A Theoretical Analysis of Consumer Behaviour for Voters in Ghana

. This paper identifies evidence of political marketing and, more specifically, consumer-oriented political marketing to analyse the theories of consumer behaviour and identify evidence of consumer behaviour in marketing in the behaviour of Ghanaian voters. The examination used quantitative research to analyse the relationship between three elements: (1) psychology, (2) personal and (3) social to understand the theory of the relationships between campaign messages and voters’ behaviour. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey with semi-structured questionnaires administered to 7203 randomly selected respondents from participating political parties and voters in Accra, Ghana. Data received were analysed using descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Findings revealed a statistically significant relationship between the behaviour of voters in Ghana and the campaign messages of political parties. This paper concludes that there are opportunities for political marketing and change in voter behaviour. Still, sufficient attention should be given to the understanding of consumer behaviour theory that recognizes the behavioural dynamic of voters in the design of effective campaign messages that are responsive to voters’ needs.


BACKGROUND
The analysis of the theory of a voter's behaviour in Ghana is based on the evaluation of political marketing, specifically consumer-oriented political marketing.The approach is to study voting behaviour as inherently psychological, with the choice and scope of psychological theories bounded by voting behaviour as it appears in the consumer behaviour literature.This paper analysed the relationship between three elements: (1) psychology, (2) personal and (3) social to understand the theories behind the choice message and the target needs of voters.In this paper, the voter is depicted as a consumer, while the political campaign is viewed as their marketing mix or marketing strategy.This conceptualisation allows the study to draw on the psychological theories such as stimulus-response (SOR) of Mehrabia and Russell (1974) and others as applied in consumer behaviour to understand the complex interplay between political marketing and voter's behaviour (vote for; vote against; do not vote).The study, therefore, resides in the marketing domain.
Behavioural dynamics is concerned with descriptions of behaviour change (Davis, Campbell, Hildon, & Michie, 2015) and is defined as the underlying overt behaviour caused by internal patterns of motivation influenced by competitive strategies of political parties (Park, 2016).The principles underpinning the dimension of consumer behaviour in the commercial domain have gained traction in politics to include personal, psychological, and social dimensions of voting behaviour (O'Cass,1996).These dimensions have different interest levels and provide the basis for the consumer behaviour model.As political parties compete for support and votes, voters' behaviour choices should be used to measure democratic maturity and development.Can political parties compete and influence voters' behaviour?In traditional marketing, companies exploit consumer behaviour (choicemaking) where the marketer uses glossy advertisements and promotional messages to stimulate consumer interest in products and services (Keller,2016).Consumer purchase decisions are also influenced by videos and audio messages to attract attention.stimulate needs and desires (Kotler, 2017).
Marketing theories, techniques and models have been applied in almost all areas of human behaviour ranging from consumer to business markets and from religion to culture.The understanding and application of the marketing concept is arguably the foundational principle used to identify and satisfy consumer needs (Kotler & Levy, 2007).It is debated that marketing insight in consumer behaviour is also relevant to other areas beyond the commercial domain (Phillips & Bradshaw,1993).Notably, political marketing utilises many of the same techniques used in product marketing such as advertising and publicity (Rayner, 2014).
According to Scammell (2013), there are parallels in the development of consumer and political markets.Just as the consumer is empowered through increased choice and vastly expanded information resources, so too is the political consumer.Indeed, significant distinctions between consumer behaviour and voting behaviour is no longer drawn by scholars (Hansen & Jansen, 2007).Voting behaviour shares characteristics that are common to other kinds of human (consumer) behaviour.One could categorize a political party as a service provider.The political party promises to deliver some societal and other benefits in return for a fee (a vote), with the typical justification that these benefits will enhance people's lives and society at large.Voters can therefore be viewed as customers who are consuming a service based on the decisions and actions made by political parties in a marketing setting (O'Shaughnessy & Henneberg, 2007).
