Consumer Decision-Making Process in the Automobile Industry

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Green Cars
Engaging Consumers in Marketing of Automobile
Consumers Decision-Making Process
Theory of planning behaviour (TPB) model
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Vast literatures suggest that numerous environmental problems occur due to human economic activities. These activities, as Transport Technologies and Policy Scenarios to 2050 (2007) asserts, cause deposition of masses of pollutants into the environment to the extent that they destroys the natural beauty. In addition, economic activities consume enormous amount of natural resources, leading to their depletion. This nuisance breeds harms that entail global warming, loss of biodiversity, climatic changes, as well as pollution to the environment. Due to the Sky rocketing cost of fuel for running engines and need to protect the environment, green cars plays a crucial role in automobile purchase. Even though evidence indicates that most of the studies are geared towards lessening pollution, only a handful describes customers behaviours and purchasing needs of green cars (Ramseur 2007, p. 16; Vermeir and Verbeke 2006, p. 9). This paper discus factors that influence decision-making process for customers to purchase green cars. For this reason, to measure the customers purchasing behaviour for these green cars, this research proposes the Theory of Planning Behaviour (TPB).

Green Cars

Green cars also known as environmentally friendly vehicles are cars that produce a reduced amount of pollution into the environment. In support, Baumann, Boons, and Bragd (2002, p. 412) claim that reduced pollution is purported to lessen impact of the effects to the environment as compared to the conventional vehicles that operates on combustible engines. Turrentine and Kurani (2001) state that environmentally friendly vehicles are powered by alternative fuels or operate by using advanced vehicle technology, such as use of hydrogen, compressed air, or plug-in hybrid vehicle. All these efforts aims to reduce greenhouse gas emission, air pollution or promote self-dependency on energy by reducing importation of oil for the involved state. Despite the attempt by authors to define environmentally friendly products, to date majority of both consumers and companies alike do not understand green products (Chan 2001, p. 396). Development indicates that some authors have focused not only on designing environmentally friendly products, but also emphasises on marketing of these environmentally friendly products since consumers have showed great interest and attention to them (Chen, Gillenson, and Sherrell 2002, p. 710; HongYoul 2012, p. 464)

Environmentally friendly products describe the best example of the disparities that exists between consumer and companies. For instance, consumers demand for cheap fuel, and, at the same time, caring for their engines has enhanced pollution since cheap fuels pollute environment, thereby destroying the natural environment (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, and Podsakoff 2003, p. 896). However, the commonality in the two is that it is the duty of both the consumers and companies to protect the environment. This is a proof of the difficulty in striking equilibrium between the needs and desires of consumers, as well as implementing the roles of the automobile firms. To investigate the relationship between consumers needs and the characteristics of environmentally friendly cars, Chang (2010, p. 1393) put forward a criterion known as SEEDS to describe the relationship within the economic sides, aspects of demand, supply side, substitute side, and features of environmental protection. Similarly, since the environment worsens on a rapid upward move, it is evident that most consumers have recognised the effect of this problem (McAlexander, Kim, and Roberts 2003, p. 7). The companies producing green cars should utilise this to manufacture environmentally friendly cars to match the consumers need. This is described as design in adherence to match the consumers demands (Lantos, Brady, and McCaskey 2009, p. 428). The automobile firms have to conduct an inclusive market research in order to comprehend and incorporate the needs of consumers when designing the vehicles.

Engaging Consumers in Marketing of Automobile

Consumer engagement is an important aspect of relationship marketing. Vivek, Beatty, and Morgan (2010, p. 126) define consumer engagement as the passion of an individual to participate and bond with an organisations activities or products. Either the firm or the individual consumer can initiate this relationship. Van Doorn et al. (2010, p. 256) and Aronson, Wilson, and Akert (2003) agree that the coexistence entails behavioural, cognitive, social, and emotional elements. The phenomenal of engaging consumers is a rather a new idea in the marketing literature. However, the phenomenal has drastically risen to become so popular. The rise is attributed to the discovery of the attention and impact that direct engagement of consumers have to the industry. Coupled with the increase in competition, this strategy has a key role in enhancing a firms performance. Moreover, direct engagement of consumers awakens awareness about new products in the market (Lusch and Vargo 2006, p. 286). At the same time, direct engagement with customers enlightens the end-users on the superiority of ones products over others.

Sprott, Czellar, and Spangenberg (2009, p. 96) accentuate that to explain the behaviour of customer far above just business deals and acquisition of products or a companys services, the firm is obliged to engage its customers. Unlike it was in the past where the company only focused on transaction relationships for their products, in the contemporary society, focus of marketing has shifted from one centred on products to rather marketing that is centred on customers (Schau, Muniz, and Arnould 2009, p. 47). This change has erased the perception of considering consumers as passive recipient to active factors of trade. This shift makes consumer the valuable objects of trade. According to Van Doorn (2011, p. 282), this shift has broadened marketing strategies, forcing marketers to analyse the consumers behavioural intentions.

