Investigation of the consumer's hedonic consumption behavior in terms of socio-cultural factors

Nowadays the consumption is no longer only the satisfaction of the physiological needs. In the modern consumer society, the emotional dimension of consumption is also gaining importance. Thus consumers are trying to meet their needs as well as trying to take pleasure from the consumption experience. In other words, through the consumed products consumers are focused on living for happiness, taking pleasure, emotions, and self-manifestation.This emotional tendency described as a hedonic consumption behavior which is a subject of this study. The consumption, consumer culture and consumer behavior concepts are explained in the theoretical part of this thesis work. The definition of the hedonic consumption and the prior researches carried out on this subject were given in this part as well. After this theoretical framework, a survey was conducted among the consumers who live in the Trabzon city. The impacts of socio-cultural factors on respondent's consumption behavior and consumer's hedonic consumption behavior have been identified with the help of a questionnaire. Then the relationship between these two variables was examined. According to the research results, the positive relationship between socio-cultural factors and hedonic consumption behavior was determined. Keywords: Consumption, Consumer Culture, Consumer Behavior, Hedonism, Hedonic Consumption.