DEPARTMENT: INSTITUTE OF BUSSINESS AND

MANAGEMENT

SESSION: BBA 2021

SUBJECT: CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

ASSIGNMENT: PERSONALITY TRAITS

SUBMITTED BY:

CHAUDHARY DILAWAIZ KHURRAM 75

SUBMITTED TO:

SIR NAEEM AKHTER

ABSTRACT:

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 Personality traits are one of the main sources of our decisions. Furthermore,
social personality can predict the social behavior in particular conditions. A Study on the impact
of personality on shopping section will modify our approach to the business; what goods and
services should we produce? What is the customer’s response to specific social stimuli that have
impact on personality and what proper reaction should we do? Which personality trait has
outstanding role in the society so that we will provide suitable goods and services to be alive in
this emerging market? Are men and women same in shopping procedure? And when do they
notice hedonistic or utilitarian aspects of shopping? In other words, individuals have different
types of personality traits which are bold within their personality and make them distinctive in
behavior, habits, motivations and responses to a stimulus. Individual differences in personality
come from two sources: environmental sources which are early experiential calibrated, enduring
situational evocation, strategic specialization, adaptive self-assessment of inheritable qualities
and heritable sources, which are temporal or spatial variations in selection pressures, negative
frequency-dependent selection and mutation–selection balance. For several centuries,
psychologists tried to determine the dimensions and characteristics of personality. These efforts
had continued until they increasingly agreed that five super traits might adequately describe the
structure of personality. Costa and McCrae discussed five major factors, which are influential in
forming personality. They called these traits as Big Five Model of Personality and developed a
measure to assess them that is called NEO Personality Inventory. Five dimensions of Big Five
Factors are Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness (to experience), Conscientiousness,
Agreeableness. These personality factors were conceived by researchers to pay much more
attention to relations between personality and consumer behavior. Although personality research
(“person ology”) has long been a fringe player in the study of consumer behavior, little research
has directly been devoted to personality issues, and if consumer personality has ever been
investigated, it tended to be from the narrow perspective of developing yet another individual
difference measure in an already crowded field of personality scales or considering the
moderating effects of a given trait on some relationship of interest. But recently, many
researchers discussed the topic of personality and consumer behavior.

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 “TABLE OF CONTENTS”

1. WHAT IS PERSONALTY?

2. WHAT ARE PERSONALITY TRAITS?

3. THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS.

4. WHY PERSONALITY TRAITS MATTER IN MARKETING?

5. HOW COMPANIES EMPLOY PERSONALITY TRAITS IN THE

CONTEXT OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR?

6. HOW COMPANIES MODIFY CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR?

7. CONCLUSION.

♦ WHAT IS PERSONALITY?

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Before we go on to explain the various personality traits, there needs to be a good understanding
of what personality is. While there is no one agreed-on definition of what personality is, a
general definition is that personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions and
emotional patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors. This filters down to
the result of the different people we come across every day. No two people are the same and this
is because of:

1) personality traits that vary across a scale from one person to another and

2) environmental factors that influence how individuals behave such as society and culture.

Personality is a stimulating subject. It captures the attention of people looking to learn more
about themselves and learn how to better relate to the world around them.

They are drawn in by the allure of learning something surprising about themselves, or gaining a
better understanding – or even an affirmation of – their own character.

Today, businesses benefit from this fascination by asking potential job candidates to take a
personality test before hiring. Just as an individual might hope to gain a better understanding of
themselves by taking a test, an employer is hoping to gain an understanding of a person to avoid
making a costly hiring mistake.

A powerful way of evaluating a candidate’s personality is to use personality tests, or personality

inventories, that measure using The Big Five personality dimensions.

♦ WHAT ARE PERSONALITY TRAITS?

When we observe people around us, one of the first things that strikes us is how different people
are from one another. Some people are very talkative while others are very quiet. Some exhibit
active behavior whereas others may live a more sedentary lifestyle. Some worry a lot; others
almost never seem anxious. Each time we use one of these words, words like “talkative,”
“quiet,” “active,” or “anxious,” to describe those around us, we are talking about a person’s
personality — the characteristic ways that people differ from one another. Personality
psychologists try to describe and understand these differences.

