Self-concept and Marketing Strategies. Gabriela ROZVADSKÝ GUGOVÁ. Dubnica Institute of Technology, Dubnicanad Váhom, Slovak Republic

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1 Management Studies, ISSN April 2014, Vol. 2, No. 4, D DAVID PUBLISHING Self-concept and Marketing Strategies Gabriela ROZVADSKÝ GUGOVÁ Dubnica Institute of Technology, Dubnicanad Váhom, Slovak Republic This contribution of this paper is devoted to the research results in the field of self-expression and self-image of the individual in the world of information processing and cognition. Marketing strategies help make decisions that will help us to bring the subject to market activities. The current trend is a knowledge-based society, skills, abilities, information, storage, and transmission. Our marketing strategy focuses on four key issues: production, respectively service, price, distribution channels, and advertising. It is important to know how to develop an individual s current self-image. Implementation strategies are then engaged in transforming decisions into concrete action, meaning, and the decision has to be taken with regard to flexibility and acceptance. The sample consists of 4,420 respondents, men and women in three age groups: 0-15 years, years, and years. All responded to one question, Where is your center? Respondents had to show on their body. The question was chosen very sensitive, not to predict the answer. Terms soul, psyche, personality would be very manipulative, and therefore were excluded. In line with expectations, the majority of respondents have shown to their head, chest, and abdomen, but were also unconventional answers, in accordance with the preferred self-image and values of the individual. Lessons from research outputs were analyzed by the following processes: general description, item-total correlation, exploratory factor analysis of individual areas, and correlation analysis of individual items. It was found that medium correlations between area of body abdomen and age to 15 years were significant. Mean item-total correlation for areas of body were: Head was 0.35 and chest 0.43, and abdomen In the descriptive statistics it was found that most respondents preferred the chest, followed by the head and abdomen. As for the distribution of respondents into three age groups, we found differences between men and women. Next, it was analyzed the relationship between the areas of the body and gender. Statistically significant differences were found on the chest, where women scored more than men, and it was also found significant differences in the abdominal area, where men scored more than women. Keywords: self-image, self-concept, self-expression, somatization, cognitive science, value of human life, marketing strategies, customer behavior Introduction Mind of human is a function of the brain, the unity of objective and subjective, active reflection of objective reality, is a dynamic and solid, socially and developmentally determined. Mental phenomena are dynamic. Process is all mental, plot character, done in time and space. It is a flow of thoughts and feelings. The human mental states are constantly changing. It is determined that the dynamics of the psyche and dynamics of an objective reality is reflected in the psyche. The dynamics of the psyche also is dependent of factor of Gabriela ROZVADSKÝ GUGOVÁ, Ph.D., Department of Pedagogy and Psychology Sciences, Dubnica Institute of Technology. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Gabriela ROZVADSKÝ GUGOVÁ, Sládkovičova 533/20, DubnicanadVáhom, Slovak Republic. gugova@dti.sk.

2 270 SELF-CONCEPT AND MARKETING STRATEGIES development human growth. Psyche of each individual is therefore constantly changing. Human psyche is whole. Individual parts of the psyche do not work in isolation. For example, thinking depends on perception, vision, speech, mental status, concentration, fatigue, as well as the personality traits, the temperament, patience, interest, abilities. Integrity is organized by specific mental factor that psychologists call I (self), while the entire system of intellectual life is often referred to as a person. Integrity psyche applies to the development in the individual. Although the human psyche is constantly changing with age, its continuity is maintained. Human psyche is experiencing behavior. Cognitive processes, emotional and volitional processes participate in the outcome of a team s survival ensuring the uniqueness of each individual in particular, the proportion of affective and volitional processes. Every one of us has another level of cognition and mental emotional involvement. If laymen and experts say the consciousness, they usually mean awareness that is specifically human consciousness that we are conscious. Man is able to feel emotion, and is able to speak about it and describe it and talk about it with other people. For definitions of creating self-image, it can focus on a few recognized approaches. The biological approach focuses on exploring the brain. Contemporary authors use new high-tech methods, such as positron emission tomography (PET) or functional magnetic resonance (fmr). Bohemia is the major representative of this approach, Professor František Koukolík (born1941), which summarized the latest findings on brain substrates of mental storylines in the book The Human Brain (Koukolík, 2002). Evolutionary development of the human mind and behavior and its genetic basis is being investigated in several studies. The famous American psychologist William James, who in his Principles of Psychology (Rozvadský Gugová, 2012) speculated that much of human behavior was controlled by instincts similar to the behavior of animals, which was one of the first representatives of a biological approach. Under this approach, an individual s self-image is determined by the biological nature of the individual and how it shapes the capacity of sensory organs and inherited temperament, diet composition, production of hormones in the endocrine glands as well as the individual brain s ability to learn, and many other factors. According to the behavioral approach structured in self-image experience, which are not transmitted. Psychodynamic approach of Sigmund Freud (Rozvadský Gugová, 2012) said that self-image was created by consciousness and unconsciousness. He convinced that all mental experiences and behaviors had a reason. The basic dynamic forces were regarded as the unconscious psychic happenings. The instinctive impulses were regarded as function defense. Self-concept as an individual can consciously and unconsciously be modified. In terms of phenomenology, which deals with issues of human life and its meaning, issues of human conscience, responsibility, loneliness and intimacy are loaded with emotion; self-image created by individuals subjective perception of the passage of time during the life of the individual. The Gestalt approach is typical holistic examination of psychic phenomena in nature and utilizing the method of introspection. Individual s self-image is largely structured in just introspection. This happens in the psyche act as a whole, which is the most important in self-perception. Mental events are the process of structuring, formation units. Experiences appear to be structured in some formulas that were built on the basis of the experiences. Cognitive psychology understands human psyche as a system of information processing. The current dominant trends in science are: skills, abilities, information, storage, storage, transmission. Jean Piaget (Rozvadský Gugová, 2012) formed his theory of cognitive development. Piaget just comes with the patterns of cognitive aging process, such as a feeling, thinking, language, memory, and attention. George Miller (Rozvadský Gugová, 2012) published his studies of human memory.