As customers are an essential element of the firm's environment, so too voters are an essential element of the political sphere (Harris & Lock, 2010).It has also been advocated that voters are the decision-makers in this relationship (Butler & Collins, 2014;Graefe & Armstrong, 2010), although how similar this is to the decision making of a consumer may not yet be as clear.What is clear is that the voter is relied on to make an eventual choice: which candidate or political party (or both) to vote for during an election.When analysing voter behaviour at a macro level, there are characteristics of voter behaviour that mimic consumer behaviour, such as influence from a politician or party image and politicians' appearance/celebrity endorsement appeal (Peng & Hackley, 2019).
Arguments were made for the application of marketing models and theories to the electoral marketplace as well as the relevance of the theory of consumer behaviour to domains beyond commercial markets (Yorke & Meehan, 2017;Tweneboah-Koduah, Akotia, & Akotia, 2015).Clarifying the principles and theories of consumer behaviour and its implication in the political market is essential.The understanding of the political market is conflated with societal and personal interests (Schwartz, 2014).These interests are mediated by campaign messages of political parties to attract and inform voters' desire to act by way of vote and support for the party.Political parties select societal problems and use them to produce exciting and sometimes humorous campaign messages to evoke a set of promises that lies at the heart of voters' personal and socio-economic needs.It is important therefore to model the behaviour of voters (consumer) by incorporating the reaction of the consumer towards the product in the process of decision making.Whilst there limited or evidence of applied theories of political marketing suitable for managing voter behaviour and design of effective campaign messages, the analysis of consumer behaviour theory can be used to improve understanding of the nexus between voters' behaviour and campaign messages of political parties for improved participation in the political marketing process.This analysis would help to understand the relationship between three elements: (1) psychology, (2) personal, and (3) social and their influence on the theory of the relationships between campaign messages and voters' behaviour.This understanding is specifically important for a developing country like Ghana where the needs of voters do not seem to form part of the campaign messages (Haron & Mokhtar, 2010).From the preliminary literature search, it became abundantly clear that a theoretical analysis of the behavioural dynamics of voters is conflated in the context of consumer behaviour giving rise to the following questions: (a) What elements of consumer behaviour influence Ghanaian voters?and (b) What influence do campaign messages have on voters' choices?

THEORETICAL REVIEW
To understand different aspects of cosumer behaviour, Belch and Belch (2004) provide a link between human behaviour and consumer behaviour, by stating that consumer behaviour has been defined as the study of human behaviour in a consumer role.Consumer behaviour, according to Walters (1974), represents specific types of human actions, namely those concerned with the purchase of products and services from marketing organisations.From the understanding that the behaviour of the consumer is founded on human behaviour, Walters (1974) referred to consumer behaviour as the process whereby individuals decide whether, what, when, where, how, and from whom to purchase goods and services.Schiffman (2007) provided a different definition by explaining consumer behaviour as the study of the buying units and the exchange processes involved in acquiring, consuming, and disposing of goods, services, experiences, and ideas.This definition focuses on buying units in an attempt to include not only the individual but also groups that purchase products or services.From the perspective of Schiffman and Kanuk (2008), consumer behaviour is regarded as the display of activities in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products, services, and ideas by the consumer.Schiffman and Kanuk (2008) elaborate on the definition by explaining that consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources (time, money, effort) on consumption-related items.It includes the study of what, why, when, where and how often they purchase and how they use the purchased product.In addition, it encompasses all the behaviours that consumers display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs.
