ABSTRACT
This academic exploration of the underpinnings of the psychology of marketing provides timely research outcomes providing understanding for consumer marketing focus connected to human behaviour. In doing so, the literature provides historical and contemporary scientific findings about human cognitive abilities used by marketing schemas focused on sales through consumer buying models. In addition, this academic investigation looks at marketing research from a critical perspective offering further insights by professionals in the field of human behaviour in marketing. Included in this discourse is a perspective of where marketing research and human psychological behaviour need further investigation for creating ethical, substantial, and logical marketing for sustainability of consumer loyalty for goods and services within the global marketing paradigm.
psychology, marketing, consumer, behaviour, sustainability
Introduction
The theoretical underpinnings of the psychology of marketing, is multidimensional including evolutionary, social, and behavioural areas of this field. As an academic investigation, the following discourse examines through an evaluative lens some of the critical dimensions of consumer vision, the relationship between consumer commitment, trust, involvement, satisfaction, and marketing engagement. This discourse is in response to how, (consumers) surround (themselves) with valued material possessions as a matter of (their) lives, taking course. A sense of linkage to the concrete and observable world external to (themselves) permits (them) to obtain a sense of stability and continuity in an otherwise less stable existence. Part of the continuum of marketing focus draws on the psychological/scientific precepts of human behaviorism related to consumerism and thus, grounded in the influences of both textual and pictorial stimuli on purchasing choices.
Diversity of the 21st century's continually shrinking global community aligned to marketing schemas appealing to identified cultural emotions and perceptions has specific positive assertions proving how rationally appealing advertising provides strong marketing influences including generating consumer purchasing intentions. Exploration of relationship aspects of consumer marketing included here describes aspects of loyalty/retention, commitment, trust, and engagement. In part, this process reviews implications of these characteristics driving marketing, answering the decisive question posited here, as well as suggestions for research for existing gaps.
Relationship Marketing Consequences
Tilley (2009, p. 173) describes how, "A market-oriented understanding of strategy will produce market-oriented public relations" akin to relationship marketing and the consumer. Core to this process of relationship marketing and its consequences according to Noor, Perumal, and Hussin, (2010, p. 1) there exists, "increasing interest in buyer-supplier relationships, relationship satisfaction has become an important factors in relationship marketing and channel theory." Therefore, relationship-marketing satisfaction remains "an essential ingredient in the development and maintenance of long-term buyer-supplier relationships." This relationship provides the means for lower marketing costs while fostering substantial "economic value for both marketers and their customers."
Marketing Approaches /Strategies and Engagement
Keeping in mind the question posited in the introduction about the human consumer helps understand marketing approaches and strategies. Mental suggestions and external stimulus remain fundamental to marketing processes and the engagement of the consumer in the process. As outlined by Count-van Manen (1991 cited in Roeckelen, 2004, p. 539), considers this type of strategy connection to socio/cultural aspects of "whether imagery is viewed arbitrarily as an independent, intervening, or dependent variable; and the weight/substance of empirical evidence of the current theoretical and hypothesized formulations" with the consumer. The implications of such marketing approaches and strategies suggests imagery effect on the consumer remains substantial as supported in the work of Walters (2008). Babin and Burns (1997 cited in Mani and Macinnism, 2003, p 177) explain "Yet, in general, burgeoning evidence seems to point to the two strategies (i.e., pictures and concrete words) as fairly reliable persuasion tools."
Loyalty/Retention
Theoretical aspects of marketing connected to loyalty and retention, again, the linkage of consumer behaviour to purchasing activity framed in loyalty to products and retaining that loyalty has to connect the buyer to the concrete and observable world. Hill (2004, p. 36) explains, "This can be accomplished by continually displaying visual associations between the product and some object or symbol that is already schematically tied to a positive value (thereby taking advantage of the emotional responses that are already associated with that value)."
Attitudinal/ Behavioural Loyalty/Consequences
Consequences of this marketing strategy must consider the consumer cognitive load. This consideration remains a modifying variable on the marketing imagery effects on the consumer and his/her cognitive capacity for imagining how purchasing a product helps attain a sense of stability and continuity in an otherwise less stable existence. Use of the most appropriate or correct information lends to accomplishing this. Persuasive marketing incorporates a combination of messaging types. This endeavours marketing strategies constructing desired consumer attitude and behavioural loyalty through imagery prompts. In time, successful imagery prompts about products lead to favourable consumer perception toward the product, with loyal behavioural outcomes, according to Hill (2004).
Importance of Commitment
Conversely, consideration of how process oriented marketing versus outcome-oriented imagery effect on consumer attitude and behaviour decision-making practices has negative consequences according to Thompson, Hamilton, and Petrova (2008, p. 3) un their findings where they determine "that relative to outcome-oriented thinking, process-oriented thinking systematically increases decision difficulty when individuals face trade-offs between desirability and feasibility." Consequently, in this type situation implications suggest difficulty in consumer decision making connects to process-oriented thinking resulting in postponed purchasing decisions with less commitment for making a choice.
Calculative and Emotional
The most important part of directing consumer behavior as well as targeting identified markets uses human vulnerability to suggestion according to O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy (2004). Early 20th century marketing brought this idea forward by using demographic statistics targeting specific consumers for specific products with calculative emphasis on engaging emotional responses from consumers. Marketing research according to Benjamin (2004, p. 35) looks at "creating a society of predictable consumers through the use of conditioned emotions." This proposition looked at using innate emotions including love, fear, and rage influencing consumer buying from an objective scientific method. The fundamental framework of marketing lay in understanding consumer thinking, how to capture his/ her attention for persuading him/her toward a particular product.
