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DOING THE GATR ROCK:MOTIVATING YOUR CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES

A Presentation for the Customers of ACNielson

by

John C. Mowen, Ph.D.

Helsinki, Finland, April 24, 2001

John Mowen holds the Noble Chair of Marketing Strategy, Oklahoma State University,

Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA, 74078. He can be reached at: [email protected].

Doing the GATR ROCK: Motivating Your Customers and Employees

Speech for ACNielson, Helsinki, Finland, April 24, 2001

John C. Mowen, Ph.D.

First, I would like to thank Pivi Kauppinen and ACNielson for inviting me to speak to you

today. This is my first trip to Finland, and I hope that it is not my last. Your country is beautiful.Prior to coming to Finland, I did some research on your country. On the Virtual Finland

web site, I learned a number of interesting facts. First, I discovered that the population is a little

over 5 million people, which is about the same as my home state of Oklahoma. I also found that

Nokia transformed itself from a natural resources company to the leading provider in the world of

cellular phones in less than 10 yearsincredible!! Finally, I learned about the famous people from
http://www.consumerbehavior.net/default.htmhttp://www.consumerbehavior.net/default.htm


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Finland, such as Jean Sibelius and Linus Torvalds. Most importantly, I discovered that Santa

Claus comes from Finland.

But, I am here to talk about motivation, not Santa Claus. In fact, I hope to accomplish 3

goals in the next 40 minutes or so. First, I will provide you with what I believe are the 8

fundamental axioms of motivation. These axioms provide a framework for understanding how to

obtain maximum performance from employees and maximum brand commitment from customers.

In addition, the axioms identify the characteristics of the highly motivated person. Second, I will

show how the axioms can be employed to help you listen to your customerswhich is the theme of

this conference. Third, I will show you how these axioms can be put to practical use to positively

influence your customers and your employees.

Before launching into my work on motivation, why do I want to link the ideas to both

employees and customers? The answer is that you cannot please your customers unless you please

your employees. Conversely, if you have not pleased your customers, you will have unhappy

employees. Motivating customers and employees go hand in hand.


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Background Information

Prior to presenting the eight axioms of motivational mastery, let me provide some

background information. In 1993, I published a book with Simon & Schuster entitled Judgment

Calls: High Stakes Decisions in a Risky World. Until the publication of this book, my career had

focused on understanding how people make decisions. In the process of writingJudgment Calls, I

interviewed all sorts of high stakes decisions makerssuch as the Head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of

Staff. What I found was that emotions and motivational needs dramatically influenced decision

making. This revelation caused me to change the direction of my career and to move from the

study of decision making to the study of motivation and personality.

For the next six years, I devoted my research life to identifying the characteristics of the

highly motivated person. Last year, I published with Kluwer Academic Press a book that presents

my theory, which is called The 3M Model of Motivation and Personality. This book developed my

theory of motivation and reported 17 research studies that tested the model.

As a professor in a business college, I wanted to communicate what I have learned to the

business community. I quickly learned, however, that the dry academic ideas did not go over very

well. Frankly, when executives heard me talk about comparators, schemas, structural equation

modeling, and so forth, they quickly went to sleep.

After recognizing this problem, I took another approach and began analyzing the ideas of

well-known motivational gurus (like Stephen Covey, Zig Ziglar and Anthony Robbins). Some

people, particularly academicians, discount the ideas and advice of people like Zig Ziglar. One

cannot, however, scoff at their success. These individuals have sold millions of books and attract

tens of thousands of people to hear their speeches. Based upon these results, there must besomething to what they are saying. As a result, I did a content analysis of the motivational

principles identified by 22 of these motivational gurus. The content analysis revealed that their

ideas can be boiled down to eight basic, fundamental axioms.Importantly, the axioms are completely consistent with the tenets of the 3M Model. When


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one gets the same answer through two very different research approaches, the confidence in the

veracity of the answer increases dramatically. Bottom linebecause they are so fundamental, the 8

axioms provide the basic principles for motivating yourself, your employees, and your customers.