Consumer behaviour is a set of activities aimed at obtaining, using, and managing products and services, as well as decisions taken before purchase.They include purchasing, possessing, and using products (Makarewicz, 2013).Consumer behaviour is manifested by buying products and services to satisfy needs.The act of purchase is a complex process preceded by the act of selection, which has its guidelines.Economic criteria, secured by psychological elements, are important because a customer's finances are compared to the price of a product or service.The buyer intends to move to the expected aspiration level, which is manifested by the needs that must be satisfied by purchased products (Makarewicz, 2013).Consumer behaviour can be explained by the description of consumers' internal responses to different incentives and their perceptions since such situations trigger various behaviours during the buying process (Karczewska, 2010).This behaviour is therefore divided into rational and irrational.The former is understood as internally coherent behaviour resulting in maximum satisfaction (Makarewicz, 2013).The buyer behaves rationally if s/he uses the available income to purchase goods which will bring him/her maximum satisfaction.Irrational consumer behaviour is characterized by the incoherent behaviour of the consumer, who consciously makes buying decisions that may not be in their best interest.Irrational buying decisions do not result from the cold calculation, but rather from the need for imitation, incentives, snobbery, and subconscious motivation.The buyer is often unaware of these dependencies (Rudnicki, 2011).

Psychological Behaviour
This behaviour of the consumer is born out of the psycho-social theory and the understanding of consumer behaviour.In consumer behaviour, psychology is highly noted to have shaped the behaviour in decision choice.There are characters, attributes or traits of the consumer that define their psychological behaviour (Durmaz, 2014;Jonsson, 2010) and these factors are defined mostly as psychological factors that influence consumer behaviour.The key psychological factors to understand when considering consumer behaviour include motivation, perception, attitude and belief systems along with lifestyle (Cetina, Munthiu, & Radulescu, 2012;Rani, 2014).Perception, motivation, beliefs and attitudes all determine the conscious and subconscious thought processes that a consumer undergoes before eventually making a choice.The psychological factors influence the behaviour of the consumer and are therefore appropriate when looking entirely at the psychology behind consumer behaviour (Kimmel, 2013;Lorenzetti, 2020).
The psychological factor "motivation" Motivation is an activated internal need state leading to goal-directed behaviour to satisfy that need (Durmaz, 2014).Accordingly, motives can be defined as relatively enduring, strong, and persistent internal stimuli that arouse and direct behaviour toward certain goals (Trehan, 2019).Therefore, the motivational psychological process is considered to persuade an individual to behave in a certain way.According to Kimmel (2013), various forms of situations are likely to start consumer "disturbance" which could either be psychological or physiological.An internal psychological factor could be an unfulfilled need that arises as a tension and drive for the individual to satisfy the need.This type of behaviour is goal-oriented and impacted by previous learning and cognitive processes.The starting point in the buying process is recognition of need.The needs of consumers are intricately linked, and as a result, they can influence behaviour simultaneously.Some needs are emotionally related, while some are status-related, mutually reinforcing a purchase (Kimmel, 2013).Furthermore, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, such as achievement, status, and self-actualization, has been helpful for marketers to clarify various types of product benefits claimed by individuals consequent to environmental and developmental circumstances (Wahba & Bridwell, 2017).A person can be motivated to buy a product for convenience, for style, for prestige, for self-pride or being at par with others (Khan, 2007).If the marketers (political parties) know what creates motivation, they may be able to develop marketing tactics to influence consumers' (voters') motivation to think about, be involved with, and/or process information about their brand (Yoo & Gretzel, (2011).
Another angle of looking at psychological behaviour is the perception of the consumer about the product or service.Perception is how consumers understand the world around them based on information received through their senses.In response to stimuli, consumers subconsciously evaluate their needs, values and expectations, and then they use that evaluation to select, organize and interpret the stimuli (Pelau et al., 2018).The marketplace's perception of a brand or industry is extremely important, which is why big brands work so hard to ensure that the general perception surrounding them and their industry is as positive as possible (Taylor et al., 2016).Belief, on the other hand, is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something and attitude as a person's enduring favourable or unfavourable cognitive evaluations, emotional feelings, and action tendencies toward some object or idea (Kotler, 2010).Individuals can have specific beliefs and attitudes about specific products and services (Sarangapani, 2019).The interest is the beliefs that voters (consumers) formulate about specific political campaign messages because these make up the ideas or products being offered by the political parties as brands that affect consumer (voter) decisions.Consumers tend to develop a set of beliefs about a product's attributes and then, through these beliefs, form a brand image about a particular brand (Lee, 2017).
