Module 3

Motivation

Motivation is said to be the driving force within individuals produced by a state of tension
caused by unfulfilled needs and wants.

Needs

Need has been defined as a felt state of deprivation of some basic satisfaction. These basic
needs are also called physiological needs or biogenic needs, and includes the need for air,
water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing and sex. Physiological needs are primary needs or motives
because they are essential to survival.

Acquired needs are learnt needs that we acquire as a result of being brought up in a culture
and society. For example, needs of self-esteem, prestige, affection, power and achievement
are all considered as learned needs. Individual’s subjective psychological makeup and
relationship with others are considered as secondary needs or motives.

Needs may also be classified even more basically – utilitarian or hedonic. A consumer’s
utilitarian needs focus on some practical benefits and are identified with product attributes
that define performance such as economy or durability, etc.
hedonic needs relate to achieving pleasure from the consumption of a product or service and
are often associated with emotions or fantasies. Hedonic needs are more experiential as they
are closely identified with the consumption process. For example, a hedonic need might be
the desire to be attractive to the opposite sex. Example: Chocolate flavour or strawberry
flavoured condoms.

[Link]

Goals

Human behavior is goal-oriented. Marketers are particularly interested in consumers’ goal-

oriented behavior that concerns product, service or brand choice. They want consumers to
view their products or brands as those that would best satisfy their needs and wants.
To satisfy any specific need there are a number of solutions or goals. For example, to satisfy
hunger any type of food is good enough, but the individual consumer’s goal may be a
chicken roast. The goal orientation depends on the individual’s personal experiences,
physical capacity and prevailing cultural norms and values, and whether the goal objective
is accessible.

Needs and Goals are Dynamic

The nature of needs and goals is not static, they keep on recurring, changing and growing as
a result of an individual’s changing physical condition, environment, experiences, learning
and social interactions. Important reason why motivated behavior never comes to an end
include the following:

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1. Needs are never satisfied completed or permanently: At nearly regular intervals we
become hungry and need food to satisfy this recurring need. Similarly, most people
experience the social need and regularly seek company of others, their affections and
approval. Even in the case of more complex and abstract psychological needs such as, the
need for power, no one ever seems to be completely and permanently satisfied with
whatever one has and keeps on striving for more.

2. New need emerge: At any given time, a need may be predominantly active but as soon as
it is satisfied, another need emerges. According to Maslow, A hierarchy of needs exists.
As lower-order needs are fulfilled, a new higher-order need becomes active.
Example: Beri Beri spice in French fries at Mac Donald’s – improving on…

3. Success & failure influence goals: Research has shown that individuals who are
successful in achieving their goals usually aspire to achieve higher goals. This probably
happens because success gives them more confidence in their ability. On the other hand,
those who meet with failure, sometimes lower their levels of aspiration.

4. Substitute goals are formed:This may happen when someone is unable to achieve a
specific goal to satisfy certain needs and settles for some other goal. It may however,
and not be as satisfactory as the original goal but would be sufficient to just satisfy and
relive tension.

Motive Arousal

The concept of motive arousal concerns what actually energizes consumers’ behavior.
Many of the needs of an individual remain dormant for a long period. The arousal of any
particular set of needs at any given point of time gets triggered by an individual’s
physiological condition, emotional or thinking processes or due to situational stimuli.

1. Physiological Arousal: Deprivation of any bodily need such as food, water and other life
sustaining necessities activates the need. Most of the physiological cues are involuntary
and often arouse some related needs. For example, a person may heat up water to take a
bath and may also make a note to buy a geyser.
2. Emotional Arousal: sometimes latent needs are stimulated because a person gets involved
in thinking or daydreaming about them. This occurs when consumers deliberate about
unfulfilled needs. For example, a young man who wants to become a cricket player may
identify with Sachin Tendulkar and use products endorsed by him commercially.
[Link]

3. Cognitive Arousal: Sometimes just random thought may stimulate arousal of needs. An
ad “home away from home” may remind a person of home and he may suddenly become
aware of his need to call his wife or children.
4. Situational Arousal: A certain situation confronting a consumer may also trigger arousal.
This can occur when the situation attracts attention to an existing bodily condition. For
example, seeing an ad of Coca-Cola or a display suddenly makes one aware of being
thirsty. The need would have been present, but was not strong enough to trigger arousal.
Similarly, seeing an ad of a kitchen gadget may activate the need to buy that gadget.

