Effects of utilitarian benefit level on the duration search behavior for products

Abstract

According to the Behavioral Perspective Model (Foxall, 1990; 1997; 1998), consumer behavior occurs at the intersection of the consumer behavior setting and the individual’s learning history, which signals aversive and reinforcing informational (e.g., status level) and utilitarian (e.g., value in use) consequences. This model was adopted in the present study with the purpose of investigating the effects of the utilitarian level of products upon the duration of search behavior. Direct observation (Oliveira-Castro, 2003) and brand classification (Foxall, Oliveira-Castro e Schrezenmaier, 2004) methodologies were adopted. 1020 observations of buyers searching for two products (mayonnaise and sweet biscuits) in real situations were conducted. The instrument to classify utilitarian level was developed analogously to that used for informational level (Pohl, 2004) and responded by 232 consumers. The questionnaire attempted to identify how much different attributes can increase the value of the products. The classification of attributes was based, in part, on the results from Anovas with the support of Post Hoc tests (Tukey). Results indicated longer search duration with higher level of utilitarian benefits for one of the products, suggesting that this relation might be specific to different product categories.