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Consumer Behaviour
Notes Attitudes are relatively consistent and are reflected in an individual’s behaviour but are not
necessarily unchangeable. Attitude consistency is more observable when all the conditions are
favourable.
Example: An Indian consumer may have a highly favourable attitude towards German
cars but the matter of affordability may intervene and she/he finds Maruti Esteem as a more
realistic choice.
8.1 Attitude Formation
Earlier we discussed that attitudes are learnt predispositions. This means that the starting point
for an individual is having no attitude towards an attitude object to forming a positive or
negative attitude.
Consumers sometime purchase new products without any prior experience with the category
based on their favourable attitude towards a brand name. For example, a consumer who has had
a satisfying experience with Samsung refrigerator, washing machine, and television, and has no
prior experience with a microwave oven, but just because of repeated satisfying experience with
company's products, buys a Samsung microwave oven. In this situation, according to the classical
conditioning theory, the established brand name (Samsung) serves as unconditioned stimulus
through past satisfying experience and the new product (oven) becomes the conditioned stimulus.
Personal experience with a product or service is an important factor in the formation of attitudes.
Attitudes thus developed tend to be more enduring and resistant to change, compared to indirect
experience that consumers develop as a result of exposure to ads.
Example: If a person with bothersome headache approaches the nearest chemist shop
looking for some OTC drug and the only available product is Disprin, which she/he has never
used before and hence has no attitude towards it. After consuming Disprin, she/he gets quick
relief from headache. This satisfying experience results in a favourable attitude towards Disprin.
The same thing happens in case of trials of free samples or trial purchases of many low-cost
products.
Next to direct personal experience are family, friends, and those individuals we admire or
respect influence in forming out attitudes. The family is a particularly important influence
because this is where here we acquire many of our basic values and beliefs through reinforcement
of behaviours.
In case of high-involvement rational purchases, consumers form positive or negative attitudes
as a result of detailed information processing. However, this detailed information processing
leads to just two or three important beliefs that determine the resulting attitude. This means that
advertisers need to focus on a very limited number of relevant differentiating points about a
product or service.
8.2 Strategies of Attitude Change
8.2.1 Multi-attribute Models and Attitude Change
On the basis of Fishbein’s multi-attribute model, four strategies can be considered to change
attitudes:
1. By changing the values consumers place on product attributes (e component in the model)
i
2. By changing consumers’ brand beliefs (b component in the model)
i
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