In order to help others, and most importantly myself, remember the 8 axioms, I have

adopted the acronym GATR ROCK as a mnemonic device. In fact, I am thinking of creating a

GATR ROCK symbol of an alligator standing on a boulder wearing sun glasses and holding an

electric guitar. Now, I have to admit that the acronym is a little fruity. But let me ask you this.

How many of you have read the book by Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?

Worldwide, it sold millions of copies, and has been translated into myriad languages. Yet, when I

ask people who have read the book to list the 7 habits, they can usually only remember 2 or 3. I

guarantee that at the end of my talk, you will be able to rememberGATR ROCK and the 8

axioms of motivational mastery.

GATR ROCK: The Eight Axioms of Motivational Mastery

One of the current professional goals is to understand the characteristics of the highlymotivated person. So, how would you know a highly motivated person even if you encountered

him or her. One place to look is in the lists of famous people. For my talk here, I considered a

number of famous people. For example, there is our ex-President Bill Clinton. While he is

famous, Mr. Clintons motivational style is not what I was looking for. Then, I thought--why not

use Santa Claus. Because he is known for his heroics throughout the world, he is the perfect

exemplar. So, here goes my lighthearted exploration into GATR ROCK and Santa as the highly

motivated person.

Santa Claus and the GATR ROCK Axioms

Axiom 1. Set high goals. Santas ambitious goal is to drive a sled, pulled by 8 tiny reindeer,

all over the world, to break into homes, to consume cookies and milk at each stop,

and to place toys around countless Christmas trees for children.

Axiom 2. Take Action. Santa has little time to visit all these kids homes. He must act and


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act fast. He cannot dilly-dally around. He must give maximum effort.

Axiom 3. Do Tasks Well. To accomplish his goal, Santa must complete a series of tasks,

including: reading a huge amount of mail, producing all of the toys, matching the

toys to the right kids, and then completing delivery by dawn.

Axiom 4. Take Responsibility. Santa knows that no one else would attempt this massive

job, he does it every year, and he knows that he is accountable for the results. He

knows that if something goes wrong, parents will blame it on him.

Axiom 5. Cultivate Your Resources. Santa efficiently uses the 4 fundamental resources. He

takes case of his social resourceshis elves and reindeer. He efficiently uses

material resourceshis sled and all of the stuff necessary to produce the toys. He

effectively uses information resources to track who gets what. Finally, despite

looking overweight, he must take care of his body resources or he would not be

able to work for 24 consecutive hours.Axiom 6. Be Optimistic. You can just hear his sanguine outlook in his jolly Ho, Ho, Ho.

Axiom 7. Seek Creativity. To produce all the different toys for millions of kids takes

incredible originality.

Axiom 8. Know Thyself and Thy Customers. Santa knows his customers. He keeps track

of whether kids are naughty or nice and is even able to give them what they want.In sum, Santa Claus provides an exemplar of a person that has achieved motivational

mastery. I should ad that using Santa Claus as my example of motivational mastery has a number

of advantages. He will not die. He demonstrates every year his drive to succeed. And, foremost,

he will never succumb to the sins of the flesh like Bill Clinton, drunkenly drive a Mercedes into a

tree like Mike Tyson, try to pick up a prostitute like the actorHugh Grant, or be charged with

firing a gun in a dance club like Sean Puff Daddy Combs.

Let me give one final word of warning, however, about my Santa Claus analogy. I am not

saying that we should treat our customers like Mr. Claus does his. Santa does not have to make a

profit. What I am saying is that this cultural icon is one highly motivated dude.


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GATR ROCK and Listening to Your Customers

The theme of this conference is Does Anybody Hear the Consumer? Well, let me ask another question.

As managers and researchers, do we know what we are listening for?

