Literature Review > Consumer Behavior
Personality characteristics impact consumer behavior because they shape the way in which consumers respond to messages at a given time. This response changes minute to minute based upon the unique characteristics of the target consumer and their ongoing life experience. The online environment presents a vast opportunity for companies to interact with consumers on a personal, customized level. Individual differences are an important aspect of this interaction as they provide insight into how people with varying levels of experience with the online environment respond to interactive persuasion techniques. Friestad and Wright (1994), in their presentation of the PKM, posit that the effectiveness of advertising persuasion techniques depends upon the level of persuasion expertise each individual possesses. In an online environment, measurement of this effect can be achieved by looking at user experience levels, self efficacy, and number of hours spent online. General knowledge gleaned from the PKM dictates that consumers with more experience in the online environment will be better at coping with persuasion techniques therein, such as open, visually rhetorical advertisements.
An individual's need for cognition refers to their motivation to engage in meaningful cognitive thought or undertaking. A consumer's need for cognition will impact their ability to deal with tasks and social settings, such as responding to advertising messages or calls to action. This applies directly to the concept of open, visually rhetorical advertising because such messages require a higher cognitive processing load to be understood and learned. Although need for cognition was not found to impact interpretations of open advertisements in the 2004 Ketelaar et al. study, it is still an interesting variable that can be effectively measured and manipulated for this type of research endeavor. (Ketelaar et al., 2004) Additionally, cognitive response, and the need therein serve an important part in the development of brand attitudes within a target consumer. This concept was elaborated upon by McGinnis and Jaworski (1989) in their seminal piece regarding information processing in advertising: "Cognitive and emotional responses related to imagined product consumption experiences are the strongest determinants of brand attitude." (MacInnis & Jaworski, 1989)
As shown, need for cognition is linked to the development of brand attitude in consumers. When examined in terms of its relationship to time spent processing online, visually rhetorical advertising, need for cognition could prove to be an interesting differentiator within the sample group. In addition to need for cognition, an internal motivation toward the product being advertised should be apparent within driven consumers. This motivation helps push the consumer toward unraveling the visual riddle presented in an open advertisement.
Type of motivation, either utilitarian ("goal-oriented") or hedonic ("expressive"), is a diverse and interesting factor to analyze across consumer groups. As shown in research undertaken by Phillips (2000), consumers with utilitarian, goal-oriented motivations are keen on evaluating product attributes and therefore less likely to be attracted to open advertisements. Consumers with hedonic or "expressive" goals are more likely to seek out the entertainment value in the open advertisement. (Phillips, 2000) To further support this stance, Huang (2003), in his online study of websites, found that level of attention in consumers is most linked to utilitarian design while both control and interest are linked to hedonic performance measures. Liu, et al (2002), based on their online research, concluded that higher levels of active control within consumers resulted in being geared towards more utilitarian, goal-based website designs. As shown in these studies, motivation is an individual difference worth characterizing. Type of consumer motivation is extremely important when analyzing online consumer behavior as it helps categorize amongst user groups, across sites. In past studies, level of interactivity has also had an impact on type of motivation and need for cognition. The following section will review this important research area.