This document discusses consumer behavior and factors that influence it. It defines key terms like consumer, buyer, and customer. It describes the consumer decision making process which involves need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior. It also outlines 4 types of consumer behaviors and discusses psychological, social, cultural, personal, economic, and environmental factors that influence consumer decisions.

1. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The buyer: the person who will buy the product. Generally, this will be the
final consumer.
Consumer Behaviour
Consumer Behavior is the study of when, why, how and where people do or do not
buy a product. It basically depends on the psychology of the consumer. It attempts to understand
the buyer decision making process both individually & in groups.
It studies the individual consumers such as demographics & behavioural aspects to
understand the people’s wants.
In the study of Consumer Behaviour main focus is the customer satisfaction because
customer is the only person with whose presence businesses actually exists
Consumer: According to International Dictionary of Management “Consumer is a purchaser of
goods and services for immediate use or consumption”.
Buyer: He is the person who purchase goods either for resale or for use in production or for
use of somebody else.
Customer: He is the one who purchases goods for his own use or for the use of others or else
he is regular customer of a particular product and he is a regular customer of particular shop.
Institutional buyer: These are either govt. institutions or private organizations.
Characteristics of consumer behavior
 It is a process where consumer decide what to buy, when to buy, how to buy, where to
buy & how much to buy.
 It comprises of both mental and physical activities of consumer.
 Consumer behaviour is very complex and dynamic which keeps on changing constantly.

2.  Individual buying behaviour is affected by various internal factors like his needs, wants,
attitudes & motives and also by external factors like social groups, culture , status,
environmental factors etc.
 Consumer behaviour starts before buying and even after buying.
Importance/Need of study of consumer behaviour
 To make better strategies for increasing profits.
 To take into consideration customer’s health, hygiene & fitness.
 To know the buying decisions and how consumer make consumption.
 Consistent change in Consumer’s tastes or preferences.
 Consumer behavior study is necessary to make pricing policies.
 To avoid future market failures.
TYPES OF CONSUMERS BEHAVIOUR
There are 4 types of buying behahiour :
1. Complex Buying Behaviour-
Customers seek extensive decisions as they are unfamiliar with the product or purchase
infrequently.
- Products are typically expensive
- Spend time to look for information
- Example: House, Car, Computer
2. Dissonance Buying Behaviour-
Highly involved in the purchase but not able to see the differences among brand choices.
- Example; Leather sofa, kitchen cabinet
- Consumers categorize the difference in accordance to price range.
3. Habitual Buying Behavior-
Frequently purchased
- Low costs items
- Little search and decision effort
- Example: Food, snacks, drinks
4. Variety-seeking buying behaviour-
Low Consumer involvement

3. - See large difference among brands
- Example: Consumers change preference for certain body soap for variations although satisfied
with the current brand.
Buying Motives
According to D.J. Ducan, “Buying Motives are those influences or considerations which provide
the impulse to buy, induce action or determine choice in the purchase of goods and services”.
Types of Buying Motives
A. Product & Patronage Motives
1. Product Motives
 Primary
 Secondary
2. Patronage Motives
 Price
 Quality
 Location
 Services
 Variety
 Personality of the owner
B. Emotional & Rational Motives
1. Emotional Motives
 Love of others
 Social acceptance motive
 Vanity Motive
 Recreational motive
 Emulate motive
 Comfort & convenience motive
2. Rational Motives
 Monetary gain
 Efficiency in operation
 Dependability
C. Inherent & Learned motives
1. Inherent motives are those which come from physiological & basic needs such as hunger,
thirst, sleep etc. If these motives are not satisfied then consumer feels dissatisfied and feels
mental tension.
2. Learned motives are those which are learned or acquired by a person from environment and
education like social status, acceptance, fear, security etc.
D. Physiological & Social buying Motives
1. Physiological motives are those which are driven by learning, perception or attitude.
2. Social buying motives are those which are influenced by the society in which the consumers
live.

