Consumer Attitude Formation Change[1]

CONSUMER ATTITUDE FORMATION & CHANGE

Understanding of consumer attitude models, the hierarchies of attitude, how attitudes are formed and how attitudes can be molded /changed.

What are Attitudes An attitude is a learned predisposition to a

consistently favorable or unfavorable fashion.

Attitude are object specific. It can be DVD players or may be included brands such as Panasonic, Sony, Samsung etc.

Attitudes are learned predisposition (attitudes have a motivational quality).

Attitudes have consistency. Attitudes occur within a situation.

ATTITUDE – DEFENITION & CHARACTERISTICS

Attitudes are Learned ( formed by an individual on the basis of some experience or based on information received about the object).

Attitudes are based on Predispositions (they already reside in the mind).

Attitude cause Consistent Response (they precede and produce behavior)

ATTITUDE – DEFENITION & CHARACTERISTICS

Therefore attitudes can be used to predict behaviour.

(If you show a positive attitude towards a new product concept, the marketers predict that when the product is made available, you are likely to buy it).

Alternatively behaviour can be used to infer the underlying attitudes.

(If you buy a ticket for a fine arts show, then marketers infer that you have a favourable attitudes towards fine arts. Later a fund raising letter is send to you in the hope that the interest in arts category will translate to support for development of fine arts.

ATTITUDES AS EVALUATIONS

Attitudes are our evaluations of objects, people, places, brands, products, organizations and so on.

People evaluate these in terms of their goodness, likeability or desirability.

Attitudes are measured by getting customers to rate statements such as: I like it; I am positive to this; Ifeel like buying it.

Please check how you feel about Anchor Tooth paste (the 100% vegetarian tooth paste)

My Opinion of Anchor is: positive - - - - - - ------ negative

I dislike Anchor very much - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I like it very much

Toward Anchor, I feel favourably - - - - - - - - - - I feel un-favourably

Tri-component Attitude Model

Cognition

Conation

Affect

Cognition or thoughts about brands are also called as beliefs (expectations of what something is or is not, or what something will do or will not do). Statements of belief connect an object ( person, brand) to an attribute or a benefit.

Affect is feelings a person has toward an object or the emotions that object evokes for the person.

Conation is the action a person wants to take toward the object.

Researchers can measure attitude components by asking respondents how well each statement describe them or their beliefs.


THREE COMPONENT MODEL OF ATTITUDE An Illustration

DHL for shipping Small Packages Attitude Component – Cognition (Beliefs) DHL is very reliable in its service DHL is more economical than other package-carrier

services DHL is not able to customize to customer needs Attitude Component - Affect (Feelings) When I ship by DHL I feel secure I am very happy to be using DHL for my services I don’t care if DHL goes out of business Attitude Component – Conations (Actions) I use DHL for my shipping needs than others I often recommend DHL to my business associates I am looking for alternative carriers.

Shopping For Airline Tickets On The Internet. Attitude Component – Cognition (Beliefs) Shopping on Net is very convenient for my airline tickets You can get the cheapest airline fares by shopping in internet Internet based travel agents provide only very limited travel

options Attitude Component - Affect (Feelings) Shopping on the internet is considered to be ------- (Tick

whatever you feel appropriate). (a) Cool (b) Boring (c) Enjoyable (d) Confusing (e) Terrible (f) Trendy

Attitude Component – Conations (Actions) I have used the internet for my travel airline tickets recently I often search the internet for planning my travel itinerary I will not recommend internet to my friends for booking

airline tickets.


The Cognitive component: Knowledge and perceptions that are

acquired by combinations of direct experience with the object or through related information from various sources.

Evaluative scale used to attitude towards Dove moisturizing lotion - Compared to other moisturizing lotions, Dove is Moisturizing effect Good ____ ____ _____ ______ Bad

Cleansing effect Positive ____ ____ ____ ______ Negative

Fragrance Pleasant _____ ____ _____ _____ Unpleasant

Packaging /product Appealing _____ _______ ______ Unappealing

Cognition – Brand Belief Cognition or thoughts about brands are also

called Brand beliefs A Brand Belief is a thought about a specific

property or quality of the brand. (3 types) Descriptive Beliefs connect an object to the

quality of the outcome ( this computer has large memory; this airline is always late)

Evaluative Beliefs connect an object to personal likes or dislikes (this computer is very user friendly; the service in this airline is pathetic)

Normative Beliefs invoke moral and ethical judgments in relation to some ones acts (its unfair for business to take advantage of innocent clients)


The Affective Component The consumers emotions or feelings

towards the object.

