Motives for purchase decision‐making: combining attribution and functional approaches

The motivations which lead to consumer decisions have been given relatively little research attention, since motivations are difficult to quantify. The four part typology developed by Katz, 1 when combined with self‐perceived attributions, provides a useful method of examining the motivational underpinnings of consumer‐purchase decisions. This study involved an experimental design to evaluate self perceptions of the four functional motives—ego defensive, value expressive, knowledge and utilitarian. A sample of 105 undergraduate students attributed their use or purchase for each of 52 items to one of the four functional motives. Using these responses as self‐perception attributions, two research questions were examined: (i) would the four part typology be useful in explaining self‐perceptions of past behaviour? and (ii) would one function of the typology dominate these reports for each item? An across‐subject analysis suggested the four part typology could be meaningfully employed within a self‐perception context. However, one functional motive dominated attributions for only six of 52 items. Since motivations and consumer behaviour are clearly linked, this research offers a method of providing additional insight into that linkage. The paper concludes with further research possibilities that integrate the functional motive approach and self‐perception attributions.