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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