Chapter II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter presents relevant theories, related literatures and studies of local and
foreign, conceptual framework, and definition of terms of the study.

Relevant Theories
Prospect Theory. Prospect theory was formulated in 1979 and further developed
in 1992 by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. They criticized expected theory as a
descriptive model of making decisions under risk which according to (Ronaldo, n.d),
expected theory states that under uncertainty, the weighted average of all possible levels
of utility will best represent the utility at any given point in time, which leads them to
developed alternative model which is the prospect model. Prospect theory defined by
Morris Altman, as a theory about how people make choices between different options or
prospects; is designed to better describe, explain, and predict the choices that the typical
person makes, especially in a world of uncertainty.
Prospect theory was about making decisions under the condition of risk. In
connection to the study, consumers embrace the concept of Bahala Na if there is
uncertainty that leads them to take the risk and in making choices between different
options.

Related Literature
Books, journal articles, blogs, and internet sources were reviewed to foster this
study and give the researchers a further understanding about the variables that were used
in the study.

Consumer Behavior
Consumer Behavior is a process of consumers in choosing and making decision
what will he/she buy. According to David, Priest and Statt (2013) consumer behavior can
be defined as "the mental, emotional, and physical activities that people engage in when
selecting, purchasing, using and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy needs
and desires." Furthermore, consumer behavior is marketers way in knowing the
consumers preferences and how consumer affect by their surroundings and peers
(Brosekhan, & Velayutham, n.d).
According to (Sheth, 2014) consumer behaviors have different activities and roles
that plays as a consumers, he also defined consumer behavior as the mental and physical
activities undertaken by households and business consumers that result in decision and
action to pay for purchase, and use products and services.
In addition, according to management study guide, consumers behavior involved
five (5) stages, first consumer recognizes need, then, he gathers information from
different sources such as from personal sources, commercial sources, public sources, and
from his own experiences, the next step is he evaluate different alternatives and chooses
the best products or services that may satisfy his needs and wants, then finally purchase

the chosen product or services, lastly is the post purchase a stage where he analyses if
those product or services satisfy his needs or not.
However, according to saylor.org academy when purchasing product or services,
the five stages of buying process were not necessarily done by the consumers. There are
times that they looked to different products and compared it to each other, but at the end
they decided not to buy any one of it. They tend to skip stages from 1 to 3 and became an
impulsive buyer. Buying with no planning at all is sometimes called impulse buying.
There are different factors that can affect consumers behavior such as (1)
cultural, (2) social, (3) personal, and (4) psychological factors.
Cultural Factor. According to Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong, Peggy H.
Cunningham, and Valeri Trifts (2011), Cultural factors exert a broad and deep influence
on consumer behavior. Cultural factors include culture, subculture, and social class. The
needs and wants of a person are basically based on her culture (Kotler et al, 2011).
Subculture is the part of the culture that contains beliefs and values of a certain group of
people (Mohamed, 2008/2015). Social class is defined as group of people with the same
rank and almost shared same values and beliefs (Rani, 2014).
Social Factor. It is defined as Relatively permanent and ordered divisions in a
society whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors (Kotler et al.,
2011) According to Pinki Rani (2014), it is an external influence that can affect the
consumer behavior of a person and it has three categories: reference group, family and
social roles and status (Rani, 2014).

Psychological Factor. Psychological factor refers to the feelings and thoughts of