3 SELF-CONCEPT AND MARKETING STRATEGIES 271 Self-concept expresses the unity of body and soul consistency and continuity of man. Developments are in an individual interaction with the world. Self-image can be defined as a trial linked to the overall vision of myself. Self-image can be divided into three components: Cognitive (registration) how I see myself, what I know about myself; Emotional (evaluation) how I evaluate myself, the degree of correlation between the real and the ideal me, how I am, and what I would like to be; Activities-regulatory (steers) how to handle own personality. If someone wants to understand behavior, he/she must examine internal mental events, the process of creating, processing, storage, and reuse of mental events. The priority is to learn how to learn, how to remember the past, and how to plan for the future and how to think, to decide and how to use language. Field of Marketing Strategies To be able to penetrate further and deeper into the problems of marketing strategy, we must first define the term. Each author assessed the concept in their own right, so there are a lot of definitions. Despite the concepts of different authors, the main essence of marketing strategy is almost identical. Kotler (1998) and Tomek (1992) described how the logic of marketing strategy, decided on all components of marketing. Horáková (1992) provided marketing strategy as a long-term concept of operations so that they can be best met with two basic objectives, customer satisfaction, and achieve competitive advantage in the fight. Jedlička (2006) has a similar notion as Horáková. Marketing strategies help make decisions that will help us to align business activities to the market. Very simply, it can characterize the marketing strategy as a process by which an entity translates its objectives and its strategy to market activities. People have to cope with daily pressures of their surroundings, which are often a stressful experience (Rozvadský Gugová & Heretik, 2011). Creating the ideal and optimal strategy is not a one-off activity, but an ongoing process. The strategy that has been successful in its time, must constantly adapt to changing market conditions. Creating a marketing strategy is a continuous process, very important for companies and companies preparing substantial changes in the production and the market orientation, as well as for companies that are consolidated, but the relative success must be defended every day of the competition. The strategy generally refers to the way the selection or combination of resources ensures achievement of objectives. The same objective can be achieved by various means. For example, market share can be increased by increasing product quality, reducing prices, or increasing the intensity of support activities. Our marketing strategy focuses on four key issues: production, respectively service, price, distribution channels and advertising. Questions about enforcement on different markets with different products, quality, and price are very important. On different levels of marketing support is to be assessed relation to other functional areas and within the overall strategy of the business unit. Deciding whether strategic or tactical is part of a broader problem-solving process. Processing strategy consists of three main steps: analysis, selection, and implementation strategies. Strategic analysis focuses on understanding the strategic position of the body, which requires finding answers to various questions: What do different people want? What are the needs of the individual? It is important to know how to develop an individual s current self-image. Implementation strategies are then engaged in transforming decisions into concrete action, meaning that the decision has to be taken with regard to flexibility and acceptance.

4 272 SELF-CONCEPT AND MARKETING STRATEGIES Methodology In accordance with the above, it was decided to find out what is in the image of individual self-expression and self-concept today, in the world of information processing and cognition. The sample consists of 4,420 respondents, men and women in three age groups: 0-15 years, years, and years. All responded to one question, Where is your center? Respondents had to show on their body. The question was chosen very sensitive, not to predict the answer. Terms: soul, psyche, personality would be very manipulative, and therefore were excluded. In terms of time, it was collected responses from respondents directly (face to face) almost during three years Responses were short line method captures up sheet. The age of the respondents preferring anonymity was divided into three age groups: 0-15 years, respondents with no experience of the totalitarian system; 16 to 40 years, respondents with a child or a close experience with the socialism; and from 40 years up to life experiences, respondents formed longer period of time under the influence of socialist Czechoslovakia (see Figure 2). Gender distribution of the sample was as follows in Figure 1. Figure1. Gender of respondents (research sample ). Figure 2. Gender and age of respondents (research sample ).

