Chapter II
Review of related literature
Consumers thereby addition to the society because it is one
of the most essential for business organizations by Zaragoza
(2003). Castillo (2002) in his research supported the fact that
consumer research should be strike between how to influence
consumers and how consumers could defend? themselves and control
such influences.
According to Esplanade et al (2001), one of the most essential
and influential areas within consumer buying behavior is the
consumer decision making process. So, it is evident that an
exploratory approach with the consumers buying behavior can
provide opportunities to understand the complexity to specific in
making decision to process by the consumers. Consumers buying
behavior concentrate more on production orientation rather than
consumer behavior orientation towards the approach for marketing
process. This study is more important in the case of purchase of
a high – involvement and emotionally charged products such as real
state and house etc. There are three objectives about this study.
First, to generate a conceptual consumer decision making process
model for purchasing of this, secondly, to study the various
factors and the consumer buying behavior process and lastly, to
determine and analyze several factors affecting consumer buying
behavior.
Granhaug, Kleppe, and Haukedal (1987), in their research explained
that the decision making process involving long term commitments
of resources and affecting the budget available for other goods
and services is defined as the strategic decision making process.
The understanding and the prediction of the consumer perceptions
is important in examining and studying the consumer buying behavior
and the decision making process. Thus the overall purpose of
this study is to understand the factors and influences on consumer
buying behavior in the real estate industry and also explains as
to how the integration of the theories relating to consumer buying
behavior improves the understanding of what consumers wants to.
According to Engel, Blackwell, and Minibar (1995), consumer
behavior is defined as the study if individuals or groups in
obtaining, using and disposing of products and services, including
the decision making process. The consumer behavior involves in
examining the reasons for the behavior of the customers more than
the examining of the consumer actions. The interests of the
marketers lie on the demographic changes, society’s values,
beliefs and practices that affect the way the customers interact
in the marketplace. The application of these concepts to developing
and increasing the understanding of the consumer buying behavior
in context to the real estate industry are explained.
The consumer choice is one of the key and important aspects of
consumer behavior. The relevance between consumer choice and the
decision making process is also depicted in the theory of utility
in economics. In general, customers are the buyer of the product
and user of the service to enjoy the benefits derived from their
usage.
The theory of utility as described before focuses mainly on
the results and outcomes whereas the consumer behavior aspect
emphasizes on the process of consumer purchase. The impact of the
situational factors on consumer behavior and the variance among
the individual faced with same conditions are explicitly explained
in the theories.
The internal determinants of consumer behavior are motivation,
perception, and attitudes. Each consumer possesses a unique
combination of mental and emotional characteristics. Let’s start
with “motivation”. Motivation is a need arousing a drive for a
consumer to take actions in attempt to reach a goal (Costramos,
Flores, Prado, 1995). Needs arise from the discrepancy between
actual and desired states of being. Wants refer to specific
products that consumers believe will satisfy the need (Cabrera and
Cledera,1994). Secondly, the attitude- it is an overall evaluation
about something that combines cognitive beliefs, emotional affects
and behavioral intentions (Costramos, Flores, Prado. 1995). It is
based on direct experience with a product that usually held with
more confidence than those derived from indirect experience. And
lastly, the perceptions, it deals in recognizing, selecting,
organizing and interpreting stimuli to make sense of the world
(Solomon, 1996).
Every customers assigns to a stimulus that depends on how a
stimulus is categorized and elaborated into beliefs and attitudes
in relation to the consumer’s existing knowledge. Nasar (1989)
found that people use housing architectural style to infer the
friendliness and status of its residents. However, these
interpretations varied with age, gender and social class. Thus,
valuation of individual properties will vary among individuals
because of their different personality.