one persons consumer behavior. According to Wayne D. Hoyer, Deborah S. Maclnnis &
Rik Pietters, there are different components of psychological factor and its called
Psychological Core or Internal Consumer Process (Hoyer, W.D & Maclnnis, 2012).
Motivation, Perception, Learning, and Beliefs or attitudes are the factors influencing the
persons buying choice (Kotler et al., 2011). This factors can be made favorable and goal
of a consumer satisfaction (Rani, 2014).
Personal Factor. Personal factors are individuals perception and persons ability
to learn or how an individual understand the information about the goods or services to
be consumed. According to Kotler, Armstrong, Cunningham, and Trifts, there are 5
components of personal factor, these are Age and life cycle stage, Occupation Economic
situation, Lifestyle, and Personality or self-concept (Kotler et al., 2011). Age and lifecycle consumers change the purchase of goods and services with the passage of time
(Rani, 2014). A persons economic situation will affect his or her store and product
choices and consumer watch trends in personal income, savings, and interest rates (Kotler
et al., 2011). Lifestyle deals with the feelings of people, his/her attitudes, interests and
opinion (Krishnan, 2011). Personality and self-concept an individual belief about himself
or herself and results in constant behaviors, It characterized into some traits such as
confidence, sociability, autonomy, charisma, ambition, openness to others, shyness,
curiosity, adaptability (Rani, 2014).

Bahala Na
Filipinos have many unique characteristics and habits that sometimes admired by
others, but sometimes misinterpreted. One of its traits is the Bahala Na mentality.
People have different perspective to the concept of Bahala Na, and there are contrasting
points of view on how to define it.
Etymology
According to Rosalinda Morgan (2013), it is a Filipino expression when they
encountered a problem, saying Bahala Na means come what may, whatever will be,
will be. It comes from the phrase Bathala Na, where Bathala means God or Supreme
Being and Na which used as an adverb in time means already. Literally speaking, it
means God already take care the situations. In addition, from the book of Filipino
Cultural traits by Gripaldo (2005), Bahala Na means leave anything to Gods hand.
Bahala na as Fatalism
It is a Filipino trait with no exact translation. The first psychologist who
conducted a study about it was Bostrom (1968) when she compared it to American
fatalism. In Thomas Andress Dictionary of Filipino Culture and Values, he interpreted it
as the attitude that makes him accepts sufferings and problems leaving everything to
God, this is a fatalistic resignation or withdrawal from an engagement or crisis or a
shirking of personal responsibility. (Andres, 1994). According to Menguito & TengCalleja, (2010), fatalism shows that a person accepts those situations that happened in
his/her life which loses their confidence and determination to make an action that helps
them to get out to tough situations. In addition to this, (deMesa, as cited in Menguito &

Teng-Calleja, 2010), it also shows accepting those situations, believing that they have no
power to change it. Moreover, scholars see it as an escaping to responsibilities.
Bahala Na as a positive affirmation
Despite of all the negative aspects of Bahala Na, the Sikolohiyang Pilipino has
a different perspective about it. In the study of Lagmay (1977) he explained that Bahala
Na is not fatalistic passiveness but determination and risk-taking and not only leaving
their fate to God. Instead, they encouraged themselves to believe that they are ready to
face those difficult situations of life so they will do all their best to overcome it (Aleah,
2013). Moreover, (Gonzales, as cited in deMesa 1981), Bahala Na symbolized
obligation and control not only fatalism. For poor Filipinos, Bahala Na attitude is their
way of encouraging and telling themselves that they are ready to deal with their
problems. Similarly, in Ignitian advice: Pray as if everything depended on God, act as if
everything depended on you. Gripaldo (2005) defined Bahala Na as believing in ones
capabilities. In the study of Menguito and Teng-Calleja, Bahala Na expressed in the
context of hope, courage, and search for the sacred. First, hope because people find ways
to improve their situation. Second, embracing Bahala Na shows courage when people
choose to face uncertain situations. Lastly, search for the sacred because people believed
that God will not abandon them.

Related Studies
Studies written and performed related studies by professionals from local and
foreign were read and reviewed which gave an important information linked to the study
of the researchers.

