Personality and Understanding Consumer Behaviour

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Personality and understanding consumer behaviour Personality traits have been found to have an influence on consumer decision making and consumption patterns. Marketers are interested in analyzing and understanding consumption behaviour because such knowledge empowers them to target and segment those consumers who are most likely to respond positively to their products or services (Ray Wright, 2006). Some important traits which will be examined more in depth are: * Consumer innovativeness * Dogmatism * Social character * Need for uniqueness * Optimum stimulation level * Variety novelty seekers * Cognitive factors * Materialism * Fixated and compulsive behaviour * Ethnocentrism * Cosmopolitanism Consumer innovativeness Consumer innovativeness can be described as the extent to which consumers are responsive to new products, services, or practices (Gilles Roehrich, 2004). This trait is important to both consumers and marketers as both can benefit from the right innovation. Many consumer researchers have tried to develop measurement instruments to gauge the level of consumer innovativeness as shown in Table 1. Recent research developed a new approach (hierarchical approach) to gauge innovativeness. * Global innovativeness * Domain – specific innovativeness * Innovative behaviour There is a strong relation between innovativeness and other personality traits like social character, dogmatism, optimum stimulation level, need for uniqueness and variety novelty seeking. Table1 G. Roehrich Journal of Business Research 57 (2004) 671–677 Item sample of Baumgartner and Steenkamp’s EAP scale1. I would rather stick to a brand I usually buy than try something I am not very sure of2. When I go to restaurant, I feel it is safer to order dishes I am familiar with3. If I like a brand, I rarely switch from it just
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