Think of a purchase decision from your own experience in which you had a well-developed goal hierarchy. Describe how that affected your problem-solving processes. Then select a decision in which you did not have a well-developed goal hierarchy and describe how it affected your problem-solving processes.

Subject: Consumer Behavior

Answer:

A purchase decision from my own experience in which I had a well-developed goal hierarchy is the decision with regards to purchase of a car which I purchased last year. While buying a car I had a goal in mind in terms of desired consequences that I wanted to achieve from my purchase of car. While deciding on my purchase I perceived a problem in my purchase process as my desired consequences had not been attained. I had to make a decision about the behaviors that needed to be performed in order to achieve my goals and thus eventually solve the problem. As such my car buying decision process was a goal directed problem solving process in which I wanted to purchase a reliable and efficient vehicle. Having a well developed goal hierarchy enabled me to simply the problem solving process. I was able to recognize the problem easily by perceiving the difference between ideal and actual state of affairs. Secondly I was able to search for alternative solutions by seeking relevant information with regards to the potential solutions to the problem. Thirdly I was able to properly evaluate the alternatives and judge the competing alternatives. I was able to close my purchase decision by buying the chosen or the selected alternative. Lastly I was able to post-purchase reevaluation of my selected alternative.

In simpler words in my purchase decision of buying a car having a well developed goal hierarchy helped me to decompose the complex problem into a series of simpler sub problems. This also enabled me to deal with each sub problem separately. For example while buying the car I had to visit a car showroom and this presented me with the sub problem of which dealer should I visit. It also posed sub problems like which models should I consider and so on. As I had a well-developed goal hierarchy I was able to solve the simpler sub problems in order and this helped me to solve the eventual problem in my purchase decision making process. My dominant end goal of buying a car was to maintain the satisfaction of basic need of having a reliable and efficient car with minimal effort. This led me shortlist Toyota as a brand (that are famous for its reliability) and hence I headed to the nearest Toyota showroom.

A purchase decision from my own experience in which I did not have a well-developed goal hierarchy is the decision with regards to purchase of a laptop. In the absence of a well-developed goal hierarchy I was not able to break down my general goal of buying a laptop into several specific sub goals. This negatively affected my problem solving process and I was not able to form a consideration set of brand choice alternatives.