Change in Consumer Behavior Attitude
Transcript of Change in Consumer Behavior Attitude
KCCMS The Business School
Report on
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PGCHM – A
Submitted by
Sr No Names Roll Nos
1 Viral .M. Jain 22
2 Abhishek Kothari 28
3 Ritu Malkani 32
4 Neeta Motwani 39
5 Vipul Rawal 43
6 Kruti .D. Sanghrajka 44
7 Ankita .S. Sonawane 49
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Acknowledgement
We take this opportunity to express our deep sense of gratitude to all at KCCMS
and, who have been very kind and helpful to us.
We lend our sincere and heartfelt acknowledgment towards our mentor Mrs.
Ilham Mam for her right kind of guidance and motivation at our work. We greatly
appreciate her skillful approach towards the learning process.
Our words are never less to thank our beloved parents and friends who
encouraged us in every failure we faced.
Thanks …..
At last, but not the least, we would like to thank to those whom we may have
forgotten to mention, who helped and encouraged us throughout the project, a
Heartfelt thanks.
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Contents
1. Attitude Formation…………………………………………………………
How Attitude Are Learned……………………………………………….
Sources of Influence on Attitude Formation…………………………….
Personality Factors……………………………………………………..
2. Strategies of Attitude Change………………………………………………
Changing the Basic Motivational Functions………………………….
The Utilitarian Function……………………………………….
The Ego-Defensive Function…………………………………..
The Value-Expressive Function………………………………..
The Knowledge Function………………………………………
Combined Several Function…………………………………….
Associating the product with a Special group, Event, or Cause…….
Resolving Two Conflicts Attitudes……………………………………
Altering Components of the Multi-Attribute Model…………………
Changing the Relative Evaluation of Attributes……………….
Changing Brand Beliefs…………………………………………
Adding an Attribute……………………………………………..
Changing the Overall Brand Rating……………………………
Changing Beliefs About Competitors’ Brands……………………….
The Elaboration Likelihood Model………………………………………..
3. Behavior Can Proceed or Follow Attitude Formation……………………
Cognitive Dissonance Theory……………………………………………
Attribution Theory………………………………………………………..
Self-Perception Theory……………………………………………
Attributions towards Others………………………………………
Attributions towards Things……………………………………….
How We Test Our Attributions………………………………………
4. References………………………………………………………………………….
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Chapter 1. Attitude Formation
It includes questions like:
How do people, especially young people, form their initial general attitudes
toward "things"?
What about where such clothing is purchased?
How do family members and friends, admired celebrities, mass-media
advertisements, even cultural memberships, influence the formation of their
attitudes concerning consuming or not consuming each of these types of
apparel items?
Why do some attitudes seem to persist indefinitely while others change
fairly often?
Our examination of attitude formation is divided into three areas: how attitudes
are learned, the sources of influence on attitude formation, and the impact of
personality on attitude formation.
1.1 How Attitudes Are Learned
The shift from having no attitude toward a given object to having an
attitude is learned. The learning may come from information exposure,
consumers’ own cognition (knowledge or belief), or experience.
Consumers may form an attitude before or after a purchase.
Sources of influence on attitude formation: personal experience, friends
and family, direct marketing, or mass media.
Personality factors: such as high/low need for cognition (information
seeking), and social status consciousness.
Learning of Attitudes
By formation of attitude, we mean a situation, where there is a shift from
having no attitude towards a given object to having some attitude toward
it. This shift from no attitude to an attitude or the formation of attitude is a
result of learning.
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Attitudes are generally formed through: · Repeated exposure to novel
social objects,
Classical conditioning,
Operant conditioning and
Exposure to live and symbolic models.
Consumers generally purchase new products that are associated
with a favorably viewed brand name. Their favorable attitude toward the
brand name is frequently the result of repeated satisfaction with other
products produced by the same company.
In terms of classical conditioning, an established brand name is an
unconditioned stimulus that has resulted in a favorable brand attitude
through past positive reinforcement. A new product, which is yet to be
linked to the established brand, would be the conditioned impulse.
