Keywords

1 Introduction and Research Context

Voters' electoral preference is described by various aspects, for example: candidate identity, social group, party, etc. [1, 2]. The particular study makes an attempt to investigate how that voting is a practice of consumer behavior and is shaped by factors such as the motives the perceptions and the reason of voting and accordingly to study the influence of those factors upon the voting behaviour of Greek Electorates. In order to accomplish the anticipated research in a suitable and efficient approach, it has been respected as vital to ground on an analytical research approach. Therefore, the subsequent sections propose the research aims and objectives and make an overview to the necessary theoretic background, as well as the data collecting and exploring methods that have been used towards the achievement of the research.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Voting Consumer Behaviour (Consumption)

As it has been reported by previous research [1,2,3,4], the electoral preference of voters is described by a variety of aspects, for example the social group identity. Additionally, voters are more or less defenseless to the pressure of aspects for example campaign events, issues, and candidate appeals. Particularly, the perceived governing competence of candidates and political parties often weighs heavily on voters’ choices. In a similar manner, O'Cass [5] focuses on applying consumer-behaviour theory to understand voter characteristics and electoral behaviour. Moreover, the previous research suggested that the altering social environment and venturing social trends have their effect upon the function of political communication and are therefore precisely connected to the scope of the current research [6]. In parallel, the modern-day movements and the relations of social change to media change are multi-layered and communal. Over the contemporary sphere, political communication has been responsive (though also contributory) to the following series of exogenous/eternal change. In a similar manner, Papathanassopoulos and Negrine [7] stated that “…Contemporary societies are increasingly faced with situations in which the media have been transformed from mere channels of communication between interested parties into arenas of political engagement, in which the media have been transformed from mere channels of communication between interested parties into arenas of political engagement, in which the media themselves are key actors in the political process…” [7, 8].

In this approach, Muhammad and Hasan [9] examined the prospective psychological and social characteristics come out of vote decision made by voters. The specific study exposed the psychosocial matters such as the political party of candidate, party integrity, party leadership, candidate’s education, candidate personality, candidate’s race, candidate’s socioeconomic status, family head decision, etc. [9]. Furthermore, Campbell et al. [10] indicated the intentions of voting consist of national duty, basic rights, wanting change, basis of view and benefit of country while the reasons not to vote included election duty, non-availability of good leadership, poor integrity, etc.

2.2 Consuming Behaviour Scale

An additional concern relevant to the scope of the particular study is the evaluation of those factors determine the electoral decision. In this specific manner, Muhammad and Hasan [9] consider the development of a scale to estimate and evaluate issues that may possibly characterize psychosocial reasons behind the voting decision in Pakistan. Factor analysis of DVS [9] suggested that opinion of the voter in selecting to direct his or her vote is multidimensional. The elements of DVS are allocated into five aspects. Items loading on aspect I stand for reasons and importance to shape the vote, which involved vote is basic right, vote is way of opinion, vote is responsibility, vote is national duty, vote bring change and vote brings real representative. This dimension was mentioned as Reason to Vote. Aspect II lies under the theme are related with the content of political profile of candidate who contested the election i.e., political party, manifesto, sign and election campaign of the candidate, which influenced the voting decision of the voter in the election. Consequently, it was regarded as Political Identity of Candidate. Aspect III was regarded as Personal Identity of Candidate [10, 11]. Items included in this factor were related to the theme of personal demographics of candidate (i.e., gender, race, socioeconomic status and religion of the candidate) which affect the decision of voter in casting the vote in the election. Michigan Psychosocial Model [10] demonstrated that the personalities of candidates play an important role in voting decision of the voter [12]. Moreover, elements included in the aspect V reveal the Perceptions of Voter concerning candidate who contests the election. Elements of this area shown the perception of the voter i.e., progressive work of candidate, education, integrity, and political experience of candidate which affects the motivation of the voter to cast his/her votes in the election.