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 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

1. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy of Needs

In a hierarchy of motives, the most influential motive is seen as enjoying the most
dominant position and so on in the entire list. The hierarchy of needs proposed by
Abraham H. Maslow is perhaps the best known and is a good guide to generate behavior.
Maslow classified needs into five groupings, ranking I order of importance from low-level
(biogenic) needs to higher-level (psychogenic) needs and suggested the degree to which
each would influence human behavior. According to this scheme, individuals strive to
fulfil lower-level needs first before higher-level needs become active.

Evaluation of Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory

It is not at all possible to measure accurately how satisfied one need is before the next
higher-level need becomes active. Despite criticisms, Maslow’s theory is widely used by
marketers to understand how various products or services fit into the plans, goals and
lives of potential consumers. It is used to develop suitable advertising appeals, enabling
marketers to focus on a need level that is shared by a large number of audience in the
target market. For example, soft drink commercials directed at the younger generation

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 stress on social appeal by showing a group of young people sharing good times and the
advertised soft drink. It also facilitates developing product positioning so that the product
is perceived in that manner.

2. Freud’s Theory of Motivation

Also known as Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. He proposed that the real
psychological forces shaping consumers’ purchasing behavior are often complex and
unconscious and it is not possible for a casual observer or the consumers themselves to
fully understand their own motivations.
Motivation researchers conduct “in-depth” interviews with a few dozen consumers to
explore unconscious motives. They also use “projective techniques” such as word
association tests, sentence completion tests and picture interpretation, etc. for example,
whiskey can draw someone who is seeking social relaxation, or status, or fun and we often
see ads of different brands using one of these appeals.

Motivation Research

Consumers just do not buy products or services. Instead, they actually buy motive
satisfaction or problem solutions. It has been noted that motives influence consumers’
purchase behavior and in many cases some motives may not reach the consumer’s
consciousness.
The term motivation research refers to a type of marketing research (qualitative research)
employed to uncover subconscious motivations of consumers that influence their
behavior. It seeks to discover & comprehend what consumers do not fully understand
about them.
Products or services that relate or might relate to attraction to the opposite sex, to become
more beautiful and attractive, to status or self-esteem, to power, to fears or to social taboos
are apparently good reasons for motivational research.
The methods used (three major motivational research techniques include observation,
focus group and depth interviews) involve disguised and indirect techniques to probe
consumer’s feelings, attitudes, and emotions concerning a product, or a service, without
triggering defense mechanisms that can lead to misleading results.
During the interview, the researcher watches for clues that might indicate that a “sensitive
nerve” has been touched. Some of the clues that the researcher watches for include, long
pauses by the respondent, slips of tongue, fidgeting, strong emotions, variations in the
voice pitch, facial expressions, eye movements, avoidance of the question, fixation on an
issue, and other body language indicators. Each respondent interview is tape-recorded
and transcribed. During the interview, the researcher makes notes about the respondent’s
behavior, mannerisms, physical appearance, personality characteristics and non-verbal
communication.
The researcher can also use projective techniques to evoke additional feelings, imagery
and commitment from the respondent later in the interviews. The researcher searches for
what is not said as much diligently as what is said. She/he sifts through the clues and the

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 evidence to deduce the forces and motives influencing consumer behavior.
The next step is the exploration of the unique motivations that relate to the product
category. What psychological needs the product or service fulfil? Does the product have
any social relevance or Implications? Does the product relate to one’s status aspirations,
to competitive drives, to feelings of self-esteem, to security needs? Does the product have
deep symbolic significance, etc.? Some of these motives must be inferred since
respondents are often unaware of why they do what they do or do not wish to disclose.
The last important dimension that needs to be understood is the business environment
including competitive forces, brand perceptions and images, relative market shares, the
role of advertising in the category, and trends in the marketplace.

