Consumer behavior: concepts, theories, and applications

¶ … person making the high involvement purchase of a house is my sister-in-law, Smadar. She is 40 years old, with four children. Three of these children are still attending school. Smadar herself graduated from highschool, but did not attend college. She is an Indian woman with a high enough income to make purchasing a house viable, but with little job prospects for the future as a result of her education level.

The belief that Smadar had about houses is both emotional and practical. A house, in Smadar's view, is a symbol of family security, unity and prosperity. Due to her culture and the way she was raised, Smadar values the ideal of a closely-knit family. This ideal would for her be reflected in a house that she could decorate according to her family's needs and beliefs. The benefit of having a house then would be a larger living and sleeping area for her family, as well as the more emotional aspect of reflecting the family's beliefs and ideals. Psychologically, the house would contribute to the family's general feeling of well-being.

The desire to buy a house stems from Smadar's strong belief in the above-mentioned benefits to herself and her family. This belief is also influenced by the socio-cultural environment in which she lives; many of her friends and family members have houses. Her attitude was therefore that a house is definitely a necessary purchase. It was thus not a question of buying the house, but of which house would best serve the needs of the family and have the most benefits in terms of the attributes described above, while at the same time falling within a price range that would suit Smadar's income.

Because Smadar falls in a lower-income group, her behavior could not be based upon emotional need alone, but also upon practical considerations. Thus the way in which she went about acquiring the house reflected this. To start her search, for example, she browsed newspapers and other documentation for examples of houses on sale. She also looked around for signs of houses on show in her neighborhood on the way to and from work. This was supplemented by visits to a variety of estate agents to see what they had on offer.

After briefly looking at a large number of houses, Smadar chose seven for deeper investigation, based upon both practical and emotional considerations. Because Smadar's household does not have a very high income, price would be her first and most prominent consideration when faced with a decision between fairly similar houses. Furthermore her own future prospects is a primary consideration. Because Smadar's level of education is not very high, her job prospects are somewhat limited. The house she buys would therefore have to be not only within her price range, but also a fairly good investment to make possible a substantial profit when she decides to sell the house.

Secondly, because she has three children still in school, location would be her second most important consideration. The house would have to be close to the schools that her children currently attend and will attend in the future. Other considerations such as extra features and the condition of the house were fairly minor, as Smadar could fix the house herself, and extra features would inflate the price.

Taking all of the above into account, Smadar spoke to a broker, who helped her make the best choice of the seven houses she chose to investigate. He also clarified many of the financial difficulties for her, and helped her to make the best decision for her income level. He was then one of her opinion leaders as a result of his knowledgability and apparently honest interest in helping her to make the best possible purchase for her budget.

Other opinion leaders included Smadar's family and friends who have made similar purchases with similar budgets. They were able to give her information about the best estate agents and brokers to consult. Finally, the estate agent through which Smadar made her purchase helped her especially with the emotional side of her purchase.

It was therefore Smadar's behavioral intention to let neither the practical nor the emotional take a dominant position in her decision to buy a house. She followed through with this intention in consulting experienced home buyers she knew she could trust, as well as brokers and estate agents that came highly recommended by these home buyers.

Smadar's behaviors were regulated by a number of elements, including operant conditioning and exposure. Operant conditioning occurred by means of friends and relatives helping her decide which house was best to buy. Exposure occurred through television and newspaper advertisements for estate agents selling the kind of houses Smadar was looking for.