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Although there are many ways to think about the personalities that people have, Gordon Allport
and other “per sonologists” claimed that we can best understand the differences between
individuals by understanding their personality traits. Personality traits reflect basic dimensions
on which people differ.

An important feature of personality traits is that they reflect continuous distributions rather than
distinct personality types. This means that when personality psychologists talk about Introverts
and Extraverts, they are not really talking about two distinct types of people who are completely
and qualitatively different from one another. Instead, they are talking about people who score
relatively low or relatively high along a continuous distribution. In fact, when personality
psychologists measure traits like Extraversion, they typically find that most people score
somewhere in the middle, with smaller numbers showing more extreme levels.

There are three criteria that are characterize personality traits: (1) consistency, (2) stability, and
(3) individual differences.

1. To have a personality trait, individuals must be somewhat consistent across situations in

their behaviors related to the trait. For example, if they are talkative at home, they tend
also to be talkative at work.
2. Individuals with a trait are also somewhat stable over time in behaviors related to the
trait. If they are talkative, for example, at age 30, they will also tend to be talkative at age
40.
3. People differ from one another on behaviors related to the trait. Sleeping is not a
personality trait and neither is consuming food — virtually all individuals do these
activities, and there are almost no individual differences. But people differ on how
frequently they talk and how active they are, and thus personality traits such as
Talkativeness and Activity Level do exist.

Traits are important and interesting because they describe stable patterns of behavior that persist
for long periods of time. Importantly, these stable patterns can have broad-ranging consequences
for many areas of our life. For instance, think about the factors that determine success in college.
If you were asked to guess what factors predict good grades in college, you might guess
something like intelligence. This guess would be correct, but we know much more about who is
likely to do well. Thus, personality traits are not just a useful way to describe people you know;
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they actually help psychologists predict how good a worker someone will be, how long he or she
will live, and the types of jobs and activities the person will enjoy. Thus, there is growing interest
in personality psychology among psychologists who work in applied settings, such as health
psychology or organizational psychology.

Many contemporary personality psychologists believe that there are five basic dimensions of
personality, often referred to as the "Big 5" personality traits. These five primary personality
traits are extraversion (also often spelled extroversion), agreeableness, openness,
conscientiousness, and neuroticism.

Extraversion is sociability, agreeableness is kindness, openness is creativity and intrigue,

conscientiousness is thoughtfulness, and neuroticism often involves sadness or emotional
instability.

Understanding what each personality trait is and what it means to score high or low in that trait
can give your insight into your own personality—without taking a personality traits test. It can
also help you better understand others, based on where they fall on the continuum for each of the
personality traits listed.

♦ THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS:

It is important to note that each of the five primary personality traits represents a range between
two extremes. For example, extraversion represents a continuum between extreme extraversion
and extreme introversion. In the real world, most people lie somewhere in between.

While there is a significant body of literature supporting these primary personality traits,
researchers don't always agree on the exact labels for each dimension. That said, these five traits
are usually described as follows.

▫ OPENNESS:
Openness (also referred to as openness to experience) emphasizes imagination and insight the
most out of all five personality traits. People who are high in openness tend to have a broad
range of interests. They are curious about the world and other people and are eager to learn new
things and enjoy new experiences.

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People who are high in this personality trait also tend to be more adventurous and creative.
Conversely, people low in this personality trait are often much more traditional and may struggle
with abstract thinking. This trait is often referred to as the depth of someone’s mental
experiences, or imagination. It encompasses someone’s desire to try new things, be open and
think creatively. People who score high in this area are generally artistic and curious, while those
who score low tend to be conventional and stay in their comfort zones.

HIGH LOW
▫ Very creative ▫ Dislikes change
▫ Open to trying new things ▫ Does not enjoy new things
▫ Focused on tackling new challenges ▫ Resists new ideas
▫ Happy to think about abstract concepts ▫ Not very imaginative
▫ Dislikes abstract or theoretical
concepts

▫ CONSCIENTIOUSNESS:

Among each of the personality traits, conscientiousness is one defined by high levels of
thoughtfulness, good impulse control, and goal-directed behaviors. Highly conscientious people
tend to be organized and mindful of details. They plan ahead, think about how their behavior
affects others, and are mindful of deadlines.

