Consumer Behavior Assignment
Executive Summary
List of potential different occupations
The list of six different occupations amongst many is as follows:Flight Attendants
Truck Drivers and Deliver Workers
Lawyers
Market Researchers
Actors
Police Officer
consumer behavior assignment
Evaluative criteria or a list of factors that are considered by individuals before selecting a career:
- Interest scored the highest score across all different occupations and different evaluation criteria.
- Actors, lawyers and police officers are perceived to have very high social status amongst different occupations.
- Flight attendants and Drivers have not given any importance to social status and they think that they are not given that importance amongst other occupations.
It was interesting to note that Actors enjoyed a very positive response from all the three respondents as they felt that fame came along with it. Thus respondents had a feeling that they would enjoy a social status which cannot be met by any other occupation. Further probing of the three respondents revealed that they were not too keen to become actors as they grew up and became more mature. They had this fascination when they were young but the parents pressurized them to keep their focus to studies and do not imitate what is being done by celebrities and on television (Pittenger, D. J. 2004).
Respondents also felt that the friends and family were gave high importance to occupations like lawyers and police officers as the family took pride if some of their relatives were in these profession then they were considered very educated and took part in the important decision making in the family (McCrae, R. R., Terracciano, A., Costa, P. T., & Ozer, D. J. 2006).
The most likely occupation in which the respondents are likely to engage in based on the matrix is Lawyer as the same has given a maximum score of importance and satisfaction for the respondent. However, that is not the case with all the three respondents as none of them is a lawyer by profession in actual. The various reasons given by them were different. One of the respondents said that he could not study further after school due to financial constraints and that led him to work as a music DJ in parties and the primary reason amongst many was income as that would deliver immediate cash on hand after every party and that was required by the family at that moment. The second reason was though it was a good profession to be associated with but involve giving lot of costs in the form of time and effort (Asendorpf, J. B. 2003).
There has been a trend of getting into the corporate world after completing professional degrees like MBA, BBA amongst the youth all over the world. Due to the ever increasing globalisation, students from all over the places go abroad for completing their higher education in lieu of getting a job in the country they go for higher studies. Mostly students from less developed countries go to study to developed countries with an
intention of settling and migrating their permanently. In this particular case, where three respondents are probed and rank on different evaluation criteria, their behavior suggests that it is a matter of pride to have more than one offer when they are searching an opportunity so that they can evaluate their options and select the best option available (Keirsey, David 1998). They are certainly overwhelmed if they more than two options to search from and more if the opportunities are closely matched with each other. Again, it is not about having many offers; it is certainly about getting the best job which is right in every sense for them. People have a perception that they would start working in an organisation for initial experience and then would switch over the job after they have enough experience in that line so that avail the benefits of a better job. The organisation view this frame of mind of the young generation negatively as they think that they have invested considerably over a long period of time in the individual and the retu
s of the same should be enjoyed by the organisation for their welfare. It has been seen that job seekers feel that no job or occupation is perfect for them as if they do get into something which they enjoy then it is generally not supported by good wages or compensation and if it has the support of a good compensation or salary package then it would either require a high set of skill set or education and sometimes a requirement of experience so that the organisation hiring gets the perfect match for their maximum welfare (Bess, T.L. & Harvey, R.J. 2001).
The beauty of this society we live in that everything is interconnected to each other and the services of one are required by others. To further explain this point, the following example can be used- if someone has access to funds and wants to fulfill the needs of the general public by opening a institution for films, then he can open up the institute but would need to hire professional actors as he would not be able to do all the things on his own. He would then hire a few actors and following that he would sell the services to the general public for whom ultimately this has been done. He would ask for a price from his customers for their entertainment and would then give out the wages to his employees. Thus, the society is interconnected that someone has the talent to make others laugh or stimulate their emotions. Someone has access to funds so that it opens an institution like this one. Thus, an individual should seek to choose the job wherein he would give his maximum output or efficiency so that he becomes a great asset not only for himself but also for the society as a whole (Be
stein, Penner, Clarke-Stewart, & Roy 2008).
The behavior of the respondents can be explained using the following attributes:
Demographics
Gender: Females are expected to get into an occupation where in less amount of physical effort is required and it is not the case with the male category as they do get thrilled by exciting and adventurous jobs as well.
Family situation: This is one of the most important factor amongst everything as a person is expected to get emotional when it comes to his family and when he sees that the family is under pressure, then he would make decisions which would leave apart his own interests and would look for opportunities where in the family gets the support financially (Fu
ham, A., & Crump, J. 2005).
Income: Income is what people are working for in their everyday. Even the basic necessity of life is bought by the virtue of money or income. People are in constant pursuit of a healthy and a rich standard of living for which they need a steady income and thus it heavily affects their respective decision of selecting a job where in they get eluded by an offering which promises them of making their dreams come true in life (Pittenger, D. J. 2004).
Ethnicity: Many recruiters are seen asking during their selection cycle or during an interview about their ethnicity, their religion, caste and origin as these factors do tend to affect the attitude and belief of the individual. It has been seen that the origin and the conditions have been brought right from his childhood has a great impact on what kind of occupation he selects for the times to come.
Personality
Personality refers to psychological classification of different types of individuals. They are different from personality traits of an individual as a personality trait embodies a smaller grouping of behavioral tendencies. People are introverts or extroverts and thus they choose to go into different types of occupation as an extrovert is more likely to be engaged in activities of public speaking and meeting people, meeting potential clients is a very important attribute of making and winning business in today’s generation. Being able to handle and encourage healthy conversation is yet another personality trait that the employers are looking for are which certainly affects the decision making process of the individual when carefully selecting amongst many options available for different occupations (Zeisset, Carolyn 2006).