The Psychology of Consumer Behavior

8 Intention and Behavior

Intention can be defined as a plan to perform some specific behavior. Behavior, simply, refers to an act or a response. Within the context of consumer behavior, intention refers to the plan to acquire or use the product, and behavior refers to the actual acquisition or use of the product. In this chapter, we begin our consideration of intention and behavior by examining the relationships between the internal processes, intention and behavior. Next, we examine Fishbein and Ajzen’s Theory of Reasoned Action, and consider its applications to the intentions and behaviors of consumers. At the end of this chapter, we consider the practice of psychographics, or the use of individual differences in the internal processes to predict ...