3 Methodology

3.1 Problem Statement

The particular study makes an attempt to investigate how that voting is a manner of consumer behavior and is influenced by factors such as the motives the perceptions and the reason of voting and consequently to study the influence of those issues upon the electing behaviour of Cypriot Voters.

Research Context. Within 2023 Greeks called to the polls twice at a circumstance after the deadly train disaster in Tempi and with the price of the basic goods and services of the average Greek household at high. Therefore, in this unfavorable situation, the Greeks were called to vote two times in a short period of time, a fact which certainly did not leave uninfluenced, the electoral behavior and, by extension, the impression of both the pre-election period and the elections themselves. Consequently, the above fact has influenced the research outcome [13].

Research Questions/Hypothesis. According to the above indicative overview, the following specific hypotheses could be distinguished in a way that may enhance the formulations of clear aims and objectives and thus to enable the accomplishment of the proposed research [14]. Hypothesis 1. Reason to Vote as it is shaped both by the psychological factors of the voter, as well as by the environmental electoral factors, is vital in shaping electoral behavior [10].

Hypothesis 2. The political identity and the specific political and ideological characteristics of a candidate is vital to the shaping of voting behavior and thus in making electoral decisions [10]. Hypothesis 3. The personal and the political identity and the personal qualities, values and characteristics of a candidate is important for the determining of electing behavior and therefore in getting electoral choices [10]. Hypothesis 4. The political Perceptions and the electoral behaviour of the voter elements included in the aspect V reveal the Perceptions of Vote concerning candidate who contests the election [10]. Hypothesis 5. Voter Motives affects the motivation of the voter to cast his/her own vote in election) [10].

3.2 Primary Research Design

In order to meet the requirements of the proposed research objectives, it has been considered essential to deploy certain research methods. Accordingly, primary research is the only way through which the organisation could take some answers relevant to its own situation.

Population and Sample of the Survey. In order to be in a position to approach a particular question in a thorough way, it might be necessary to carefully specify the population of the research and clearly identify the sample which represents that population within the actual research process. The survey took place with panhellenic geographical coverage/spread, the research population of the survey were the Greek voters and Sample size of 605 Greek Citizens with voting rights. The sampling took place though the use of convenient sampling, as allowed them to generate a relatively large sample within a rather short period [14]. More specifically, the responses were specified between the 27th of June and the 11th of July 2023, just after the two subsequent electoral contests. The specific scheduling has been chosen, in order to attain the deliberation of a pure voting turnout and thus to attain the monitoring of a transparent impact of the political marketing. Outside the constructive timing, another reason for which the Greek case was selected, is the circumstance that there is an encouraging ground for the specific case study, and the particular study is expected to subsidize to the current research gap by converging on the impact of voting behaviour, upon motives, the perceptions and the reason of voting.

4 Results and Discussion

4.1 Scale of Consuming Behaviour

The survey involved examining Decision to Vote Scale (DVS), developed by [9] was a multidimensional measure to assess the factors affecting the decision to vote of the general population. This scale consisted of 23 items (see Table 1) and had five sub-scales, viz., reasons to vote (6 items), political identity of a candidate (5 items), personal identity of a candidate (4 items), voter’s motive (4 items) and voter’s perception (4 items).

Table 1 Decision to vote-scale
Full size table

Reason to Vote—Strengths and Weaknesses. The findings might suggest that the vast majority of the Greek voters considers voting as a fundamental right (4,34), as a way of thinking (4,14), as responsibility (4,36) and as a national duty (4,23). However, there is confusion and a diversity of views regarding the ability of vote to bring change (3,58) and real representation (3,29).

Voting brings representation. Additionally, as it has emerged by the findings, electoral decisions can be considered as a fundamental component of the democratic process. By voting, the members of an electorate determine whom they trust as representatives with the right to decide on their behalf. By voting, the members of a community decide which course of action they will take collectively. In relation to the element of “representation” [17], in the particular case of research, the general outcome, which has derived from the conducted focus group discussions, is that the voter is obliged to vote for people who are guided by the political system and the political party establishment.

