Attitude Formation and Change MKTG6007 Consumer Behaviour,Definitions An relatively enduring combination of motivational, affective, perceptual and cognitive processes with respect to an aspect of the environment A hypothetical construct that relates to a manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or a thing; a tendency or orientation, especially of the mind A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour”(Eagly & Chaiken, 1993) Features Pervade everyday life are summaries of evaluative thoughts, feelings, & value-laden reactions that allow us to typically efficiently and effectively negotiate the world without effortful high conscious cognitive effort Relates to pleasure-seeking & pain-avoidance (Hobbes 16th century),2,Basics,Favourability - refers to how much we like or dislike an attitude object sometimes we are indifferent! Relates to consideration inert and inept sets!Attitude Accessibility - refers to how easily an attitude can be retrieved from memory if resulting from direct rather than indirect experience likely to be more memorable! Attitude Confidence how certain are we that our attitude is right for us must have a useful purpose ie allow us to achieve goals in line with our personal strivings and values.Attitude Persistence -How long does an attitude endure over time.Ambivalence hold both negative and positive attitudes towards an attitude object links to an inability to take action.,3,Basics,From whom or what do we acquire our attitudes? Give examples. Socio-historic context Family Schooling Peers Religious institutions Personality Work Marketing communications,4,Exercise,Market Research: Attitudes can be measured throughout the consumption process (e.g. brand image before and after an advertising campaign)Competitive Position: Occur in relation to other marketing stimuli such as competing products indirect and direct substitutes, other promotions. Signal Purchase Intent: Indicate attraction to and likely purchase/usage of goods and services, stores, sales people, advertisements, pricing, sales promotions etc.Market Segmentation: Consumers can differ in attitude strength, direction, bases of attitudes. (e.g., A consumer seeks a highly functional car versus one that is distinguished by great styling or prestigious image).Influenced by Marketing Tactics: Attitudes can be influenced through marketing efforts e.g. product experience, advertisements, opinion leadership, viral marketing.,5,Marketing Applications,The ABC Model of Attitudes,Affective Way a Consumer Feels,Behavioral Consumers Intentions to Do,Cognitive Consumers Beliefs,Components of an Attitude,Consumers also hold certain feelings toward brands or other objects. Example: Tassie holidays helps consumers rediscover their after glowSometimes these feelings are based on the beliefs not affective simple reactions (e.g., a person feels nauseated when thinking about a hamburger because of the tremendous amount of fat it contains). Some feelings are relatively independent of beliefs. For example, an extreme environmentalist may believe that cutting down trees is morally wrong, but may have positive affect toward Christmas trees because he or she unconsciously associates these trees with the experience that he or she had at Christmas as a child.,7,Affective Component,This sweater looks so good on the mannequin that some consumers “just have to have it”. In other words, they fall in love with it and buy it. Once they get it home they learn about it by looking at the tag to see if it needs to be dry cleaned. Maybe they experience regret!,Example,The behavioural intention is what the consumer plans to do with respect to the object (e.g., sample a brand. buy or not buy a brand, attend to an ad or not). Often can be predicted by past behaviour! Role of Peer Pressure As with affect, this is sometimes a logical consequence of beliefs (it does the job well enough) or affect (I felt good last time I used it), Sometimes can reflect social context-e.g., although a consumer does not really like a restaurant that much, he or she will go there because it is a hangout for his or her friends, their parents like to go there and they wish top accommodate a romantic interest.,9,Behavioural Intent (Conative) Component,A consumer may hold both positive beliefs toward an object (e.g., coffee tastes good) as well as negative beliefs (e.g., coffee is easily spilled and stains papers). May or may not lead to ambivalence. Some beliefs may be neutral (coffee is black), and some may be differ in valance depending on the person or the situation (e.g., coffee is hot and stimulates-good on a cold morning, but not good on a hot summer evening when one wants to go to sleep). Beliefs need not be accurate (e.g., that sausages contain little fat), and some beliefs may, upon closer examination, be contradictory (e.g., that a well known historical figure was a good person but also owned slaves).,