Someone scoring lower in this primary personality trait is less structured and less organized.
They may procrastinate to get things done, sometimes missing deadlines completely. This trait
measures a person’s reliability and dependability. Someone who scores higher in this area is
more goal-oriented, tends to control impulses, and is usually very organized. They are likely to
see success in school and excel as a leader. Those who score lower in this area are more likely to
be impulsive and procrastinate on assignments.

HIGH LOW
▫ Spends time preparing ▫ Dislike's structure and schedules

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 ▫ Finishes important tasks right away ▫ Makes messes and doesn't take care of
▫ Pays attention to detail things
▫ Enjoys having a set schedule ▫ Fails to return things or put them back
where they belong
▫ Procrastinates important tasks
▫ Fails to complete necessary or
assigned tasks.

▫ EXTRAVERSION:

Extraversion (or extroversion) is a personality trait characterized by excitability, sociability,

talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness.

People high in extraversion are outgoing and tend to gain energy in social situations. Being
around others helps them feel energized and excited.

People who are low in this personality trait or introverted tend to be more reserved. They have
less energy to expend in social settings and social events can feel draining. Introverts often
require a period of solitude and quiet in order to "recharge." The extroversion trait indicates how
social and talkative a person may be. Those scoring high in extroversion are generally more
assertive, socially confident, and recharge from interacting with people, while those who score
lower are more likely to seek solitude and introspection.

HIGH LOW
▫ Enjoys being the center of attention ▫ Prefers solitude
▫ Likes to start conversations ▫ Feels exhausted when having to
▫ Enjoys meeting new people socialize a lot
▫ Has a wide social circle of friends and ▫ Finds it difficult to start conversations
acquaintances ▫ Dislikes making small talk
▫ Finds it easy to make new friends ▫ Carefully thinks things through before
▫ Feels energized when around other speaking
people ▫ Dislikes being the center of attention
▫ Say things before thinking about them

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 ▫ AGREEABLENESS:

This personality trait includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other
prosocial behaviors. People who are high in agreeableness tend to be more cooperative while
those low in this personality trait tend to be more competitive and sometimes even manipulative.
Agreeableness shows how well someone can get along with other people. People scoring high in
this trait are usually well-liked, sympathetic, and affectionate, and those who score lower are
perceived as blunt, rude, and sarcastic.

HIGH LOW
▫ Has a great deal of interest in other ▫ Takes little interest in others
people ▫ Doesn't care about how other people
▫ Cares about others feel
▫ Feels empathy and concern for other ▫ Has little interest in other people's
people problems
▫ Enjoys helping and contributing to the ▫ Insults and belittles others
happiness of other people ▫ Manipulates others to get what they
▫ Assists others who are in need of help want

▫ NEUROTICISM:

Neuroticism is a personality trait characterized by sadness, moodiness, and emotional instability.

Individuals who are high in neuroticism tend to experience mood swings, anxiety, irritability,
and sadness. Those low in this personality trait tend to be more stable and emotionally resilient.

The last OCEAN trait is also known as emotional stability. It measures how well a person can
control emotions like anxiety and sadness. Scoring high in this area indicates that someone may
be prone to those emotions and may also have low self-esteem. Those receiving a low score are
probably more confident and adventurous.

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 HIGH LOW
▫ Experiences a lot of stress ▫ Emotionally stable
▫ Worries about many different things ▫ Deals well with stress
▫ Gets upset easily ▫ Rarely feels sad or depressed
▫ Experiences dramatic shifts in mood ▫ Doesn't worry much
▫ Feels anxious ▫ Is very relaxed.
▫ Struggles to bounce back after
stressful events

♦ WHY PERSONALITY TRAITS MATTER IN MARKETING?

Various personality types, like people with various motives, are likely to respond in different
ways to different market offerings. For example, an extrovert may enjoy the shopping experience
and rely more on personal observation to secure information; thus, in-store promotion would
become an important communication tool. Knowing the basic personality traits of target
customers can be useful information for the manager in designing the marketing mix. Marketers
have, however, found personality to be difficult to apply in developing marketing strategy. The
primary reason for this is the lack of good ways to measure personality traits. Most available
measures were developed to identify people with problems that needed medical attention. These
have little value with consumers who are mentally healthy. As a result, most marketers have
turned to lifestyle analysis.

