Comsumer Styles

WINTER 1986

VOLUME 20 NO. 2

267

SHORTER PAPERS

GEORGE B. SPROLES AND ELIZABETH L. KENDALL

A Methodology for Profiling Consumers’ Decision-Making Styles

Consumers use a variety of decisionmaking styles. This paper conceptualizes eight basic characteristics of these styles and develops a Consumer Styles Inventory to measure them empirically. Factor analysis of the Consumer Styles Inventory validates these eight consumer characteristics. A vatid and reliable method for presenting a Profile of Consumer Style, based on measures of the eight style characteristics, is described. Unique findings of the research are discussed, and applications of the Consumer Styles Inventory in consumer education, consumer research, and family financial counseling are suggested.

The individuality in consumers’ behavior when choosing between alternative products is perhaps the most widely analyzed topic in consumer-interest studies. But although many factors influence consumer decision-making, consumers are thought to approach the market with certain basic decision-making styles. For example, consumers have been characterized as quality seekers, novelty-fashion seekers, comparison shoppers, information seekers, and habitual or brand loyal consumers (Bettman 1979; Jacoby and Chestnut 1978; Maynes 1976; Miller 1981; Sproles 1979; Sproles 1983; Thorelli, Becker, and Engeldow 1975). Identifying basic characteristics of decision-making styles is central to consumer-interest studies. This identification helps to profile an individual’s consumer style, educate consumers about their specific decision-making characteristics, and counsel families on financial management. However, conceptualizing and measuring consumer styles has not been a focus of the field. This paper therefore presents a method for measuring characteristics of consumer decision-making

George B. Sproles is Professor and Elizabeth L. Kendall is Assistant Professor at the School of Family and Consumer Resources,...