Consumer Belief and Attitude. Consumer Attitudes. Origins of Attitudes

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1 Consumer Belief and Attitude Consumer Beliefs About Product Attributes Beliefs result from cognitive learning. Beliefs are the knowledge and inferences that a consumer has about objects, their attributes, and their benefits provided. Objects are the products, people, companies, and things about which people hold beliefs and attitudes. Benefits are the positive outcomes that attributes provide to the consumer. Attributes are the characteristics of an object Consumer Attitudes Attitude is a learned tendency to act in a consistent way toward an object, based on feelings and opinions that result from an evaluation of knowledge about the object Attitude is the amount of affect or feeling for or against a stimulus or the attitude object Attitudes are stored in long-term memory Beliefs are the cognitive knowledge about an object In high involvement situations, beliefs predict attitudes; attitudes might result in behaviours, both favourable and unfavourable Origins of Attitudes Mere Exposure - The more we are exposed to an object the more we will like them. Social (observational) Learning Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning Cognitive Learning The Three Component Theory of Attitude Cognitive component: consumer belief(s) about a brand, outlet, product, action, etc., that is based on personal knowledge, actual experience, the knowledge or experience of others, or perception. Affective component: consumer feelings (e.g. likes, dislikes, or neutrality) about a brand, outlet, product, action, etc. flowing from beliefs. The Three Component Theory of Attitude Intention component ( behavior or behavioral intention ): consumer s intention to act positively, negatively, or neutrally toward a brand, outlet, product, action, etc. that is based on his or her affective component stance. This three component theory seems to be more clearly tied to high-involvement brand, outlet, product, action, etc. situations than lowinvolvement. 1

2 Figure 7.1 Hierarchy of Effects Beliefs: Cognitive Component of Consumer Attitude A consumer belief is a psychological association between a product, brand, outlet, action, etc. and an attribute or feature (and associated benefits) of such Beliefs are cognitive (based on knowledge, experience, perception, etc.) The stronger the association of features or attributes (and associated benefits) with the product, brand, outlet, action, etc., the stronger the consumer s belief Brand equity is a measure of the strength of the association in the marketplace 7-7 Strategies To Change Consumer Beliefs Positioning by Product attributes Consumer benefits Intangible attributes Price Application/Use Brand user Celebrity recognition Brand personality Product category Association with competitors Country or geographic area Affect: Emotive Component of Attitude Purchase decisions are typically influenced by affective response Affect the way in which we feel (e.g. like, dislike, neutral) in response to marketplace stimuli It is emotive rather than cognitive (beliefs) It is comprised of both our knowledge of stimuli and our evaluations of them Affective responses can be very general or very specific Affective Response Affective responses help consumers reach purchase decisions in four ways: Ego defense: means through which people try to realize personal goals and images Adjustment of utility: developing affective responses that lead to perceived rewards and avoid perceived punishments Value expression: displaying consumers own values to the external world Application of prior knowledge: may lead to both positive and negative effects on affective response Intention: Behavior Component of Consumer Attitude Affect is not closely linked to actual purchase Behavioral intention attitude toward brand purchase (an action) A better predictor of behavior than either beliefs or affective responses 2

3 Key Issues Attitudes Attitudes are learned; are formed as result of : Direct experience Information acquired from others, or exposure to mass media and other communication forms Attitudes are not permanent, they do change Attitudes occur within and are affected by the situation (events or circumstances) Attitudes have consistency; i.e., usually consistent with the behavior they reflect Discussion Think of a behavior someone does that is inconsistent with his or her attitudes Ask the person to elaborate on why he or she does the behavior, then try to identify the way the person has resolved dissonant elements Does Behavior Predicts Attitudes? At times we adjust our attitudes to make them consistent with our [expected] behavior Predicting Consumer Attitudes Multi-Attribute models identify how consumers in high-involvement situations (i.e. standard hierarchy of effects) combine their beliefs about product attributes to form attitudes about various brand alternatives, organizations/ companies, or other objects. Example: if you are Radio Station manager You want to know whether consumers like you Attitude prediction You want to know HOW MUCH they like you: more or less than another radio station Attitude Measurement And if they like you less than another radio station, you want to make them like you more Attitude Change 3

4 Attitude-Toward-The-Object Model (Fishbein Model) Identifies three major factors that are predictive of attitudes: Salient Beliefs Strength of the Belief Evaluation where, A = b i = i e i = i = A n be o i i i1 Attitude towards an object (brand) Belief that the brand possesses attribute Evaluation or desirability of attribute i attribute 1, 2, n An Application of the Fishbein Model Research Question: What is the listeners attitude towards Kantapur FM and Radio Nepalaya? Importance or Evaluation weights for each attribute: For example: How appealing is it to you when a radio station plays lots of music? Not appealing Very appealing Beliefs about specific attributes: For example: Do you believe that Kantipur FM plays lots of music? Yes No An Application of the Fishbein Model Kantapur FM Radio Nepalaya ATTRIBUTE B i E i B i x E i B i E i B i x E i Plays lots of music Plays lots of commercials Gives news updates Has interesting RJs SUM Attribute Importance Strategic Interpretation: Multiattribute Models Our Performance Competitors Performance Strategic Implication High Poor Poor Neglected Opportunity Competitive Disadvantage Poor Competitive Advantage Head-to-Head Competition Low Poor Poor Null Opportunity False Alarm Poor False Advantage False Competition So: this formulation lets us measure, predict and compare attitudes Attitude Change Using Fishbein s Multi-attribute Model MODEL: A o = b i e i ; i = 1 to n So change Attitudes by: Changing belief about an attribute B i Or change desirability of an attribute E i Or introduce an attribute that consumers had not earlier considered Add a new B i /E i combination 4

5 Belief-Importance Model The Belief-Importance Model The Fishbein model looks at brands in isolation The B-I model allows the comparison of affective responses toward competing brands Evoked set of brands a list of brands we consider prior to making a decision where, A o m i1 B io I i A o = B io = I i = i = Attitude toward brand (o) Belief that brand (o) does well or poorly when its attribute (i) is compared with those of competitors Importance of attribute (i) in selecting the brand attribute 1, 2, m Assignment Construct a multi-attribute model for a set of business schools Based on your findings, suggest how business schools can improve an establishment s image via the strategies described in this chapter