What are the implications for marketers? The authors of the study share how their research can
also serve marketing managers of online games:

Our results reveal how gaming might have practical implications for marketing managers. If
firms teach players how to play, it could indirectly promote the online purchase of related
products, which also supports the effectiveness of gamification strategies. In this sense, Huotari
and Hamari (2012) propose the use of gamification strategies to offer a good video game, with
added value, thus enhancing the playing experience and entailing benefits for both game
developers and players alike. Keeping in mind that central to the game model is consumer
choice, players will accept better non-imposed marketing strategies. In this sense, game

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developers may let master players (i.e., that show high gaming efficacy) to exchange information
(tips, strategies or trick) for extra features with others, making easy microtransaction process
between consumers (C2C commerce inside the game).

(As a parent of two children who have both grown up playing Minecraft, I can say with certainty
that the influence master and expert players have on children is strong! My kids can spend hours
(no judgement, please) watching YouTube videos of how master players build and defend
fortresses, uncover hidden treasures, and my ore.)

Research also provides evidence about the link between mobile gaming and online shopping
behavior (Balakrishnan and Griffiths, 2018). Xu, Chen & Santhanam’s 2015 study has found that
richer online formats and recommendations throughout video games enhance consumers’
perceptions about experience products and positively affect consumers’ intentions to purchase
products.

Recent data (Gaming Industry…2018), from Statista (2019) suggest that video gamers conduct
in-game purchases, such as upgrades, additional lives, currency, personalized avatars, an ad-free
experience, unrestricted playing time or special items (i.e., famous football players’ avatars or
skins that modifies the appearance of a character or item), and consumer spending on in-game
purchases will grow until 32 billion in 2020. In fact, 4% of global iOS device users and 3% of
Android users are making in-game purchases per month and (“Mobile Gaming…,” 2019).

Since users decide to adopt one activity, they tend to another similar one (Eastin, 2002). This is
why the authors of the study state that:

Therefore, when consumers exhibit self-efficacy playing a video game, they will probably
display this ability when purchasing related products. Therefore, we propose that video gamers
acquire several skills when playing, the fact that allow them to feel more self-confident and
effective when using online shopping platforms to buy games or accessories.

♦ HOW COMPANIES EMPLOY PERSONALITY TRAITS IN THE

CONTEXT OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR?

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Your brand personality is essentially the human characteristics associated with your brand. A
great starting point in trying to establish this is to imagine that your brand was a human, and ask
yourself some of the following questions:

▫ How would others perceive them? Are they bubbly, friendly, dependable, reliable,
responsible, cheerful, youthful, edgy, fun, engaging… the list could go on.
▫ How would they dress?
▫ What age group would they be?
▫ What is their social class?
▫ How does your brand act around others? Are they quite serious and professional, or do
they see themselves as a bit of a joker? Would they shake your hand or go straight in for
a hug?

The brand personality framework is an industry standard. Coined by social psychologist, Jennifer
Aaker, it groups brand personalities into five broad categories:

Each dimension has its own personality traits and strengths. Ideally, your brand personality
should fall under one of the categories, with around 3-5 adjectives that you would want your
customers to use when describing each brand.

FOR EXAMPLE:

1. AMAZON:
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 Amazon personality is sincerity & competence.

‍Amazon is one of the world’s most trusted brands—very sincere, supported by industry-
changing shipping and return policies and exceptional product accessibility.

Amazon has a reliable, competent, sincere and caring personality.

CEO Jeff Bezos is extremely customer-focused, telling the customer exactly what to expect
when interacting with Amazon and backing it up.

Some Amazon suppliers don’t like it, but he has built Amazon into one of the world’s most
trusted and sincere brands.

While Amazon continues to break new ground, not all products are successful; Bezos is unafraid
of failure, which helps make it more human.

2. REDBULL:

Red Bull personality is excitement.

‍It's an inspirational brand that relates to two different types of customers: professional athletes
and fun-loving people.

Red bull has an exciting, courageous, outgoing and hyper-energetic brand personality.