To answer this question, I will use another strange analogy. You are probably familiar with the SETI

project. SETI stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. For this project a group of scientists has set up

an array of radio telescopes that comb the heavens for radio signals that show signs of having originated from alien

intelligent beings. There are many communications issues that must be solved in this search for alien life forms via

radio telescopes. In particular, which of the millions of radio frequency channels do we use? Further, if we hear

something, it could be millions of years old because the senders are millions of light years away in space. By the

time we respond, the aliens may have moved or even disappeared. There is also the possibility that there are

multiple groups of aliens out there each using different radio frequencies.

Let us pretend that our customers are aliens attempting to communicate with us. Like

aliens, our customers are hard to find, difficult to communicate with, and possess needs that we do

not understand. Further, it takes time to listen, time to decipher what we receive, and time to

respond. There are different groups of customers telling us different things through different

channels. Finally, do we even know what to listen for?

As it turns out, GATR ROCK tells us what to listen for and how to identify the different

groups of customers. To illustrate the idea, lets imagine that we are listening to our customers

talk about preparing the large meal of the day. Each GATR ROCK axiom is like a channel

through which we gather information.

1. Goal channel. What are our customers goals? Is it a healthy diet; a tasty, hearty meal; a quick,

easy to prepare meal, or some other end state. Probe to identify segments with different goals.

2 Action channel. Activities are the micro-steps that must be performed in order to accomplish

tasks, such as using tools, moving from place to place, thinking, observing, and

communicating. What activities do they like or dislike doing when cookinge.g., using tools to

dice vegetables, standing over a hot stove. Can we help reduce the effort required to prepare

the meal?


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3. Task channel. What tasks can our product help them accomplish? Some tasks include:

planning a menu, shopping for food, preparing food for cooking, and cooking the food. Can

we do some of these tasks? How can we help the consumer do the tasks better?

4. Responsibility channel. Do consumers worry about the responsibility and risk of meal

preparation. How can we reduce these risks?

5. Resource channel. What resources do they need to prepare a meal? What material (i.e.,

utensils, equipment, etc.), social, information, and body resources can we provide?

6. Optimism channel. How optimistic are consumers about the success of the meal? What can

we do to improve the mood state of our customers and their optimism for success.

7. Creativity channel. Do our customers worry about creating new and different meals? How

can we help them be more innovative in their meal preparation.8. Knowledge of customer channel. Do we know the personality and motives of our customers?

The assessment of consumer motives through the channels of the 8 axioms provides guidance

for conducting marketing research. Whether you employ depth interviews, focus groups, or survey

research studies, the 8 axioms provide a basis for formulating questions. Once we have this

information we can create products and services that can fulfill these needs of our customers. In

addition, it will give us information on how to communicate our products and services to our

customers.


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GATR ROCK and Motivating Employees

Because of their generality, the GATR ROCK axioms can be employed as a guide for

motivating employees as well customers. The following is a short story that illustrates this

application of the axioms. The story is taken from a forthcoming book written by myself and

Keith Murnighan--a colleague at Northwestern University. The book will be published in October

by Wiley Trade Press and is titled, The Art of High Stakes Decision Making.

The Case of New York Brewpub

Put yourself in the shoes of Rob Bronson. You are 36 years old and have just received the

national entrepreneur of the year award. You and your partner have successfully opened 27 New

York Brewpubs in the last nine years. Each day you worked at the original brewpub serving

customers and making beer. It is 1995, and investment bankers are at your door, wanting you to

take your company public so that they can make you rich.

In 1986, you left a position as a senior analyst on Wall Street to pursue your dream of

successfully developing a restaurant chain. You and your partner, Paul Springfield, make a great

team. You favor a conservative approach to growth while Paul, a natural marketer, constantly

pushes you to grow faster. Your decisions so far have been phenomenally successful. Yourstrategy of carefully growing by 3 pubs a year has really paid off.

Now that you have won this big award, however, the competitive environment in the brewing

industry is changing. Investment bankers are interested in other brewpubs, including Manhattan

Brewpub, Big Apple, California Brewpub, Big City Brewpub, and Simpsons. There is a chance

that each company may announce public offerings this year. You realize that within a one-year

period, there may be $300 to $400 million investment dollars flowing into brewpubs.

