Life events have been shown to influence consumer behaviour. This study investigates the research gap of how this effect is reached by analysing the process of consumer decision making. A life event is a change in the situational input to consumer decision making and instigates the process by arousing need. Analysis of studies surrounding needs, need arousal and particularly need satiation as a goal for companies was undertaken. It was discovered to be more complex than regularly presented in much literature. The available research tended to oversimplify need arousal, often termed problem recognition, into a switch for initiating consumer decision making. An analysis of how life events influence decision making showed a complexity that required exploration via a more articulate model; developed in section 2.4.2.1. Discussion of this relationship is regarded as important when considering the consumer decision making process. Overall the information regarding needs allowed a better understanding of the need arousal construct. A summary of the relevant body of knowledge follows.
Section 2.3 discussed needs from the psychological perspective of their relationship with consumer goods and satisfaction. Prominent needs frameworks articulate universal needs into higher and lower order needs. This provides some merit but empirical results support only two need categories: restoration and enhancement (Oliver, 2010; Wahba &
Bridwell, 1976). Restoration tends to be the mechanism to satisfy lower order needs such as sustenance, safety and affiliation. Enhancement tends to be the mechanism to satisfy higher order needs such as esteem, actualisation and transcendence. This study
does not seek to discuss actual needs and different needs felt by different people. It investigates the process of arousal of the need as a result of an impending life event.
The two main components of this argument are firstly that consumer goods satisfy customer needs through the psychological function known as reinforcement. The second is that need arousal whilst using the concepts within the need satiation relationship is not simply a switch to begin consumer decision making. Satisfying the needs of consumers with goods whilst making a profit is considered to be the role of commercial organisations (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990; Narver, et al., 2004). Several researchers have remarked that this relationship between needs and satisfaction is considered too intuitively obvious to require further conceptualisation or empirical testing.
Nevertheless the understanding of need satiation allows comprehension of how life events instigate consumer decision making processes and how consumer behaviour is altered. The process of reinforcement theorises need satiation as a deficit - dominance - gratification - normality relationship. It gives credence to the idea that consumer goods are able to satisfy needs (Anderson, et al., 1994; Fornell, et al., 2010; Simon, 1955).
Deficit is considered to be a difference between the desired state and the actual state. It serves as a motivator to bring the individual back to a normal or need-free state (Bruner
& Pomazal, 1993; Cannon, 1932). Life events can act as a change in consumer situations, They produce either a deficit such as the loss of ones job or an enhancement such as an unexpected monetary windfall. When the need to enhance or return to a state of comfort is perceived to be high enough, it will become dominant in the mind of the consumer and they will seek out a satisfying solution. It is this concept of dominance coupled with the sense of a scale that was brought to the remainder of the decision making process in section 2.3, that requires further examination. Whilst a need may be dominating when perceived the notion of need perception demands in-depth analysis through the construct of need arousal.
Need arousal, also known as problem recognition, is the first process component of many behavioural consumer decision making models (Assael, et al., 2007; McCarthy, et al., 1997; Neal, et al., 2006). In section 2.4 it was shown that Need Arousal is an integral part of consumer decision making, instigating the whole process. Need Arousal is different to need itself and is defined in this study as the process of perception and identification of a consumer need. Life events are a change in the normal or need free situation. This shift from the norm is a powerful motivator which may be able to be satisfied by a commercial solution. As a prominent behavioural driver this change in situation is reinforced by behavioural literature which essentially suggests that changing the situation is a highly effective method of producing behavioural change (Mackay, 1998; Wimmer & Dominick, 2006).
The inclusion of the concept of need arousal instead of problem recognition allowed a different perspective noting humans as emotional beings. It was also realized that the consumer decision making process was not necessarily instigated by rational thought.
Problem Recognition is a rational process that is flawed due to the inclusion of recognition within the process. Bruner and Pomazal’s (1993) model does however show similarities with the need satisfaction concept, with the inclusion of the instigation via tension between a desired and actual state. A further assertion from previous research which is of direct relevance is that consumers may approach decision making differently depending on how they are aroused. This concept will be researched throughout the study. By doing so, this study aims to determine how life events influence consumer behaviour in particular through the consumer decision making process. The consumer decision making process as defined by marketing literature was considered to be the most appropriate. It contained all the relevant variables (McCarthy, et al., 1997; Neal, et al., 2006). The experience of a life event may signify a shift in a situational variable.
This altered situation may activate a hitherto unsatisfied need. In turn the aroused need
may influence the consumer to purchase goods to satiate this need. Whilst this theory would appear to confirm the research of life event marketers it does little to explain the differences in outcomes of decision making processes. That is to say, why is it that not all individuals in a similar situation find a similar solution to a problem? It is theorised that these differences may be explained through a better understanding of the arousal process.
Overall the research presented in this section is important for informing the methodology of this study. The discussion of needs has shown that researchers should focus on need arousal. The method required questions that would ascertain whether life events would arouse the need for financial services. Additionally it should present an idea of which life events were more likely to raise need arousal. If need arousal was seen to exist then using the broadened concept and the consumer decision making model the varying levels of need arousal could be approximated. Measurements to detect any differences in consumers undertaking the decision making process, in relation to need arousal, can be determined.