5 SELF-CONCEPT AND MARKETING STRATEGIES 273 Results and Discussion Lessons from research outputs were analyzed by the following processes: general description, item-total correlation, exploratory factor analysis of individual areas, and correlation analysis of individual items. Our results and findings are presented in the following figures and tables in the paper. In the descriptive statistics it was found that most respondents preferred the chest, followed by the head and abdomen (see Figure 3). Figure 3. Areas of body (research sample ). As for the distribution of respondents into three age groups, it was found the following differences between men and women. In the group under 15 years (see Figure 4), respondents favored abdomen, as expected, this group is determined by the particular experience and these individuals will not be interested in the transcendent sphere. Head scored less than chest, and it was speculated that the impact of family education patterns associated with issues of faith and religion. In the group of 16 to 40 years (see Figure 5) most scored against the head and chest at least abdomen, outputs are in line with the preferences of this age group as they stand in many studies in this area. Respondents of working age appreciate the importance of cognition, brain and spiritual formulas in accordance with the accepted religion. In the third group of respondents (see Figure 6) there were the similar results, but are more preferred by respondents before the head and chest, abdomen, and it is significant differences between men and women, more women than men were selected chest. Correlations Between Age and Areas of Body Correlations between area of body-head and area of body chest and age to 15 years were significant, but low (r = 0.100), only it was found that medium correlations between area of body abdomen and age to 15 years were significant (r = 0.168, p < 0.001). Correlations between area of body-head, chest, abdomen and age from 16 to 40 years were low significant (r = 0.100). Correlations between area of body-head, chest, abdomen and age from 41 to 60 years were low significant too (r = 0.100). Mean item-total correlation for areas of body was: head was r = 0.35, chest was r = 0.43, and abdomen

6 274 SELF-CONCEPT AND MARKETING STRATEGIES was r = 0.22 (see Table 1). Table 2 analyzed the correlations between areas of body, where correlations between area of body chest and area of body head was r = Figure 4. Respondents to 15 years (research sample ). Figure 5. Respondents from 16 to 40 years (research sample ). Figure 6. Respondents from 41 to 60 years (research sample ).

7 SELF-CONCEPT AND MARKETING STRATEGIES 275 Correlations and Differences Between Genders and Areas of Body We have analyzed the gender differences with point-biserial correlation. Items of head, chest, abdomen showed some differences between males and females. Correlations between area of body-head, chest, abdomen and gender men, women were less significant (r = 0.100). Next we have analyzed the relationship between areas of body and gender. Statistically significant differences were found for the area of chest, where women respondents scored higher than men, and we have found significant differences for the area of abdomen, where men respondents scored higher than women. Table1 Descriptive Statistics (Research Sample ) N Minimum Maximum Sum Mean Men 4, , Women 4, , Age to 15 4, Age from 16 to 40 4, , Age from 41 to 60 4, , Area of body head 4, , Area of body chest 4, Area of body abdomen 4, Valid N (listwise) 4,420 Table 2 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations (Research Sample ) Area of body abdomen Area of body head Area of body chest Area of body abdomen Pearson correlation ** ** Sig. (2-tailed) N 4,421 4,421 4,421 Area of body head Pearson correlation ** ** Sig. (2-tailed) N 4,421 4,421 4,421 Area of body chest Pearson correlation ** ** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) N 4,421 4,421 4,421 Note. ** : Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Conclusions Finally, it can concluded that presented outcomes confirmed our expectation: Individual age groups are selected body parts in accordance with the published theories in developmental psychology. Individuals in the category up to 15 years preferred orientation of the abdomen and their self-concept is actually structured in through concrete experience, where the primary needs and food play a dominant role. Group working people in age from 16 to 40 years confirmed the distribution and their self-concept is primarily structured in the fulfillment of social needs. In the last group with the longest life experiences, people in age from 41 to 60 years have seen a shift away from a transcendent value rather specific to the mental. Customer behavior is determined by our self-image, the individual who created it. Consciously and unconsciously self-image controls the behavior of the customer. According to our findings, children will be influenced in the choice of primary needs.

8 276 SELF-CONCEPT AND MARKETING STRATEGIES Children simply prefer a good meal before the book. Adult customers according to our results, prefer mental balance. Women and men reach for a book, cognition, and well-being. The oldest customers prefer peace and quiet before the new knowledge, more women than men. Since at this age group there are more women, and marketing strategies should focus on these value. References Horáková, I. (1992). Marketing v současné světové praxi (Marketing in contemporary practice) (p. 365). Grada: Praha. Jedlička, M. (2006). Marketingové stratégie (Marketing strategy) (p. 211). Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave: Trnava. Kotler, P. (1998). Marketing management (p. 719). Praha: Grada. Koukolík, F. (2002). Lidský mozek (Human brain). Praha: Portál. Rozvadský Gugová, G. (2012). Komunikácia (nielen) pre manažérov (Communication (not only) for managers). Brno: Tribun EU. Rozvadský Gugová, G., & Heretik, A. (2011). Gender differences in attachment styles using slovak version of the experiences in close relationships-revised (ECR-R) (pp ). Dubnica Technological Institute, Slovakia. Tomek, J. (1992). Marketingová stratégie podniku (The marketing strategy of the company). Praha: Mangement Press.