Theories of Motivation

Blythe, J. and Blythe, P.J. (1997) The essence of consumer behaviour. Hemel Hempstead: Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Drive, Hedonism and Motivation

• Motives should be distinguished from instincts. A motive is a reason for carrying out a particular behaviour; not an automatic response to a stimulus.
• Instincts are pre-programmed responses which are inborn in the individual and which are involuntary.
• Consumers are motivated by a desire to satisfy their needs.
• Human beings are complex creatures whose needs go beyond the merely physiological.
• Utilitarian needs lead the consumer to consider the objective and functional attributes of the product
• Hedonic/experiential needs lead the consumer to consider the subjective, pleasurable or aesthetic aspects of the product
• Drive is the force that makes a person respond to a need. It is an internal stimulus, and is caused by the drift from the desired state to the actual state. It is usually felt as tension, or restlessness.
• Motivation should not be confused with avoidance. Adverse outcomes (pain or undesirable effects) will not necessarily lead to a positive behavioural activity: in other words, threatening somebody will not necessarily make them do what you want them to do. Example: £50 seatbelt law; a lot of people held it across their chest to avoid being caught by police, thus driving with one hand lead to more accidents and injury.
• Avoiding pain: Burris F.Skinner (rat experiment)
• Marketers can use pain avoidance in motivating consumers by modelling; which is the process whereby consumers are shown the negative consequences of a given action through an actor who acts as a model
• Hedonism is the cult of pleasure. In terms of consumer behaviour, it concerns those areas which attach the fun of owning something.
• Examples include popping the foil seal on coffee jars, the turquoise colour on heinz beans contrasting with the bright orange etc. Many of these hedonic aspects are deliberately added at the design stage

Goals, Uncertainty and Post-Purchase Dissonance

• Drive-internal and pushes the individual
• Goal-external and object to which a motive is directed; goals pull the individual
• Goals-concrete or abstract
• Hierarchy of goals-marketing aimed at subgoals; designed to interrupt the goal satisfying process

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow hypothesised that needs would need to be met in a specific order of importance; the lower needs will need to be met before the higher needs.

Herzberg's hygiene and motivators

Hygiene Factors: Tend to be common to most consumers. Basic needs in the workplace such as fair pay, reasonable working conditions and a good relationship with the boss.

Motivator Factors: Such things as the esteem of colleagues, deserved praise from the boss and promotion. These tend to be subjective.