Examination of consumer behaviors in behavioral economics perspective: Case of purchase of car

From the perspective of behavioral economics, the goal of this study is to discover the factors influencing the automobile purchasing decision of public people working in public institutions and organizations in Turkey in 2021, and to investigate them according to the income level variable. Individual purchasing patterns are studied in the study using traditional economics' rational decision assumptions and behavioral economics' limited rational decision assumptions. A survey study was used in the study, and the quantitative research method was used. The study includes a 33-item questionnaire to examine the social, psychological, and economic elements that influence public employees' automobile purchasing habits. Using the basic random selection approach, the survey was administered to 400 government servants from a population of 4.877.270 public employees in 2021. Statistical programs were used to examine the results collected. The frequency analysis method was used to calculate the demographic features of the participants. The factors influencing consumer preference were tested using the Likert Type Scale. The One-Way Analysis of Variance approach was used to group and assess the responses to the questions. For descriptive statistical analysis, arithmetic mean and standard deviation data were obtained. The differences deriving from income level were evaluated and examined using the Games-Howell method of the Post-Hock test. According to the findings of the study, psychological, sociological, and economic factors have a larger role in the car-buying behavior of the relatively low-income public employees who took part in the survey. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that, contrary to Traditional Economics, individual consumption decisions are not rational, and that behavioral economics has limited rationality and is influenced by a variety of social, economic, and environmental factors.