Motivations and Attitudes: An Empirical Study on DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Consumers in Hungary

Abstract

The market for homemade and handcrafted items has expanded significantly in recent years. Related activities range from community-supported agricultural activities, tinkering at home, renovating our houses, design elements, and defining space in the world of gastronomy and fashion as well, and it extends to cover many other activities, where the “producers” also double up as the consumers. The number of scientific analyses in Hungarian language dealing with this subject is very low and no deep empirical results (interviews, questionnaires, ethnographic analyses, etc.) to support our scientific experience exist yet. The purpose of this study is first to review the terminology issued and difficulties that are related to this phenomenon, and, based on the results of a questionnaire survey, and secondly to explore the motivations of DIYers and the attitudes behind their actions. In our study, we mean on Do-It-Yourself (DIY)—in line with the vast majority of literature—all activities, services, and products, which is implemented by own hands not under industrial circumstences. The target group of the online questionnaire survey was the people that are involved in DIY. The questionnaire was shared by a decorator and her DIY Facebook page (“Juditu”) on 3 October 2017. The size of the relevant sample was 270. The research questionnaire was built up from a demographic part, a part that is related to general DIY activity, and a part that sought to find the motivation of DIY members. The practice of DIY activities might be linked more to the personality and creativity; so, the group can be more homogeneously described along the common personality traits than by demographic variables. Among the motivations of DIYers the economic one (saving money) is not the most dominant. Analyses by interpretative index categories confirmed the hypothesis that it is difficult to separate one motivational force from the other; in many cases, one catalysing force generates the other, thus a complex multifactorial motivational set dominates the study target group. From the three groups, which were identified by analysing the motivations, in two groups those individuals are dominant, which use DIY activities to express their own inner world, and for whom spending time creatively, making something alone and for themselves, and creating something useful and valuable, is very important. These results were novel and, naturally, they can be perfect starting points of further studies because of the intactness of the research topic.

Viewpoint: service research in Post-Soviet states and the former eastern bloc

“…“lifestyle choice”, reflection of financial inability to hire professionals (Williams, 2008), or lack of product quality in the professional sector (Wolf and McQuitty, 2011), it appears that customers from Post-Communist States often prefer the “do-it-yourself” option, even when the service providing option is available. As DIY behavior became ingrained during the Communist era, people in these regions prefer to use DIY activities as a means to express their own inner world or to simply enjoy creating something useful and valuable (Khademi-Vidra and Bujdosó, 2020). As such, this study proposes that customers in these countries could be extraordinarily prone to acting as co-producers through self-service or by using self-service technologies that require customers to take a participative role, independent of direct or firm input (Meuter et al , 2005).…”

Service Provider to the Rescue: How Firm Recovery of Do-It-Yourself Service Failure Turns Consumers from Competitors to Satisfied Customers

“…Third, relative to similar phenomena like self-servicing (e.g., Meuter et al 2000) or crafting (Campbell 2005), DIY activities generally require greater effort, involvement, and resources (Wolf and McQuitty 2011; 2013). Relatedly, the literature highlights that the decision to engage in DIY is complex and multifaceted, as consumers engage in DIY to save time and money (Khademi-Vidra and Bujdosó 2020; Williams 2004; Wolf and McQuitty 2011), test their skills (Watson and Shove 2008), maintain or enhance identity (Moisio, Arnould, and Gentry 2013; Wolf and McQuitty 2011), or customize production when marketplace options do not meet their needs (Khademi-Vidra and Bujdosó 2020; Williams 2004; Wolf and McQuitty 2011).…”

The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Changes in Consumer Habits and Behavior

“…Saving money is not the essential motivation for the present do-it-yourself behavior (KHADEMI-VIDRA; BUJDOSÓ, 2020). Even though during or after the pandemic there was an increase in do-it-yourself, it was possible to verify that, according to Steven (1997), this term appeared in 1912 for the first time, in the literature referring to activities carried out by non-professional practitioners involving activities in home improvement and maintenance(WILLIAMS, 2004;KHADEMI-VIDRA;BUJDOSÓ, 2020).Wolf and McQuitty (2013) point out that DIY involves activities in which individuals create, compose, recreate, or reconstruct objects with non-processed or semi-processed materials (KHADEMI-VIDRA; BUJDOSÓ, 2020). It is possible to relate consumer behavior during the pandemic and post-pandemic to DIY.…”