Now, you are faced with a classic tough call. Do you continue your strategy of avoiding

serious debt and slowly growing your company or do you go public and exponentially grow your

company as the investment bankers propose? You face a soon-to-close window of threat and

opportunity. If you continue your present strategy of slow growth, your more highly capitalized


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competitors could invade your territory and potentially drive you out of business. If you follow the

investment bankers advice and double the number of New York Brewpubs each year for four

consecutive years, you could potentially make several million dollars but it will also place extreme

demands on your managerial ability. Either choice could mean great success or dismal failure.

You only have a few weeks to make the decision. Once your competitors go public, you may not

get a second chance.

Rob Bronson and his partner had only a few weeks to make their decision. They worried that

if they failed to act they would fall behind the power curve. That is, their competitors would

become so well capitalized that no matter how hard they tried, or how well they made their future

decisions, they would be unable to compete effectively. To stay ahead of the curve, they would

have to make the investment. Yet, there was an incredible downside to the high growth strategy.

If the strategy failed they could lose it all. A failing scenario was easy to develop. They knew that

in order to grow, they would have to open numerous brewpubs. This would require moving from

franchising their restaurants to having them company owned. Could they find managers that

shared their vision and drive? Could they motivate them to perform at the same levels as their

franchisers who had their own money tied to the success or failure of their restaurants?

They faced a tremendously tough call, one that presented them with a true decision dilemma.

If you were Rob Bronson, what would you do?

Well, what happened to Rob Bronson and his partner and New York Brewpubs? After

making a small public offering of stock, they paid the investment bankers and retired their debt of

$3 million. This left them with $15 million for expansion. They began opening pubs but quickly

realized that it was extremely difficult to find suitable properties in the fast growing industry. Over

the next three years, they opened as many pubs as their experience and sound judgment indicated.

By 1998, they had 67 locations.

Early in 1999, however, the industry started collapsing as competitor after competitor

entered the market. For example, in Dallas the number of brewpubs increased from 3 to 40 in two

and a half years. There was almost complete devastation for what was an emerging brewpub


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industry. In early 1999, there were about 8,000 brewpubs. By 2000, the number had been cut in

half. Unfortunately, New York Brewpub was caught in the carnage. In 2000, the company went

bankrupt. In the end, every publicly traded brewpub company either went bankrupt or was

purchased at distressed prices by another firm. Paul Springfield is now running a dining room for a

university. Rob Bronson is a consultant for small companies, counseling them on how to grow and

manage risk.

GATR ROCK and New York Brewpub

The 8 axioms have much to say about the motivation of Rob Bronson, his partner,

and the managers of the company stores that were opened. Lets systematically investigate the

situation from the perspective ofGATR ROCK.

Goals. After the public offering, Robs goals changed. Prior to the offering, his goal was

grow the company slowly and carefully, pleasing himself. After the offering, his

goal shifted to growing fast and pleasing the investment bankers.

Activities. After the public offering his daily activities shifted from serving customers and

managing a few individuals whom he had known for years to talking to investors,

traveling extensively, and managing a fast growing company. He quickly realized

that he did not enjoy these new activities as much as what he was doing before.

Tasks. The tasks that he had to complete changed dramatically. For example, previously

employees in the organization had bought franchises from Rob and his partner.

Now, he had to recruit unknown individuals to work for him in company-owned

stores. Similarly, a major new task was turning out quarterly reports for investors

and meeting the earnings expectations of the investors. A key question was

whether he had the task skills required to make the undertaking successful.

Responsibility. Previously, he was accountable only to himself and his partner. Now, he was

accountable to investors and many more employees.

Resources. While Rob now had more material resources with which to work, he actually had

fewer social, information, and body resources. His social resources decreased


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because he did not have personal ties to the new managers that he hired.

Information resources decreased because he was in an unfamiliar ball game of

managing a public company. Finally, the demands of the new job were taking a toll

on his body resources as well.

Optimism. Prior to going public, he and his partner were highly optimistic about the growth

pattern and success of their business. After going public, the work load and the

pressure of growing very fast caused optimism to fade.

