CONSUMER ATTITUDE

Attitude

An attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way with respect to a given object.

It is a learned predisposition

It is consistent

It occurs within a situation

Functions of Attitude Attitudes can serve functions for the individual. Daniel Katz

(1960) outlines four functional areas:

• Knowledge. Attitudes provide meaning (knowledge) for life.

The knowledge function refers to our need for a world which is

consistent and relatively stable. This allows us to predict what is

likely to happen, and so gives us a sense of control. Attitudes

can hep us organise and structure our experience. Knowing a

person’s attitude helps us predict their behaviour. For example,

knowing that a person is religious we can predict they will go to

Church.

Self / Ego-expressive. The attitudes we express

(1) help communicate who we are and (2) may

make us feel good because we have asserted our

identity. Self-expression of attitudes can be non-

verbal too: think bumper sticker, cap, or T-shirt

slogan. Therefore, our attitudes are part of our

identify, and help us to be aware through

expression of our feelings, beliefs and values.

Adaptive. If a person holds and/or expresses socially

acceptable attitudes, other people will reward them

with approval and social acceptance. For example,

when people flatter their bosses or instructors (and

believe it) or keep silent if they think an attitude is

unpopular. Again, expression can be nonverbal [think

politician kissing baby]. Attitudes then, are to do with

being apart of a social group and the adaptive

functions helps us fit in with a social group. People

seek out others who share their attitudes, and develop

similar attitudes to those they like.

The ego-defensive function refers to holding attitudes

that protect our self-esteem or that justify actions that

make us feel guilty. For example, one way children might

defend themselves against the feelings of humiliation they

have experienced in P.E. lessons is to adopt a strongly

negative attitude to all sport. People whose pride has

suffered following a defeat in sport might similarly adopt a

defensive attitude: “I’m not bothered, I’m sick of rugby

anyway…”. This function has psychiatric overtones.

Positive attitudes towards ourselves, for example, have a

protective function (i.e. an ego-defensive role) in helping

us reserve our self-image.

Attitude formation Theories / Structural models of attitudes

TRICOMPONENT ATTITUDE MODEL:

CONATION

AFFECT

COGNITION

Attitude consists of three major components:

COGNITIVE COMPONENT:

knowledge & perceptions that are acquired by a combination

of direct experience with the attitude object & related

information from various sources.

AFFECTIVE COMPONENT:

it includes consumer’s emotions or feelings about a particular

product or brand.

CONATIVE COMPONENT:

it is the likelihood or tendency that an individual will

undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way

with regard to the attitude object.

MULTI ATTRIBUTE MODEL: portray consumers’

attitude with regard to an attitude object as a

function of consumers’ perception &

assessment of the key attributes or beliefs held

with regard to the particular attitude object.

Three types of models:

Attitude toward object model: consumer’s

attitude towards a specific brand or product is a

function of the presence or absence & evaluation

of certain product specific beliefs or attributes.

Attitude toward behavior model: it is designed

to capture individual’s attitude toward behaving or

acting with respect to an object rather than the

attitude toward the object itself. For marketers it is

very important to know how the consumers

actually act when they make up their mind to

purchase a product and how do they actually

purchase the product.

Theory of reasoned action model: comprehensive integration of attitude component into a structure that is designed to lead to both better explanation & better prediction of behavior.

BELIEF THAT BEHAVIOR LEADS TOCERTAIN OUTCOMES

EVALUATION OF OUTCOMES

BELIEFS THAT SPECIFIC REFERENTSTHINK I SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT

PERFORM THE BEHAVIOR

MOTIVATION TO COMPLY WITH SPECIFIC REFERENTS

SUBJECTIVE NORM

ATTITUDE TOWARD BEHAVIOR

BEHAVIORINTENTION

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Discomfort or dissonance occurs when a consumer holds conflicting thoughts about a belief or an attitude object. (the pain of not selecting the other alternative)

When it occurs after purchase it is called post purchase dissonance.

Dissonance propels consumers to reduce the unpleasant feelings created by unpleasant thoughts.

It may lead to change in their attitude or behaviour.

Consumer may try to rationalize the decision as wise, seek out advertisement that that supports the choice or look to satisfied owners for reassurance etc.

Sources of AttitudeDevelopment

Repeated satisfaction with other products produced by the same company.

Satisfied product use / personal experiences.

Level of information exposure.

Consumers’ own values, beliefs, cognitions etc.

Influence of family & friends.

Type of stimuli.

Marketing strategies of marketers.

Own personality.

Attitude Change Strategies

Attitude changes are learned.Are influenced by personal experiences, sources of information, personality etc.Strategies:

Changing consumer’s basic motivational function Associating product with an admired group or

event Resolving two conflicting attitudes Altering components of multi attribute model Changing consumer belief about competitor’s

brand

Changing consumer’s basic motivational function

Make particular needs prominent

For this purpose use functional approach.

As per this approach attitudes can be classified as: utilitarian function, ego defensive function, value expressive function & knowledge function

UTILITARIAN FUNCTION: certain brand attitudes are held due to brand’s utility. So marketers can show people that their product/ products can serve utilitarian purpose.

EGO DEFENSIVE FUNCTION: most people want to protect their self images from inner feelings of doubt. Consumers want to replace their uncertainty with sense of security & personal confidence.VALUE EXPRESSIVE FUNCTION: attitudes are expression or reflection of consumer’s general values, lifestyle & outlook.KNOWLEDGE FUNCTION: individuals generally have strong need to know & understand people & things they encounter. Many product & brand positioning are attempted to satisfy the need to know & improve consumer’s attitude towards the brand.

Associating product with a special group, event or cause

Generally attitudes are related to certain groups, social events or causes

Attitude toward companies, products, services, brands etc can be altered by pointing out their relationships to particular social group, events or causes. Eg: charitable activities claimed by the companies

Resolving two conflicting attitudes

Consumers can be made to see that their negative attitude toward a product, brand or attributes is really not in conflict with another attitude.

Through this consumers can be induced to change their evaluation of brand.

It is like moving from negative attitude to positive attitude

Altering components of multi attribute model

CHANGING RELATIVE EVALUATION OF ATTRIBUTES: when product category is naturally divided according to distinct product features or benefits that appeal to a particular segment of consumers. Eg: Surf blue, Surf ultra etcCHANGING BRAND BELIEF: advertisers constantly remind that their product has more or is better or best in terms of some important product attributes.ADDING AN ATTRIBUTE: either by adding an attribute that previously has been ignored or one that represents an improvement or technological innovation.

CHANGING OVERALL BRAND RATING: try to alter consumers’ overall assessment of brand. Eg; number one toothpaste of India.

Changing consumer belief about competitor’s brand

Changing consumer belief about attributes of competitive brands or product categories. Eg: no other DTH service provides you so many benefits.

Elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

Presents more global view

Consumers attitudes are changed by two distinctly different routes to persuasion- central route, peripheral route

CENTRAL ROUTE: particularly relevant to attitude change when consumer’s motivation to assess attitude object is high. Here consumer actively seeks information relating to the object/product.

PERIPHERAL ROUTE: when consumer’s motivation or assessment skills are low, attitude change tend to occur through this route.

In peripheral route generally consumer attitude is changed through secondary inducements like discounts, free samples etc.