(1) Social Behaviour: Consumers are influenced by various people in their lives including relatives or families, friends, neighbours, co-workers, acquaintances and the like (Quintelier, 2014).
(2) Influences from these categories of people have an impact on the consumer (Kardes & Wyer, 2019) in several ways such as what products or services to buy, how to use them, where to shop, what brands to prefer, and which ones to avoid.Just as established by the social-cognitive theory which is a component of the psychological theory of consumer behaviour, the social-cognitive traits of the individual consumer determine their behaviour (Sears & Funk, 2003).The consumer may want to behave in a way that depicts him/her as a social influencer thereby developing a sense of identity and loyalty with a brand.
This dimension of consumer behaviour is seen as the consumer's social value which implies individual perception about what the society would think or how it would respond if a purchase was made by the individual (Smith & Colgate, 2017).As per Merton and Rossi (2009), consumers' behaviour is shaped with a frame of reference produced by the social groups to which each individual belongs.Douglas and Isherwood (2002) stated that consumers buy products not only for economic reasons but also to create and retain social relationships.Status-seeking in society was also found to be one of the objectives behind consumers' use of a particular product (Nelissen & Meijers, 2011).It is therefore essential to comprehend the dynamics of social practice/norms and anticipate changes in people's behaviour towards the consumption of a product (Shove & Walker, 2014).Some people have a desire to attain status by appearing to be informed or expert in front of their peers, as well as an altruistic disposition to help others, which are some of the underlying desires that lead a person to brag about a product or service.This explains why some people are more likely to express their opinions.However, social pressures make recommendations based on what they believe others should do and what they want others to do, and what is done (East, Singh, Vanhuele, & Wright, 2008).

Personal Behaviour
Consumers are individuals and as such have different personal traits by which they behave.Pikturnienė and Kurtinaitienė (2010) described personality as traits of individuals which have an impact on their behaviour.Among several other factors, personality traits have been shown to have a substantial influence on consumer purchasing behaviour (Khatri, et al., 2021).On the other hand, consumer personality does not only influence behavioural intention but also consumer evaluations of products and brands (Sirgy, 2012;Belk, 2018).Landon (2014) states that consumers show interest in products that are consistent with their personality and self-concept.Azoulay and Kapferer (2013) define personality as a clear construct that is dissimilar to the cognitive construct, skills and capabilities.Personality traits are inferred by an individual's physical characteristics, attitudes, values and behaviour (Park, 2016).Aaker (1997) advocated that consumers' personality affects their evaluation of brands, and the choice of product is based on the congruency consumers feel with the product and their characteristics.Consumers seek image congruence in their purchase decisions (Grubb & Hupp, 2008;Ericksen & Sirgy, 2012) as the choices mirror their personalities.
A five-factor model (FFM), sometimes known as the big five, emerged for assessing personality in individuals and was deemed sufficient to cover the trait-descriptive elements of personality (Khatri, et al., 2021).Benet and Waller (1995) hypothesized that this fivefactor structure accounts for a large portion of the covariation between self-ascriptions and peer judgments of personality characteristics.Despite some of the precise factor labels changing, the composition's fundamental structure has not changed (John & Srivastava, 1999).The same five elements or domains are taken into account by the majority of measurements of individual differences in people's behaviour, in part or in full (McCrae & John, 2012;Tupes & Christal, 2012).Extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, negative emotionality (also known as neuroticism vs. emotional stability), and openmindedness are the most typical descriptors for these domains (alternatively labelled openness to experience, intellect, or imagination) (John et al., 2008;McCrae & Costa, 2008).Extraversion is a measure of a person's social and outgoing tendencies.Its characteristics include assertiveness, sociability, and strong amounts of energy.The term "agreeableness" describes a person's tact, friendliness, and warmth; it is also characterized by compassion, respect, and trust.Organization, productivity, and responsibility are characteristics of conscientiousness, which is related to one's degree of self-discipline.Negative emotionality is concerned with a person's capacity to maintain equilibrium and stability, and the traits linked to it include anxiety, depression, and emotional turbulence.Finally, open-mindedness reveals a person's level of open-mindedness.Its characteristics include creative imagination, artistic sensibility, and intellectual curiosity.