Some shortcomings: sample sizes of consumers are small and hardly representative of the
total market and the findings are based on subjective analysis.
Motivation research is mainly used in the development of promotional themes that can
reach beyond consumers’ conscious awareness and appeal to unrecognized needs. It is
also used to explore consumer reactions to new product ideas and advertising copy at an
early stage to avoid any costly mistakes.

3. Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory

The two-factor theory (also known as Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and dual-
factor theory) states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job
satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. It was developed
by psychologist Frederick Herzberg, who theorized that job satisfaction and job
dissatisfaction act independently of each other.

Two-factor theory fundamentals: Attitudes and their connection with industrial mental
health are related to Abraham Maslow's theory of motivation. His findings have had a
considerable theoretical, as well as a practical, influence on attitudes toward
administration. According to Herzberg, individuals are not content with the satisfaction
of lower-order needs at work; for example, those needs associated with minimum salary
levels or safe and pleasant working conditions. Rather, individuals look for the
gratification of higher-level psychological needs having to do with achievement,
recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the nature of the work itself. This appears
to parallel Maslow's theory of a need hierarchy. However, Herzberg added a new
dimension to this theory by proposing a two-factor model of motivation, based on the
notion that the presence of one set of job characteristics or incentives leads to
worker satisfaction at work, while another and separate set of job characteristics leads
to dissatisfaction at work. Thus, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum
with one increasing as the other diminishes, but are independent phenomena. This theory
suggests that to improve job attitudes and productivity, administrators must recognize
and attend to both sets of characteristics and not assume that an increase in satisfaction
leads to decrease in unpleasurable dissatisfaction.

Herzberg described four basic states that could occur:

High Motivation/High Hygiene: Perfect state of happy, motivated employees,

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 High Motivation/Low Hygiene: Motivated employees who love the work but have lots
of complaints
Low Motivation/High Hygiene: Bored employees punching a clock for a paycheck
Low Motivation/Low Hygiene: Total mess of bored, unhappy employees.

Two-factor theory distinguishes between:

 Motivators (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) that give positive

satisfaction, arising from intrinsic conditions of the job itself, such as recognition,
achievement, or personal growth.
 Hygiene factors (e.g. status, job security, salary, fringe benefits, work conditions) that
do not give positive satisfaction, though dissatisfaction results from their absence.
These are extrinsic to the work itself, and include aspects such as company policies,
supervisory practices, or wages/salary.

4. Economic or Marshallian model

This theory was first advanced by the economists. They gave formal explanation of buyer
behaviour. According to this theory the consumers are assumed to be rational and
conscious about economic calculations. They follow the law of marginal utility. An
individual buyer seeks to spend his money on such goods
which give maximum satisfaction
(utility) according to his interests and atrelative cost. The buying behaviour is determine
d by the income – its distribution and level - affects the purchasing power. The economic
factors which affect the buyers behaviour are:

Disposable Personal Income

The economists attempted to establish relationship between income andspending.

Disposable personal income represents potential purchasing powerthat a buyer has. The
change in income has direct relation on buying habits. Personal consumption spending
tends both to rise and fall at a slower rate than what disposable personal income does.

1. Size of family income

Size of family and size of family income affect the spending and saving patterns. Usually
large families spend more and small families spend less in comparison.

2. Income Expectation
The income expected to get in future has direct relation with the buyingbehaviour. The
expectation of higher or lower income has a direct effect onspending plans.

3. Tendency to Spend and to Save

This goes to the habit of spending or saving with the disposable income of buyers. If the
buyers give importance to the present needs, they dispose of their income. And buyers
spend less if they give importance to future needs.

