Ultimately Adler came to see stole of life as: the organismic ideas of the individual as an actor rather than a re-actor; the purposiveness, goal-directedness, unity, self-consistency and uniqueness of the individual; andthe ultimately subjective determination of his actions (Ansbacher 1976, p. 191). The primary purpose of this paper is to revive and refine lifestyle as a theoretical and research tool and segmentation variable. Lifestyle is an integrated system of attitudes, values, opinions and interests as well as overt behavior (p 497). Defining and operationalizing lifestyle to encompass both overt behavior and cognitive style needlessly confounds the task of lifestyle segmentation. On the contrary, while simplicity may facilitate clarity and possibly lead to greater consensus concerning the proper domain of lifestyle research, psychographic research remains a viable focus for market analysis insofar as examinations of cognitive processes or dimensions of personality further the cause of understanding, explaining, and predicting overt behavior, and refining market segmentation and marketing strategy formulation. This psychographic segmentation variable provides marketers with information about a target audience's beliefs, motivations, morals and overall outlook on The confusion of the terms lifestyle with psychographics has further compounded these problems. Thus, in defining lifestyle, Ansbacher draws no distinction between cognitive processes--thinking, feeling, perceiving -Cand overt behavior. Zimbardo, Phillip and Ebbe B. Ebbesen (1970), Influencing Attitudes and Changing Behavior, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Koponen, Arthur (1960), "Personality Characteristics of Purchasers," Journal of Advertising Research, vol. Hence, today, although ill-defined in the minds of most market analysts, lifestyle has come to be operationalized almost exclusively in terms of AIO by default. Operational, functional and constancy aspects: Lifestyle connotes consistent operations and actions or behavior over time (1967, pp. Perhaps the most noteworthy observation is the preponderance of references purporting to be lifestyle research which provide no explicit definition of lifestyle at all. Exhibit 1 provides a comprehensive review of definitions, operationalizations, and theoretical anchorages of lifestyle appearing in the marketing literature, along with the major proponents of each. Actions," Social Forces, vol. Apply Now. Both cognitive style and lifestyle are influenced by enabling conditions, which lie in the context of environmental constraints and opportunities. The analysis and classification of activity or behavioral reports from the consumer which are frequently classified as "psychographics", should be given their own distinct term, such as "lifestyle" (pp. 317-363) attempted to delimit and distinguish the domains of lifestyle from psychographic research. Thus almost accidentally, the lifestyle concept has become operationalized among a certain group of researchers as activity, interest and opinion research conducted for a rather limited set of purposes and employing a rather limited set of techniques (p. 498). Variously called "lifestyle", "psychographic", or "activity and attitude" research, this blend combines the objectivity of the personality inventory with the rich, consumer-oriented, descriptive detail of the qualitative motivation research investigation (p. 196). Udel, Jon G. (1965), "Can Attitude Measurement Predict Consumer Behavior? Accordingly either psychographic or lifestyle research may focus upon individuals, groups, or society as the unit of analysis depending upon the researcher's purposes. Much lifestyle research could better be termed "idiosyncracy research", since it uses the computer to group people with similar idiosyncracies (p. 37). It is composed of sub-symbols; it utilizes a characteristic pattern of life space [or the proximity of perceived constraints in the surrounding environment]; and it acts systematically to process objects and events [including products, services, and consumption itself] in accordance with these values (p. 141). Consequently, in interpreting lifestyle to include both characteristic patterns of overt behavior and cognitive processes and properties, contemporary definitions of lifestyle frequently lead to operationalizations that are internally inconsistent. Burn Boot Camp Franchising | Buy a Fitness Franchise Prior to joining the e-commerce industry, Leigh-Anne perfected her marketing skills at The University of Texas at Austin and CanIRank. ", Journal of Marketing, vol. THE LIFESTYLE CONCEPT IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES The origins of the lifestyle concept are obscure, but its roots are traceable to the works of poets, naturalists, and philosophers writing as early as the sixteenth century (Ansbacher 1976, p. 196). In an unfashionable depiction of the ostentatious style of life (or "scheme of life," in Veblen's words) of the American noveau riche of the latter half of the nineteenth century, Veblen established a fashion of thinking about social, economic, and consumer behavior that has persisted (Mills 1953). 