Hierarchy of Needs & Consumer Behavior

This research examines Abraham Maslow's (1954) Hierarchy of Needs model of human behavior and motivation. There are two objectives of the study. The first objective is to assess the validity of the Hierarchy of Needs model. The second objective is to assess the extent to which the model is applicable to all cultures.

A Review of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Model of Human Behavior and Motivation

Maslow (1954) built the theory of the hierarchy of needs on the needs, wants, and hungers of individuals. Maslow's (1954) hierarchy divides human needs into higher and lower orders. The lower order needs are primary, such as food, shelter, sex, and physical security, while the higher order needs involve love for other and self-actualization. When the lower order needs are absent in the life of an individual, the satisfaction of those needs become the center of the individual's life. In most modern societies, however, the primary needs are satisfied. Thus, real motivation to behave in a particular way results from individual desires to satisfy their higher order needs. Specifically, Maslow (1968) contended that factors must be introduced into the lives of individuals that, if responded to appropriately, will enhance an individual's opportunity to attain self-actualization (Maslow, 1968).

Maslow (1968) believed that the inner needs and desires of individuals were the links between motivation and behavior. Maslo

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nsumer behavior theory, together with any models derived from such theory, is to (a) identify consumer variables, (b) explain relationships between the variables, (c) develop operational definitions for the variables, and (d) specify cause-and-effect outcomes from variable interactions. Models derived from consumer behavior theory may be (a) physical or behavioral in character, (b) quantitative or verbal in statement, (c) descriptive or analytical in object, (d) static or dynamic in function, and (e) partial or holistic in approach. Both sociology and psychology provide strong underlying bases for the description of consumption behavior. The essential theory of consumer choice upon which consumption behavior theory is based, however, is drawn from economics. To this base of economic theory is added the relevant concepts from sociology and psychology to develop a marketing-based theory to explain consumption behavior. Drawing on this theoretical combination, specific models related either directly or indirectly to consumption behavior have been developed, although no one of these models has been found to be effective in explaining all consumer behaviors. Geert Hofstede's (1994) model of cultural variability provides a basis f
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Approximate Word count = 2179
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)