The brand caters to athletes that need to exceed difficult challenges, and the other the fun-loving
person that needs a bit of energy to get through the day and enjoy themselves.

Their most recent marketing efforts focus on the brand as they dabble in extreme sports, concerts
and music, causing a larger excitement around the urban brand.

Red Bull is known for ‘giving wings’ - giving you that extra boost of energy.

Remember that your brand personality should have a role in advancing the business strategy and
the brand.

You don’t want to have a personality just to have one.

Your brand personality should also appear authentic and not forced.

It should be backed up with in form of value propositions and customer experience.

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A brand's personality should also be aligned with a brand's voice.

There also should be a program in place that will bring your brand personality to life so that it's
not just an empty aspiration.

Consumers make decisions after buying some products. Evaluation is essential for next buying
decision. Therefore, consumer decisions systems’ work is important for brands. The system
depends on many variables such as types of consumers, personality, timing, place, memories etc.
Behaviors a person depend on its personality. Personality is a key element to learn daily events.
Psychological factors effect to consumer behavior. One of the negative consumption behaviors is
compulsive buying. Compulsive buyers do not control easily their behaviors. Some people try to
seek new experiences in their daily life. These people can be called as variety seekers. Variety
seeking has relations with variables which can be lists as personality, types of behaviors or
buying-decisions process. Previous research has explored some factors which are interested
personality and variety seeking. It can be given the studies such as consumption motivations,
impulsive buying, entrepreneurial intentions, internet addictions, mood states, materialism and
money spending. Our study, we examined the relations among state Big Five personality
dimensions, compulsive buying and variety seeking. Specifically, Fayez and Labib (2016)
investigated that big five personality dimensions on compulsive buying in a sample of Egyptian
consumers. However, this paper tries to contribute to filling a gap in the variety seeking literature
and to provide a useful insight into personality management in the buying decision process. This
study was carried out in the Turkey context. In Turkey literature, there are very few studies about
these relations. Therefore, this paper would be imperative for company managers for
understanding consumers’ behavior in order to many product categories.

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 o Extraversion is positively related to CBT.
o Extraversion is positively related to VST.
o Agreeableness is positively related to CBT.
o Agreeableness is positively related to VST.
o Conscientiousness is negatively related to CBT.
o Conscientiousness is negatively related to VST.
o Emotional stability is positively related to CBT.
o Emotional stability is negatively related to VST.
o Openness to experience is positively related to CBT.
o Openness to experience is positively related to VST.
o Compulsive buying tendency is positively related to VST.

▫ COMPULSIVE BUYING TENDENCY (CBT):

Compulsive buying has been of interest to consumer researchers for almost four decades. There
are some definitions of compulsive buying. Compulsive buying is defined as “a response to an
uncontrollable drive or desire to obtain, use, or experience a feeling, substance, or activity that
leads an individual to repetitively engage in a behavior that will ultimately cause harm to the
individual and/or to others”. Palan et al. defined compulsive buying as ‘‘an episodic urge to
buy’’. Müller et al. defined that compulsive buying behavior is shopping addiction or a mental

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health condition characterized by uncontrollable purchase of products. Compulsive buying can
be a problem such as social, familial, and financial for some consumers. Therefore, shame and
quilt feelings appear on the compulsive buying behaviors. A compulsive buyer has intended to
experience more negative affect states than non-compulsive buyers. The many studies of
compulsive buying show that higher levels of compulsive buying correlate with low self-esteem
or high anxiety. The strongest motivating characteristics associated with compulsive buying
appear to be materialistic tendencies and lack of impulse control.

▫ VARIETY SEEKING TENDENCY (VST):