Measuring consumers feelings and emotions with regard to Dove Moist. Lotion – How your skin felt after using Dove for 30 days.

I feel Relaxed (Very) ____ ____ ____ Not at all

I feel Refreshed ____ ____ ___ ____ Not at all I feel Younger ____ ___ ____ ____ Not at all


The Conative component It is about the likelihood or tendency that an

individual will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way to the particular object.

According to some interpretations, the conative component may include the actual behavior.

In marketing and consumer research conative component is frequently treated as an expression of consumers intent to purchase.


Intention to Buy – Conative Component Buyer intention scales are used to assess

the likelihood of a consumer purchasing a product.

Consumers who respond positively to an intention to buy generally purchase the product (than consumers who were not asked to respond to the question).


Intention To Buy Scales (Examples) Which of the following best describes the chance that

you will buy Dove Lotion the next time you buy a skin care product.

___I will definitely buy it. * ___ I Probably will buy it ___ I am uncertain whether I will buy it. ___I probably will not buy it * ___ I certainly will not buy How likely are you to buy Dove Lotion in next three

months __ Very Likely * ___ Likely __ Unlikely * ___ Very unlikely

Multi Attribute Attitude Models

The attitude -Toward -Object Model

The attitude - Toward –Behaviour

Model

The Theory –Of reasoned –

Action Model


Multi attribute models portray consumers attitude with regard to an attitude (product / service or an issue) as a function of consumers perception and assessment of the key attributes or beliefs held with regard to the particular attitude object.


1. The Attitude Toward Object Model Especially suitable for measuring attitudes

toward a product category or specific brands.

Consumer attitude toward a product (or specific brands of the category) is a function of the presence (/ absence) and evaluation of certain product specific beliefs and / or attributes.


1. The Attitude Toward Object Model

Consumers generally have favorable attitude toward those brands that they believe to have an adequate level of attributes that they consider as positive

And the have an unfavourable attitude toward those brands which they consider not to have required level of desired attributes or have too many negative attributes.

MULTI ATTRIBUTE MODELS OF ATTITUDE

Suggest that overall attitude is based on the

component beliefs about the object, weighted by the evaluation of those beliefs.

1. Fishbein Model: (Attitude-Toward-Object Mode) Explain overall attitude by seeing the object as having a set of consequences which could be desirable/ undesirable

Ao = Bi x Ei

n

i=1Ao is the overall attitude, Bi is the belief that object I has a certain consequence, Ei is the evaluation of that consequence and n is the number of consequences.

Customer Attitude Toward Two Internet Service Providers

Attribute

1. Connection will be established successfully every time.

2. The connection will be established speedily

3. The connection can get disconnected in the middle of a session

4. The price (monthly fee) will be high

Evaluation Of Attributes

(Unlikely 1 2 3 4 5 Likely)

America Online

3

4

3

2

(Very Bad -3, -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 Very Good)

AT&T

5

3

3

3

Evaluation OF Consequences

+3

+2

Aaol = 3(3) + 2(4) + -3(3) + -1(2) = 6 / Aat&t = 3(5) + 2(3) + -3(3) + -1(3) = 7

-3

-1


2. The Attitude-Toward-Behaviour Model

Is the individuals attitude toward behaving w.r.to an object rather than the attitude to the object itself.

It seems to correspond more closely to actual behaviour than does the attitude- toward-object model


Intention To Buy Scales (Examples) Which of the following best describes the chance that

you will buy Dove Lotion the next time you buy a skin care product.

___I will definitely buy it. * ___ I Probably will buy it ___ I am uncertain whether I will buy it. ___I probably will not buy it * ___ I certainly will not buy How likely are you to buy Dove Lotion in next three

months __ Very Likely * ___ Likely __ Unlikely * ___ Very unlikely


2. The Attitude-Toward-Behaviour Model Rahul’s attitude toward the act of

purchasing a BMW (attitude toward the behaviour) reveals more about the potential act of purchasing

than just simply knowing his attitude toward expensive German cars or specifically BMW.

The consumer might have a positive attitude toward BMW but is negative about his prospects for purchasing such an expensive model


Theory-Of-Reasoned-Action Model This model incorporates a cognitive

component, an affective component and a conative component, however arranged in a pattern different from that of the tri-component model.

With this expanded model, to understand intention to buy – one has to measure the subjective norms also.


3. Theory-Of-Reasoned-Action Model A subjective norm can be measured directly

by assessing a consumers feeling as to what others (friends, relatives, peers) would think of the action being contemplated.