For example,
By giving a new anti-wrinkle lotion the benefit of its well-known and
respected family name, Johnson & Johnson may be counting on an
extension of the favorable attitude already associated with the brand name
to the new product. They are counting on stimulus generalization from the
brand name to the new product. It has been shown by research that the
“fit” between a parent brand like in the case of J&J and a brand extension,
for instance, J&J’s anti-wrinkle, is a function of two factors:
(1) The similarity between the pre-existing product categories already
associated with the parent brand and the new extension, and
(2) The “fit” or match between the images of the parent brand and the
new extension. At times, attitudes follow the purchase and consumption of
a product.
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For example,
A consumer may purchase a brand-name product without having a prior
attitude towards it, because it is the only product available like the last
bottle of shampoo in a hotel store). Consumers sometimes make trial
purchases of new brands from product categories in which they have little
personal involvement. If they find the purchased brand to be satisfactory,
then they are likely to develop a favorable attitude toward it.
1.2 Sources of Influence on Attitude Formation
The formation of consumer attitudes is strongly influenced by
persona/experience, the influence of family and friends, direct marketing,
and mass media. The primary means by which attitudes toward goods and
services are formed is through the consumer's direct experience in trying
and evaluating, them). Recognizing the importance of direct experience,
marketers frequently attempt to stimulate trial of new products by offering
cents-off coupons or even free samples. The marketer's objective is to get
consumers to try the product and then to evaluate it. If a product proves to
be to their liking, then it is probable that consumers will form a positive
attitude and be likely to repurchase the product. In addition, from the
information on the coupon (e.g., name and address) the marketer is able
to create a database of interested consumers.
Marketers are increasingly using highly focused direct-marketing
programs to target small consumer niches with products and services that
fit their interests and lifestyles.(Niche marketing is sometimes called
micromarketing.) Marketers very carefully target customers on the basis of
their demographic, psychographic, or geo-demographic profiles with highly
personalized product offerings (e.g., hunting rifles for left-handed people)
and messages that show they understand their special needs and desires.
Direct-marketing efforts have an excellent chance of favorably influencing
target consumers' attitudes. Because the products and services offered
and the promotional messages conveyed are very carefully designed to
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address the individual segment's needs and concerns and, thus are able
to achieve. Attitudes that develop through direct experience (e.g., product
usage) tend to be more confidently held, more enduring, and more
resistant to attack than those developed via indirect experience (e.g.,
reading a print ad).
1.3 Personality Factors
Personality plays a critical role in attitude formation. For example,
individuals with a high need for cognition (i.e., those who crave information
and enjoy thinking) are likely to form positive attitudes in response to ads
or direct mail that are rich in product-related information while consumers
who are relatively low in need for cognition are more likely to form positive
attitudes in response to ads that feature an attractive model or well-known
celebrity. In a similar fashion, attitudes toward new products and new
consumption situations are strongly influenced by specific personality
characteristics of consumers.
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Chapter 2. Strategies of Attitude Change
Attitude changes are learned; they are influenced by personal experience and
other sources of information, and personality affects both the receptivity and the
speed with which attitudes are likely to be altered.
Among the attitude-change strategies that are available with the marketers
are:
1. Changing the consumer’s motivational function.
2. Associating the product with an admired group or an event.
3. Resolving two conflicting attitudes.
4. Altering components of the multi-attribute model.
5. Changing consumer beliefs about competitors’ brands.
2.1 Changing the consumer’s motivational function
Two people can each have an attitude toward some object for very different
reasons. It follows that an advertiser must know why an attitude is held before
attempting to change it. One method for changing motivation is known as the
functional approach. According to this approach, attitudes can be classified in
terms of four functions: the utilitarian function, the ego-defensive function, the
value-expressive function, and the knowledge function.
2.1.1 The Utilitarian Function
We hold certain brand attitudes partly because of a brand’s utility.
Utilitarian function is related to the basic principles of reward and punishment.
We develop some attitudes toward products simply on the basis of whether
these products provide pleasure or pain. If a person likes the taste of a
cheeseburger, that person will develop a positive attitude toward
cheeseburgers. Ads that stress straightforward product benefits (e.g., you
should drink Diet Coke "just for the taste of it") appeal to the utilitarian
function.