The last seven decades, variety seeking behavior is in academic literature. The marketing
researchers have studied this topic because of a large number of choices for consumers with
many areas. Variety seeking is “the tendency of individuals to seek diversity in their choices of
services and goods”. Literature also defines variety seeking based on its antecedents such as
internal personal motivations and external, or derived, driving forces based on external
situations. Ratner and Kahn pointed out that “consumers often choose considerable amounts of
variety when allowed to select more than one item from a choice set, even when they are given
the option of repeating consumption of favored items”. This study defines variety seeking as an
individual’s (internal) tendency to seek variety in daily routines and activities. Variety seeking
can be motivated by impression management, a need for stimulation, a desire to relieve boredom,
and a preference for stability. When consumers want to buy a product, they try to look different
brands because change feels good. The reasons of some things such as boredom with choice task,
relief of attribute satiation, variety seeking behavior is positively valued by consumers. Schwartz
point out that too many choices lead to less satisfaction with the decision. Knox and Walker
point out that high sensation of variety seekers are purchasers with low brand commitment. In
the study of Helm and Land Schulze, variety seekers interested familiar brands instead of new
brand alternatives. Møller Jensen and Hansen found that situational factors such as alternative
brands influence to variety seeking tendency positively. Van Tripp et al. proved that variety
seeking intensity differs across the categories of product.

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 ♦ HOW COMPANIES MODIFY CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR?

Personality is a unique identification of the person that one individual is different from others not
only in the physical aspects, but also in personality types. It is one of the factors that influence
one’s behavior in the marketplace. What a consumer buys, when and how he or she purchases
are influenced by his personality types. That is why marketers are keen to understand the
meaning of personality and traits as well as how these traits affect consumer behavior. Impulse
buying behavior is generally influenced by personality traits that are experienced by consumers
in his/her purchases. In this context some researchers have done lots of effort to verify that if
people who frequently engage in this behavior have some common personality traits. Eysenck
and Eysenck modified their personality scale which, according to Rocklin and Revelle,
restructured extraversion in a manner that included liveliness and sociability, but excluded
impulsivity. As a result, to the revision of their three-factor theory of personality Eysenck and
Eysenck further divided impulsivity (labeled broad impulsiveness) into four dimensions: narrow
impulsiveness, risk-taking, non-planning, and liveliness. They found that the four impulsivity
dimensions correlated differently with extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. The factor
narrow impulsiveness, had high correlations with neuroticism and psychoticism, but did not
correlate with extraversion. However, the other dimensions, risk-taking, non-planning, and
liveliness, were more strongly correlated with extraversion. Eysenck and Eysenck’s re-
examination of their innovative appointment of impulsivity on extraversion and their suggestion
that impulsivity consists of two components: venturesomeness that corresponds to extraversion,
and impulsiveness, that corresponds to psychoticism. The aim of this study is to develop on these
previous studies by investigating the relationship between impulse buying behavior and some
relevant personality traits on the basis of an Eysenck revised scale. Psychoticism is described by
toughmindedness, nonconformity, hostility, and impulsivity. The physiological basis
recommended by Eysenck for psychoticism is testosterone, with higher levels of psychoticism
linked with higher levels of testosterone.

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Consumer behavior is a complex phenomenon which is evolving according to the time,
situations, demographic characteristics of individuals, personality traits, cultural influences etc.
The personality of individuals is a unique dynamic organization of the characteristics of a
particular person, physical and psychological, which influence behavior and responses to the
social and physical environment. It gives the impression that consumer buying is always
influenced by their personality. Therefore, many marketers make use of personality traits in the
advertisement of products and at the same time they enhance their marketing strategy. The
marketers always designed different products and target specific market segments which
commonly addressed on individual’s personality traits. The individual’s few personality traits
influence consumer for impulsive buying behavior. The aim of present research is to study the
personality traits influence on consumer impulsive buying behavior as it will help to create
opportunities of doing business and dealing with customers. The objectives of this research are:
(1) to investigate the influence of personality traits on consumer impulsive buying behavior, and
(2) to identify the role of gender and their personality traits influence on consumer impulsive
buying behavior. To fulfill the purpose of the study, the researchers randomly collected sample
and divided them on the basis of gender; 60 males and 60 females. Data were collected from
Delhi and NCR region. The data were analyzed using statistical applications such as correlation
and ‘t’ Test. The result was revealed that the common personality traits have a significant
relationship with impulsive buying behavior that is psychoticism in the case of male and female.
The role of gender has significant differences in impulsive buying behavior. The man showed
more impulsive buying behavior compare to women.

Marketers are interested in understanding how personality influences consumption behavior

because such knowledge enables them to understand consumers better and to segment and target
those consumers who are likely to respond positively to their product or service and
communications. Several specific personality traits that provide insights to marketers:

a) INNOVATORS:

Consumer innovators are the group of consumers that are very open to new ideas and are usually
the first to purchase products. Innovativeness is the underlying trait that describes a consumer’s
willingness to try new products. Companies have found this very important when introducing
brand extensions because it is a key factor in the consumer’s likelihood to try the new product.

