Influence of Social Factors on Consumer Buying Behavior

This research aims to determine the influence of social factors on consumer buying behavior and decision making. It focuses on a case study of Standard London Argyle Street in Camden, London. The study explores the concept of social factors in the business environment, their influence on consumer behavior, and the relationship between social factors and the buying behavior and decision-making process. The research methodology includes a literature review and data collection through surveys. The findings will contribute to understanding the importance of social factors in changing consumer behavior and decision-making.

Research Methods & Project 16
(To determine the influence of social factors over
consumer buying behaviour and decision making. A
case study on Standard London Argyle Street,
Camden, London, WC1H 8EG, United Kingdom)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TIME FRAME.................................................................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Background
Consumer buying behaviour introduces to the action taken by customers before
purchasing a product or services (Toussaint, Cabanelas and González-Alvarado, 2021).
Consumer decision making is the process by which clients become aware of as well as identify
their requirements, which are analysis alternative available options, make a buying decision and
assess their purchase. Along with this, social factor is a part of business environment that effects
someone’s lifestyle. This factor could include buying habits, religion, wealth, education level,
population density etc. Significantly, social factor has direct effect on consumer behaviour.
There are some important factors in social factor i.e. reference group, status, role and family. In
this, reference group influences self-image and behaviour of consumers. For this research,
Standard London is chosen hospitality that wants to attract larger base of customers by changing
their buying behaviour and decision towards the brand.
Research aim: To determine the influence of social factors over consumer buying
behaviour and decision making. A case study on Standard London Argyle Street, Camden,
London, WC1H 8EG, United Kingdom
Objectives of the research
 To ascertain knowledge about the social factors existing in business environment.
 To determine the influence of social factors over consumer buying behaviour and
decision making.
 To ascertain the relationship between social factors and buying behvaiour & decision
making process.
Questions of the research
 What is the concept of social factors existing in business environment?
 What are the influence of social factors over consumer buying behaviour and decision
making?
 What is the relationship between social factors and buying behvaiour & decision making
process?
Scope of the study
Present research has wide scope because it helps in identification of social factors and its
impact on consumer buying behaviour and decision. This research is based on quantitative data

that has huge scope and facilitate in gathering of quantitative and numerical information in
minimum time period (Naeem, 2021).
Rationale of the research
Main rationale regarding selection of this topic or research is to identify the significance
of social factors in changing of consumer behaviour and decision. This research is important at
personal as well as professional level. At personal level, this investigation helps in improvement
of different types of research skills, which are communication, time management, presentation
etc. These are important skills that helped in completion of full research project in systematic and
effective manner (Riaz and et. al., 2021). At professional level, present study helps in searching
of job within a hospitality organisation. Therefore, current research is important at personal and
also professional level.

TIME FRAME
This is important for investigator to complete full project within a given time period. For
this, Gantt chart will be used as a time management tool (Mishra, Singh and Koles, 2021). This
will help investigator in identification of starting as well as ending time. Gantt chart of the
present study will be shown as below:

LITERATURE REVIEW
This is a process of collecting secondary information which will be gathered from
articles, books etc. sources. This is an important part of research because it will help investigator
in gathering of secondary information about the topic (Hamilton and et. al., 2021). For this
section, research questions will be used that assist researcher in attaining of research aim and
objectives. Main purpose of literature review is to identify the research gap in previous
investigations. Within a current study, main gap is the influence of social factors over consumer
buying behaviour and decision making. In previous studies, there were information available
regarding the social factors of business environment, but there were lack of data regarding its
impact on consumer buying behaviour and decision making. For fulfilling this gap, research
questions are explained as below:
What is the concept of social factors existing in business environment?
According to the Naeem and Ozuem (2021), social factor is a part of business
environment that represent another essential set of influences over consumer behaviour.
Precisely, these are effects of customers and group of customer influencing one other via
subculture and culture, reference group, family, social class. Along with this, business
environment introduces to all the external factors such as economic, social, technological,
political or legal that have direct effect the on the performance of business organisation.
Additionally, everything that is external the purview of an enterprise but impacts its performance
composes business environment. Therefore, social factor within business environment will help
company in improvement of its business growth as well as development. In addition, business
environment is the sum of all institutions, individuals and other factors that are external the
control of a business organisation but the company still relay on them because they impact the
overall sustainability and performance of business. Thus, business environment introduces to the
entirety of all internal and external factors.
What is the influence of social factors over consumer buying behaviour and decision
making?
As per the view presented by Fernandes and et. al., (2021), Social factors play an
important and effective role in influencing the buying behaviour and decision of consumer
towards the brand. There are certain social factors that have direct influence on buying decision
and behaviour of consumer that are explained as below:

