Motivation

By
Dr Raafat Youssef Shehata
 The Nature of Motivation

Motivation is the reason for behavior.

A motive is a construct representing an unobservable inner

force that stimulates and compels a behavioral response
and provides specific direction to that response.

There are numerous theories of

motivation, and many of them
offer useful insights for the
marketing manager.
 Types of Needs

Types of needs:
 Biogenic: biological needs, such as for air, water, food

 Psychogenic: need for status, power, affiliation

 Utilitarian: need for tangible attributes of a product,

such as miles per gallon in a car or calories in a
cheeseburger
 Hedonic: needs for excitement, self-confidence,
fantasy
 The Nature of Motivation
Two useful motivation theories:
theories
1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• A macro theory designed to account for most human
behavior in general terms.

2. McGuire’s Psychological Motives

• A fairly detailed set of motives used to account for
specific aspects of consumer behavior.
 The Nature of Motivation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Based on four premises:

1. All humans acquire a similar set of motives through
genetic endowment and social interaction.
2. Some motives are more basic or critical than others.
3. The more basic motives must be satisfied to a minimum
level before other motives are activated.
4. As the basic motives become satisfied, more advanced
motives come into play.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
The Nature of Learning and Memory
Marketing Strategies and Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy
 The Nature of Motivation
McGuire developed a classification with16 categories
Two criteria determine four categories:
• Is the mode of motivation cognitive or affective?
• Is the motive focused on preservation of the status quo
or on growth?
Four categories further subdivided:
• Is this behavior actively initiated or in response to the
environment?
• Does this behavior help the individual achieve a new
internal or a new external relationship to the
environment?
 The Nature of Motivation
McGuire’s Four General Categories:
Categories

1. Cognitive Preservation Motives

2. Cognitive Growth Motives

3. Affective Preservation Motives

4. Affective Growth Motives

 Nature of Motivation
McGuire’s Psychological Motives

1. Cognitive Preservation Motives

Need
Needfor
forConsistency
Consistency(active,
(active,internal)
internal)

Need
Needfor
forAttribution
Attribution(active,
(active,external)
external)
Attribution Theory
Attribution Theory

Need
Needto
toCategorize
Categorize(passive,
(passive,internal)
internal)

Need
Needfor
forObjectification
Objectification(passive,
(passive,external)
external)
 Nature of Motivation
McGuire’s Psychological Motives

2. Cognitive Growth Motives

Need
Needfor
forAutonomy
Autonomy(active,
(active,internal)
internal)

Need
Needfor
forStimulation
Stimulation(active,
(active,external)
external)

Teleological
TeleologicalNeed
Need(passive,
(passive,internal)
internal)

Utilitarian
UtilitarianNeed
Need(passive,
(passive,external)
external)
 Nature of Motivation
McGuire’s Psychological Motives

3. Affective Preservation Motives

Need
Needfor
forTension
TensionReduction
Reduction(active,
(active,internal)
internal)

Need
Needfor
forExpression
Expression(active,
(active,external)
external)

Need
Needfor
forEgo
EgoDefense
Defense(passive,
(passive,internal)
internal)

Need
Needfor
forReinforcement
Reinforcement(passive,
(passive,external)
external)
 Nature of Motivation
McGuire’s Psychological Motives

4. Affective Growth Motives

Need
Needfor
forAssertion
Assertion(active,
(active,internal)
internal)

Need
Needfor
forAffiliation
Affiliation(active,
(active,external)
external)

Need
Needfor
forIdentification
Identification(passive,
(passive,internal)
internal)

Need
Needfor
forModeling
Modeling(passive,
(passive,external)
external)
 Applications in Consumer
Behavior
The Mercedes-Benz ad
provides an excellent
example of targeting
women high in need for
assertion
They are competitive
achievers, seeking
success, admiration, and
dominance.
Important to them are
power, accomplishment,
and esteem. Courtesy Mercedes Benz USA, Inc.
 Motivation Theory and Marketing
Strategy

Consumers do not buy products; instead they buy motive

satisfaction or problem solutions.
solutions

Managers must discover the motives that their product and

brands can satisfy and develop marketing mixes around
these motives.

Do marketers create needs?