Creativity. Seemingly, the ability to find novel solutions to problems decreased after going

public as well. The stress and pressure of meeting the demands of investment

bankers decreased innovativeness.

Knowledge of Self and Others. Prior to going public, brewpubs were opened in known

markets by people known to Rob. After going public, they had to go into unknown

markets with unknown people. In addition, he did not have a good understanding

of how much he would like taking a company public.

The GATR ROCK

axioms help to explain the motivational causes of the failure of the New

York Brewpub enterprise. When combined with a changing environment in which the market was

saturated with competitors, the endeavor was doomed to fail.

Knowing Your Customers and Employees

Axiom 8 tells us to know our customers and employees. This can be accomplished by careful

observation and empathy. In addition, traditional marketing research methods can be employed to

gather data on their demographic, psychographic, and personality characteristics along with their

job satisfaction or brand and company commitment. In the last 10 minutes of my talk, I am going

to present a brief overview of the 3M Model of Motivation and Personality, and show you the

results of two studiesone on customers and one on employees.


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Overview of the 3M Model

The 3M Model is a meta-theory that combines elements of evolutionary psychology, control

theory, and hierarchical personality models to provide an understanding of the relationship among

personality, motivation, and behavior. The model is derived from four basic concepts.

The Basic Principles of the 3M Model

1. Personality traits represent enduring dispositions to behave.

2. Personality traits act as reference points for guiding behavior.

3. Traits are organized into a 4-level hierarchy based upon their level of abstraction.

4. Multiple traits act together to influence behavior.

The 4- level hierarchy is a critical aspect of the 3M Model. The four levels and their

definitions are described below.

Elemental traits are the underlying dispositions to act based upon genetics and early learning

history. There are eight elemental traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness,

extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, material needs, arousal needs, and physical needs.

They can be remembered by the acronym: OCEAN MAP.

Compound traits are the enduring dispositions to act resulting from the effects of elemental

traits, learning history, and culture. Examples are: need for achievement, competitiveness,

need for activity, self-efficacy, altruism, and future time orientation.

Situational traits are thegeneral dispositions to act within broad job situational contexts. In

the consumer domain they include: health motivation, value consciousness, and general

product innovativeness. In the employee domain, they include: job resourcefulness,

productivity orientation, and career orientation.

Surface traits are the narrowly based dispositions to act within specific behavioral contexts.

In the consumer domain, they include healthy diet lifestyles or exercise propensity and

complaint propensity. In the employee domain, they include customer orientation and

organizational citizenship.


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The power of the 3M Model is that because of its hierarchical nature, it can predict behavior

much more successfully than traditional personality models. This occurs for two reasons. First,

the situational and surface traits account for the effects of the press of the situational environment

as well as the impact of more basic elemental and compound traits. Second, the model employs

multiple traits to predict and understand behavior, rather than single traits acting in isolation from

each other.

An Application of the 3M Model to Consumer Behavior

In my research, I have employed to 3M Model to understand a variety of consumer behaviors,

including bargaining proneness, sports participation, and healthy diet lifestyles. Appendix III

provides a diagram of the motivational network of traits predictive of healthy diet lifestyles, which

is defined as the enduring disposition to reduce fat and sugar in the diet and to eat three well-

balanced meals each day. These data were obtained from a consumer panel and is based upon the

responses of about 226 men and women. Each variable was measured by four or more items

using nine-point scales. Structural equation modeling was employed to obtain the path diagram.

The motivational network is composed of all traits that are connected either directly or indirectly

with the surface trait. In this case the motivational network is composed of: health motivation,

health innovativeness, self-efficacy, need for body resources, conscientiousness, emotional

stability, extroversion, and need for arousal (negative relation).

Importantly, the motivational network can be employed to identify segments of customers.

This was done, and Appendix IV provides the results. Four clusters were identified: healthy eaters,

cautious dieters, moody dieters, and couch potatoes. The healthy eaters were particularly noted for

being high in health motivation, health innovativeness, self-efficacy, need for body resources,

conscientiousness, and emotional stability.