A fresh MBA is planning to buy a M. swift. He stops himself to contemplate what his parents & girlfriend will think about the same.

--- such reflection will reflect his subjective norms.

3.Extended Model Of Behavioral Intention

Also called the THEORY OF REASONED ACTION. In this expanded model, to understand purchase

intention we also need to measure the subjective norms that influence an individuals intention to act.

Subjective norms can be directly measured by assessing a the normative beliefs that the individual attributes as relevant to others (friends, relatives, co-workers etc.).

Bachelor planning to buy a Swift may check with his girl friend and parents.... ”My parents consider the car expensive, but my girlfriend will love it” …. Will comply with one of them.

3.Extended Model Of Behavioral Intention

BELIEFS ABOUT OUTCOMES (Bi)

EVALUATIONS OF THE OUTCOMES (Ei)

NORMATIVE BELIEFSRELATED TO OTHER

REFERANTS (Nj)

MOTIVATION TO COMPLY WITH

SUBJECT NORMS (Mj)

Bi . Ei

Nj . Mj

Attitude Ao

Subjective Norms Sn

Intention Behaviour


Beliefs that behaviour Will lead to certain

Outcomes.

Evaluations of theoutcomes

Attitude toward The behaviour

Belief that my referents Think that I should/Shouldn’t perform the behaviour

Motivation to comply with The specific referents

Subjective norm

Intention Behaviour

Attitude-Toward-The-Ad Models

Model to understand the impact of ads or some other promotion on generating favourable consumer attitudes towards a brand/ product.

The consumer forms various feelings (affect) and judgments (cognitions) as the result of exposure to an Ad.

They in turn affect the consumers attitude toward the brand and also the beliefs about the brand.


Exposure to an ad

Attitude towards the Ad

Feelings from the Ad (Affect)

Judgment about the Ad(Cognition)

Beliefs about the Brand

Attitude towards the brand


Positive relation exists between attitude toward the advertisement and purchase intention for each of the advertised product/brand.

For a novel product (foot gear for dogs), consumer attitude toward the ad has a stronger impact on the brand attitude and purchase intention than a familiar product (dog food).

Attitude Formation

1. Hierarchies in Attitude2. Attitude Formation – How?

HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE (1) Attitude hierarchies refers to the sequence

in which the three components occur. Answering the questions such as Do you

think first and act ? Or do you act first and think afterward ?

Learning Hierarchy: Cognitive(Actions)

Affective(Feelings)

Conative(Actions)

Learning

HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE 1

An NRK coming back to settle in India. Will consider his home town - Trichur, or cities in his state like Kochi or Calicut. Or metros like Bangalore or Chennai.

He first rationally consider the cost of living, real estate costs, infrastructure & facilities, where his friends relatives are based and his opportunities to pursue something etc.

Then he considers all these information and looks at which of these places excites him to be.

Based on this judgment he initiates action toward buying a house/property.


Emotional Hierarchy

“My decision to join advertising industry was based on a commercial I saw on Ad agencies where I saw young men and women casually dressed having lots of fun while doing extremely creative work”.

Affect(feelings)

Emotions Conations(actions)

Cognition(thoughts)


Based on your emotions – attraction or repulsion toward certain brands or person or things - you embrace (avoid) them, buy them and start to use them.

Finally through experience you learn more about the brand.

A Manager fixing the site for his next conference – Goa because the beaches enchanted him. (Eg. From business situation)

HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE (3)

Low-Involvement Hierarchy of Attitude

Low Involvement

Conation(actions)

Affect(feelings)

Cognition(thoughts)

HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE (3)

You are in the neighborhood bakery and see a new variety of bread with nuts and dry fruits and looked good.

The bread is new so you do not have an attitude towards it. You do not have to know a lot about it or feel attracted to it to buy it. So you pick it up and bring it home. You take the first bite and then find out whether you like it or not.

Then you may pause to find out about its flavor, taste and may go through the ingredients and information on who manufacture it etc.

HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE

Learning and Emotional hierarchies are high involvement hierarchies, because the attitude the object generates is of high involvement (degree of stake one has in the object).

In the case of low involvement product action comes first followed by affect and thought process.

Involvement is not a property of the product or service, rather it is the importance of it to a customer.

HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE Thus the same product could be low

involvement for some one while its high for some others.

Involvement is no dichotomous ( choice between high & low), but it’s a matter of degree (continuum).

At the very low involvement end can be something of no consequence to the customer.

Attitude Formation

How attitudes are learned and the sources that influence

attitude formation.