O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy (2003, p. 100) explains marketing's psychologically effective influence on the unconscious minds of consumers arises from repetitive contact with the same stimuli and this type of product "exposure to an ad or a brand strengthens verbal and visual memories of that ad or that brand. This means the availability principle is likely to operate." Like, Pavlov's dog hearing the bell salivating for the expected meal, the consumer receives repeated stimuli of a product, he or she also figuratively "salivates" in both anticipation and expectation in the false/positive memory of the product. The desirable marketing outcome of such consumer behavior significantly leads to consumer purchase of the product as explained in the work of Thrassou and Vrontis (2009).
When consumers attribute the value of services and products from subjective, intangible, and abstract perspectives aligning with non-traditional factors of marketing characteristics of the business end, the products, the services, and of course, the consumer. These factors remain indicative to the historical and ongoing development of marketing communications as presented in the theoretical model developed by Thrassou and Vrontis (2009). In addition, this theoretical model looks to the 21st century possibly proving pivotal as a time for changes in the psychology and philosophy of marketing because of the global influence on marketing. Western nations now have businesses catering to the global demographics of immigrant communities in every variety of consumer goods and services specific to this diversity.
Trust
The importance of consumer trust in goods and services has logical frameworks. Losing consumer trust has direct links to negative marketing behavior connected to misuse of the psychological makeup of humans. Mitchel (2009, p. 26) advises marketing strategies and tactics deliberately taking advantage of human irrationalities deemed predictable in addition, drive unethical behavior by the marketing industry. This occurs with marketing ploys destroying the climate of consumer trust of both product and service connected enterprises. The short-term residuals broader effect results in generating climate changes of global proportions through unadulterated avarice by a powerful few.
Consumer Involvement/Satisfaction
Situational
An example of the psychology behind situational consumerism looks at environmentally friendly products and services and the utility connected human behavior. Buckingham and Theobald (2003, p. 166) explain, "Given its flexibility, it can provide a framework in which to examine the situational, psychological and value-based influences on the intentions of individuals towards various environmental behaviours." [Sic] Social issues that touch consumer morality and ethical values create situational marketing. Other examples are day care providers. Marketing tactics for this service provider continues taking the situations of working parents to their advantage with specific marketing ploys.
Situational marketing as already pointed out, proves directed as immigrant communities reflecting global diversity in culture aligned to food products, goods that connect with cultural activities, as well as music, tastes in recreational past times, and even in the tourist industry as immigrants becomes more affluent. Situational marketing also connects with major sporting events including the Super Bowl and even more predominantly the Olympics. The situational characteristics these two exemplify leave more room for marketing exploitation of consumers with all stakeholders aware of the circumstances. This kind of psychology of marketing exemplifies one of the less morally based practices in the gouging of prices across the board for consumer participation for food, hotel accommodation, transportation, and the proverbial souvenir industry.
Enduring
How business marketing nurtures enduring consumer loyalty, lay developing a personal relationship by never treating the buyer as a commodity. Inghilleri and Solomon (2010, p. 2) explains, "The primary threat to a business today is the perception by customers that all you offer is a replaceable, interchangeable commodity. Making the relationship with the consumer to products and services "in this era of accelerating change", the need for escaping the threat of commoditization remains critical. A counter measure of this inevitability means "creating enduring, loyal, human relationships with customers."
Critique of Relevant Research
The relevant research revolutionizing consumer behavior from both evolutionary and social psychological perspectives as consumer irrationalities remaining fully predictable and of significant use in marketing is not desirably full proof. Mitchell (2009, p. 26) advises, "One certain route to disaster is to view these discoveries through the lens of the mid-20th-century behaviourist psychology upon which most modern marketing theories are based." [Sic] Even though this teaches the malleability of human behavior for marketing purposes nonetheless, "This teaches us that human behaviour is infinitely malleable: all you have to do is find the right 'stimulus' to get the right 'response'." What emerges is punch bag marketing offering only "short-term and superficial influences, with each brand's stimulus being quickly cancelled out by equal and opposite stimuli" ?
Future Research Direction
Mitchell (2009, p. 26) proposes future research directs to the ensuing years that psychological research findings impel the most basic review about existing marketing methods resulting in markets having two options how to use the data taking an ethical position. Doing so means either taking the ethical position building winning and more sustainably coherent relationships with customers, or choosing the ethically unacceptable position more 'effective' in taking advantage consumers' decision-making vulnerability. The desirable outcome of increasingly apparent understanding marketers have about consumers' irrational predictability provides beneficial outcomes for all of society in services, institutions, as well as methodologies and frameworks lending to accomplishing adjustments as well as avoiding any barriers to eliminating negative characteristics of advertising.
Conclusion
As posited in the introduction, the theoretical underpinnings of the psychology of marketing, is multidimensional including evolutionary, social, and behavioural areas of this field. This academic investigation provides the varieties of discourse as outlined in the introduction with a well-developed discourse on the variables of the characteristics of this discourse is in response to how, (consumers) surround (themselves) with valued material possessions as a matter of (their) lives, taking course. A sense of linkage to the concrete and observable world external to (themselves) permits (them) to obtain a sense of stability and continuity in an otherwise less stable existence. Consumers are the test monkeys in the cage, the rats in the maze for marketing directives. The challenge remains to marketing philosophies and the application of the psychological understandings of human behaviour in the process that integrity, respect, morality, and ethics drive businesses providing humans the goods and services that create their stability and continuity in an otherwise less stable condition.
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