4. Liquidity of Funds
The present buying plans are greatly influenced by liquidity of assets readily convertible
into cash. For example, readily marketable shares and bonds, bank balances come into this

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 category. However, this convertable assets influence and offer freedom to buyer, who
actually buys with current income.

5. Consumer Credit
Facility of consumer credit system - hire purchase, installment purchase
etc.,play an important role in purchase decision. A buyer can command morepurchasing
power. ‘
Buy now and pay later’ plays its role effectively in the rapid growth of market for car,
scooter, washing machine, furniture, television and soon. The economic model of
consumer behaviour is uni dimensional. It is based on certain predictions of buying
behavoiur. They are
a. Lower the price of the product, higher the sales
b. Lower the size of substitute product, lower the sale of this product
c. Higher the real income, higher the sales of this product
d. Higher the promotional expenses, higher are the sales
However, ‘lower the price of a product, higher the sales’ may not hold good, a buyer may
feel that the product is sub-standard one. The behavioural researchers believe that this
model ignores all the other aspects such as perception, motivation, learning, attitude and
personality, and socio-cultural factors. Further, it is also observed that consumer also gets
influenced by other marketing variables such as products, effective distribution
network and marketing communication. Hence, it is felt that the economic model
is inadequate. It assumes that market is homogeneous where markets
are assumed to be heterogeneous

Personality

Consumer motivations are forces that stimulate and direct consumers towards performing
purposeful goal-oriented behaviour and the personality of an individual guides the behaviour
chosen to achieve specific goals in different situations.

Gordon [Link],According to him, “personalityis the dynamic organisation within

theindividual of those psychological systems that determine his uniqueadjustment to
environment”.

In the concepts of application to marketing,three distinct properties of personality appear tobe

of central importance:

1)personality is used to account for differences between individuals rather than the
[Link] helps markerters to grouppeople on the basis of 3 singleor a few commom traits.

2)personality is generally believed to be consistent specific consumer responses by appealing

to relevant personality traits.

3)personality tends to change due to major life events such as marriage,birth,death in

family,changes in economic circumstancesand the process of ageing.

The differences between these personality theoriesmainly focus on the definition of which
personality characteristics are themost [Link] have mainly focused on four
theories of personality.

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 1. Self-concept(self image)theory

Self concept is defined as ‘the totality of the individuals thoughts and feelings having
reference to herself/himself as an object’.

Each one of us has a [Link] individualsees himself/herself as having certain

attributes and qualities and values [Link] to one popular model proposed by
[Link] Sergy, there are four specific types of [Link], what consumers
buy or own is a reflection of what they thinkand believe who they [Link] represents their
actual self, what they would like to be is their ideal self, how they feel others see themis their
social self and how they would like others to see them is their ideal social [Link] has
identified one more kind of self-image,expected self,which means how consumers expect to
see themselves sometime in the future.

According to [Link] and [Link], it is useful to categorise self-concepts in two kinds

(1)independent(seperateness) and(2)interdependent(connectedness)

An independent self-concept is based more on common asian cultural belief in the basic
connectedness of human [Link] is characterised by emphasising
family,cultural,professional and social relationships. Such individuals are inclined to be
obedient,social relatonship focussed,holistic,connected, and [Link] definition
of themselves is in terms of social roles, family relationships and what is common with other
members of their groups(etinic and rationality groups included).

Self-concept theory is related to ego and super ego,which are the two important concepts of
psychoanalytic theory. The ego is believed to be a reflection of ones objective reality and is
similar to the actual self of the self-concept [Link] super ego is concerned with the way
things should be. Thus, it is a reflection of ideal self. To determine consumers self concept,
they are asked to describe how they actually view themselves(actual self), or how they would
prefer to see themselves(ideal self)on various sttributes such
as:modern,practical,caring,energetic,self-
controlled,dependable,aggressive,successful,serious,sensitive,happy,carefree,reckless,etc.

