laptop type is the best to procure. Respondent 4 like the other two is also highly neurotic because
she personally believes that’s she is indeed moody. Therefore, her decision on which laptop type
to procure will also vary based on her moody at the time (Xiao, Tang, Serido, & Shim, 2011).
Demographics Transition (DT)
Age will influence which laptop to procure because different generations have varying
expectation when it comes to utility. For instance, most teenagers will prefer laptops that possess
high graphical capability and considerable storage space. Respondent 2 is 26 years of age, this
means that she is likely to procure a laptop that has is stylish, highly performance, and relatively
inexpensive (Thu Ha & Gizaw, 2014). Due to her youth, respondent 2 is not likely to be willing
to spend a lot on a laptop; for instance, buying a $2,000 MacBook Pro from an Apple store.
Respondent 3 is 38 years of age meaning he is likely to buy a laptop sorely based on
functionality and its ability to fulfill work related commitment. This respondent is capable of

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buying a laptop regardless of the price as long as it meets the expected work specification.
Respondent 4 is 51 years of age, she is not likely to concern herself with graphical performance
and processing speed; all she will be looking for will be the ability of the laptop to complete the
desire task e.g. send photographs or store files. Due to her elderly age she is will be less likely to
buy and expensive laptop if a cheaper option exists that can also perform the task effectively
(Schiffman, Kanuk, & Hansen, 2012).
Gender influences the overall nature of use of a laptop and the features that a suitable
laptop has to have. For instance, most men will use their laptops for heavy duty tasks and games
thereby necessitating the need for a powerful computer with substantial storage space (Asamoah,
2012). Women on the other had most buy laptops to do minor tasks like streaming videos,
listening to music, and preparing work documents; as such, they are less inclined to buying an
expensive laptop. Respondent 2 and 4 are women therefore they will be more interest in a
functional laptop that costs less than $500 but Respondent 3 is a man and he is willing to spend
$1,000 or more for a high performance laptop.
Income will affect the amount of disposable funds that an individual has and how much
of that can be allocated to the procurement of personal devices like laptops and phones.
Normally, a high income level means that a person has a sizable disposable income to work with.
Therefore, the greater the income level the more laptop options a person has in the market.
Respondent 2 has an annual income of $60, 500, which is good but it is not larger enough to
allow her to buy laptops worth more than $1,000 without feeling the strain. Respondent 3
indicate that he records an annual income of $99,100 which is very good this means that he can
by a laptop worth more than $1,000 without harming his budget. Respondent 4 has no annual

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income therefore she relies on the income of others in her household. As such, respondent 4
cannot seek out a laptop worth more than $1,000 without straining the family.
Recommendations
Dell Inspiron 17 5000 is a great laptop that is valued at $1739; as such, all the
respondents expressed interest in it but some were put off by the price. It is a quality machine
that the manufacture Dell can better market to individuals aged less than 40 year looking for a
high performance laptop with ample storage space. The company can also reduce it price to
capitalize on economies of scale by selling the laptop at $1,200. By so doing the company will
be able to capture the market of affordable high performance laptops making them the go to
manufacturer of choice (Bouhlel, Mzoughi, Hadiji, & Slimane, 2011).
Conclusion
The assessment has revealed that individuals who are young, active, fun loving and
curious are more willing to spend on expensive laptops compared to old, reserved, and
conservative members of society. On the other hand however, it is clear that majority of the
individuals who are capable of procuring the expensive laptops belong to the older generation
that is normally concern with functionality over peer opinion and graphic functionality. It is
therefore clear that expensive laptop manufacturers should target rich kids and individual older
than 35 years but less than 55 years of age. Consequently science of consumer behavior analysis
has revealed that buyers of cheap personal computers are mostly teenagers and elderly people
while the consumers of expensive laptops are mid-aged business personalities and rich kids
(Mulyanegara, Tsarenko, & Anderson, 2009).

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References
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the Purchase Intention: A Mobile Marketing Case. International Journal of Business and
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Dai, L. (2017). What are the elements that influence consumers on purchasing a nonreviewed
product on the Internet? Jyväskylä: JAMK University of Applied Sciences.
Grimes, D., & Warshauer, M. (2008). Learning with Laptops: A Multi-Method Case Study.
University of California, Irvine. J. Educational Computing Research, 305-332.
Han, H., Hsu, L.-T. (., & Sheu, C. (2010). Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to
green hotel choice: Testing the effect of environmental friendly activities. Tourism
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Mulyanegara, R. C., Tsarenko, Y., & Anderson, A. (2009). The Big Five and brand personality:
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traits. Computers in Human Behavior, 685–696.
Schiffman, T., Kanuk, F., & Hansen, G. (2012). Consumer Behaviour. New York: A European
Outlook: St. Johns Univeristy.
Sharma, P. (2012). A STUDY OF BRAND CHOICE OF LAPTOPS BY MANAGEMENT AND
ENGINEERING STUDENTS. International Refereed Research Journal, 50-59.
Shook, C. L., & Bratianu, C. (2010). Entrepreneurial intent in a transitional economy: an
application of the theory of planned behavior to Romanian students. International
Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 231–247.
Thu Ha, N., & Gizaw, A. (2014). Factors that influence Consumer Purchasing Decisions of
Private Label Food Products. Västerås and Eskilstuna: Malardalen University.
Xiao, J. J., Tang, C., Serido, J., & Shim, S. (2011). Antecedents and Consequences of Risky
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Planned Behavior. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 239–245.

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