The study conducted by Dr. DurmozYakup, Dr. CelikMucahit and OrucReyhan

conducted in Adiyaman University entitled The Impact of Cultural Factors on the
Consumer Buying Behaviors Examined through an Empirical Study it focused on
how culture influences the consumer behavior (Yakup et al., 2011). The study covers
1286 participants coming from the regions of Turkey, namely Gaziantep, Samsu, Sinop,
Konya, Manisa, and Adiyaman province. With 1286 participants (51.3%) are composed
of young people (18-25 yrs. old), (58.6%) are married and (69%) are gentleman. The
study used questionnaire to obtain the data needed for the study. The results or findings
were (41.8 %) of the respondents enjoyed much shopping and (24.6%) enjoys too much
shopping, that means the majority of the participants enjoys shopping. In terms of who
does the shopping (25%) answered that the father does the shopping. In the question if
the approval of the environment and friends is the most important factor in their
consumption (34%) do not agree. And lastly (86.8%) answered that they have certainly
agreed and agree that culture, belief, tradition and custom is the most important factor
that can influence the goods and services they consumed (Yakup et al., 2011).

The study showed the importance of culture in the activity/behavior as a

consumer. However, the researchers set a limitation on what the respondents can answer
in the questionnaire and it is not clearly indicated what is the effect or the reason why the
culture affect the consumer behavior.
The study was similar to the current study because it both focused on culture and
consumers behavior but the difference is that the current study is more specific in terms
of culture of the consumer. This study could be a great help for the current study even it
gives a holistic approach on culture, still provides background and ideas to the future
reseachers that culture can influence the consumer behavior of a person.
This study conducted by Dr. Sriparna Guha entitled The changing perception
and buying behavior of women consumer in Urban India in 2013, it focused on the
differences of employed and unemployed women when it comes to buying behavior and
perception. Both primary and secondary data were used, wherein survey was used with
structured questionnaires. Participants were composed of married and unmarried women,
unemployed and employed in both private and public sectors. This study made in Kolkata
and near urban areas in India. Buying behavior was measured through categorical scale.
The result of the study was employed women are more conscious in terms of price,
quality, and brand conscious than unemployed women.
This study gives a clear picture of the differences of women in terms of their
buying behavior and perception. However, this study was conducted in urban area, not
knowing if this is also the case in rural area. It only covered employed and unemployed
women, and men are not included.

This study was similar to the current study in terms of its focus which is on
consumer behavior. It is differ in terms of participants wherein this study it is composed
of employed and unemployed women, both married and unmarried while in the current
study it is comprised of married and unmarried, both men and women.
This study conducted by Salman, Saleem and Abideem entitled Effective
advertising and its, influence in Consumer buying behavior it focused on the
relationship of environmental and emotional responses with the help of attitudinal and
behavioral aspect of consumer buying behavior. The study covers 200 respondents from
the customer of telecommunication services provided by Rawalpindi, Islamabad and
Lahore, cities of Pakistan. The finding of the study was that the emotional response of
consumer purchase behavior is the strong foundation to the consumer buying behavior.
Also advertisement is one of the effective tools of integrated marketing communication to
emotionally motivate consumers to use the product or service (Moore, 2004). It is true
that people buy those brands even if it is too costly because they are emotionally affected
by it.
The strength of the study was that it showed the importance of emotional response
and how it affects the buying behavior of the consumer. However, the study only
considered those consumer who uses telecommunication services and those who uses
new services.
The similarity of this study to the current study was on its focus which is all about
the consumer behavior. Hence, the study focused on psychological factor which is the
emotional response of consumer towards their buying behavior but current study focused

on culture and its role in consumer behavior. On the other hand it still helpful in a way
that it gives reseachers an idea about psychological factor and how it affect consumer
buying behavior.
This study conducted by Ma. Ligaya Menguito and Mendiola Teng-Calleja entitled
Bahala Na as as Expression of the Filipinos Courage, Hope, Optimism, SelfEfficacy, and Search for the Sacred in 2010. It explored the positive qualities and
perspectives of people in expressing Bahala Na in the context of hope, courage,
optimism, self-efficacy and search for the sacred. The researchers conducted focus group
discussions (FGD) from two communities with different socioeconomic status. The first
group was from Fern Village with 11 participants, which considered as middle income
group while 13 participants from low income group in Paet Estate. To evaluate
information gathered from focus group discussions, they used Thematic Analysis. The
findings of the study shows that even Bahala Na keeps its negative aspects, it suggests
a reasonable idea that Bahala Na gives power to a person to act or to continue with the
action. They also found out that socioeconomic status is a component on how Bahala Na
was used in the context of hope, self-efficacy and searched for the sacred (Menguito &
Teng-Calleja, 2010).
The study gives a different approach to the concept of Bahala Na. Here, it was
proven that Bahala Na has positive aspects to the people. However, the small number
of its participants can be the weakest of this study for the reason that it may not cover the
general sentiment of the Filipinos. It is not clear in this study how Bahala Na expressed
in the context of optimism. From this, future researchers may conduct a study that really
makes this context more acceptable.