204-206) discerns three "important common properties" of lifestyle: Unifying aspect: Lifestyle connotes internal consistency and unity, irrespective of specific percepts or responses (1967, p. 204). However, such an assumption flies in the face of the growing body of research examining their interaction. The paper (1) documents the internal inconsistency of contemporary definitions and operationalizations of lifestyle, (2) suggests an alternative definition, (3) provides a logical distinction between lifestyle and cognitive style, and (4) stresses the logical distinction between lifestyle and psychographic research. Veblen, Thorstein (1899), The Theory of the Leisure Class, New York: MacMillan. 9 (November), 465-467. Quite the contrary, behavioral and marketing analysis seem characterized by ever-increasing conceptual, operational, and methodological complexity, much of which seems needless. Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association. The suggested relationships are depicted in Figure l. Lifestyle is positioned as behavioral, and cognitive style is positioned as psychological and a subset of psychographic research. The lifestyle concept, partly because of its intuitively appealing and rather obvious relationship to consumer behavior, has received a considerable amount of attention in the marketing literature. By defining lifestyle as overt behavior, lifestyle emerges as the characteristic behavioral consequence of the ongoing reconciliation of individual motivations and cognitive style with environmental constraints and opportunities, within the limits of enabling condition operating over time. A persistent thread through the marketing literature is the notion that lifestyle involves characteristic patterns of behavior (Andreasen 1967; Bernay 1971; Lazer 1963; Moore 1963; Myers and Gutman 1974). The term "life style"suggests a patterned way of life into which [people] fit various products, events or resources. Charles W. King and Douglas i. Tigert, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 200-201. Consumer analysts and market practitioners are interested in values, attitudes, beliefs, opinions and interests to the extent that they augment predictions of overt behavior, particularly search, shopping and consumption behavior, or permit pin-point targeting of marketing strategy. The distinction has apparently been lost on most consumer analysts, as the terms continue to be used interchangeably, indeed by Wells himself (Wells, 1975b). It popped up in the 1970s, and its power to help marketers has been apparent from the get-go. The emphasis Ansbacher ascribes to the unifying property mirrors his conviction that lifestyle bridges cognitive style and response style. Thus, the lifestyle concept has varied widely in content and in range in the social sciences, according to the unit of analysis or the analyst (Ansbacher 1976, p. 203). Engel, James F., Martin R. Warshaw, and Thomas C. Kinnear (1979), Promotional Strategy, Homewood, IL: Irwin. Contemporary interpretations in the marketing literature generally define lifestyle to encompass both characteristic patterns of overt behavior and cognitive processes and properties (cognitive style), including such dimensions of personality as values, attitudes, opinions. This is admittedly narrow as defining lifestyle as overt behavior does not allow for the broad, psychological Adlerian perspective of lifestyle. The lifestyle concept, partly because of its intuitively appealing and rather obvious relationship to consumer behavior, has received a considerable amount of attention in the marketing literature. Lifestyle has been used in reference to: "an individual," "a group, where the members bear a psychological relationship to each other, and which has stability over time," and "a [generic] class or category, where the members have only the property in common on the basis of which they are classified" (Ansbacher 1976, p. 200). Michael Gibbert, Universit della Svizzera Italiana, Esther Doriette Tamara Jaspers, Massey University $53,937 Per capita income. Lifestyle cannot help one to understand consumer behavior if lifestyle variables are a disorderly, nongeneral, nonhierarchical, or atheoretical set of vaguely related traits whose casual relationships to each other and to anything else are unspecified. Felson, Marcus (1975), "A Modern Sociological Approach to the Stratification of Material Life Styles," in Advances in Consumer Research, ed. T. Parsons. Mills, C. Wright (1953), "Introduction," The Theory of the Leisure Class, New York: New American Library, vi-xix. Effective use of sequential segmentation requires clarification and differentiation of terms, consistent with contemporary consumer research findings on the relationship between cognitive processes and properties and overt behavior. 