Some product take on meaning and value as they are used over [Link] allows them to get
associated with many [Link] other products quickly become part of extended self
because they are central to ones actual self or serve as an important symbol to ones social
[Link] include computers,hairstyles and tatooing etc.

2. Pychoanalytical theory

Freuds psychoanalytical theory proposes that every individuals personality is the result of
childhood [Link] conflicts are derived from three fundamental components of
personality. Id, ego and super [Link] id(or libido) is the source of an individual among
basic drives and urges such as hunger,sex,agression and self [Link] Id operates
on what is called the ‘pleasur principle’ that is, to seek immediate pleasure and avoid pain.a
newborns behaviour for example,is totally governed by the Id.

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The ego is the individuals conscious [Link] comes into being because of the limitations
of the id in dealing with the real world by developing individuals capabilites of realistic
thinking and ability to deal suitably with her/his [Link] operates on what is
called the ‘reality principle’.It is capable of postponing the gratification untill that time
when it will be suitably and effectively directed at attaining the goals of the Id at a socially
acceptable [Link] example rather than manifesting the need for agression in an anti
social manner,a consumer can partially satisfy this need by purchasing a powerful
motorcycle.

The super ego constitutes the moral part of an individuals [Link] represents the
ideal rather than the real,defines what is right and good and it influences the individual
to strive for perfection.

Freudian psychology says that quiet a sizeable part of human behaviour is unconcsiously
motivated. The way the child manages these conflicts,especially the sexual
conflicts,determines the adult [Link] conflicts in childhood results in
‘defence mechanism’, which are said to be unconsciously determined tension reducing
strategies used by ego.

Several themes based on psychoanalytical theory which are sometimes used by marketers
attempting to influence consumers such as,fantasy,wish fullfilment,agression and escape
from lifes pressure(perfume,hair dye,skin care products,dresses,farm houses and motorcycles
are some examples of product categories.

Consumption and extended self

Some products become significantly meaningful to us or are used to indicate some importants
aspects of ourselves to [Link] extended self([Link]) is different from the actual self
consists of the self plus possesion.

3. Social/ Cultural (Neo-Freudian) Theory

Freud’s understanding of personality focused mainly on observations of emotionally

disturbed people. A number of Freud’s foremost disciples, particularly Carl Jung and Alfred
Adler, disagreed from his view of personality.

These social theories, also referred as neo-Freudian school, viewed individuals as striving to
win over the feelings of inferiority and searching for ways to gain love, security and
relationships. Carl Jung believed that an individual’s culture created an accumulation of
shared memories from the past such as caring and nurturing female, heroes and old wise
men. He called these shared memories ‘archetypes’. For instance, a large number of ads show
a caring mother, devoted housewife, heroes with macho image, rishis and a wise
grandmother, etc. Jung identified a number of personality types, such as sensing-thinking,
sensing-feeling, intuition-thinking and intuition-feeling, etc.

 Sensing-thinking Personality : Individuals with this personality type make rational,

objective decisions. They are logical in their approach, are inclined to be highly

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 involved, extensive problem solving orientation, weigh economic considerations, are
price-sensitive and avoid any risks.
 Sensing-feeling Personality : They are moved by personal values rather than logic
and believe in personal experience. They follow a “subjective” orientation in making
decisions, are inclined to consider others when making a decision and share risks.
They are status-conscious and have short term perspective in decision-making.
 Intuiting-thinking Personality : Such individuals take a broad view of their own
situation and the world. Though they heavily rely on imagination and consider a
wider range of options, yet use logic in making decisions. Such individuals are not
averse to taking risks while making decisions and their perspective in the long-run.
 Intuiting-feeling Personality: They use imagination in considering a wide range of
options in making a decision, are quite likely to consider others’ views and show least
sensitivity towards prices. They are also inclined to seek novelty, take risks and their
horizon is indefinite in making decisions.

Based on Karen Horney’s work, Joel B. Cohen identified ten major needs that individuals
aquire as a result of striving to find solutions to their problems in developing personality and
dealing with others in society. Based on these ten needs, she classified three major approaches
individuals adopt for coping with anxiety: compliant, aggressive and detached (CAD).