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2.1.2 The Ego-Defensive Function
Attitudes that are formed to protect the person, either from external threats
or internal feelings of insecurity, perform an ego-defensive function. An early
marketing study indicated that housewives in the 1950s resisted the use of
instant coffee because it threatened their conception of themselves as
capable homemakers. Products that promise to help a man project a "macho"
image (e.g., Marlboro cigarettes) may be appealing to his insecurities about
his masculinity. Many deodorant campaigns stress the dire, embarrassing
consequences of being caught with underarm odor in public.
2.1.3 The Value-Expressive Function
Attitudes that perform a value-expressive function express the consumer's
central values or self-concept. A person forms a product attitude not because
of objective product benefits, but rather because of what using the product
says about him or her as a person (e.g., "What sort of man reads Playboy?").
Value-expressive attitudes are highly relevant to life-style analyses, where
consumers cultivate a cluster of activities, interests, and opinions to express a
particular social identity.
2.1.4 The Knowledge Function
Individuals generally have a strong need to know and understand the
people and things they encounter. The consumer’s “need to know”, a
cognitive need, is important to marketers concerned with product positioning.
Indeed, many product and brand positioning are attempts to satisfy the need
to know and to improve the consumer’s attitudes towards the brand by
emphasizing its advantages over competitive brands. Some attitudes are
formed as the result of a need for order, structure, or meaning. This need is
often present when a person is in an ambiguous situation or is confronted
with a new product (e.g., "Bayer wants you to know about pain relievers").
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2.1.5 Combining Several Functions
Because different consumers may like or may not like the same
product or service for the different reasons, a functional framework for
examine attitudes can be very useful. For example, three consumers may all
have positive attitudes towards Garnier hair products. However, one may be
responding solely to the fact that the products work well (the utilitarian
function); the second may have the inner confidence to agree with the point
“When you know beautiful hair doesn’t have to get to cost a fortune” (an ego-
defensive function). The third consumer’s favorable attitudes might reflect the
realization that Garnier has for many years stressed value (equal or better
products for less) – the knowledge function.
2.2 Associating the product with an admired group or an event
Attitudes are related at least in part, to certain groups, social events, or
causes. It is possible to alter attitudes toward products, services, and brands by
pointing out their relationships to particular social groups, events, or causes.
Companies regularly include mention in their advertising of the civic and
public acts that they sponsor to let the public know about the good that they are
trying to do.
2.3 Resolving two conflicting attitudes
Attitude-change strategies can sometimes resolve actual or potential conflict
between two attitudes. Specifically, if consumers can be made to see that their
negative attitude toward a product, a specific brand, or its attributes is really not
in conflict with another attitude, they may be induced to change their evaluation
of the brand (i.e., moving from negative to positive).
2.4 Altering components of the multi-attribute model
The multi-attribute models have implications for attitude-change strategies;
specifically, they provide us with additional insights as to how to bring about
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attitude change; changing the relative evaluation of attributes, changing brand
beliefs, adding an attribute, and changing the overall brand rating.
2.4.1 Changing the Relative Evaluation of Attributes
Consumer markets can be segmented in the same product
category according to brands that offer different features or beliefs. The
overall market for many product categories is often set out so that different
consumer segments are offered different brands with different features or
benefits. In general, when a product category is naturally divided
according to distinct product features or benefits that appeal to a particular
segment of consumers, marketers usually have an opportunity to
persuade consumers to "cross over," that is, to persuade consumers who
prefer one version of the product (e.g., a standard "soft" contact lens) to
shift their favorable attitudes toward another version of the product (e.g., a
disposable contact lens), and possibly vice versa.
2.4.2 Changing Brand Beliefs
This calls for changing attitudes of consumers by changing beliefs
or perceptions about the brand itself. It is a cognitive-oriented strategy for
challenging attitudes concentrates on changing beliefs or perceptions
about the brand itself. This is by far the most common form of advertising
appeal. Advertisers constantly are reminding us that their product has
"more" or is "better" or "best" in terms of some important product attribute.
