Understanding Consumer Behavior
Translated by
ScribdTranslationsUnderstanding Consumer Behavior
Translated by
ScribdTranslationsCONSUMER BEHAVIOR.
Leon G. Schiffman and Leslie Lazar Kanuk. 6th ed. Rio de Janeiro: LTC Publishing, 2000.
476 p. ISBN: 8521612206.
by Valter Afonso Vieira (UNIPAR)
In recent years, it is evident that more and more fields have merged.
in Administration, but among them there is one that received a lot of attention in these
last decades: the behavior of the consumer. This field emerged in the
60s, through the influence of writers like Ferber (1958), Katona
(1960), Howard (1963), Newman (1963) and Engel (1968), who aimed to identify
the variables surrounding the consumer, as well as their inconsistent attitudes
in the face of different products. Over the years, this area of study has taken on
of its support and credibility, later being suggested a discipline in
master's and doctoral programs from around the world (Holbrook, 1987).
The study of consumer behavior is defined as the investigation of
activities directly involved in obtaining, consuming, and disposing of products and services
actions, including the decision-making processes that precede and succeed these actions. In
truth is the study of the process experienced by individuals when making decisions about
employ your available resources on items related to consumption, making the-
a link with the purposes of marketing professionals, who seek
identify the needs and induce the customer to consume the product. The need
of greater understanding of the purposes, objectives, reactions, and ways of acting
the consumer is not a new thing: a long time ago, Henry Ford ignored the need
the consumer and found himself forced to make drastic changes to his line of
assembly, thus generating new products to achieve customer satisfaction.
The book Consumer Behavior, by professors and researchers Leon G.
Schiffman and Leslie Lazar Kanuk, from the City University of New York,
translated into Portuguese by Editora LTC, brings to our eyes how it works
encompasses the mysteries of the act of consuming, the attitudes, motives, and needs
needs (Maslow, 1954), which lead the human being to acquire certain products.
Comprehensive and well-structured, the work presents itself as one of the foundational books
such in this area, at an international level.
Divided into 5 parts, the book initially presents a foundation for understanding.
broad and solid principles of consumer behavior that follow,
composed of a clear introduction to this field and a historical perspective of consumption,
from antiquity to the present moment. The detailed presentation of the process
RAC, v. 6, no. 33, Set./Des. 20002: 219-221 219
research critic and its techniques, including discussion of positivist methods and
interpretivist, can help professionals in formulating problems and objectives
research. Thus, the first part of the work describes the most varied bases and
roots that provoke certain behaviors. Without a doubt, knowledge and
understanding who this consumer is becomes the central objective of the first-
the part of the book.
The second part deals with the Consumer as an Individual, exploring needs.
the motivations of the consumer, based on Stevenson’s (1952) principle that "en-
"Tending to human needs is already half a step towards satisfying them."
Mento, the text establishes the importance of recognizing both the rational foundations
As for emotions, the association of self-image is well explained.
to the products and brands found today. As each consumer has a personality
and personal perceptions, knowing how to identify and understand them is a task that requires
several types of in-depth studies. This part of the book creates a linkage
between the consumer individual and the organization that constantly seeks to satisfy him.
In the next part, the book portrays Consumers in their Social Environment and
Cultural. In this segment of the work, an explanation of how it occurs is welcome.
influence of environments on human behavior and how professionals
they can take advantages of this for application in organizations. Many times, it leaves-
put aside our personal desires and bought to satisfy the needs
of the two environments we live in: clubs, communities, groups, friends, place of
work, among others. The book helps us to check the existence of strong influence
the influence of social environments or even culture on our shopping habits.
In the fourth part of the book, it depicts what many marketing strategists seek.
to better understand, The Consumer Decision-Making Process,
setting the relevant tools for the analysis of influence characteristics
personal and the consumer decision-making process, including choosing and the
consume. Accompanying these tools, we find the profile in this segment
consumer innovator, based on interests in different product categories
thus forming high-influence opinions within the community in which one lives
and spreading them through different communication channels.
Next, the role of consumer behavior in North American society
it is, and how much this (child, young person, adult, or elderly) represents for the system
the country's economy is focused on in the book. Taking as a basis the opening of new
marketing segments, today in full expansion and essential for our lives, such
such as the segment of services with and without profit, health, political, of cau-
social and environmental sciences, the book shows us the application of the principles of behavior-
American consumer mindset in these segments.
220 RAC, vol. 6, no. 3, Sep./Dec. 2002
Various other resources in the book are very appropriate. For example, the conclusion
from each of the 21 chapters with a summary, highlights the central idea of the text by
reader. The consolidation exercises for segmentation are also important.
conceptual of the reader of market practices. Similarly, the great diver-
city and quantity of terms, words, and definitions that are used in this field,
made from the explanatory dictionary, which the authors added at the end of the book, an impos-
aunt auxiliary resource.
Overall, the work is easy to read and comprehensive, which makes it particularly
recommended for teachers and students of graduate courses, among others
professionals interested in the field of consumer behavior who, as stated
Dubois (1998) study and seek to better understand this 'black box' of
consumers. Not forgetting some professionals who have made and still make
Thank you to the authors for this important step on this theme.
the contribution to the clarification of this which is one of the most difficult characteristics
the case of human beings, their behavior.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
DUBOIS, B. HOWARD, J. A.
Understand the consumer. 2. Marketing management analysis
ed. Lisbon: Dom Quixote, 1998. and planning. [Link]. Homewood,
Ill: Richard D. Irwin, 1963.
ENGEL, J. F.;
KOLLAT, D. T.; KATONA,G.
BLACKWELL, R. D. The powerful consumer. New
Consumer behavior. New York: York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.
MASLOW, A. H.
FERBER, R.; Motivation and personality.
WALES, H.G. New York: Harper & Row, 1954.
Motivation and market
behavior. Homewood, Ill: Richard NEWMAN, J.
D. Irvin, 1958. On knowing the consumer.
[S. l.]: Ronald Press, 1963.
HOLBROOK, M. B.
What is consumer research? STEVENSON, A.
Journal of Consumer Research Lecture delivered in Columbus,
v. 14, p. 128-32, June 1987. Ohio, March 3, 1952.
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