11--social and interpersonal influence %28student%290

8/10/2019 11--Social and Interpersonal Influence %28student%290

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Dr. Kelly Haws

MKTG 650



What is Word-of-Mouth and why is it soimportant?

How do others influence our behaviors?◦ Reference groups

How do consumers seek to conform orcomply?

How do others affect our actions even if they

are not physically present?



Gilovich,Thomas and Kenneth Savitsky ( 1999),

―The Spotlight Effect and the Illusion ofTransparency: Egocentric Assessments of HowWe Are Seen by Others‖

Levy, Piet (2009), ―I Tube, YouTube,‖ MarketingNews

Argo, Jennifer J., Darren W. Dahl, and Andrea C.Morales (2006), ―Consumer Contamination: HowConsumers React to Products Touched by Others‖

Nudge, Chapter 3, ―Following the Herd‖ Goldstein, Noah J., Robert B. Cialdini, and Vladas

Griskevicius (2008), ―A Room with a Viewpoint:Using Social Norms to Motivate EnvironmentalConservation in Hotels‖



Word-of-Mouth

Our perceptions of Others’ Opinions/Actions

Reference Groups

Conformity and Compliance



Often the most significantsource of info for consumers



WOM: product informationtransmitted by individuals toindividuals◦ Perceived as more reliable/trustworthy

than traditional marketing◦ Backed by social pressure to conform

with recommendations◦ Influences two-thirds of all sales of

goods◦ WOM is especially powerful when we

are unfamiliar with a product category



Word of mouth about products is more likely ifthe product is◦ Visible

◦ Risky

◦ High involvement

◦ Distinctive

◦ New

◦ Self-image related



Methods

◦ Encourage WOM in Advertising

◦ Teaser campaign



Methods

◦ Encourage WOM in Advertising

◦ Teaser campaign

◦ Provide Free trial / Free samples

◦ Provide incentives for referrals

◦ Viral Marketing



Groups provide norms, roles, information,and status.

Reference Group = Person or group ofpeople that significantly influences anindividual’s behavior



• In-group = group to which a person perceiveshe/she belongs

• Out-group = all other groups

• Different beliefs about in-groups vs. out-groups

• View in-group members more favorably• Greater complexity for in-group schemas

• More variability for in-group members

• Less extreme overall evaluations



Social Class Emblems Geographic Emblems

Ethnic Emblems

Gender Emblems



Reference group effects are more robust forpurchases that are:

◦ Luxuries rather than necessities

◦ Socially conspicuous/visible to others



Tendency to yield to social influence◦ Conformity = Changing one’s behavior or beliefs

to fit in with society's norms◦ Compliance = yielding to persuasion/requests

Think Cialdini and R-CLASS

Why conform?◦ Desire for rewards

More likely to conform in public than in private

◦ Want to be liked/be like another◦ Assume others have more info than you



‘Subject’ 1 : identifies C

‘Subject’ 2: identifies C

Q: Percent of people who identify C as longer?

Identify which line (A, B,

or C) is longer than the

reference line.

Reference Line

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Asch_experiment.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Asch_experiment.png



―Teachers‖ instructed to teach ―learners‖ byshocking them

Shocks ranged from 15V - 450V All subjects expected to disobey by 135V

None expected to ever go above 300V



Explain both the spotlight effectand the illusion of transparency.How can each of these be relatedto consumer behavior?***



Others have a big effect because we (wrongly)believe that they really notice us and care

Spotlight Effect (Gilovich et. al)



Mere Presence Effect◦ People do not even have to say anything to

influence our behavior

Mere presence of other shoppers changes

our behavior◦ More likely to buy name brands

◦ Less contact with products

◦ Rush our decisions



What do we often fail to take into accountwhen anticipating how we will be judged byothers and how does this impacts our

judgments and decision making?***



This is relevant to but not directly from thereading. How might the German term―schadenfreude‖ be related to consumerbehavior? Please look it up if you have no idea

what it is. How does it fit into our overalltheme this week of social and interpersonalinfluence?



What are some keys to viral marketing and

the use of YouTube type outlets?***



Argo, Jennifer J., Darren W. Dahl, and AndreaC. Morales (2006), ―Consumer Contamination:How Consumers React to Products Touchedby Others‖, Journal of Marketing , 70 (2), pp.

81-94. (Library)



• ―A Brush With Danger‖ New York Sun (2005)

– E Coli in the product samples at the cosmeticcounter

• ―Why we Buy‖ Paco Underhill (2000)

– Towels are touched on average 6 times beforepurchase – you ought to wash them when you buy

– Fragile merchandise damaged (e.g., greetingcards, produce)

• ―Trying Experiences‖ Washington Post (2003)

– Biggest dressing room complaint is othercustomer’s tried on clothing



Why do we see contamination effects ratherthan popularity?***◦ What kind of ―others‖ are providing the social

influence here?

Contamination Cues◦ Proximity to contact

◦ Time elapsed since contact

◦ Number of contact sources



Do you agree that ―feelings of disgust‖ is theunderlying mechanism driving consumers torespond unfavorably to products touched byother consumers? If not, what else might it

be?***



Their studies focus on the clothing category,but think about other product categorieswhere the theory of consumer contaminationmight apply. ***◦ How much should ―consumer contamination‖ be

taken into account when deciding a company’sreturn policy?



They provide suggestions for mitigating theeffects of product contamination. Analyzethese suggestions and link your thought toprevious readings from the course (e.g.,

Brand Sense).



Goldstein, Noah J., Robert B. Cialdini, andVladas Griskevicius (2008), ―A Room with aViewpoint: Using Social Norms to MotivateEnvironmental Conservation in Hotels,‖

Journal of Consumer Research , 35 (August),pp. 472-82. (Library)



What is the overall basic hypothesis beingtested in this research and how is ittested?***◦ What is a reference group?



What is a provincial vs. a global norm? Andhow does this distinction related to referencegroups?***

What is the main hypothesis for study 2, and

what did they find?***



Across both research articles (Argo et al. andGoldstein et al): What is the primary researchmethodology used in both of these papers?What are the advantages and disadvantages

of this approach and why did the researchersuse this method?



What is Word-of-Mouth and why is it soimportant?◦ Often thought of as THE most important

How do others influence our behaviors?◦ Reference groups—we can help ―form‖ these

How do consumers seek to conform orcomply?

How do others affect our actions even if theyare not physically present?

11--social and interpersonal influence %28student%290

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