Within the context of brand beliefs, there are forces working to stop or
slow, down attitude change. For instance, customers frequently resist
evidence that challenges a strongly held attitude or belief and tend to
interpret any ambiguous information in ways that reinforce their
preexisting attitudes.24Therefore, information suggesting a change in
attitude needs to be compelling and repeated enough to overcome the
natural resistance to letting go of established attitudes.
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2.4.3 Adding an Attribute
This means either adding an attitude that previously has been
ignored or one that represents an improvement or technological
innovation. A cognitive strategy consists of adding an attribute. This can
be accomplished either .by adding an attribute that previously has been
ignored or one that represents an improvement or technological
innovation. The first route, adding a previously ignored attribute, is
illustrated by the point that yogurt has more potassium than a banana (a
fruit associated with a high quantity of potassium). For consumers
interested in increasing their intake of potassium, the comparison of yogurt
and bananas has the power of enhancing their attitudes toward yogurt.
The second route of adding an attribute that reflects an actual product
change or technological innovation is easier to accomplish than stressing
a previously ignored attribute. Sometimes eliminating a characteristic or
feature has the same enhancing outcome as adding a characteristics or
attribute.
2.4.4 Changing the Overall Brand Rating
Altering the consumers overall assessment of the brand directly
without attempting to improve or change their evaluation of a single brand
attributes. Usually this strategy is used by using some form of global
statement like “this is the largest selling brand.
It is a cognitive-oriented strategy consists of attempting to alter
consumers’ overall assessment of the brand directly, without attempting to
improve or change their evaluation of any single brand attitude. Such a
strategy frequently relies on some form of global statement that “this is the
largest-selling brand” or “the one all others try to imitate”, or a similar claim
that sets the brand from all its competitors.
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2.5 Changing consumer beliefs about competitors’ brands.
Another approach to attitude-change strategy changing consumer beliefs
about the attributes of competitive brands or product categories. Comparative
advertising can boomerang by giving visibility to competing brands and claims.
For instance, an ad for Advil makes a dramatic assertion of product
superiority over Aspirin and Tylenol and that two Advil work better than Extra
Strength Tylenol. Clearly, the purpose of this ad is to create the attitude that the
Oracle Small Business Suite is a superior product to QuickBooks, a principal
competitor.
2.6 The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) proposes the more global view
that consumer attitudes are changed by two distinctly different “routes to
persuasion”: a central route or a peripheral route. The central route is particularly
relevant to attitude change when a consumer's motivation or ability to assess the
attitude object is high; that is, attitude change occurs because then consumer
actively seeks out information relevant to the attitude object itself. When
consumers are willing to exert the effort to comprehend, learn, or evaluate the
available information about the attitude object, learning and attitude change
occur via the central route.
In contrast, when a consumer's motivation or assessment skills are low
(e.g., low involvement), learning and attitude change tend to occur via the
peripheral route without the consumer focusing on information relevant to the
attitude object itself. In such cases attitude change often is an outcome of
secondary inducements (e.g., cents-off coupons, free samples, beautiful
background scenery, great packaging, or the encouragement of a celebrity
endorsement).
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Chapter 3. Behavior Can Precede or Follow Attitude Formation
Attitude formation and attitude change ha!; stressed the traditional
rational" view that consumers develop their attitudes before taking action (e.g.,”
Know what you are doing before you do it"). There are alternatives to this
"attitude precedes behavior" perspective, alternatives that, on careful analysis,
are likely to be just as logical and rational. For example, cognitive dissonance
theory and attribution theory each provide a different explanation as to why
behavior might precede attitude formation.
3.1 Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Cognitive dissonance theory, discomfort or dissonance occurs when a
consumer holds conflicting thoughts about a belief or an attitude object. For
instance, when consumers have made a commitment-made a down payment or
placed an order for a product particularly an expensive one such as an
automobile or a personal computer- they often begin to 'feel cognitive dissonance
when they think of the unique, positive qualities of the brands not selected ("left
behind").
When cognitive dissonance occurs after a purchase, it is parallel post
purchase dissonance. Because purchase decisions often require some amount
of compromise, post purchase dissonance is quite normal. Thus, in the case of
post purchase dissonance, attitude change is frequently an outcome of an action
or behavior. Dissonance propels consumers to reduce the unpleasant feelings
created by the rival thoughts. A variety of tactics are open to consumers to
reduce post-purchase dissonance.