The Engel, Kollat and Blackwell (EKB) Model
This model describes the consumer decision process and how decisions are made when choosing among a list of alternatives available.The model builds on the field of consumer psychology theories and models such as Howard and Sheth (1969) theory of buyer behaviour and Nicosia (1976) theory of the consumer decision process.In this theory, a consumer performs an external search for more information and is dissatisfied.Thus, while the decision-making process happens, the same may not translate into actual buying.The information thus gathered may act as feedback for being utilized later when s/he goes out for buying the next time.Moreover, the decision-making process may halt owing to some pertinent issues at hand or the consumer's failure to make the conclusive decision for some other reason.The EKB theory is considered one of the most important works in the field of consumer behaviour (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2008).The theory fundamentally consists of five sequential steps where information is processed before consumption decisions are made.These include need or problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, product choice, and outcomes or pre-purchase evaluation.

Need Arousal Recognition
Need recognition measures whether there is recognition by individuals of the need to find a solution to a problem and the choice to activate the process.This is regarded as the first step or a component in the decision-making process, and it is expected to elicit the continuation of the process (Bruner & Pomazal, 1993).According to Bruner and Pomazal (1993), to address the problem of consumers adequately, there is the need for the problem first to be delineated.This is the beginning of the consumers' (voters') process of deciding to vote as to if the campaign messages as advertising and promotional mix tools properly define the problems or challenges confronting them.Therefore, in building a behavioural model for predicting consumer (voter) decisions, need arousal has been identified as the starting point.

Information Search
This is the second stage or construct of the EKB consumer decision process model.Solomon (2004) referred to information search as the process by which the consumer surveys their environment for the appropriate data to make a reasonable decision.At this stage, the consumer is aroused to search for more information about the product.consumers actively collect and utilise internal and external information to make better purchase decisions (Masini,& Menichetti,2012).Haridasan et al. (2019) emphasised that Internal search occurs when consumers access information previously stored in memory.It is regarded as the primary source used for habitual and limited decision-making.On the contrary, external search involves searching for information from sources outside of memory because the required information was not previously acquired or cannot be recalled.Therefore, when a consumer has limited expertise about a product, they tend to feel unable to search for information extensively.Haridasan et al. (2019) outlined that the search for information by consumers is based on factors such as knowledge of the consumer, price, perceived risk, experience, involvement, and uncertainty.

Evaluation of Alternatives
The major question at this stage of the consumer decision process is, how does the consumer choose among alternative brands.The consumer uses the information from the search to evaluate alternative brands in the choice set (Kotler et al., 1996).After gathering enough information, the consumer evaluates them to make the best decisions (Gigerenzer & Gaissmaier, 2011).Alternatives are usually evaluated by applying criteria depending on consumer value preferences.Specifically, consumer value preferences might be oriented towards price, quality or additional features and capabilities of products and services (Blythe, 1997).Neal and Quester (2007) discuss this issue with greater clarity by specifying quality, price, and features as product attributes, specifying the degree of importance of each attribute as the most important factor impacting the outcome of the evaluation of alternatives.

Proposed Conceptual Framework
Figure 1 presents the conceptual framework which connects the components to be modelled for describing the behaviour of the consumer (voter).This model is based on the insight from existing theories.Despite theories backing the behaviour of the consumer in terms of psychology, and social and personal behavioural elements, predicting voter (consumer) behaviour would be more comprehensive by integrating elements of the consumer decision process into the model.In a nutshell, the behaviour of the consumer would be driven by considerable factors of the product in the decision-making process towards the final choice.