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For hi-tech products, we see that innovativeness can be explained at three levels. The first,
global innovativeness, is the overall innovative level of the consumer. Drilling down further,
domain-specific innovativeness has to do with the particular product category, and finally, the
innovative behavior is the actual purchase of the new product.

Laggards are the converse of innovators. They are very slow to change and wait for others to first
try the new product.

b) DOGMATIC:

Dogmatic is a personality trait that describes how rigid or open a person is to new and unfamiliar
ideas and products. A person who is highly dogmatic approaches the unfamiliar defensively and
with discomfort. They will rarely consider the unfamiliar and tend to be very close minded.
Marketers have realized this type of customer appreciates advertising appeals with celebrities
and other experts.

Dogmatism is a personality trait that reflects the degree of rigidity a person displays toward the
unfamiliar and toward information that is contrary to his or her own established beliefs. It is
opposite of being open-minded. This set of people prefer traditional products and are more
receptive to ads from authoritative figures e.g., Amitabh Bachchan for banks

c) SOCIAL CHARACTER:

This personality trait has its origins in sociological research, but it is of great interest to
marketers because it differentiates the type of advertising that influences these customers. Inner-
directed people prefer ads that stress product features. Inner-directed people rely on own values
when evaluating products Other-directed individuals gravitate to ads that that show approving
social environment rather than product information – they want to look to others to understand
how to act or be accepted, look to others and are less likely to be innovators

d) NEED FOR UNIQUENESS:

Consumers who avoid conforming to expectations or standards of others, who like to display
material possessions to differentiate from other people seek uniqueness in products.

e) OPTIMUM STIMULATION LEVEL:

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Optimum stimulation levels are related to how a consumer tends to like or dislike novel,
complex, and unusual experiences and products. High optimum stimulation levels lead
consumers to take risks and try new products. Similar to a person with high innovativeness,
these consumers are important to marketers of new products.

A personality trait that measures the level or amount of novelty or complexity that individuals
seek in their personal experiences. It is the degree to which people like novel, complex an
unusual experience e.g., someone who prefers a simple uncluttered and calm existence have
low OSL

High OSL consumers tend to accept risky and novel products more readily than low OSL
consumers. This group is of importance to marketers of new products e.g., Millennials

f) SENSATION SEEKING:

The need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experience. PLUS, the willingness to
take social and physical risks for such experiences.

Sensation-seeking traits tie to the need to take risks to fulfill the sensations of experiences which
are different and extreme. Much research has been tied to the study of teenage males who often
engage in this behavior e.g., adventure sports

g) VARIETY NOVELTY SEEKING:

Consumers seek variety in many ways. Some exhibit exploratory purchase behavior where they
switch brands often to experience new products. Other consumers display variety by use
innovativeness, using an existing product in a new way.

Measures a consumer’s degree of variety seeking. Examples include:

Exploratory Purchase Behavior – switch brands to experience new, different and better
alternatives

Use Innovativeness – use an already adopted product in a new / novel way

Vicarious Exploration – gathering information about a new and different product alternatives and
contemplating buying them

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 ♦ CONCLUSION:

Always remember that behavior involves an interaction between a person's underlying

personality and situational variables. The situation that someone finds themselves in plays a role
in how they might react. However, in most cases, people offer responses that are consistent with
their underlying personality traits.

These dimensions represent broad areas of personality. But personality is also complex and
varied. So, a person may display behaviors across several of these personality traits.

No two people are the same. Everyone has an ‘OCEAN’ (the big five personality traits) in them
but it varies from one person to the other. When looking at job performance, it may be right to
use the most commonly used personality trait: conscientiousness but it is equally important to
analyze the job and its environment and benchmark it against the person who will be occupying
it. Contextual job performance should be used widely to get the best prediction of performance.
It may take up some time to conduct all the necessary tests but, in the end, it will be worth it.
Rather than being surprised once the individual is on board.

Matter in Marketing

Why Personality Traits Matter in Marketing

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