 Classifying Consumer Motivations

 Researchers put motivation into 5 categories:

1. Conscious vs. Unconscious

2. High vs. Low Urgency
3. Positive vs. Negative Polarity
4. Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic
5. Rational vs. Emotional
 Conscious vs. unconscious motives

 Conscious motives are motives we are aware of, the reasons for our
behavior are clear, and these motives do not need to be aroused

 Sometimes we are unaware of the reason why a particular behavior

was undertaken; our motivation is unconscious
 Discovering Purchase Motives

Manifest motives are motives that are

known and freely admitted.

Latent motives are either unknown to the

consumer or are such that he/she is
reluctant to admit them.

Projective techniques are designed to

provide information on latent motives.
Motivation Theory and Marketing Strategy
Motivation Research Techniques
Latent and Manifest Motives
Jeep uses an appeal to security needs
Pampers ad
Pampers appeals to needs for love and belonging
 High vs. low urgency motives

 High urgency needs must be satisfied immediately and may

make comparison shopping impossible

 Low urgency needs can be postponed and enable

consumers to shop for the best product at the best price

 Example :Heating system quits; car breaks down Vs.

Buying equipment for your trip this summer
 Positive and negative motivation

 Positive motivation drives consumers toward some

object or condition
 Negative motivation (e.g., fear/guilt) drives consumers
away from a consequence
 American Express: positive—convenient, accepted
everywhere
 Life insurance and home security devices use negative
motivation
 Positive and negative motivation

What about health clubs are they using

negative or positive motivation??
 Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motives

 Intrinsic motivation is engaging in behavior for the

pleasure of the behavior itself; the behavior is the
reward
 Extrinsic motivation is engaging in behavior for a
reward that is independent of the activity
 A sport such as basketball—some play for the love
of the game, others for monetary reward, to gain a
scholarship, etc.
 Rational v. emotional motives

 Rationality implies consumers select goals based on totally

objective and utilitarian criteria, such as size, weight, price,
miles per gallon, etc.
 Ads that provide factual information are aimed at this
motivation
 Emotion implies the selection of goals according to personal
or subjective criteria, such as pride, fear, affection or status
 Ads that identify products with a particular lifestyle target
emotional motivation
Emotions versus Cognitions

 Many marketing
messages, such as
this ad for a cosmetic
company in Taiwan,
focus on emotions
rather than cognitions.
Volvo ad
BMW ad
Timex ad
Rolex ad
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

 Maslow formulated a widely accepted theory of human

motivation based on a universal hierarchy of needs
 Holds that individuals seek to satisfy lower-level needs
before higher-level needs emerge
 The lowest level of chronically unsatisfied need serves to
motivate behavior
 When that need is satisfied, a new and higher need
emerges, and so on…
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Five basic needs (in order)

 Physiological needs
 Safety needs
 Social needs Self-Actualization
(Self-fulfillment)
 Egoistic needs
Ego Needs
 Self-actualization needs (Prestige, status, self esteem)

Social Needs
(affection, friendship, belonging)

Safety and Security Needs

(Protection, order, stability)

Physiological Needs
(Food, water, air, shelter, sex)
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

1. Physiological needs
 The most basic needs, required to sustain
biological life
 the same as the primary needs listed earlier (food,
water, air, shelter, clothing, sex)
 Physiological needs are dominant when they are
chronically unsatisfied
 Physiological needs

 Maslow said: “For the man who is extremely and

dangerously hungry, no other interest exists but
food. He dreams food, he remembers food, he
thinks about food, he emotes only about food, he
perceives only food, and he wants only food
 Safety needs

 After the first needs are met, safety and security become the
driving force behind behavior

 Involve much more than physical safety: Stability, Routine,

Familiarity, Control over one’s life and environment
 Social needs

 Include love, affection, belonging and acceptance

 People seek warm and satisfying human relationships with

others and are motivated by love for their families
 Egoistic needs

 Inwardly-directed ego needs reflect an individual’s need for

self-acceptance, self-esteem, success, independence,
personal satisfaction with a job well done