4. 1. Need recognition
 Buyer recognizing a problem or need.
Need is realised through :
- Internal Stimuli – aware of the need due to physical or psychologic e.g hunger and
thirst
- External stimuli – triggered by an advertisement on TV, brand name
 Marketers can create needs on part of the customer. As we all know, want exists
when you have an unfulfilled needs and you have identified those needs.
Example : Children might want toys, adults might want a lower cholesterol Nasi
Lemak.
 By gathering information, marketers can identify stimuli that stimulate in the
product and try to develop marketing programmes that take into account these
stimuli.
2. Information search
• Customers search information about various alternatives available to satisfy their wants.
• These can be obtain through various sources :
a) Personal sources: Family members, friends, neighbours
b) Commercial sources : advertising, dealers, salesperson, displays
c) Public sources – Mass media, customer – rating organization
d) Experiential sources – from own or others experiences of using the product
3. Evaluation of alternatives
 At this point, customer is ready to make decision.
 Customer uses info about the product, evaluate and compares the alternatives.

5.  Several steps involves in evaluating :
 Benefit of the product
 The importance of each benefit
 Brand beliefs
 Functions of the product
 Cost
 Satisfaction that can be derived from the product
4. Purchase decision
• Customer decide which product to buy or not buy at all.
• Customer will also decide on where, why, when and how to pay for the product
5. Post-purchase behavior
• Consumer assess on the product after the purchase to determine whether he / she is
satisfied with the product or not.
FACTORS INFLUENCING PATIENT BEHAVIOR
WHO IS A CONSUMER?
A person or a group of people or an organization that is specifically targeted to sell a product or
a service of a company.
Someone or a group or an organization that pays a price to use the goods and services of an
organization.
A person or a group or an organization who is the final user of the goods and the services
produced by a company.
WHATIS PATIENTBEHAVIOR
 Patient behavior is the study of when, why, how and where, patient do or do not choose
a hospital services.
 Its basically depends up on the psychology of a patients or their family or related
groups.
 Patient behavior is mainly focus on patient satisfaction because patient is only the
person with whose presence hospitals actually exist.
 It is a attempt to understand the decision making process of patient and their related
groups.
 Consumer behavior examines how emotions, attitudes and preferences affect buying
behavior.
Characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, personality, lifestyle and
behavioral variables, in an attempt to understand people’s wants and consumption are all
investigated in consumer behavior.

6.  The study of consumer behavior also investigates the influences, on the consumer, from
groups such as family, friends, sports, reference groups, and society in general.
 It is true, that health services consumers differ from consumers of other types of goods
and services, because of certain particularities arising from the specific character of the
market, of the supplier – consumer relations, of the manner how the health system is
organized.
 Unlike other fields, in which the number of consumers is usually limited, in the field of
health services, in theory, anybody can become a consumer at a particular moment, and
consequently the potential market is very large.
FACTORS INFLUENCING PATIENT BEHAVIOR
1. Psychological factors
2. Social factors
3. Cultural factors
4. Personal factors
5. Economic factors
6. Environmental factors

7. CULTURAL FACTORS
 Its believed that an individual learns set of value ,perception, behaviors and
preference at very early stage of his childhood.
 Culture; the set of basic value, perception, wants and behaviors learned by a
member of society from family or important institution.
 Cultural factors are coming from the different components related to culture or
cultural environment from which the consumer belongs.
 Culture and societal environment:
 Culture is crucial when it comes to understanding the needs and behaviors of
an individual.
 Throughout his existence, an individual will be influenced by his family, his
friends, his cultural environment or society that will “teach” him values,
preferences as well as common behaviors to their own culture.
 For a brand, it is important to understand and take into account the cultural
factors inherent to each market or to each situation in order to adapt its
product and its marketing strategy. As these will play a role in the perception,
habits, behavior or expectations of consumers.
 Sub-cultures :
 A society is composed of several sub-cultures in which people can identify.
Subcultures are groups of people who share the same values based on a
common experience or a similar lifestyle in general.
 Subcultures are the nationalities, religions, ethnic groups, age groups, gender
of the individual, etc..
 The subcultures are often considered by the brands for the segmentation of a
market in order to adapt a product or a communication strategy to the values
or the specific needs of this segment.
 Social classes:
 Social classes are defined as groups more or less homogenous and ranked
against each other according to a form of social hierarchy. Even if it’s very
large groups, we usually find similar values, lifestyles, interests and
behaviors in individuals belonging to the same social class.
 We often assume three general categories among social classes : lower class,
middle class and upper class.
 People from different social classes tend to have different desires and
consumption patterns. Disparities resulting from the difference in their
purchasing power, but not only. According to some researchers, behavior and
buying habits would also be a way of identification and belonging to its
social class.
SOCIAL FACTORS
The human being live in a complex social environment where in they are surrounded by several
people who have different buying behavior. Hence the social factors influences the individual
behavior in a great extent. Some of the factors are:

8.  Family
 Reference group
 Roles and statuses
 Social net working
Social factors are among the factors influencing consumer behavior significantly. They fall into
three categories: reference groups, family and social roles and status.
 Reference groups and membership groups :
 The membership groups of an individual are social groups to which he belongs
and which will influence him. The membership groups are usually related to its
social origin, age, place of residence, work, hobbies, leisure, etc..
 The influence level may vary depending on individuals and groups. But is
generally observed common consumption trends among the members of a same
group.
 The understanding of the specific features (mindset, values, lifestyle, etc..) of
each group allows brands to better target their advertising message.
 More generally, reference groups are defined as those that provide to the
individual some points of comparison more or less direct about his behavior,
lifestyle, desires or consumer habits. They influence the image that the individual
has of himself as well as his behavior. Whether it is a membership group or a
non-membership group.
 Because the individual can also be influenced by a group to which he doesn’t
belong yet but wishes to be part of. This is called an aspirational group. This
group will have a direct influence on the consumer who, wishing to belong to this
group and look like its members, will try to buy the same products.
 Family:
 The family is maybe the most influencing factor for an individual. It forms an
environment of socialization in which an individual will evolve, shape his
personality, acquire values. But also develop attitudes and opinions on various
subjects such as politics, society, social relations or himself and his desires.
 But also on his consumer habits, his perception of brands and the products he
buys.
 We all kept, for many of us and for some products and brands, the same buying
habits and consumption patterns that the ones we had known in our family.
 Social roles and status:
 The position of an individual within his family, his work, his country club, his
group of friends, etc.. – All this can be defined in terms of role and social status.
 A social role is a set of attitudes and activities that an individual is supposed to
have and do according to his profession and his position at work, his position in
the family, his gender, etc.. – and expectations of the people around him.
 Social status meanwhile reflects the rank and the importance of this role in
society or in social groups. Some are more valued than others.
 The social role and status profoundly influences the consumer behavior and his
purchasing decisions. Especially for all the “visible” products from other people.

9. PERSONAL FACTORS
There are several factors personal to the individuals influence their buying decision .Some of
them are:
 Age
 Income
 Occupation
 Life style
 Personality
 Stages in life cycle
Decisions and buying behavior are obviously also influenced by the characteristics of each
consumer.
 Age and way of life:
 A consumer does not buy the same products or services at 20 or 70 years. His
lifestyle, values, environment, activities, hobbies and consumer habits evolve
throughout his life.
 For example, during his life, a consumer could change his diet from unhealthy
products (fast food, ready meals, etc..) to a healthier diet, during mid-life with
family before needing to follow a little later a low cholesterol diet to avoid health
problems.
 The factors influencing the buying decision process may also change. For
example, the “social value” of a brand generally play a more important role in the
decision for a consumer at 25 than at 65 years.
 Purchasing power and revenue:
 The purchasing power of an individual will have, of course, a decisive influence
on his behavior and purchasing decisions based on his income and his capital.
 This obviously affects what he can afford, his perspective on money and the level
of importance of price in his purchasing decisions. But it also plays a role in the
kind of retailers where he goes or the kind of brands he buys.
 As for social status, some consumers may also look for the “social value” of
products they buy in order to show “external indications” of their incomes and
their level of purchasing power..
 Lifestyle:
 The lifestyle of an individual includes all of its activities, interests, values and
opinions.
 The lifestyle of a consumer will influence on his behavior and purchasing
decisions.
For example, a consumer with a healthy and balanced lifestyle will prefer to eat organic
products and go to specific grocery stores, will do some jogging regularly (and therefore will buy
shoes, clothes and specific products), etc..
 Personality and self-concept:
 Personality is the set of traits and specific characteristics of each individual. It is
the product of the interaction of psychological and physiological characteristics
of the individual and results in constant behaviors.