800.851.0962 | INFO@THERETAILCOACH.NET | THERETAILCOACH.NET | AUSTIN, TEXAS TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI 4 Income Range of Lifemode Summary Groups Bastrop, Texas + L1 AFFLUENT ESTATES Established wealth educated, well-traveled married couples + L2 UPSCALE AVENUES Prosperous, married couples in higher density neighborhoods The most telling observation from Exhibit 1, however, is the paucity of published lifestyle literature addressing the three criteria qualifying the usefulness of any social science construct: (1) definitional consensus, (2) operational clarity, and (3) theoretical context. about 10 percent higher than the amount in the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX Metro Area: $47,161. Stephen A. Greyser, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 151-164. The persistent conceptual and operational imprecision of the lifestyle construct has not only handicapped lifestyle research, but has undermined its usefulness as a segmentation variable. However, such an assumption flies in the face of the growing body of research examining their interaction. While knowledge of cognitive processes and properties may improve, understanding and predictions of overt behavior, and facilitate formulation of marketing strategy, the relationship is equivocal and imperfect, as recent research has demonstrated. 45, #3 (March), 347-355. The term "life style"suggests a patterned way of life into which [people] fit various products, events or resources. The suggested relationships are depicted in Figure l. Lifestyle is positioned as behavioral, and cognitive style is positioned as psychological and a subset of psychographic research. 8, #1 (March), 3-17. Linda L. Golden, University of Texas at Austin, NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 11 | 1984, Linda Hagen, University of Southern California, USA, Marta Pizzetti, Universit della Svizzera Italiana P. 130). While (perhaps inadvertently restricting the term lifestyle to "the totality of behavior," Ansbacher concludes that "the broad range of life style includes cognitive style and response style" (Emphasis added, 1967, p. 203). 33-38. While the term lifestyle has gained popular currency, it continues to defy definitional and operational consensus. Far and away the most popular of operationalizations of lifestyle is the activities, interests and opinions (AIO) method pioneered by Wilson (1966), Pessemier and Tigert (1966), and Wells (1968). While knowledge of cognitive processes and properties may improve, understanding and predictions of overt behavior, and facilitate formulation of marketing strategy, the relationship is equivocal and imperfect, as recent research has demonstrated. The origins of the lifestyle concept are obscure, but its roots are traceable to the works of poets, naturalists, and philosophers writing as early as the sixteenth century (Ansbacher 1976, p. 196). This has proven both a convenience and a "Catch-29" for market analysts. Those are emotional issues that will Wells, William D. (1968), "Backward Segmentation," in Insights into Consumer Behavior, ed. WebProviding more than simple data reports of psychographic and Psychographic trends, The Retail Coach goes well beyond other retail consulting and market research firms Ferber, Robert and L. C. Lee (1974), "The Role of Life Style in Studying Family Behavior," Faculty Working Paper no. Defining Lifestyle in terms of characteristic patterns of overt behavior also suggests an intuitive symmetry between the domains of lifestyle and of psychographic research paralleling Dorny's dichotomy (Dorny 1971, pp. For example, according to contemporary definitions, two consumers would be classed as exhibiting a similar lifestyle if, and only if, they are characterized by both parallel patterns of overt behavior and congruent cognitive styles. William D. Wells, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 317-363. The City is named for Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas. Demographics Austin is in Travis, Hays and Williamson counties. Lifestyle may or may not mirror cognitive style, contingent upon the effect of situational environmental influences operating. While Adler stressed the uniqueness of each individual, he nonetheless recognized similarities among individuals and their lifestyles (Ansbacher 1976. p. 192), suggesting the existence of lifestyle typologies (Ansbacher 1967, p. 203). EVOLUTION OF THE LIFESTYLE CONCEPT IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Bell (1958), Rainwater, Coleman and Handel (1959), and Havinhurst and Feigenbaum (1959) inaugurated the lifestyle concept in the consumer behavior literature at the close of the 1950s, pointing to its potential significance in understanding, explaining and predicting consumer behavior and, hence, its importance as a focus for marketing strategy. Charles W. King and Douglas i. Tigert, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 200-201. H. H. Gerth and C. W. Mills, New York:: Oxford University Press Weber, Max (1947), The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. Life-style is a systems concept. J. S. Wright and J. L. Goldstucker, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 332-347. 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