Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that there are four types of needs that must be satisfied before a person can act unselfishly. As Figure 10. 1 shows, the needs are arranged in a hierarchical order. The upward climb is made by satisfying one set of needs at a time. The most basic drives are physiological.
After that, comes the need for safety, then the desire for love, and then the quest for esteem. Note the softening of terminology used to describe the move up the ladder. We’re driven to satisfy the lower needs, but we’re drawn to meet the higher ones.Maslow referred to the four lower needs as “deficiency needs” because their lack creates a tension within us.
As long as we can work to satisfy the cravings, we’re moving towards growth. It’s when a repressive society or a warped individual curtails our freedom to satisfy our needs that we become ill. The urge to fulfill needs is potent but not overpowering. People can resist the pull of physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs, but it’s not easy. These needs are universal urges and not created by culture. Although everyone has the same set of needs, the ways of fulfilling them can be different.
People feel this gentle but persistent tug to maximize their potential only after they have satisfied their basic deficiency cravings.•Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has major implications in marketing domain since the way a consumer perceives a purchase situation and becomes motivated to resolve it will influence the remainder of the decision process. For example, one consumer may perceive the need to purchase a new watch from a functional perspective while another consumer may see the purchase of a watch as more of a fashion statement.To better understand the reasons underlying consumer purchases, marketers devote considerable attention to examining motives, and this is where Maslow’s theory of needs is referred to. This theory helps marketers understand how various products fit into the plans, goals, and lives of consumers. First and foremost, for a brand to be considered it must satisfy some needs.
Though according to the theory, the lower-level physiological and safety needs must be satisfied before the higher-order needs become meaningful; in reality, it is unlikely that people move through the needs hierarchy in a stair step manner.Lower-level needs are an ongoing source of motivation for consumer purchase behavior. However, since basic physiological needs are met in most developed countries, marketers often need to sell products that fill basic physiological needs by appealing to consumers’ higher-level needs. Maslow’s needs hierarchy offers a framework for marketers to use in determining what needs they want their products and services to be shown satisfying.
Advertising campaigns can then be designed to show how a brand can fulfill the customers’ needs. Major criticism of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory re as follows:1. Researchers have proved that there is lack of hierarchical structure of needs as suggested by Maslow. Some people may have deprived of lower level needs but strive for self-actualization.2.
There is lack of direct cause and effect relationship between need and behavior.3. It fails to illustrate and expand upon the difference between the social and intellectual needs of those raised in individualistic societies and those raised in collectivist societies.
