Marketing Consumer Behaviour and the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Running Head: MARKETING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
MARKETING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
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1MARKETING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Question 1
Introduction
In the 21st century, marketing has surpassed its barrier and incorporates scientific
approaches in order to understand the behaviour of the consumers. In fact, the idea of consumer
behaviour in present days encapsulates a series of conceptual framework such as psychology,
economics and studies of human behaviour. Creativity with a sense of strategic decision making
is the key facets of getting a clear picture of customer behaviour. In this regards, the theory of
planned behaviour is highly popular among the marketing executives. The theory has a close link
with individual’s specification of purchasing a product (Kautonen, Gelderen and Fink 2015). The
behavioural intent in terms of choosing a particular product in a specified place and time is
considered to be a pivotal characteristic of the planned behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of this
discussion is to identify the major features of the planned behaviour theory of customer
behaviour. At the same time it stipulates the role of diffusion of innovation in influencing the
customer behaviour.
Discussion
Planned behaviour theory
The Theory of planned behaviour (TPB) has a close affinity with the Theory of Reasoned
Action which was developed in the 1980s to analyze the intention of the consumers regarding
engage in a particular purchasing action (Montano and Kasprzyk 2015). In this context,
“intention” is referred as the willingness or the readiness of the consumers in order to purchase a
product (Ajzen and Klobas 2013). It can be argued that Theory of planned behaviour reflects on
the intention of the customer and defines intention as the main driving force to buy a product.
Moreover, the behavioural intentions are influenced deeply by the attitude and response to the
likelihood that is identified as an expected outcome and puts some light on the subjective
evaluation of the possible risks and benefits related to the outcome.
The Theory of planned behaviour is very much popular in the health care services such as
smoking, drinking and use of substances. However, the theory is also relevant in different genre
of industries like restaurants or retain chain sector. In this discussion, it is imperative to

2MARKETING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
understand the foundation basis of the TPB framework which directly connotes the idea of
Theory of Reasoned Action. Developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen in the latter half of
the 1960s, the theory is centred on the analysis of pre-existing attitudes in the process of decision
making (Montano and Kasprzyk 2015). According to the Theory of Reasoned Action, the
consumers’ action is based on an attitude or intention that can render a particular outcome.
Customers are projected as a rational entity in this theory. In addition to this, the core principle
of Theory of Reasoned Action is aligned with the specificity. It can be argued that the customers
will depend on specific actions during expecting a specific result. In fact, the consumer can alter
his or her chosen action on a different course of action.
Based on this theory, the Theory of Planned Behaviour develops framework which is
purely relied upon the customer specification. Moreover, TPB is comprised with six layers of
understanding in the forms of attitudes, behavioural intention, subjective norms, social norms,
perceived power and perceived behavioural control (Kim, Njite and Hancer 2013).
Attitudes- this is the primary factor of understanding the Theory of Planned Behaviour.
The purpose of attitude is to reflect the degree of interest of the consumer to purchase a specific
item. In this regards, there are two constraints of the element in terms of favourable and
unfavourable. It can be argued the favourable decision will lead the consumer to buy that
product. On the contrary, the unfavourable condition drives the person to change his previous
attitude towards the product and he or she will alter the decision in course of time (Ajzen and
Klobas 2013).
Behavioural intention- It can be argued that behavioural intention helps the consumer
by providing a motivational support. As a result of that this motivational support ushers a great
deal of influence on the customer’s intension and supply a stronger motivational elements to
perform the behaviour. In fact, the stronger the motivation will be the more it attracts the
consumer to attract by the product (Ajzen and Klobas 2013).
Subjective norms- The subjective norm is highly related to the popular responses of the
behaviour. It can be highly approved or disapproved. It is the tendency of the customers to go
through the perception of other people. Furthermore, the individual beliefs on other people’s

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attitude and responses ushers a sense of appreciation whether engage in the behaviour or not
(Ajzen and Klobas 2013).
Social norms- It reflects a great deal of the importance over the society. In other words,
the customary codes of behaviour in a group or people or a large cultural context it will be easy
to define the social norms. In this regards, the social norms are championed with normative and
standard behaviour (Al-Swidi 2014).
Perceived power- In order to get a clear picture of the determinants of Theory of
Planned Behaviour it is important to perceive an idea of the behavioural control of individuals
over each of the factors. As a matter of fact, the perceived power of factors will facilitate the
performance of behaviour (Al-Swidi 2014).
Perceived behavioural control- The role of behavioural control leads to the individual
perception of ease or difficulty in order to performing the behaviour of interest. In this regards,
the perceived behavioural control is identified as fluctuating in nature and highly relies on the
situation and action (Al-Swidi 2014).
Advantages and disadvantages
While assessing the relevance and essentiality of Theory of Planned Behaviour, it can be
argued that intention is just a part of customer behaviour. There are a series of determinant
factors that are responsible to influence the decision making process of the consumer. In this
regards, it can be argued that the opportunities and resources can also play an influential role in
determining the customer behaviour (Paul, Modi and Patel 2016). Besides this, there are some
negative aspects of human intention in the form of threat and fear which are not incorporated in
the TPB.
Despite of all the shortcoming of Theory of Planned Behaviour, it can be argued that the
theory identifies the major element of customer influence in terms of intention (Salleh, S.,
Hashima and Murphy 2015). It is true that there are a series of purposes playing on the backdrop
of purchasing a product, but on the perspective of the consumer it will always beneficial and
usher a positive implication. Moreover, scientific orientation makes the theory more authentic
and justifiable to implement in the organisational sector (Agag and El-Masry 2016).