PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF PERSONAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN CONDITIONS OF LIMITED FINANCIAL EXPENDITURES

Abstract

The article examines the concept of consumer behavior of an individual and analyzes the phenomenon of limited financial expenditures as one of the factors of human behavior in the sphere of consumption of goods and services. The concept of consumer behavior style of an individual has been clarified. Approaches to the typification of these styles are summarized. Attention is focused on financial, social and psychological factors of consumer behavior of an individual in normal conditions of existence and in conditions of limited financial expenses. The methodology and methods of the author's empirical research on identifying the features of consumer behavior of people who feel limited in their own financial expenses are presented. Special emphasis is placed on the fact that "conditions of limited financial expenses" are not only an economic phenomenon (measured by material indicators), but primarily a psychological phenomenon (measured by indicators of subjective psychological satisfaction with one's life as a whole). The results of an empirical study of consumer preferences and consumer behavior styles in conditions of limited financial expenses are presented. The respondents were mostly women aged 18 to 57. Therefore, the data of our empirical study are representative and can be extrapolated to female audiences. It is shown that in such conditions, the consumer preferences of the respondents are mostly concentrated in the areas of self-care (cosmetic products, cosmetic procedures, aesthetic medicine and dentistry, etc.), travel, additional expenses for children (organization of children's leisure time, visiting additional circles, development centers, etc.), shoes and clothes. It was found that the dominant styles of consumer behavior in conditions of limited financial expenses are traditionalist (choice of goods and services that are reliable and "tested by time"), conservative (maintenance of personal consumer traditions, cautious and alert attitude to innovations and experiments in the field of consumption) and situational (absence of clear consumer preferences, tendency to make consumer choices under the influence of situational factors) style. Relationships between consumer preferences, styles of consumer behavior in conditions of limited financial expenses and other psychological characteristics of a person (dominant individual values, personality traits, tolerance to uncertainty) have been established. It is shown that the psychological characteristics that have the most interrelationships with consumer preferences in various areas are orientation to the value of hedonism, the level of tolerance for uncertainty, and friendliness, and the most interrelationships with consumer behavior styles in conditions of limited financial expenses have the following characteristics friendliness and openness to new experiences, orientation to the values ​​of independence, hedonism, achievements, power and security.