RESEARCH METHODS
This research utilised the theoretical research approach to develop a consumer behaviour model for voters in Ghana.Using this approach to research, information towards achieving the objectives was gathered from existing knowledge, assumptions, and intuition.Relevant information was drawn from existing literature on consumer behaviour and consumer decision process using journal articles, books, web-based search engines and conference papers.Specifically, some of the relevant information drawn from these sources was based on knowledge linking voter behaviour in political marketing to consumer behaviour.The use of this research approach is to tap into the existing ideas on consumer behaviour and its application in politics to mimic the behaviour of voters in the electoral market.This paper proposed a conceptual framework based on a decision-making process using consumer behaviour elements in voting decisions that can be tested with empirical data.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In consumer behaviour models, three key elements were identified that define consumer behaviour.These included psychological behaviour, social behaviour, and personal behaviour.These behavioural attributes similarly relate to the behaviour of the voter in electoral markets.Psychologically, motivation, perception, belief, and attitude significantly influence the behaviour of voters and party members as they relate to consumer behaviour (Schiffman & Kanuk, (2008).Auf et al. (2018) concluded that motivation is among the most important factors that determine consumer buying behaviour.According to a study by Singh (2020), the behaviour of voters is influenced by their psychological motivation.Furthermore, Schiffman and Wisenblit (2015) opined that consumers psychologically create perceptive imagery towards certain products/services which defines their behaviour and purchase decisions.This claim is also backed by Luchs & Mooradian, (2012).Just as perception influences the consumer's behaviour, voter behaviour in the political market is also defined by their psychological perception of a political party, candidate, or party.Moreover, it was deduced that a consumer's behaviour relates to his or her cognitive and affective attitude towards the product (Chaparro-Africano & Garzón-Méndez, 2021).The attitude of the voter is based on perceptions that will define the choice of political parties/candidates.It has a psychological tendency that affects the choice of a political party (Radulescu et al., 2021), during which the behaviour changes according to the psychological and emotional state of the voter.
Social behaviour is another behavioural element that defines consumer (voter) behaviour.The behaviour of the voter (consumer) would be defined by their friends, family neighbours, social groups, co-workers, and other social influencers (Melnyk & Carrillat, 2022).Per the findings of Griskevicius and Kenrick (2013), these social influencers change the behaviour of consumers towards a brand or products/services.From the psycho-social theory, it is assumed that the behaviour of the voter is a function of partisanship.Voters therefore behave socially to please their social influencers and fulfil their social value in society.Biesta (2011) believes people demonstrate great loyalty towards the political values of their family, peers, and organisations.According to Lane, (1983)., attachment to political parties and a voting decision is associated with social influences, including parents, family members and others.
The study further proposes that the behaviour of the voter is defined by their personal behaviour element.Consumers have their individual/personal traits which define their purchasing behaviour.It is argued that consumers show interest in brands and products/ services that are consistent with their personality and self-concept (Landon, 2014).The personal behaviour of voters would define their political self-efficacy.Shang and Lau (2015) identified that personal behaviour could lead some voters to behave like "motivated reasoners" who rely heavily on partisan heuristics in voting decisions instead of actively consuming the political information available.
It is also indicated from the review that three major factors namely need recognition (arousal), information search and evaluation of alternatives are elements of a political product (campaign messages) that influence voter behaviour.In political marketing, campaigns are seen as advertising to induce or invite the consumer (voter) to consider purchasing (voting).The three elements mentioned above were deduced from the EKB model, which outlines the consumer decision process.
