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Although previous studies have identified several regularities in buying behavior, no integrated view of individual differences related to such patterns has been yet proposed. The present research examined individual differences in patterns of buying behavior of fast-moving consumer goods, using panel data with information concerning purchases of 4 product categories by approximately 1,600 British consumers, over 52 weeks. Eight measures of buying patterns were adopted, and their stability across time and products was examined, based on within-measure between-period Pearson correlations. Correlations between all pairs of measures within periods were also examined. Results showed positive and significant correlations, across periods, for all measures, indicating stable individual differences in buying patterns. Some correlations, across measures, were also significant. Such results replicated previous findings concerning buying patterns and suggest that individual differences are stable over time, forming higher level purchase patterns that result from the combination of different measures of buying behavior.
Key words: consumer behavior, Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM), consumer buying patterns, individual differences, consumer panel data
In the context of consumer behavior research, the Behavioral Perspective Model (BPM) offers an alternative framework, largely based on behavior principles derived from behavior analysis, behavioral economics, and marketing (Foxall, 1990, 2002, 2010). In this perspective, consumer behavior occurs in the intersection of the consumer's learning history and the current consumer behavior setting, producing utilitarian and informational consequences (Foxall, 2010).
As in operant theory (Skinner, 1953), the BPM also employs the three-term contingency, where the antecedents and consequences of behavior can be identified as situational variables that influence consumer behavior (cf. Foxall, 2010). One central idea in the BPM, and of particular relevance to the present study, concerns the environmental consequences of consumer behavior. To address these variables, the model introduces original concepts, according to which the environmental consequences can be classified: utilitarian reinforcement and punishment and informational reinforcement and punishment. Both types of consequences are simultaneously produced by consumer behavior, and every behavior, even those highly reinforced, also generates aversive consequences, such as monetary cost and time investment.
Utilitarian consequences are directly related to the use or consumption of a given product, whose physical characteristics and practical benefits strengthen (reinforcers) or weaken (punishers) the probability of acquiring the product or service. Informational consequences are close to what Skinner...