This study gives background about the positive qualities of the concept of Bahala
Na. The present study may use this as a basis to see the perspective of people to the
concept of Bahala Na. It is similar to the study of Menguito and Teng-Calleja, (2010) in
terms of gathering and evaluating data which also used focus group discussions (FDG)
and thematic anaysis. However, it is different in samples wherein present study has the
participants of blue collar workers from the same barangay.
The study conducted by Alfredo V. Lagmay , entitled BAHALA NA! in 1976,
focused on how Bahala na defined when it used in a situation. The participants of the
study were composed of fifteen (15) individuals from Manila. The author used Thematic
Apperception Test but no picture cards are included in performing the study, just sharing
some of their experience where they used Bahala Na. As the result of the study,
Bahala Na seemed as a risk-taking and determination in dealing their problems and
consequences.
The strength of the study was their small number of the participants, the stories of
the fifteen (15) participants showed different perception on Bahala Na but every stories
showed positive outlook that gives them a full-confidence and determination on dealing
risky and uncertain situation. However, the study should not only focused on Manila area,
it should also consider rural areas, for them to have more and wide perspective on
Bahala Na.
This study was similar on the researchers current study, they will document the
perspective of Blue-Collar Workers and Experts on Bahala Na concept through
Interview, Key-Informant Interview, and Focus Group Discussion. However, the current

study will not focused only on Bahala Na, it will focused on the Bahala Na concept
on consumers' behavior of single and married Blue-Collar Workers. This study conducted
by Lagmay will be a big help for the researchers in conducting the current study, it
opened different perceptions on "Bahala Na" that the researchers will might encounter on
performing the study.

Conceptual Framework

Concept of Bahala
Na

Consumers
Behavior

Single Blue Collar

Workers

Married Blue Collar

Workers

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework showing the Influence of the Concept of Bahala Na

on Consumers Behavior Between Single and Married Blue Collar Workers

This conceptual framework was used to help focus on independent and dependent
variables of the study. According to Kumar (2014), independent variable is the cause of
changes in a phenomenon or situation while dependent variable is the outcome or
changes brought about by changes in independent variable. The independent variable is
concept of Bahala Na while dependent is consumers behavior. From this conceptual
framework, the study was aimed to described the role of the concept of Bahala Na on
consumers behavior between single and married blue collar workers.

Definition of Terms
To understand the terms used on the study, the following are defined:
Bahala Na. According to Lagmay (1977), it means risk taking and determination.
In addition Gripaldo (2005), defined it as leaving anything to Gods hand. On the other
hand, according to Bostrom (1968) it is similar to American fatalism, believing that all
events are predetermined and surely happen. In this study, it is defined as a cultural trait
of many Filipinos when encounters a problem.
Blue Collar Workers. According to Scott (n.d.), blue collar workers perform
labor and manual jobs; they usually work with their hands. It is defined in this study as
those workers that do manual job and have a low income. It is also refers to the workers
who receives an hourly wage skilled or unskilled.
Consumer Behavior. According to Priest, Carter and Statt (2013) consumer
behavior defines as "the mental, emotional, and physical activities that people engage in

when selecting, purchasing, using and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy
needs and desires." In this study, it is defined as the behavior or activities that the
consumers do before and after buying or consuming a good and services. It is also
defined as finding goods or services to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers and how
those goods and services evaluate, obtain, used and dispose.

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