For the last several years a great deal of research has been carried
out under the general heading of Consumer Behaviour. Researchers are studying
consumer purchasing behaviour in all of its many facets and a great deal of
additional highly useful information has become available to marketing scholars
and practitioners.
Generally these researchers have utilized as a basis for their
research one of the current models of consumer behaviour as proposed by the
recognized scholars in the field. These models although different contain many
similarities. They all are multi-dimensional, containing many elements which
interact to Influence the consumer's decision making process. (A more thorough
discussion of the various models occurs later. ) Most of the recent research
projects have been concentrated on one of the elements, in a logical way, in
order to extend the amount of knowledge available concerning the element and
how It interacts with the remaining aspects of the model.
Inasmuch as the majority of this research is being carried on by
researchers in the United States (U. S. ) utilizing the marketing/economic/sociocultural
environment of the U. S., it is the writer's contention that not all of
these research findings are automatically applicable or useful on a world-wide
basis. Indeed, if one is concerned with a different country, for example the
United Kingdom (U. K. ) or Canada, in which there exists a differing marketing,
economic or sociocultural environment, then one must view the U. S. oriented
research results not with scepticism but at least with some apprehension and
with a questioning attitude.
It is this attitude which led the writer to question the lack of concern
and therefore research pertaining to certain aspects of the element "social influences".
One of the multi-dimensional aspects mentioned above which,
although not uniformly labelled in the various models of consumer behaviour,
does appear to be common to these models, is "social influences". The major
elements which the writer has identified within this "social influences" dimension
are social class, family and culture. Although different researchers have
utilized variations in the definitions, and therefore the sub-elements which are
included in each of these three elements, it is a truism that a transposed cultural
background (or ethnic background) i. e. immigration, is either not considered,
or at best briefly noted and thereafter ignored or overlooked.
- This lack of references to immigration and the apparent little
amount of thought given to the various ethnic backgrounds represented by immigrants
disturbed the researcher so for the purposes of this study it was decided
to concentrate on ethnic background in order to clearly establish the validity of
considering ethnic background as a major social influence of consumer purchasing
behaviour, or to validate the position taken by other U. S. oriented researchers,
I. e. that ethnic background is not a major influence on consumer purchasing
behaviour and can be overlooked.
Thus this study is primarily concerned with only two aspects of
the models of consumer behaviour: family purchasing and culture. The study
is not concerned with the culture in place in the environment but instead with
transposed cultures via immigration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/4392 |
| Date | January 1976 |
| Creators | Vincze, Julian William |
| Contributors | Hill, Roy |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, School of studies in Management and Administration |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, PhD |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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