Motivation

Motivation

Franklin University

Dr. Snyder

10 February 2008

Motivation

Motivation is the reason for doing something or the level of enthusiasm for doing it. Motivation comes from within, but is affected by others’ actions and words. Some people have high levels of internal motivation to get a job done, while others need more reassurance and feedback. Motivation relates to our desire to achieve a certain outcome. Many internal factors can affect a customer’s desire to achieve a certain outcome but there are others. For instance, when it comes to making purchase decisions customers’ motivation could be affected by such issues as financial position, time constraints, overall value, and perceived risk.

Motivation is also closely tied to the concept of involvement, which relates to how much effort the consumer will exert in making a decision. Highly motivated consumers will want to get mentally and physically involved in the purchase process. Not all products have a high percentage of highly involved customers but marketers who market products and services that may lead to high level of consumer involvement should prepare options that will be attractive to this group. For instance, marketers should make it easy for consumers to learn about their product and, for some products, allow customers to experience the product before committing to the purchase.

Consumer purchasing decisions are often affected by factors that are outside of their control but have direct or indirect impact on how we live and what we consume. Motivation is an inner drive that reflects goal-directed arousal. In a consumer behavior context, the results are a desire for a product, service, or experience. It is the drive to satisfy needs and wants, both physiological and psychological, through the purchase and use of products and services. There are five stages to the motivation process: latent need, drive, want or desire, goal, and behavior.

Maslow has identified five needs...