My research is showing that advertising messages can be built around the more basic traits that

lead to the surface traits. For example, in another study we found that people who bargain hard for

prices are highly competitive. We then created advertisements that had either high or low

competitiveness themes. Consumers who liked to bargain responded better to the ads employing


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the high competitiveness message. Conversely, those who did not like to bargain responded better

to the low competitiveness message.

An Application to Employee Motivation

My colleagues Tom Brown, Jane Licata, Todd Donovan, and Eric Harris and I are using the

3M Model to investigate employee motivation. We employ the same methodology as used in the

consumer studies to develop motivational networks of traits that predict high performing

employees. For example, we have found that the surface trait of productivity orientation predicts

the sales of real estate agents but not customer satisfaction. Interestingly, customer orientation

predicts customer satisfaction but not sales. However, both productivity orientation and customer

orientation predict self-rated performance. Furthermore, a mixed set of variables is predictive of

productivity and of customer orientation. We are now beginning to apply the results of this

research to the training and selection of employees.

Summary and Conclusions

Well, we have come a long way in the last 40 minutes. I have proposed 8 Axioms of

Motivational Mastery. The acronym, GATR ROCK , was created to help you (and me)

remember the principles. I have suggested that the axioms provide channels through which you

can listen to your customers and your employees. I have suggested that by following GATR

ROCK, you can motivate your employees and your customers. In addition, the principles can be

employed as a pathway to self motivation as well. Finally, I gave a very brief example of how the

3M Model can be employed to measure the motivational network of customers and employees.

There are two reasons why you should remember the GATR ROCK axioms. First, I am

convinced that they are basic to understanding how to motivate your employees, your customers,

and yourself. Second, they provide a structure for thinking and living. Pilots and astronauts have

checklists of procedures for performing important tasks, like landing an aircraft. Similarly, the 8

axioms provide a checklist for achieving motivational mastery.

In closing, let me answer one of the questions that I am frequently asked. That is, among the 8

axioms which is most important. One approach to answering is to turn to famous quotations. For


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example, Thomas Edison focused on the role of effort when he said, Genius is one percent

inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. This advice is tempered, however, by the

wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, who said, Never confuse motion with action. He is absolutely

correct when he cleverly suggested that just because you see lots of activity, it does not mean that

anything is happening.

Both of these quotes, and many others like them, focus on the second GATR ROCK axiom

take action. But I would like to suggest that Sir Edmund Hilary, who was the first to conquer

Mount Everest, may have had it right when he said: Nobody climbs mountains for scientific

reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it.

Hilary climbed mountains because he loved the task. When people have a passion for and a

love of completing a particular task, they become highly motivated. As a result, they will give

high effort, they will set high goals, they will take responsibility, and so forth. Thus if you select

employees who love to perform the tasks that compose their job, they will be highly motivated to

excel. Similarly, if you produce a good or service that outperforms the competition in helping

consumers complete tasks that are important to them, they will beat down your door for it.

So, what do we do in order to hear our customers and motivate our employees? We do the GATR

ROCK.


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Appendix I

GATR ROCK & Customer and Employee Motivation

John C. Mowen, Copyright 2001

Axioms Customer Implications Employee Implications

1. SetChallenging

Goals

Tell customers your product/servicegoals, which sets their expectations forthe performance of your good orservice. Know your customers goals.

Provide employees with a challengingvision for the organization. Ensure thatemployees understand their customersgoals.

2. EncourageAction

Encourage your customers to takeaction to purchase your product byeliminating as many action barriers aspossible. Know what actionscustomers like and dislike.

Set expectations for and reward higheffort. Avoid punishing mistakes madethrough proaction. Encourageresponsible risk taking and actions thatwill serve customers.

3. Do TasksWell

Show customers how your product willhelp them accomplish their tasks.

Show them that your productaccomplishes tasks better than thecompetition.