Candidates’ Personal and Political Identity—Strengths and Weaknesses. The personal identity of candidates records a diversity of mean values among its various elements (2,97; 1,75; 2,6; 3,74;2,87). More specifically, religion of the Candidate (with Mean Value 2,6) appeared to be the element with the least clear statistical picture since for the vast majority of the respondents, this fact might indicate the diversity of the way in which the respondents perceive religion in regard to their wider voting behaviour. Another noteworthy finding is the fact that the campaign of Candidate has been examined both as an element of “Personal” and as an element of “Political Identity”, in order to measure the way and the manner in which it is perceived by the voters. Accordingly, the “campaign of candidate as an element of “Personal Identity” concentrates a Mean Value of 2,97 while as an element of the “Political Identity” concentrates only 2,63. This fact might suggest that the campaign of an individual candidate is perceived more as a personal image rather than a political statement. Moreover, in contrast to previous research [5, 9, 10] the specific research replaced the element of candidates race with the element of campaign as an element of personal identity and indicated a marginal impact of “Candidate’s political background with a mean value of 3.44.

Voter’s Perceptions Strengths and Weaknesses. In regard to voter’s perceptions, the element of “political party the candidate”, with Mean value of 3,32, a fact that may suggest that the perception and thus the influence of voters in regard to the political parties is diversified according to some certain demographic and ideological characteristics. In a different way the most influencing factor of the specific element, appeared to be the “The integrity of the candidate”, with Mean value of 4,22, a fact that reflects the importance given by the voters to the element of Integrity, given the existing situation with the exposure of corruption and scandals amongst state officials. In a similar manner, the given results suggest that “The candidate’s progressive work”, with a Mean value of 4,05. In a completely reverse manner, “The financial assistance provided by the candidate”, with a Mean value of 2,32, that indicates that only a small potion views this as important.

Voter’s Motives Strengths and Weaknesses. According to the given results the four elements that examined the voters’ motives presented a diversity of statistical images (see Table 1) since each one of them has been considered as a basic factor of voting to a completely different extent.

More specifically, “The personal aid given by the candidate” with a Mean value of 2,5. In a slightly different way “The manifesto of the political party/candidate” with a Mean value of 2,95, Moreover, “The decision of the parents/relatives” with a Mean value of 1,63 appeared to be the least basic/influencing factor. In an entirely opposite manner, “Personal Decision/Opinion” with a Mean value of 4,42, a fact that creates a transparent image of the general voting perceptual map of the respondents. The above results may teel us that the motives of the Greek voters are mainly result of their personal perceptions, rather than exogenous factors. In this respect, the political parties, could explode the particular fact, by giving emphasis to element such as the Integrity and the political background of their candidates, which appear to be more influential upon voters’ perceptions.

5 Conclusions and Limitations

According to the discussion points of the aforementioned research, this may reflect the fact that the so called “behavioural Impact” of the Greek voter, is mainly influenced by factors such as candidate’s education, integrity and political background. In a relatively similar manner, the variance that was mirrored from the conclusions of the specific research regarding the appreciation of the importance of voting activity and the actual reflection of voting, is align to previous research [9, 15, 17] and indicates that voters’ (especially the younger ones, understand the importance of voting; however, their absence of participation to a certain extent is either a result of disapproving the political system, or a result of the general gratitude that their vote will not manage to change the present situation [8]. Another notable finding is that Greek voter receives a higher impact form party and party manifesto, in comparison to the Cypriot voter [15], a fact that could be explained by the different political systems and the existence of a parliamentary system which ingress the significance of parties [16].

Even though the reported research outcomes respond to the accomplishment of formulated aims and objectives and in general lines confirm the basic hypotheses of the project, it can be argued that a number of research limitations have emerged. Moreover, it is beyond the scope of this study to employ in a further extent the findings concerning, “Voters Involvement”, “Information Seeking” and “Stability”, and therefore the data collected about “Word of Mouth”, firstly might not be as representative and secondly might not reflect the actual impact of Word of Mouth upon the Electoral Process [15, 16].