10.  It materializes into some traits such as confidence, sociability, autonomy,
charisma, ambition, openness to others, shyness, curiosity, adaptability, etc..
 While the self-concept is the image that the individual has – or would like to
have – of him and he conveys to his entourage.
These two concepts greatly influence the individual in his choices and his way of
being in everyday life. And therefore also his shopping behavior and purchasing
habits as consumer.
 In order to attract more customers, many brands are trying to develop an image
and a personality that conveys the traits and values - real or desired – of
consumers they are targeting.
PSYCOLOGICAL FACTORS
The human psychology plays an crucial role in designing the consumer’s preference and likes or
dislike for a particular product and service .some of the important psychological factors are;
 Motivation
 Perception
 Learning
 Attitudes and beliefs
 Motivation:
 Motivation is what will drive consumers to develop a purchasing behavior. It is
the expression of a need is which became pressing enough to lead the consumer
to want to satisfy it.
 It is usually working at a subconscious level and is often difficult to measure.
 Motivation is directly related to the need and is expressed in the same type of
classification as defined in the stages of the consumer buying decision process.
 To increase sales and encourage consumers to purchase, brands should try to
create, make conscious or reinforce a need in the consumer’s mind so that he
develops a purchase motivation. He will be much more interested in considering
and buy their products.
 They must also, according to research, the type of product they sell and the
consumers they target, pick out the motivation and the need to which their
product respond in order to make them appear as the solution to the consumers’
need.
 Perception:
 Perception is the process through which an individual selects, organizes and
interprets the information he receives in order to do something that makes sense.
The perception of a situation at a given time may decide if and how the person
will act.
 Depending to his experiences, beliefs and personal characteristics, an individual
will have a different perception from another.
 Each person faces every day tens of thousands of sensory stimuli (visual,
auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory). It would be impossible for the
brain to process all consciously. That is why it focuses only on some of them.

11.  Learning:
 Learning is through action. When we act, we learn. It implies a change in the
behavior resulting from the experience.
 The learning changes the behavior of an individual as he acquires information and
experience.
For example, if you are sick after drinking milk, you had a negative
experience, you associate the milk with this state of discomfort and you “learn”
that you should not drink milk. Therefore, you don’t buy milk anymore.
 Rather, if you had a good experience with the product, you will have much more
desire to buy it again next time.
 Beliefs and attitudes:
 A belief is a conviction that an individual has on something. Through the
experience he acquires, his learning and his external influences (family, friends,
etc..), he will develop beliefs that will influence his buying behavior.
 While an attitude can be defined as a feeling, an assessment of an object or idea
and the predisposition to act in a certain way toward that object. Attitudes allow
the individual to develop a coherent behavior against a class of similar objects or
ideas.
 Beliefs as well as attitudes are generally well-anchored in the individual’s mind
and are difficult to change.
 For many people, their beliefs and attitudes are part of their personality and of
who they are.
ECONOMIC FACTORS
Economic factors also have a significant influence on the buying decision of an individual
 Personal income
 Family income
 Income expectations
 Savings
 Liquidity position
 Consumer credit
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
 political situations
 Legal force
 Technical advancement
 Ethical consideration
CONCLUSION
Health strategies cannot be achieved without a deep knowledge of consumer behavior
towards health services and factors of its influence.

12. Some of these factors related to policy applied by health legislation, which limits consumer
access to certain services and on the other hand, there are a number of cultural factors, social,
personal and psychological factors that determine health care consumerbehavior.
Consumer behavior is the result of various stakeholders, such as doctors recommending or
prescribing consumption or use of services, opinion leaders, people who by their social
position, and influence the behavior of consumers, family members or groups who individual
belongs.
HEALTH CARE NEED
 A need related to the health education treatment, control or prevention of a disease,
illness, injury or disability and the care and aftercare of a person with these needs.
 Health care needs are those that can benefit from health care.
 A gap in a person’s health state, which would benefit from an appropriate and effective
care intervention.
 Need in healthcare is commonly defined as the capacity to benefit.
 If health needs are to be identified then an effective intervention should be available to
meet these needs and improve health.
TWO DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF HEALTH CARE NEEDS
 Some disturbance in health and well being; need is defined therefore in terms of
phenomena that require medical care services- Donabedian.
 This is a humanitarian view which implies that when there is human suffering we must
do something about it.
 Need should be recognized only when it can be met with some medical intervention
that has positive utility and that actually alters the prognosis of the disease in some
favorable way at reasonable cost- Matthew.
Reasonable approach.
 On the basis of the needs, healthcare-consumers can be divided into four categories:
 Consists of person who face severe health problems that require specialized staff
and equipment.
 Consists of person who go to doctors’ offices for treatment voluntarily.
 Consists of person who need optional services.
 Consists of person who do not turn to medical services, who, most of the times,
treat themselves on their own.