 Outwardly-directed ego needs include needs for prestige,

reputation, status and recognition from others
 Self-actualization

 Maslow: most people never fully satisfy ego needs; thus

don’t reach this level

 Refers to person’s desire to fulfill potential

 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

 Athlete training to make the Olympic team

Self-actualization needs
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

 Scientist striving to discover a cure for cancer

Self-actualization needs
Ads for the Lincoln Town
Car
Esteem needs
Nikon ad
“social needs”
Mountain Dew ads
Mountain Dew ads, directed at teens, stress
social needs by showing a group of young
people sharing good times
Gatorade ads
Gatorade ads stress refreshment
(physiological need)
Coca-Cola ad
Coca-Cola ad stresses caloric
content (ego needs)
Soloflex ad
 Soloflex ad

 This ad for exercise equipment shows men a

desired end state and suggests a solution to
attain it

(ego needs)
 Huggies Appeals to Need for Love

This product is being marketed by focusing on

the love between a parent and child (social
needs) in addition to the gentleness of the
product.
Marketing Strategies and
Maslow’s Hierarchy
Most Ads appeal to Multiple Motives
 Implications for Marketers

 Consumer goods often serve to satisfy each of the need

levels

 Enables marketers to focus appeals on a need level shared

by a large segment of the population
 Implications for Marketers

Segmentation applications:
 Specific advertising appeals are directed to one or more
need-segment levels
 Key to positioning is to find an unsatisfied need that is not
occupied by a competing product or brand
 Maslow postulated that no need is ever fully satisfied
 Thus needs will always be a motivating force
 Marketers can identify an unsatisfied need which their
competition appears not to be meeting
 Motivational conflict

 Occurs when multiple needs arise and fulfilling one goal

conflicts with another
 The end result is frustration
 Conflict can involve both positive and negative motivation

 Lewin identified three types of motivational conflict:

1. Approach-approach conflicts
2. Avoidance-avoidance conflicts
3. Approach-avoidance conflicts
 1. Approach-approach conflicts

 Arise when consumers face a choice among

desirable option—i.e., two positive goals or
motivations
 The more equal the positives, the greater the
conflict
 Example :Buying a new car vs. going on an
expensive vacation
 1. Approach-approach conflicts

 Marketers can use tactics designed to ease the

conflict by making one option more attractive or
creating conditions where consumers can have both
 Restaurant menu: combination plates help
consumer who can’t decide what he wants
 Special rates, sales, deals, etc. can make one
more attractive (e.g., buy a full fare seat, get
second free)
 2. Avoidance-avoidance conflicts

 Arise when consumers must choose between two

options with unfavorable consequences
 Examples:

-Paying to fix up the old car or buying another one

-Life insurance is a classic example: paying premiums
vs. leaving your family unprotected
 2. Avoidance-avoidance conflicts

 Marketers seek ways to minimize the negative

aspects of purchasing their product
 Marketers may also emphasize the negatives
related to avoiding the purchase of the product
 Examples:

-Car: low-rate financing, rebates, payment plans,

etc.
-Insurance: turn it into an investment
 3. Approach-avoidance conflicts

 Consumers only purchase products when they believe the benefits

outweigh the costs

 It is the job of marketers to convince consumers that their product’s

value exceeds its costs
Ads
Lever 2000
This product is being positioned as a
sensual product that produces fresh,
clean, soft skin.
Bosch
The ad manages to make a bit of an emotional
appeal by showing the babies and talking
about grandchildren despite the fact that
appliances are not a very emotional product.
Emotional vs. Rational

 These ads demonstrate

rational versus emotional
message appeals. At the
time of the initial ad
campaign for the new
Infiniti automobiles, the
ads for rival Lexus (top)
emphasized design and
engineering, while the ads
for Infiniti (bottom) did not
even show the car.
 Humor Appeals

 This ad relies upon humor to communicate the message

that skiers and snowboarders should wear helmets.
 Personification

 Many products
are personified
by make-believe
characters.
 Ads Reinforce Desired States

This ad for exercise shows men a desired

state (as dictated by contemporary Western
culture), and suggests a solution (purchase
of equipment) to attain it.
 Increasing Involvement through
Ads

The Swiss Potato Board is trying to increase

involvement with its product. The ad reads,
“Recipes against boredom.”