Goal Setting and Goal Striving in Consumer Behavior

Abstract

Goals play an essential role in the purposive behavior of consumers, but scholars only recently have begun to examine the motivation for goals, their selection and modification, and their pursuit and attainment. One purpose of this article is to outline a conceptual framework for thinking about how goals emerge, influence decision making, and guide consumer choice and action. Another purpose is to integrate classic ideas proposed by consumer researchers with emerging concepts and models proposed by cognitive psychologists, social psychologists, and other social scientists. Finally, the authors' aim is to present several new ideas on goal setting and goal striving and point out how they can enrich the study and practice of consumer behavior. M uch of consumer behavior is goal-directed. This can be found in the marketing of durables (e.g., buying a computer for the purpose of managing finances), nondurables (e.g., searching for a detergent that will begentie, easy to use, and effective), services (e.g.,joining a health club to keep body weight under control), and ideas or persons (e.g., deciding to vote for a candidate who will promote the voter's personal welfare). Even buyers in organizations pursue specific goals in their activities, such as when hospital pharmacy and therapeutics committees search for, choose, and prescribe drugs that will be safe, efficacious, and inexpensive.AIl these goals share a focus on a specific outcome (or outcomes) that consumption can produce. A desired outcome (e.g., ease of use) enters the mind of the decision maker and can be defined as a specific type of goal, namely, "a mental image or other end point representation associated with affect toward which action may be directed" (Pervin 1989, p. 474, emphasis added; see also Austin and Vancouver 1996*, p. 338). Consumers make purchases to produce or yield one or more end-state goals.Consumption goals are not limited to end states but also encompass experiences, sequences of interconnected happenings, and ongoing processes. For example, a person's vacation goal might not be limited to a particular location and time period per se but rather might reside in anticipated educational, recreational, and interpersonal experiences. A trip down the Amazon, an archeological excursion, or a religious pilgrimage all constitute experiential goals of one sort or another. Note, too, that goals need not be closed-ended (e.g., taking a white-water rafting trip next summer) but can be *Authors were limited in the number of references used in text, therefore, thosereferences marked withan * are available at www.

Determinants of Pregnant Women’s Online Self-Regulatory Activities for Appropriate Gestational Weight Gain

“…In addition to lower outcome expectancies about baby’s healthy weight, those who already have children reported lower intentions to be physically active. This intention was in turn predictive of online goal-setting and self-monitoring, in line with the assertion that intention formation precedes implementation action plans and goal striving (Bagozzi & Dholakia, 1999; Bandura & Simon, 1977). Specific to the behavioral goals relevant to physical activity, the indirect effect through intention was stronger than the effect through outcome expectancy beliefs about baby’s healthy weight.…”

Consumer cynicism: antecedents and consequences

“…Consumer goals generally may be defined as intentions to achieve desired ends by the means of consuming goods and services (Garbarino and Johnson, 2001;Peterman, 1997). The process of goal-directed decision making follows several stages, including goal attainment or failure (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 1999), which represents the final comparison of the outcome achieved with a standard or reference value, followed by determination of whether to maintain the goal pursuit or disengage from further efforts (e.g. Carver and Scheier, 1981).…”

Rebranding exercise: closing the gap between values and behavior

“…Goals differ in level of abstraction, and are connected in a hierarchical manner [14,21]. According to Carver and Scheier's (1990) theory of self-regulation there is a three-level hierarchy of goals (Figure 1) [19].…”

“…Superordinate goals, which have also been referred to as "be goals" [14], connect to the greater life values and principles that individuals hold [22]. Because they reflect individuals' idealized selves, superordinate-level goals are considered to be important self-regulatory guides for behavior, which has been modeled and tested empirically [19,21,23]. We propose that by understanding more about how exercise is connected to the self via superordinate goals we will be able to develop improved communications and methods to make exercise participation more deeply compelling to the individual; something that might improve sustainability [24,25].…”