Clearly define job tasks. Set standardsfor task execution and train employees to

do tasks. Provide feedback. Create flow.Require tasks to be done on time. Trainto provide task skills.

4. Accept Responsibility

Accept responsibility for identifying &satisfying customer needs. Takeresponsibility for problems.

Hold employees accountable for theirperformance, and empower them toidentify and solve problems ethically.

5. CultivateResources

Act to protect and enhance customerresources. Create social bonds. Protectcustomers body and materialresources. Give information needed bycustomers to buy and use product.

Encourage social networks amongemployees. Protect employee bodyresources. Give information needed toperform job. Give material resources todo job and to live adequately.

6. Encourage OptimismAct to create positive mood stateamong customers. Create belief amongcustomers that your product will solvetheir problem.

Encourage passion among employees andinculcate belief that they can succeed.Take actions to encourage positiveemployee mood states.

7. SeekCreativity

Design goods and services that solveproblems in an innovative way.Always maintain creative spark inassisting customers.

Encourage employees to be open to newexperiences and to find creative ways tosolve problems. Hire people whoembrace innovation and change.Promote incremental change.

8. Know thyCustomers and

Employees

Understand customer motivationalneeds, their problems, and their likes

and dislikes.

Understand employee motivational needsand match to organizational personality.


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Appendix II

The 3M Model of Motivation and Personality1

Principles and Key Definitions

The Basic Principles of the 3M Model

1. The 3M Model provides a means of identifying the motivational needs of customers andemployees. It operationalizes the GATR ROCK axioms so that they have utility.

2. Personality traits represent enduring dispositions to behave.3. Personality traits act as reference points for guiding behavior.4. Personality traits form a 4-level hierarchy based upon their level of abstraction.5. Multiple traits combine to influence behavior through a motivational network.6. By identifying the motivational network of traits that influence behavior, managers can

identify segments of customers, develop persuasive messages, and identify high performingemployees.

Key Definitions

Elemental traits are the underlying dispositions to act based upon genetics and early learninghistory. There are eight elemental traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness,extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, material needs, arousal needs, and physical needs.They can be remembered by the acronym: OCEAN MAP.

Compound traits are the enduring dispositions to act resulting from the effects of elementaltraits, learning history, and culture. Examples are: need for achievement, competitiveness,need for activity, self-efficacy, altruism, and future time orientation.

Situational traits are thegeneral dispositions to act within broad job situational contexts. Inthe consumer domain they include: health motivation, value consciousness, and generalproduct innovativeness. In the employee domain, they include: job resourcefulness,productivity orientation, and career orientation. Situational traits represent the broad end-stategoals of customers and employees.

Surface traits are the narrowly based dispositions to act within specific behavioral contexts.In the consumer domain, they include healthy diet lifestyles or exercise propensity andcomplaint propensity. In the employee domain, they include customer orientation andorganizational citizenship. Surface traits are composed of the specific activities that customers

and employees perform to reach their goals.

1 John C. Mowen, The 3M Model of Motivation and Personality, Dordrecht: KluwerAcademic Press, Dordrecht, 2000.


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Appendix III

Healthy Diet Trait Clusters

Trait

Cluster 1

N = 77

MoodyDieters

Cluster 2

N = 25

CouchPotatoes

Cluster 3

N = 66

Cautious Dieters

Cluster 4

N = 58

HealthyEaters

Healthy DietDisposition

5.72b 3.05a 6.96c 7.87d

Health Motivation 6.34b 5.05a 6.56b 7.65c

Health Innovativeness 3.38b 1.97a 3.13b 3.99c

Self-efficacy 6.02a 6.54b 7.15c 7.95d

Introversion 4.67b 3.83a 4.06ab 4.67a

Body Needs 5.16c 3.55a 4.29b 6.71d

Arousal Needs 4.43b 3.00a 2.97a 4.63b

Emotional Instability 4.81b 2.57a 2.95a 2.71a

Conscientiousness 6.18b 4.82a 6.03b 7.27c

Note: Means with different letters are significantly different at p < .05.

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