Consumer Behaviour : Holiday Decision Making Process
Discuss and critically evaluate the traditional ‘rational problem solving, cognitive model’ of consumer decision making process, in light of the arguments given in the case study: ‘Holiday decision-making: an adaptable and opportunistic ongoing process.’
Every day, each one of us makes various decisions regarding different aspects of our daily routine. To be able to make these decisions, we need to be able to have alternatives. These decisions, however, are made after doing some degree of information search but not all consumer decision-making situations receive or require the same degree of information search. Some purchase decisions require extensive effort, where the consumers need a lot of information to set a criteria and judge specific brands, for example, a branded bag. On the other hand, some decisions require limited effort as the consumers already have established the basic criteria for evaluating the product category, for example, groceries. (Schiffman. L, Kanuk.L and Hansen. H, 2008, pp.71) Decision making therefore, is defined as choosing one alternative among several whereas; problem solving involves finding answer to a question. (Griffin. R and Moorhead.G, 2008, pp. 205) This essay look at two basic models 1) traditional rational problem-solving model 2) cognitive model of consumer decision-making process. It sheds light on the various theories and the criticisms of these models respectively, keeping in mind the holiday decision-making process.
TRADITIONAL RATIONAL PROBLEM-SOLVING MODEL
According to Alain Decrop, consumers have traditionally been portrayed as rational and risk averse. As a consequence, consumer decision making has been presented from a problem solving or information processing perspective. (Solomon. M, Bamossy.G, Askegaard.S and Hogg.M, 2006, pp.392) Howard and Sheth, 1969 tried to explain the choice of brand of the consumer and the purpose of the model was the ‘description, application and assessment of those elements of the
Every day, each one of us makes various decisions regarding different aspects of our daily routine. To be able to make these decisions, we need to be able to have alternatives. These decisions, however, are made after doing some degree of information search but not all consumer decision-making situations receive or require the same degree of information search. Some purchase decisions require extensive effort, where the consumers need a lot of information to set a criteria and judge specific brands, for example, a branded bag. On the other hand, some decisions require limited effort as the consumers already have established the basic criteria for evaluating the product category, for example, groceries. (Schiffman. L, Kanuk.L and Hansen. H, 2008, pp.71) Decision making therefore, is defined as choosing one alternative among several whereas; problem solving involves finding answer to a question. (Griffin. R and Moorhead.G, 2008, pp. 205) This essay look at two basic models 1) traditional rational problem-solving model 2) cognitive model of consumer decision-making process. It sheds light on the various theories and the criticisms of these models respectively, keeping in mind the holiday decision-making process.
TRADITIONAL RATIONAL PROBLEM-SOLVING MODEL
According to Alain Decrop, consumers have traditionally been portrayed as rational and risk averse. As a consequence, consumer decision making has been presented from a problem solving or information processing perspective. (Solomon. M, Bamossy.G, Askegaard.S and Hogg.M, 2006, pp.392) Howard and Sheth, 1969 tried to explain the choice of brand of the consumer and the purpose of the model was the ‘description, application and assessment of those elements of the