How Attitudes are Learned Attitude formation is a result of learning. Consumers often purchase new products

that are associated with a favourably viewed brand name.

Classical conditioning – the established brand name is the unconditioned stimulus that through past reinforcements have created a favourable brand attitude.

New product yet to be established become the conditioned stimulus.

How Attitudes are Learned 2

Sometimes attitude follows the purchase of a product. (Operant / Instrumental conditioning).

Consumer may buy a brand because it is the only product available.

Consumers also make trial purchase of brands in categories belonging to low involvement for them.

If they find the brand to be satisfactory then they will develop favourable attitude.

Sources Of Influence On attitude Formation

Consumer attitude is strongly influenced by personal experience.

Primary means of attitude formation is through consumers direct experience in trying and evaluating them.

Realizing this marketers often stimulate trial of new products by offering special bargains or free samples.

Free test drive for cars.

Sources Of Influence On attitude Formation 2

Through mass media we are constantly exposed to new products, ideas etc thru advertising.

For people without direct experience of the product, exposure to emotionally appealing Ads will create favourable attitude.

Attitudes developed thru direct experience is much more enduring than those developed from indirect experience (Ads).

Sources Of Influence On attitude Formation 3

Personality factors also play a critical role in attitude formation.

Individuals with a high need for cognition (who

crave for info & enjoy thinking) are likely to form positive attitude response to direct mail or ads that are rich with product related info.

Individual with low need for cognition – ads with well known model or a celebrity helps.

Strategies of attitude Change

Factors that are relevant for attitude formation are relevant for attitude change also.


Altering attitude is a key consideration for most marketers.

Most competitors target market leaders when they develop their strategies.

Their objective is to change the attitudes of the market leaders customers and win them over.

Market Leader in turn will try to fortify the attitudes which customers currently hold towards them.


1. Changing consumers basic motivational function.

2. Associating the product with an admired group or event.

3. Resolving two conflicting attitudes. 4. Altering components of the multi

attribute model 5. Changing consumers beliefs about

competitors brands.

1. Changing The Basic Motivational Function

The utilitarian Function We hold certain brand attitudes partly

because of its utility. The attitude tends to be positive if the

product has been useful in the past. One way of changing attitudes is to show

that the product provide a utilitarian function which the competitors are not giving

Indigo car; Bacteria Free Air conditioning – Samsung; Pepsodent 24 hours Germicheck

Changing The Basic Motivational Function 3

The Value Expressive Function Attitudes are a reflection of one’s general

values. If a consumer segment holds positive

attitude owning latest electronic devices, then their attitudes owning latest cellular phones will also reflect the same.

Segment who has a positive attitude toward ‘being in fashion’, will show favourable attitudes toward high-fashion clothing.


The Value Expressive Function (contd.) Thus by knowing target consumers

attitudes, marketers can anticipate their values, life style and out look.

These can the be depicted in the ads which will create favourable disposition from the target group.

The product can then be placed to appeal to the right attitude of the group.

Ac Delco (General Motors) “ You have not missed a day of work in 12 years. --- so it comes as no surprise that your auto parts are AC Delco


The Ego Defensive Function Most people want to hide their inner feelings

of doubt and project confident outlook. Cosmetic and personal care products

understand this need, increase both their relevance and the likelihood of a favourable attitude change -------

By offering reassurance to the consumers self concept.

Rexona Deodorant, Fair & Lovely, Axe “True Love is not Disposable” Express Zippo Lighter and the

long lasting relationship it can build with the customer.


The Knowledge Function Individuals generally have a strong need to

know and understand the people and things they encounter.

This cognitive need is important in positioning

Brand positioning is an attempt to satisfy people’s ‘need to know’ and it improves consumers attitude towards the product by emphasizing its advantages.


The Knowledge Function An Ad message for an advanced-design

tooth brush might point out how it is superior to other tooth brushes in controlling gum disease by removing more plaque which is so important for overall health.

This Ad also might use a bar or pie chart to show its plaque removal abilities vis-à-vis competition.

2. Associating The Product With A Special Group

Attitudes are related at least in part to certain groups, social events or causes.

It is possible to alter attitudes toward product, brands or services by pointing at their relationship (in ads) with certain social groups, events etc.

Microsoft - Bill Gates and their charity contribution for AIDS patients, Tata Steel and their community projects (Coke and water conservation in Palakkad).

3. Resolving Two Conflicting Attitudes

If consumers are made to see that their negative attitude toward a product, a brand or its attributes is really not in conflict with another attitude they may be induced to change their evaluation (from negative to positive).