Reference group: This is one of the main social factor that influence customers to
purchase product or services to particular brand. There are certain number of primary group such
as friends, relatives, family members and co-workers. These factors influences purchasing
decision of customers due to different reasons such as they have used to brand or product earlier,
they know what the service is all about etc.
Social status: This is another factor of social factor and has direct impact on the buying
behaviour and decision of consumer towards the brand. A customer from an upper to middle
class would spend on luxurious services whereas a customer from middle to lower income group
would purchase services needed for his/her survival.
What is the relationship between social factors and buying behvaiour & decision making
process?
According to the Hu and et. al., (2021), there is a direct relationship between social
factors and buying behvaiour & decision making process that will be known with the help of
some points. These are described as below:
 Safety: Today’s Covid 19 situation, all customers wants safe place that is important.
Customers wants safety, they not focus on cost etc. As this has positive relationship
between them. Security is a part of social factor that positively impact on consumer
decision and behaviour.
 Income and wealth: This is a social factor that play an important role in effecting of
consumer decision and behaviour towards the brand. For this, lower to middle class
people prefer basic services, whereas high class people prefer premium services. It
means, income and wealth as a social factor has direct relationship with buying decision
and behaviour of customers.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This is the process used by researcher for collecting as well as analysing the information
regarding the specific area of study. There are different types of research methodologies that will
be essential for carrying out present study. These methodologies are:
Research philosophy: There are two essential form of philosophies which are positivism
and interpretivisim. For present study, positivism philosophy is valuable because it not requires
maximum time and also helps in collecting and analysing of quantitative data (Chen and et. al.,
2021).
Research approach: This section has two types such as inductive and deductive. For this
study, deductive approach is useful because it helps researcher in analysing of quantitative
information within less period of time.
Research strategy: There are various strategies for collecting information such as action
research, experiment, survey, case study etc. All these are effective but for gathering data
regarding the impact of internal and external factors of environment on organisational growth,
survey strategy will be applied because it assists in gathering of reliable data without taking
additional time.
Research choice: There are two effective choice of the study which are qualitative and
quantitative. For conducting this investigation, quantitative research will be applied as it helps in
gathering of valid and numerical information in minimum time.
Data collection: There are two sources of gathering information which are secondary and
primary. In order to gather primary information, questionnaire will be followed because it not
requires more time and provides valid outcomes. In case of secondary data, important will be
collected from articles, publication research, books etc. These sources of secondary data
collection are only used for literature review (Sundararaj and Rejeesh, 2021).
Sampling: This is the process used by investigator for selecting a sample size. There are
two importance techniques of sampling such as probability and non-probability. For this
investigation, probability sampling will be applied because it assists in selecting of larger base of
sampling without consuming maximum time. 30 workers of Standard London Argyle Street,
Camden, London, WC1H 8EG, United Kingdom will be selected on random basis.

Research ethics: This is necessary for researcher to follow research ethics in systematic
manner. There are different principles of research ethics such as respect for person, informed
consent, confidentiality and data protection etc. These are major principles of research ethics that
must be used by investigator for conducting this investigation. This will be essential and
significant for investigator because it will support them in completion of full research ethically.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chen, X. and et. al., 2021. The impact of imitation on Chinese social commerce buyers’ purchase
behavior: The moderating role of uncertainty. International Journal of Information
Management, 56, p.102262.
Fernandes, S., Venkatesh, V.G., Panda, R. and Shi, Y., 2021. Measurement of factors influencing
online shopper buying decisions: A scale development and validation. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services. 59. p.102394.
Hamilton, R. and et. al., 2021. Traveling with companions: the social customer journey. Journal
of Marketing. 85(1). pp.68-92.
Hu, M. and et. al., 2021. The role of built and social environmental factors in Covid-19
transmission: A look at America’s capital city. Sustainable Cities and Society, 65,
p.102580.
Mishra, R., Singh, R.K. and Koles, B., 2021. Consumer decision‐making in Omnichannel
retailing: Literature review and future research agenda. International Journal of
Consumer Studies, 45(2), pp.147-174.
Naeem, M. and Ozuem, W., 2021. Customers' social interactions and panic buying behavior:
Insights from social media practices. Journal of Consumer Behaviour.
Naeem, M., 2021. Do social media platforms develop consumer panic buying during the fear of
Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58, p.102226.
Riaz, M. U. and et. al., 2021. Consumers’ purchase intention and decision-making process
through social networking sites: a social commerce construct. Behaviour & Information
Technology. 40(1). pp.99-115.
Sundararaj, V. and Rejeesh, M. R., 2021. A detailed behavioral analysis on consumer and
customer changing behavior with respect to social networking sites. Journal of Retailing
and Consumer Services. 58. p.102190.
Toussaint, M., Cabanelas, P. and González-Alvarado, T. E., 2021. What about the consumer
choice? The influence of social sustainability on consumer's purchasing behavior in the
Food Value Chain. European Research on Management and Business
Economics. 27(1). p.100134.