1. Compliant individuals are those who move towards people and stress the need for
love, affection, approval and modesty. Such individuals exhibit empathy, humility
and are unselfish.
2. Aggressive individuals are those who move against people and emphasize the need
for power, admiration, strength and the ability to manipulate others.
3. Detached individuals are those who move away from others and desire
independence, freedom from obligations and self-reliance. They do not develop strong
emotional ties with others.

Joel B. Cohen measured CAD using 35-item inventory and found some tentative relationships
between CAD types and product/brand usage. “Compliant” individuals seemed to prefer
known brands and use more mouthwash and toilet soaps; “aggressive” types used more
cologne and after-shave lotion and preferred to use Van Heusen shirts and Old Spice
deodorant because of its masculine appeal and “detached” types seemed to have least
awareness of brands, drank more tea. The “detached” personality type seems to have low
involvement in purchasing than “complaint” or ”aggressive” types…

4. Trait Theory

The trait theory states that human personality is composed of a set of traits that describe
general response patterns. The concept is that traits are general and relatively stable
characteristics of personality that influence behavioural tendencies.

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Trait theories construct personality inventories(personality tests) and ask respondents to
record their responses. The responses are then statistically analyzed and reduced to few
personality dimensions.

Certain type of personality traits may be more related to consumer behaviour than others,
such as optimal stimulation level(OSL), need for cognition(NFC), dogmatism susceptibility
to influence and self-monitoring behavoiur.

Optimal Stimulation Level (OSL)

Some activities have more potential to provide individuals with some sort of physiological
arousal. There are others who prefer a calm, simple and uncluttered life, while some others
prefer a novel, complex and exciting existence. Research in this area indicated that high
optimum stimulation levels are associated with more willingness to take risks; to be
innovative, try new products and actively seek purchase related information.

Consumers with high stimulation needs tend to be the first to buy new products, actively seek
information about them and engage in variety-seeking buying behaviour. They tend to be
curious about the ads they see, but are also likely to get bored by them. Interestingly, they are
also likely to buy products with greater risk.

Need for Cognition (NFC)

Need for cognition refers to the degree of an individual’s desire to think and enjoy getting
engaged in information processing. For instance, a consumer high in need for cognition(NC)
and looking at an as for Apple computer is more likely to study and concentrate on the
information contained in the ad. On the other hand, a consumer low in need for cognition
would be more inclined to look at the beautiful picture of iMac, ignoring the detailed
information about the computer model.

Dogmatism

One would expect highly dogmatic consumers to be relatively resistant to new products,
promotion or advertising. However, they may tend to be yielding to celebrities and express
who present authoritative appeals. On the other hand, consumers low in dogmatism are more
likely to accept new and innovative products to established alternatives and be more receptive
to ad messages that focus on prduct attributes and benefits.

Susceptibility to Influence

Some consumers possess a greater desire to enhance their image among others and show a
willingness to be influenced or guided by them. Consumers with lower social and information

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processing confidence show more proneness to be influenced by ads compared to those who
have higher self-confidence.+-+

Self-monitoring Behaviour

Individual consumers differ in the degree to which they look to others for indications on how
to behave. Those persons who are high-self monitors and tend to look to others for direction
and accordingly guide their own behaviour. They are more sensitive and responsive to image-
oriented ads and willing to try such products. They are less likely to be consumer innovators.

Brand Personality

Brand personality has been described as a set of human characteristics that consumers
associate with a brand. Some brands were found to be strong on one particular factor, such
as Levi’s was strong with “ruggedness”, Revlon with “sophistication” and MTC with
“excitement”. A cross-cultural study of this scale found that three of the five factors applied
in Japan and Spain, but that a “peacefulness” dimension replaced “ruggedness” both in Japan
and Spain, and a “passion” dimension emerged in Spain instead of “competency”.

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