Personality and Consumer Behavior

Personality and Consumer Behavior
Introduction
Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and
behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One understands individual
differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability. Personality
signifies the inner psychological characteristics that reflect how a person reacts to his
environment. Personality shows the individual choices for various products and brands.
Nature of Personality
There are different characteristics of personality belongs to human nature and distinct
properties that have unique importance in each one.
Personality reflects individual differences
Each individual has a special set of inner characteristics, and is thus unique by himself. Some
individual are highly social able whereas some are low on sociability. Some individuals show
same attitude toward a product but some do not. It could be difficult to categorize the
segments that show different behavior of people. So segmentation of brands and products is
based on same attitude and behavior of group of people that nearly easy for the marketers to
identify the variables.
Personality is consistent and enduring
Each individual has its own taste and attitude towards products and brands that leads to their
whole life time. Marketers cant change the nature and habits of individual choices due to their
brands; they can only appeal for that product that might lead to pursue them to buy the
product.
Personality can change
A person buying behavior may change by the time or by some life events like marriage, children,
death of someone in relatives that involve in his or her life to change his attitude towards
different products. But mainly it depends upon each individual personality how he or she
quickly adopts from such events.
Personality and Understanding Consumer Behavior

Marketers are interested in understanding how personality influences consumption behavior
because such knowledge enables them to better understand consumers and to segment and
target those consumers who are likely to respond positively to their product or service
communications.
Consumer innovativeness and related personality traits

Innovativeness gets related to other personality traits like dogmatism, social character, optimum
stimulation levels and variety novelty seeking. The presence/absence of such traits helps
differentiate between consumer innovators and non-innovators.
Consumer Innovativeness
Consumer innovativeness is a construct that deals with how receptive consumers are to new
products. Consumer innovativeness has been defined as a predisposition or propensity to buy
or adopt new products or a preference for new and different experience.
A recent research effort examines high-technology products, developed a hierarchical model

consisting of three levels of personality, that is:
1. Global innovativeness:- Global consumer innovativeness refers to the similarities and

differences in consumer willingness to adopt new products across different countries of
the world.
2. Domain-specific innovativeness:-that is based on an activity within a specific domain or
product category.
3. Innovative Behavior:- Innovative behavior refers to the introduction and application of
new ideas, products, processes, and procedures to a person's work role, work unit, or
organization. Innovative behavior can be carried out both by an individual organizational
member or groups of individuals within an organization.
Consumer Dogmatism
Consumer dogmatism is a personality trait that measures the degree of rigidity that an
individual display (expresses) towards the unfamiliar and towards information that is contrary to
their own perceptions or beliefs. Dogmatism is an extent to which a person reacts to relevant
information on its own merits, carefree (regardless) by the irrelevant factors in the situation.
In order to make the non-innovators or we can say potentially reluctant consumers to accept
the innovation the marketers use authoritative figure such as celebrities and experts for their
new products advertising. However, low dogmatic consumers often prefer innovative changes,
and seems to be more receptive to the advertisements.
Social Character
It describes the formation of the shared character structure of the people of a society or a social
class according to their way of life and the socially typical expectations and functional
requirements regarding socially adaptive behavior. Social character is essentially adaptive to the
dominant mode of production in a society. Social character is a personality trait that ranges on a
continuum from inner directedness to other-directedness.
Optimum stimulation level
OSL is the degree of stimulation that rates the consumers response to accept the product
innovativeness. Research found that OSL are linked with greater willingness to take risks, to try
new products, to be innovative, to seek purchase related information and to accept new retail
facilities than low OSLs.
Need for Uniqueness
An individual's pursuit of differentness relative to others that is achieved through the

acquisition, utilization, and disposition of consumer goods for the purpose of developing and
enhancing one's personal and social identity
Sensation Seeking
Sensation seeking is a personality trait defined by the search for experiences and feelings, that
are "varied, novel, complex and intense", and by the readiness to "take physical, social, legal,
and financial risks for the sake of such experiences.
Variety or novelty seeking
In psychology, novelty seeking is a personality trait associated with exploratory activity in

response to novel stimulation, impulsive decision making, extravagance in approach to reward
cues, and quick loss of temper and avoidance of frustration. There appear to be many different
types of consumer-variety seeking; exploratory purchase behavior (e.g., switching brands to
experience new, different and possibly better alternatives), vicarious exploration (e.g., securing
information about a new or different alternative then contemplating or even day dreaming
about the option), and use innovativeness (using adopted product in a new or novel way).
Cognitive Personality Factors

Cognitive personality traits were shown to act as moderator variables on the relationships
between depth of search in a set of information display board (IDB) tasks and such "product-
specific psychological" variables as confidence, danger-risk, and perceived decision complexity.
Need for Cognition

The tendency of an individual to engage in and enjoy thinking. Essentially, individuals with high
need for cognition are occupied in more effortful information processing, and scrutinize
communications more carefully as compared to individuals with low need for cognition. Doing
research on consumers need for cognition is useful for marketers as insights gained will help
formulate communication strategies. For example, in the category of a washing machines, a
semi-automatic machine is likely to attract a target segment that is not that is not interested in
the upper-end fuzzy logic washing machines.
Visualizers versus verbalizers
People who are open to and prefer the written word as a way of obtaining information are
visualizers, and the people who are more likely to respond to and prefer visual images or
messages as source of information
Interpersonal Influence
interpersonal influence is a type of social influence which results from group members
encouraging, or forcing, conformity while discouraging, and possibly punishing, nonconformity.
Consumer materialism
Materialism is a personality like trait which distinguishes between individuals who regard
possessions as essential to their identities and their lives those for whom possessions are
secondary. Researchers have found some characteristics of materialistic people, they are:
-they value acquire and showoff possessions.
-they are self centered and selfish people
-they seek lifestyle full of possession
-they are not satisfied with their possessions.
Fixated Consumption Behavior
Introduction Fixated Consumption Behavior Somewhere between materialism and compulsion,

with respect to buying or possessing objects, is the notion of being fixated with regard to
consuming or possessing. Fixated consumption behavior is in the realm of normal and socially
acceptable behavior
Compulsive Consumption Behavior

Consumers who are compulsive buyers have an addiction; in some respects, they are out of
control and their actions may have damaging consequences to them and to those around them.
Examples include uncontrollable shopping, gambling, drug addition, alcoholism and various
food and eating disorders. It is distinctively different from impulsive buying which is a temporary
phase and centers on a specific product at a particular moment. In contrast compulsive buying
is enduring behavior that centers on the process of buying, not the purchases themselves.

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Personality and Consumer Behavior

Personality reflects individual differences

Personality is consistent and enduring

Personality can change

Personality and Understanding Consumer Behavior

Consumer innovativeness and related personality traits

A recent research effort examines high-technology products, developed a hierarchical model

1. Global innovativeness:- Global consumer innovativeness refers to the similarities and

Optimum stimulation level

Need for Uniqueness

An individual's pursuit of differentness relative to others that is achieved through the

Variety or novelty seeking

In psychology, novelty seeking is a personality trait associated with exploratory activity in

Cognitive Personality Factors

Need for Cognition

Visualizers versus verbalizers

-they value acquire and showoff possessions.

-they are self centered and selfish people

-they seek lifestyle full of possession

-they are not satisfied with their possessions.

Fixated Consumption Behavior

Introduction Fixated Consumption Behavior Somewhere between materialism and compulsion,

Compulsive Consumption Behavior

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