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Consumer decision making within a goal‐driven framework
Author(s) -
Lawson Robert
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6793(199708)14:5<427::aid-mar1>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - set (abstract data type) , product (mathematics) , hierarchy , construct (python library) , perspective (graphical) , action (physics) , consumer behaviour , psychology , decision theory , product category , marketing , consumer choice , management science , computer science , social psychology , business , economics , microeconomics , artificial intelligence , mathematics , physics , geometry , quantum mechanics , market economy , programming language
Research and theory in consumer decision making has been dominated by a perspectivethat assumes that a consumer knows what product category he or she needs.This limited view has resulted in equating consumer decisions with brandchoice. The purpose of this article is to provide a framework for consideringa wider range of consumer decision‐making processes by linking them todifferent goals that consumers might pursue. A hierarchical goal structureconsisting of four levels of goals; abstract principles or values,action programs, more concrete product acquisition, and brand acquisitiongoals, is proposed as the theoretical construct which ties together a widerange of consumer decision making phenomena. An experiment in which consumersthink out loud in contemplating two levels of more familiar or unfamiliargoals reveals that their thoughts are constrained by the proposed goalhierarchy. The goals provide a useful framework for understanding decision‐makingprocesses involving product level consideration, set generation,and the evaluation of those self‐generated sets. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.