Howard Sheth model of consumer behaviour

Howard and Sheth used the term buying behavior and not consumer behavior as the industrial buyers and consumers are similar in most aspects. While the model was proposed in the 1960s, for industrial buying, the term “buyer” is used to connote both industrial consumers and personal consumers. Through the model, Howard and Sheth, tried to explain buyer rationality while making purchase decisions even in conditions of incomplete information. While they differentiated between three levels of decision making, EPS, LPS and RPS, the model focuses on repeat buying/purchase.

The model has four major components, viz., stimulus inputs (input variables), hypothetical constructs, response outputs (output variables), and, exogenous variables.

a) Stimulus inputs (Input variables)

The input variables refer to the stimuli in the environment; they take the form of informative cues about the product/service offering; these information cues could relate to quality, price, distinctiveness, service and availability.

The informational cues could be Significative, Symbolic, (both of which are commercial and can be controlled by the marketer) and Social (non-commercial and uncontrollable by the marketer; family, reference groups and social class). All these three types of stimuli provide inputs concerning the product/brand to a consumer.

• Significative stimuli: The product/brand information that the marketer provides, comprises the significative component; it deals essentially with the brand characteristics.

• Symbolic stimuli: this is the psychological form with which a buyer perceives the product and service offering (brand); it is figurative (verbal and visual product characteristics) and perceptual and depends on how the offering has been positioned; it emanates from advertising and promotion efforts.

• Social stimuli: this is the information about the product or service offering that comes from the social environment viz. family, groups, society and culture at large.

b) Hypothetical constructs

Howard and Sheth classified the hypothetical constructs into two major groups, viz., perceptual constructs and learning constructs. These constitute the central part of the model and deal with the psychological variables which operate when the consumer is undergoing the decision making process.

Perceptual constructs:

The perceptual constructs deal with how a consumer obtains and processes information received from the input variables. Once the buyer is exposed to any information, there is an attention; this attention towards the stimuli depends on the buyers’ sensitivity to information in terms of his urge and receptivity towards such information. Not all information would be processed and the intake of information is subject to perceived uncertainty and lack of meaningfulness of information; this is referred to as stimulus ambiguity. This reflects the degree to which the buyer regulates the stimulus information flow. Stimulus ambiguity occurs when a consumer does not understand the message from the environment; it could trigger off a need for a specific and active search for information and thus lead to an overt search for information. The information that is gathered and processed may suffer from perceptual bias if the consumer distorts the information received so as to fit his/her established needs/beliefs/values/experiences etc.

Learning constructs:

The learning constructs relate to buyer learning, formation of attitudes and opinions, and the final decision. The learning constructs are seven in number, and range from a buyer’s motive for a purchase to the final satisfaction from a purchase; the interplay of these constructs ultimately leads to a response output or a purchase. The motives refer to the goals that a buyer seeks to achieve through a purchase and the corresponding urge towards action or the purchase activity. The brand comprehension is the knowledge and information that the buyer has about the various brands in his evoked set. The buyer forms an order of preference for the various brands; this order of preference is based on the choice criteria (decision mediators). The decision mediators are the evaluative criteria and the application of decisions rules by the buyer to the various purchase alternatives.

Based on the choice criteria, the attitudes are formed for the varying brands. The attitudes reflect the predisposition of the buyer; preference toward alternative brands; and, feelings of like/dislike towards the offerings. The brand potential of the evoked set determines the buyer's perception and confidence level of the brands that he is considering to purchase. The purchase intention is a cumulative outcome of the interaction of buyer motives, choice criteria, brand comprehension, resultant brand attitude and the confidence associated with the purchase. Satisfaction, another learning construct, involves the post purchase evaluation (whether expectation from an offering matches the performance) and resultant impact (positive/negative) on brand comprehension.

c)     Response outputs (output variables):

The output variables refer to the buyer’s action or response to stimulus inputs. According to Howard and Sheth, the response outputs comprise five constituents, viz., attention, comprehension, attitude, intention and purchase. These could be arranged in a hierarchy, starting from attention and ending up with purchase

§  Attention refers to the degree or level of information that a buyer accepts when exposed to a stimulus. It reflects the magnitude of the buyer's information intake.

§  Comprehension is the amount of information that he actually processes and stores; here, it refers to brand comprehension which is buyers’ knowledge about the product/service category and brand.

§  The attitude is the composite of cognition, affect and behavior towards the offering; the attitude reflects his evaluation of the brand and the like/dislike based on the brand potential.

§  Intention refers to the buyer’s intention to buy or not to buy a particular offering.

§  Purchase behavior refers to the actual act of buying. The purchase behavior is a cumulative result of the other four constituents.

d)   Exogenous variables:

The Howard and Sheth model also comprises certain constant exogenous variables that influence some or all of the constructs explained above, and thereby impact the final output variables. These are explained as Inhibitors or environmental forces that restrain the purchase of a favored brand; e.g., importance of the purchase, price, financial status of the buyer, time at the disposal of the buyer, personality traits, social pressures etc.

Working relationships between Constructs and the Model:

Through their model, Howard and Sheth explain the buying decision process that a buyer undergoes, and the factors that affect his choice decision towards a brand.

The process starts when the buyer is exposed to a stimulus. As a result of the exposure, stimulus ambiguity occurs, which leads to an overt search for information.

The information that is received is contingent upon the interplay between the attitudes and the motives. In other words, the search for information and the conclusions drawn would be filtered by perceptual bias (that would be a result of attitude, confidence, search and motives). It may alter the existing patterns of motives and choice criteria, thereby leading to a change in the attitude towards the brand, brand comprehension, motives, purchase intention and/or action.

The final purchase decision is based on the interaction between brand comprehension, strength of attitudes towards the brand, confidence in the purchase decision and purchase intention. The actual purchase is influenced by the buyer's intentions and inhibitors, which he confronts.

The entire process is impacted by various exogenous variables like the importance of purchase, price, time available to make the purchase, social and cultural influences etc.

After the purchase, the buyer experiences satisfaction if the performance matches and exceeds expectation; this satisfaction would strengthen brand comprehension, reinforce the confidence associated with the buying situations, and strengthen the intention to repeat purchase of the brand. With a satisfying purchase decision, the buyer learns about buying in similar situations and the behavior tends to get routinized. The purchase feedback thus influences the consumers’ attitudes and intention.