Studies found that need recognition significantly influences consumer behaviour.Researchers (Homer & Kahle, 1988;Kim et al., 2002) conclude that individual needs and psychological behaviour towards products/services are positively and strongly correlated; hence, consumer needs remain an important predictor of consumer psychological behaviour.Lars (2018) confirmed that the consumer desire to satisfy certain needs motivates them psychologically to purchase certain products.It is emphasised that when the needs are met, motivation increases (Aruma & Hanachor, 2017).These views articulated by scholars proposed that, in terms of politics, when the voters (consumers) can identify their needs in campaign messages provided by political parties, their psychological behaviour in terms of motivation towards the decision to vote would increase.Moreover, the needs and desires of the consumer play a vital role in their perception of a product/service (Schwartz (2014).Consumers at different levels of needs and desires perceive the same thing differently (Sree, 2019).The need arousal of the political campaign messages may therefore change the psychological behaviour of the voter (consumer) in terms of perception.It is also indicated need recognition influences consumer behaviour.Arora et al. (2019) confirmed in a study that consumers would want to recognise the need for a product to boost their social needs.It is deduced that if a voter recognises a problem or a need that campaign messages can help solve, they prove to others that they are socially affiliated with the political party/brand.However, research on the need for arousal (recognition) of a product and the personal behaviour of consumers is very limited.According to Tuten and Bosnjak (2001), the need for recognition usually correlates with certain personality traits, particularly openness to experience.For instance, Kearney et al. (2009), introverts who are reluctant to new experiences might enjoy thinking in a reassuring environment.In a similar situation, a consumer (voter) who is an introvert may be reluctant to new issues in campaign messages of political parties and, hence may not necessarily be concerned about identifying the needs in the message.
The review further pointed out that information search influences consumer (voter) behaviour.Scholars perceived a relationship between psychological behaviour and information search activities (Burnkrant, 1976;Nicosia, 1966;Brinberg & Lutz, 1986).According to Bettman and Park (1980), the extent of information search depends on one's motivation and perceived ability to search, and higher ability induces increased information search activities.It is believed that information search is related to social behaviour among consumers.Through social behaviour, the consumer would use information-seeking behaviour through communication and interactions that influence human information search (Khan & Liu, 2018).Submissions per literature propose that the search for information in the political campaign messages could be related to the social behaviour of the voter (consumer).
The behaviour of voters is also strongly linked to the evaluation of alternatives as usually done by consumers in the field of marketing.The psychological, social, and personal behaviour of the consumer changes per their evaluation of alternative products/services.As alluded to by Mishra (2018), the motivation for consumers to buy a product depends on the evaluation of other alternative products on the market.It is also argued that psychologically, consumers make perceptual judgments that inform behavioural changes and decisions on various products after careful evaluation (Folkes & Matta, 2004;Ordabayeva & Chandon, 2013;Banerjee,2016).Largely, is a connection between the evaluation of alternative products and consumer psychological behaviour.According to Brinberg & Lutz (1986), voters (consumers) likely evaluate the alternative political campaign messages, which could influence their motivation, perception, and attitude towards the message.
As posited by Hawkins, Best & Coney (1998), the Hawkins, Best and Coney model supports the influence of alternative evaluation on social behaviour.The behaviour of the consumer can be defined in terms of psychological behaviour, social behaviour, and personal behaviour and these can be equally linked to the behaviour of voters in the electoral market.Moreso, taping from the consumer decision process, the evidence provides that the recognition of needs, information search and evaluation of alternatives are key factors that could significantly influence the behaviour of the voter towards a voting decision.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The analysis of consumer behaviour theory combined aspects of the three behaviour elements and their relationship with campaign messages.This was done to help understand theory development requirements for improved political marketing process in Ghana.The conclusion based on the literature suggests that consumer behaviour theory in marketing is very relevant and can be applied by political parties for improved effectiveness of campaign messages.

Recommendation
The proposed voter behaviour model or framework in this study and the findings can be explored further with empirical data or evidence to validate the voter behaviour and elements of political party products (campaign messages) that influence voter behaviour and voting decisions.This would assist political parties and candidates to adopt campaign strategies which are consumer (voter) focused.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Consumer Behaviour Model for Voters in Ghana