Abstract
Religions have traditionally been used to explain the differences between peoples. However, this chapter aims to use religion, in this case Buddhism, to develop a segmentation scheme for international applications. It is aimed to improve the power of prediction of the segmentation schemes in terms of marketing mix stimuli response. The identification of the Buddhist temperaments would be useful in determining the response patterns observed in individuals. Application of this chapter includes developing segmentation for communications that are enabled by technology to tailor-make offers and messages to individuals depending upon their temperaments. Recommendations for future research includes using big data applications in order to determine individual temperaments as an alternative methodology for analyzing the consumer.
TopBackground
Dahlsgaard, Peterson, and Seligman (2005) explained that to understand values, it is important to examine philosophical traditions of the major religions. The researchers did a study to compare Confucianism and Taoism (China), Buddhism and Hinduism (South, East, and Southeast Asia), and Judaism, Islam, and Christianity (the West). The study found that there were common positive values across all of the major religions.
These values have to be studied within the context of the entire value system. The better-known segmentation schemes used in marketing that are developed based on values are Values and Lifestyle (VALS) and List of Values (LOV). However, there are arguments for and against VALS and LOV in the international context. Steenkamp and Hofstede (2002) explained that segmentation has to deal with differences of people from different cultures. It is important to address this issue because segmentation aims to group people who have similar responses to marketing stimuli. As a result, it would be interesting to identify what factors drive motivational values that are fundamental and common to individuals across borders.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Worrisome Persona: People who exhibit this persona are anxious and apprehensive needing reassurances preferably personal communications to help them make decisions.
Pride Persona: People who exhibit this persona type tend to be narcissists who value flattery often making quick decisions to stay in trend to make sure others are always following them.
Materialism Persona: People who exhibit this persona type value beauty and luxury often modeling their values and actions based on well-known celebrities.
Buddhist Temperaments: The six perception-based habits influencing behavior, which Buddha used to classify individuals.
Loyal/Conservative Persona: People who exhibit this persona type tend to value tradition and rely on past experience in making their decisions as a means of reducing risks.
Confused Persona: People who exhibit this persona type tend to be in constant need of approval from others often depending on information from others in making decisions.
Rational Persona: People who exhibit this persona are not quick in making decisions often seeking out multiple sources of information and preferring personal communications.
Consumer Persona: A means of profiling consumers based on their perceptions, habits, and responses to stimulus from external sources including people in their society and the media.