Page 162 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Unit 8: Learning and Attitude

4. Changing behaviour: Consumers’ purchase or use behaviour may precede the development Notes
of cognition and affect. According to D. S. Kempf, behaviour can lead directly to affect, to
cognitions, or to both at the same time. Consumers frequently try inexpensive new brands
in the absence of any prior knowledge or affect. For example, a consumer feels thirsty and
notices a new brand of cold drink with a vendor and uses it. Such purchases are often as
much for knowledge as for satisfaction of some need such as thirst. Sometimes marketers
induce consumers to buy a brand that is not preferred by offering some concession. The
assumption is that once consumers try the brand there may be a change in their attitudes.
For example, a detergent is offered at a discount price and the consumer, after using it,
realises that there is hardly any difference in the performance of the new brand and the
regular brand. The consumer decides to continue using the new brand and stays with it
even when the price returns to normal list price.

Post-purchase Attitude Change

So far we have looked at some of the popular strategies to influence attitudes, which can be used
before the purchase. However, marketers may also seek to influence attitudes after the purchase
as well.
Two theories are more relevant to post-purchase attitude change:
1. Cognitive dissonance theory
2. Attribution theory

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Leon Festinger suggested that consumers experience a feeling of doubt, discomfort or anxiety
after making a relatively high-involvement purchase decision. These feelings have been referred
to as cognitive dissonance. Purchase decisions, particularly of expensive items, require some
amount of compromise and due to this reason feelings of dissonance are quite normal;
nevertheless, they are likely to cause uneasiness about the choice made.
The probability that consumers will experience dissonance and the intensity of this dissonance,
depends on:
1. The degree of commitment. If it is easier to alter the decision, the consumer is less likely
to experience dissonance.

2. The importance of the decision. If the purchase decision is more important, it is more
likely that the consumer will experience dissonance.
3. The difficulty of choosing among alternatives. Decision difficulty depends on the number
of alternatives considered, the number of relevant attributes linked with each alternative
and the extent to which each alternative possesses the attributes not present in the other
alternatives. If it is difficult to choose from among the alternatives, it is more likely that
the consumer will experience dissonance.
4. The individual’s personality characteristics. Some individuals have a greater tendency of
experiencing anxiety than others. If the individual happens to be of nervous type, it is
more likely that she/he would experience dissonance.
Marketers can relieve consumer dissonance by adopting several strategies. Kenneth B Runyon
has suggested five strategies to reduce dissonance and favourably influence consumer attitudes
towards the product.
1. Provide additional product information and suggestions for product care and maintenance
through brochures or advertising.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 157