Nitin loves the idea of moving from his computer and having a portable laptop, but what prevents him is the slow processing capabilities.

However on learning Compaq makes laptops with high processing speed he is considering of purchasing a laptop seriously.

4. ALTERING COMPONENTS OF THE MULTIATTRIBUTE MODELS

Global attitude have been measured by a couple of simple scales such as dislike / like or as favorable / unfavorable etc.

We can infer only that customers attitude is favourable or unfavourable but we do not know why.

Multiattribute models help to infer the underlying beliefs and how they are weighted to yield overall attitudes.

4. ALTERING COMPONENTS OF THE MULTIATTRIBUTE MODELS 2

Multi attribute scales bring in the following advantages.

Diagnosticity – ability to diagnose or explain why certain attitudes are the way they are and the attributes that contributes to them.

Since Multi Attribute Models specify what underlies attitudes, it gives us the cue on how to change or influence customer attitude.

Attribute

1. Connection will be established successfully every time.

2. The connection will be established speedily

3. The connection can get disconnected in the middle of a session

4. The price (monthly fee) will be high

Evaluation Of Attributes

(Unlikely 1 2 3 4 5 Likely)

America Online

3

4

3

2

(Very Bad -3, -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 Very Good)

AT&T

5

3

3

3

Evaluation OF Consequences

+3

+2

A aol = 3(3) + 2(4) + -3(3) + -1(2) = 6 / A at&t = 3(5) + 2(3) + -3(3) + -1(3) = 7

-3

-1


Customer attitude can be changed in three ways (Multi attribute rule based)

1. By changing a specific component of belief, which can be done by changing the perception about an attribute or associated consequence.

(AOL has higher rating on speed. So emphasize the importance of speed to increase its evaluation)


2. By changing the importance customers assign to an attribute

(AOL improves its connection success rate and initiates communication about this to consumers).

3. By introducing a new attribute (a new evaluation criteria) into customers evaluation process. (If AOL has superior customer support then convince customers the importance of this)


Changing The Overall Brand rating Attempting to alter consumers overall

assessment of the brand directly, without attempting to improve or change their evaluation of any single attribute

“We are the No. 1” – “The largest selling Brand” “The one all other imitate” “We set standards for other cars” – Honda.

5. Changing Beliefs About Competitors Brands

Changing consumer beliefs about the attributes of competitor brands.

Comparison Ads Indica V2 vs. Santro Ford Ikon vs. Accent It can boomerang as it give

unwarranted visibility to competitors claims.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model

ELM: Consumer attitudes are changed by two distinctively different routes.

Central route & Peripheral route Central route happens when consumer

is motivated to assess the object. He will actively seek and analyze

information leading to attitude learning and change.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model

The peripheral Route is when consumer’s motivation or assessment skills are low.

Consumer learning and attitude change occur without consumer actively searching for information relevant to the object.

Attitude change often is due to secondary inducements – discounts, samples, great packaging, ambience, celebrity endorsements etc.

DEGREES OF INVOLEVEMENT & TYPES OF ATTITUDE HEIRARCHY

Emotional Hierarchy Begins with intense emotions

Rational Hierarchy Begins with consideration of multiple features

Begins with mood

Begins with consideration of 1 or 2 features

Low Involvement hierarchy

High Involvement

Low Involvement

CONSISTENCY AMONG THE THREE COMPONENTS

A person tries to make the three components consistent and to maintain consistency among them.

Certain cognitions will give rise to certain affect and certain action tendencies.

The Consistency can be related to two factors 1. Valence & 2. Strength

Conative(actions)

Affective(feelings)

Cognitive(thoughts)

Three Attitude Components in Mutual Interdependence

CONSISTENCY AMONG THE THREE COMPONENTS

Attitude Valence: refers to favourable and unfavourable thoughts feelings and actions.

Thus favorable cognitions will be associated with positive affect and unfavourable cognition with negative effect regardless of the sequence in which they might have arisen initially.

Favourable action tendencies will be associated with positive affect and positive cognitions.

Likewise favorable action tendencies will be associated with positive affect and positive cognition.

If one of them needs to be modified even other elements need to be changed.

Repositioning cases (involves such modifying).

Behavior Can Precede or Follow Attitude Formation

Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Attribution theory each provide a different explanation as to why behavior might precede attitude formation.

Consumer Attitude Formation Change[1]

Documents

positive attitude

evaluations attitudes

predisposition attitudes

hierarchies of attitude

attitude components

favourable attitudes

underlying attitudes

service dhl