3.2 Attribution Theory
Attribution theory attempts to explain how people assign causality (e.g.,
blame or credit) to events on the basis of either their own behavior or the
behavior of others. In attribution theory, the underlying question is
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"Why did I do this?" "Why did she try to get me to switch brands?" This process
of making inferences about one's own or another's behavior is a major
component of attitude formation and change.
3.2.1 Self-Perception Theory
Self-Perception theory is individuals' inferences or judgments as to
the causes of their own behavior are a good beginning point for a
discussion of attribution. In terms of consumer behavior, self-perception
theory suggests that attitudes develop as consumers look at and make
judgments about their own behaviors. To appreciate the complexity of self-
perception theory it is useful to distinguish between internal and external
attributions.
According to the principle of defensive attribution, consumers are likely to
accept credit personally for success (internal attribution) and to credit
failure to others or to outside events (external attribution). For this reason,
it is crucial that marketers offer uniformly high-quality products that allow
consumers to perceive themselves as the reason for the success.
Internal and external attributions—attitudes develop as consumers look at
and make judgments about their own behavior. These judgments can be
divided into internal, external, and defensive attributions.
Internal attribution
Giving yourself credit for the outcomes— your ability, your skill, or your
effort.
External attribution
The purchase was good because of factors beyond your control—luck,
etc.
Defensive attribution
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Consumers are likely to accept credit personally for success, and to credit
failure to others or to outside events. For this reason, it is crucial that
marketers offer uniformly high quality products that allow consumers to
perceive themselves as the reason for the success; that is, “I am
competent.”
Foot-in-the-Door Technique
This strategy is based on the premise that individuals look at their
prior behavior (e.g., compliance with a minor request) and conclude that
they are the kind of person who says "yes" to such requests (i.e., an
internal attribution). Such self-attribution serves to increase the likelihood
that they will agree to a similar more substantial request. Research into
the foot-in-the-door technique has concentrated on understanding how
specific incentives (e.g., cents-off coupons of varying amounts) ultimately
influence consumer attitudes and subsequent purchase behavior. It
appears that different-size incentives create different degrees of internal
attribution which, in turn, lead to different amounts of attitude change.
3.2.2 Attributions towards Others
In evaluating the words or deeds of others, say, a salesperson, a
consumer tries to determine if the salesperson's motives are in the
consumer’s best interests. If the salesperson motives are viewed as
favorable to the consumer, the consumer is likely to respond favorably.
Otherwise, the consumer is likely to reject the salesperson’s words and go
elsewhere to make a purchase.
3.2.3 Attributions towards Things
It is in the area of judging product performance that consumers are
most likely to form product attributions. As products (or services) can
readily be thought of as things, so consumer researchers are interested in
consumer attributes. They want to find out why a product meets or don’t
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meet their expectations. In this regard, they could attribute the products
successful performance (or failure) to the product itself, to themselves, to
other people or situations, or to some combination of these factors.
3.2.4 How We Test Our Attributions
After making initial attributions about a product's performance or a
person’s words of actions, we often attempt to determine whether the
inference we made is correct. According to a leading attribution theorist,
individuals acquire conviction about particular observations by acting like
"naive scientists," that is, by collecting additional information in an attempt
to confirm(or disconfirm) prior inferences. In collecting such
Information, consumers often use the following criteria:
i. Distinctiveness: The consumer attributes an action to a particular
product or person if the action occurs when the product (or person) is
present and does not occur in its absence.
ii. Consistency over time: Whenever the person or product is
present, the consumer's inference or reaction must be the same, or
nearly so.
iii. Consistency over modality: The inference or reaction must be the
same, even when the situation in which it occurs varies.
iv. Consensus: The action is perceived, in the same way by the
consumers.
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References
1. Consumer Behavior, by Leon G. Schiffman and Leslie Lazar Kanuk, 8th
Edition.
2. www.wikipedia.org
3. www.bus.iastate.edu
4. www.exampleessays.com
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