Consumers Decision-Making Process

Continually, consumers make decisions that regard to choices, use, and purchase of both products and services. The decisions made by the consumers are of significance to both these consumers and to the entire business fraternity (Roy, Butaney, and Bhutaney 2009; Phillips, Holley, Bates, and Fresstone 2002, p. 27). Since there is always a wide range of options before making decisions, this presents a challenge to both consumers and companies. This complexity in understanding consumers decision-making has provoked curiosity amongst researchers of consumer science and business experts alike (Price 2001, p. 337; Iwasaki and Havitz 2004, p. 45). This has seen them examine the key considerations of consumer in making decision. As evidenced, most of the research works approach their analysis from an economic perspective, thus their focus is on the purchase act. From this perspective, the researchers utilise the utility theory to understand consumer decision-making process. The utility theory as understood proposes that consumers make decisions in reference to the perceived outcomes of their decisions (Day 1999).

Theory of planning behaviour (TPB) model

The Theory of Planning Behaviour emerged in response to a theory that existed in which they have close connection. This was the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Kumar 2012, p. 28) indicates that in the theory of reasoned action, an individuals intention is the main point to influence their behaviours. Hence, the behaviour of a consumer is evaluated from the frequent they involve in such actions. This theory assesses the intention of consumer by analysing the consumers attitude and subject of norm. In this, determination of intention by use of attitude encompasses the entire evaluation of behaviour. It includes salient beliefs that entail the professed likelihood of reactions for such specific behaviour in comparison to factual reactions for the behaviour (Armitage and Conner 2001, p. 473). The determination of behaviours by use of subjective customs is understood as the pressure that comes from the surrounding environment. Concisely, theory of reasoned action seemed to work in quite a number of situations, however, empirical research determined that TRA is limited to deal with behaviours that are totally under the consumers volitional control. Responding to the named limitation, a theory of planned behaviour was proposed (Feng 2007, p. 328). According to Kaiser (2006, p. 74), the Theory of Planned Behaviour was intended to deal with behaviours that did not fall under consumers complete volitional control.

The Theory of Planned Behaviour model has numerous similarities with the TRA with exception of an additional perceived behaviour control to its model. This perceived behaviour control synthesises the simplicity or complexity for an individual to execute behaviour. Richarme (2005) points out that perceived behaviour control involves availability of essential skills, accessibility to resources and chance for performing behaviour. All these as subjective to apparent possibility for the action to ease or hinder the behaviour entails the perceived behaviour. This theory purport that the perceived behaviour control determines consumers intentions as well as the individuals behaviour directly, making it gain abundant support in predicting abundant range of intention (Schiffman and Kanuk 2000).

Determined to understand the link between belief formation and background of intention, many of the researchers and scholars alike have scrutinise approaches to vanishing attitudinal beliefs (Ajzen 2002, p. 667).On one hand, some of these scholars claim that the component of belief that can be recognised can never be organised into a solitary conceptual (Buchanan 2008, p. 211). On the other hand, some scholars have determined that in the Theory of Planned Behaviour, normative, attitudinal as well as control beliefs are vanishing as a multidimensional belief formation is taking over. Jonathan (2007) affirms that, in relation to innovation theory of TPB model, attitudinal beliefs contains three innovation characteristics that are likely to manipulate behavioural intentions of an individual. These three characteristics are relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity. Considering the intention and objectives for the development of green technology, this technology should be regarded as service innovation (Understanding how Individuals Make Travel and Location Decisions 2008). Thus, discussing consumer decision making, this study suppose that Theory of planned behaviour model exclusively elaborates the behavioural intention for consumers to prefer environmentally friendly cars.

Aboelmaged (2010, p. 404) establishes that TPB model expounds on TRA models failure to account for circumstances where individual consumers cannot completely control their behaviour intentions. In this, TPB claims that the concrete action of purchasing is determined by not only one factor, but both the behavioural intentions as well as the capability to control the behaviour. In the behavioural intention, personal preference and wish influences consumers ultimate choice. This is commonly in the TRA, whereas TPB integrates the perceived behavioural control (Verhoef, Reinartz, and Krafft 2010, p. 248). In the TPB that utilises the perceived behavioural control, a consumer does not analyse the two factors, but numerous issues before making the actual purchase. Amongst the factors to consider in TPB are the numbers of resources and opportunities available to the consumers, the challenges they might face in using the product as well as the environmental impact of using the product (Ha and Swinder 2012, p. 463). This confirms that TPB model elaborates the consumers behavioural intention in purchasing green cars.

Behavioural intention is the first and major point in consumer decision-making process. In this face of the purchase, the product is wholly rooted into a consumers mind (Lusch 2007, p. 265). As a result, the consumer develops an intimate connection with product making them always opt for the product. For the manufacturers of green cars, to entice consumers and influence their decision-making, the firms should establish a model that enlightens the consumers on the benefits of green cars. This should include benefits to both to the individual and the environment. To propose this model, it is necessary to understand that different people have different attitudes that are influenced by various factors. Despite these differences, Chung (2006) notes that each person uses his/her own attitude to devise his/her likes and wants. However, common aspects that have great impacts on an individuals behavioural attitude include knowledge, characteristics of product, personal attitude, and the norm surrounding the individual.

Conclusion

According to this study, consumers decision-making process follows a sequential process. To understand these sequences, the company must understand the consumers behavioural intention. These behavioural intentions can only be examined by engaging the end-users effectively. Notably, engagement of consumers starts at the cognitive level since it is more associated to the consumers emotional behaviour. Tactically, to understand behavioural intentions of consumers, scholars have varied theoretical models in this subject. Based on the forces in this field, environmentally friendly cars as a new technology, which its invention was in response to both the consumers and companies demand would preferably succeed by deploying the TPB model.

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