Big Five personality theory and its influence on product choices

Discuss about the Physical Activity and Educational Achievement.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the consumer behavior of three respondents on purchasing a laptop on the basis of theories of personality and demographics. Furthermore, it will also discuss how marketers can attract more customers towards Dell Inspiring 15 7000 Gaming using learning and memory theories.

According to Big Five personality theory, personality traits of a person plays a significant role in influencing the product choice of a person (Cisek, Sedikides, Hart, Godwin, Benson & Liversedge, 2014). It can be seen that the respondent is an introverted and a fairly moody person. It can be also be seen from the responses that he is open to experience new things and sympathetic to others. However, he lacks in carefulness and efficiency. Price of the product has played a significant role in his decision-making process about purchasing the laptop.  Weight and warranty of the laptop have little influence on his choice of the product. According to him, the price of the first and second laptop is very good compared to others.  Similarly, he has evaluated the given products on the basis of other evaluation criteria like a processor, memory, screen etc.  On evaluating all the available products, he has chosen Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming as his preferred laptop. According to Solomon, Dahl, White, Zaichkowsky & Polegato, (2014), mainly three of his personality traits have influenced his behavior.  The respondent is open to experience new things which has played a significant role in his decision-making process.  The laptop comes with advanced features which makes it easy for him to experience new things. He has chosen this brand as Dell is the most trusted brand in the market.

Demographic factors like age, ethnicity, gender, family situation, personal and family income etc. all play a significant role in defining the behavior of the consumer (Buettner, 2017). In this case, the respondent is a 19 years old male student who is currently studying at the university. He is also doing some casual work alongside studying. His marital status is single and generally, he is able to make his own decisions regarding laptops.  The ethnicity of the respondent is Korean and the family income before tax is 29,700 to dollars.  In the words of Soto, (2015), mainly there are four demographic factors which play a crucial role in defining the behavior of the consumers.  These are age, gender, income and education of the consumer (Harmeling, Moffett, Arnold & Carlson, 2017). As the respondent is young, his lifestyle needs are generally related to his studies alongside fun and movies. His chosen laptop will be able to meet all the demands of his lifestyle. He has made his decision regarding the product based on the utility of the product.  As he is single, he is at liberty to make his own decisions regarding the laptop.            

Demographic factors and their role in consumer behavior

From the results of the survey, it can be said that the respondent 2 is an extrovert and a moody person. She is also an extremely efficient and organized person. A personality of a consumer plays a significant role in their purchasing decisions about the products. The consumer is also open to experience new things and sympathetic to others. She has given the highest preference to the weight of the laptops to ensure the functionality of the product. She wants a laptop which will be lightweight, efficient and able to provide its service to her for a longer period of time. The fourth laptop or Dell XPS 13 is the product chosen by her. As per Turkyilmaz, Erdem & Uslu, (2015), an extremely organized consumer will focus on the efficiency and functionality of the product. She fits this category, she has given preference to the functionality of the product. Despite being an extrovert, she is careful to choose a product within a medium range of price. She has evaluated the fourth option on the basis of its price, weight, screen, processor and its memory (Tomporowski, P., Pendleton & McCullick, 2017). She has given a positive feedback on the all five evaluation criteria about the product except the evaluation criteria of a price.

The purchasing behavior of a consumer depends on some demographic factors like age, gender, income, family situation etc. The choices of young consumers differ from the choices of aged consumers. In this case, the consumer is young and she is working as a flight attendant. She is able to make her own decisions based on the product description. In the words of Zeugner-Roth, Žabkar & Diamantopoulos, (2015), the ethnicity of the consumer also plays a significant role in defining the purchasing behavior of a consumer. The consumer is from Australian background. Australian consumers prefer to choose products with higher value and higher efficiency, compared to consumers from other ethnic groups. In this case, she has also chosen a laptop with high value, efficiency, and functionality (Bower & Cohen, 2014). Marital status of a person also influences their purchasing behavior (Menon, Bharadwaj, Adidam & Edison, 2015). Consumers in a relationship generally do not rush their decisions regarding the product, unlike the single consumers.  In this case, she has chosen a product which may have a higher price but comes with high functionality.  Education helps the consumer to make correct and informed choices about a particular product. She has a bachelor degree which helps her to make rational decisions for her benefit.      

Personality traits analysis of three respondents and their product choices

A purchase done by the consumer is a reflection and an extension of their own personalities. A consumer generally likes to choose a product which will meet their demands and fit into their lifestyle. According to the survey, the third respondent is an extrovert and moody person, similar to the previous respondent. He is also very moody and open to the concept of experiencing new things in his life. The customer has given maximum preference to the memory of the laptops while evaluating them during the survey. Screen and processor of the laptops are the second most important evaluation criteria according to him. According to Pappas, (2016), it can be said that this respondent is not a very organized and efficient person. He has chosen this particular laptop because its functionalities meet his personality and lifestyle needs. His personality needs to have a product which can provide great functionality to him at all times (Ashby & Valentin, 2017). A laptop with sufficient memory will serve his purpose and he will be able to do his work with convenient ease. He is not an efficient person, but this laptop will help him to do his work efficiently. These are the reason behind him choosing Dell Inspiron 17 5000 among all other products.

The demographic data from the survey shows that this respondent is an American male, whose age is 38 years. He is a divorced person and he works as a fashion designer.  HIs highest education level shows that he has a Bachelor degree. Mainly, he is the sole decision-maker when it comes to purchasing a laptop. His family income is sufficient which allows him to purchase the laptop. In the words of Lantos, (2015), education allows a consumer to make an informed decision while purchasing. It allows them to save their income and make a right purchase. The culture and principles of a person also have a significant role in influencing purchasing behavior of a person. His ethnicity plays a significant role in his choice regarding the right laptop for him.   

Marketers use learning and memory theories in order to attract more customers towards the organization. They can use theories in various ways like classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and cognitive learning approaches. The characteristics of the consumer for Dell Inspiring 15 7000 Gaming laptop is that they are not usually extrovert and his mood swings from time to time. It means that he can switch to another product depending on their mood.  This consumer is sympathetic towards others and the marketers can develop a marketing campaign to appeal to his sympathetic nature. This customer is open to trying new things, which means the marketer can use this while marketing their products. The marketers can use the theory of instrumental conditioning and cognitive learning theory. Using operant conditioning, the marketers can advertise the benefits of purchasing the laptop to their potential customers. They can enforce it by advertising that if the laptop is not bought, then it will be a huge loss for the consumers. As the customers are ready to try new things, they must include some additional features in their products. They should also promote these features by using proper marketing strategy. These consumers can be rewarded with their purchase to increase the volume of sales and also to increase the number of customers of the product. However, using memory theory in the marketing of products is tough, as the memory of a people lasts for a short time. However, if the marketers display their product in every advertisement either in television, online media or print media.   It will increase the memorability of the products among the consumers, increasing the number of sales of the product also the number of customers buying the products. These are the ways by which the marketers can market Dell Inspiring 15 7000 Gaming among their customers.

Learning and memory theories for attracting customers towards Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming

Conclusion

The paper analyzes the consumer behavior of three respondents on the basis of a theory of personality and theory of demographics. It can be concluded from the paper that both these factors play an influential role in defining the behavior of the consumers. Furthermore, it can be summarized from the paper that marketers can use learning and memory theories to attract more customers.

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