CHAPTER 6
Consumer decision making:
process, level and style
GORDON R. FOXALL
Introduction
Consumer decision making is usually depicted
as a cognitive process. Consumers become
aware of a need or want and a possible means
of satisfying it, typically announced in an
advertisement for a new brand. They call
mentally on the information they have at hand
to evaluate the advertiser’s claims and, when
that proves inadequate, search for further infor-
mation – perhaps from other manufacturers
and from friends. The ensuing deliberation
entails a detailed comparison of the probable
attributes of the competing brands and the
selection of the brand which comes closest to
fulfilling the consumer’s goals. When the cog-
nitive models of consumer behaviour were first
formulated in the 1960s, it did not seem to
matter much whether the consumer was buy-
ing a brand in a familiar product class such as
medicated shampoo or making a first time
purchase of a new durable. The assumed
pattern of decision making, modelled on the
information processing of digital computers,
was the same.
Real consumers have a habit of disappoint-
ing the theoreticians. Empirical research indi-
cates that, far from going through a detailed
decision process and becoming loyal to a single
brand as the formal models suggest, many
consumers: (1) show little sign of pre-purchase
decision making based on the rational process-
ing of information (Olshavsky and Granbois,
1979); (2) use brand trial – rather than pre-
purchase deliberation – in order to obtain
information about and evaluate brands (Ehren-
berg, 1988); (3) show multibrand purchasing
within a small repertoire of brands which share
attributes (or characteristics) that are common
to all members of their product class (Ehren-
berg, 1988); and (4) rely substantially on situa-
tional pressures and constraints in making
brand decisions (Wilkie and Dickson, 1991).
As a result, the conventional understand-
ing of consumer choice needs to be modified in
three ways. First, it must take account of the
level of involvement consumers show in the
decisions they make, their personal interest and
engagement in the process. This refinement of
consumer decision models is already under
way: issues raised by high and low involve-
ment are quickly becoming standard elements
in the consumer behaviour texts, though there
remains much room for clarification of the
concept and its marketing implications. Second,
our models of choice need to take account of
the style of decision making preferred by
various groups of consumers. Some prefer to
work in a detailed, conservative and cautious