How Relevant Is The Rational Model of Consumer Decision-making to Essay

How Relevant Is The Rational Model of Consumer Decision-making to Marketers Today - Essay Example The author of the essay "How relevant is the rational model of consumer decision-making to marketers today?" begins with the short introduction of the rational model notion. The rational decision-making model would tend to assume that consumer characteristics are universal, meaning that buyers of products and services generally share the same set of homogeneous cognitive thinking traits by which decision-making is a practical and sensible process. For instance, a consumer opens a refrigerator, witnesses a lack of a favorite beverage and then sets about exploring options to fulfill this need. The vast volumes of marketing literature that have conducted studies on consumption behavior would tend to strongly refute this notion. In most East Asian countries, cultures are collectivist in which group opinion and group membership are substantial social values. Shukla (2010) reports that Asian consumers have recurring tendency to consume products that can enhance their social position or gai n some sort of psychological fulfillment when important reference groups applaud their product decision-making, a phenomenon known as conspicuous consumption. The energy drink, Red Bull, for instance, may be more socially acceptable in a group that is familiar with the brand name and trust in its quality over that of a lesser-known juice brand. To choose another beverage brand and then present it to the collectivist reference group could lead to social chastisement or some other dimension of criticism that would influence future repurchases. In this type of social scenario, based on collectivist values, there would be no evaluation of alternatives since the consumer has considerable experience with negative emotions stemming from the reference group opinions and would not want to repeat this social situation again. This would certainly have implications for both Red Bull and for the lesser-known beverage brand. Schiffman and Kanuk (2010) also recognise that cultural values have infl uence on consumption behaviour and even maintain a persuasion about which brands a consumer is most dedicated to. These researchers indicate that the volume of purchases a consumer maintains toward a favourite brand is influenced by how it assists in expressing social affiliation and status. Husik and Cicic (2009) call this status consumption, which is attempting to gain psychological satisfaction by exposing others in the social environment to the choice of product or service consumed. To further lend support for the influence of the cultural or social environment by suggesting an even more complicated and dynamic set of psychological characteristics that influence purchase decision-making behaviour. According to the research, people have an inherent desire to make comparisons to themselves and others in the social environment and generally want to believe they are better than everyone else (Durayappah 2010). When witnessing members of society in less-privileged life situations, it can even enhance the individual’