Consumer Behaviour - Study of Decision Making Process

Running head: CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer Behaviour
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1CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Table of Contents
Introduction of Theory...................................................................................................2
Common Themes...........................................................................................................2
Different Themes............................................................................................................3
Limitations.....................................................................................................................4
Future Prospective..........................................................................................................5

2CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Introduction of Theory
The behaviour of the consumers has been the view point of multiple studies over the
years. As opined by Bray (2008), the study of consumer decision making began nearly 300
years ago. The early theories had an economic approach to the concept, and were developed
purely based on the buying act. The utility theory states that the choices of consumers depend
on expected outcomes of their decisions. While this theory concludes that consumers are
rational decision makers, the current researches discuss various factors that are at play behind
the consumer behaviour and recognise multiple consumption activities. Although the general
notion of conspicuous consumption relates it to the purchasing pattern of elite class, in reality,
it goes beyond class differences. On this regard, Bray (2008) discusses the indication of the
Fishbein model that says that the attitude of the consumer towards an object is the result of
his personal beliefs and his feelings about the qualities of the object. This model was further
developed to not only evaluate the attitudes but also the behaviours of the consumers, and
became to be known as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). According to this theory, the
conspicuous consumption depends on the consumers’ feelings about other’s views, the
situation of the consumption, and the product.
Common Themes
Although there are a few differences in the perspectives of the researches discussed in
this study, each of the four studies finds subjective norms as a common factor that affects the
behaviours of the consumers. In his study, Brady discussed consumer behaviour is the
resultant of the attitude of the consumer towards buying an object and the subjective norms of
the behaviour. Similarly, Unal, Dirlik and Otamis (2012) demonstrated in their study how
subjective norms changes consumer behaviour. Such as, for the general conception of the