Lecturer: Ambreen Bashir

Institute of Business Management, Karachi

Consumer Attitude Formation and
Change
You might be asked: ‘What is your
attitude towards tattoos,
abortion, valentine’s day,
marriage, fast food, toothpastes,
organic food, malls, trains, child
marriage, etc?
A parent might say: ‘Young man, I
don’t like your attitude’

What is an ATTITUDE?
Why is it important for
marketers to study?
Why study Attitudes
 Attitudes help to determine for e.g.
 Who a person goes out with
 What music he/she listens to
 Whether he/she will recycle or discard cans
 Whether he/she chooses to become a consumer researcher for
a living
Marketers need to know why someone holds a
particular attitude in order to try to change it.
Marketers have a big impact on consumer attitudes,
created through advertising, product placement
and celebrity endorsement for example.
What is an Attitude?
 A learned predisposition to behave in a
consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with
respect to a given object. (Schiffman, 2010)
 An attitude is a lasting, general evaluation of
people, including oneself, objects, advertisements
or issues (Solomon, 2006)
 Stored in memory to help assess in the future.
Characteristics of attitudes
 Attitudes have an ‘object’
 Anything towards which one has an attitude is called an ‘attitude
object’ A0
 Towards various physical and social objects

 Products, brands, models, stores and people (e.g. Salesperson

at an electronics store)
 Towards aspects of marketing strategy

 (e.g. An ad of Aquafina water, Pizza Hut deals Buy 1 pizza, get 1

free)
 Towards intangible objects such as concepts and ideas

 (e.g. Capitalism, a fair price for petrol, pollution and

environment)
 Towards their own behaviours and actions,

 Including their past actions (Why did I buy this laptop?) and
future behaviours (I’ll go to a lawn exhibition tomorrow)
Levels of Specificity of an Attitude
Concept
Characteristics of Attitudes
 Attitudes are a learned predisposition.
 Attitudes relevant to purchase behaviour is a result
of either direct experience with the product,
WOM, exposure to marketing strategies.
 Attitudes have a motivational quality-favourable or
unfavourable
 A positive attitude is generally necessary, but not
sufficient, condition for purchase
 Mercedes seen as ‘top of class’ but intention to
purchase was low
Characteristics of Attitudes
 Lasting because it tends to endure overtime
 Attitudes have consistency
 When consumers are free to act as they wish, their
actions are consistent with their attitudes
 Buying ‘not tested on animal’ products
 Not necessarily permanent
Characteristics of Attitudes
 Attitudes occur within a situation
 Events or circumstances that, at a particular point in
time, influence the relationship between an attitude and
behaviour
 A specific situation may cause inconsistent relationship
between attitude and behaviour (Level of involvement,
brand switching due to affordability issues rather than
negative attitude )
 Consumer attitudes vary from situation to situation
Characteristics of Attitudes
 Slippery Concept
 Attitude Towards Sony Widescreen TV.
 Attitude Towards Buying a Sony Widescreen TV

 Attitudes have direction, degree, strength and centrality

 Positive, neutral or negative
 Extent, magnitude/strength of positive or negative feelings-
 Very good/very bad
 Closeness to core cultural values- individual’s convictions
about how he/she should set and accomplish his/her own
goals in life.
Structural Model of Attitudes
1. Tricomponent Attitude Model
2. Multiattribute Attitude Models
1. Attitude-towards-object model
2. Attitude-towards-behaviour model
3. Theory-of-reasoned-action model
3. Theory of Trying-to-Consume Model
4. Attitudes-towards-the-Ad Models
The Tri-component Model/ABC
model of Attitude
 An attitude has three components:
 Affect: the way a consumer feels about an attitude object
 Behavior: person’s intentions to do something with
regard to an attitude object
 Cognition: beliefs a consumer has about an attitude
object
 The Tri-component Model
 Cognitive Component
 knowledge and perceptions
acquired
 through direct experience and
information from various sources
 Take the form of beliefs that is, Conation
consumer believes that that the
attitude object possess various
attributes (Table 6.2))
Affect
 Affective component
 Emotions and feelings about the Cognition
object
 Hedonism (Table 6.3/6.4)
 Conative or Behavioural
Component
 Action tendencies toward the Box 6.8: Branding lessons
object
from MNIK
 Consumer’s intention to buy
 Intention to buy scales (Table
6.5)
Hierarchies of Effects

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 Multi-attribute Attitude Models
 Attitude models that examine the composition
of consumer attitudes in terms of selected
product attributes or beliefs.
 Attitude toward an object can be predicted by
specifying specific salient beliefs (about
different attributes) & combining them to
derive a measure of the consumers overall
attitude. Examples
 Attitude-toward-object Model
 Attitude-toward-behaviour Model
 Theory-of-Reasoned-Action Model
Characteristics of attitudes
 Salient Beliefs
 Through their varied experiences, consumers acquire many beliefs
about products, brands and other objects in the environment
 These beliefs constitute an associative network of linked meanings
stored in memory
 People’s cognitive capacity is limited, only a few of these beliefs can
be activated and consciously considered at once
 The activated beliefs are called salient beliefs
 The salient beliefs about an object (those that are activated at a
particular time and in a specific context) create a person’s attitude
towards that object
 Factors such as prominent stimuli in environment, recent events,
moods, emotional state, consumer values and goals can influence
which beliefs about an object will be activated in a particular
situation
Attitude-towards-object Model
 Martin Fishbein Model: Evaluation of salient beliefs
cause overall attitude
 Overall attitude towards an object is a function of 2 factors:
 The strength of Salient beliefs
 Evaluations of those beliefs

Ao = ∑biei
 Ao – Attitude Towards the Object
 bi – Strength of Belief that the Object has Attribute i
 ei – Evaluation (importance) of attribute
Useful tool for investigating attitude formation and
predicting attitudes
Strength of Belief that the Object has Attribute i(bi)
1. I Believe Pizza From Dominos is Priced Reasonably
 Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

2. I Believe Pizza From Pizza Hut is Priced Reasonably

 Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

3. I Believe Dominos Delivers its Pizza on Time

 Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

4. I Believe Pizza Hut Delivers its Pizza on Time

 Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

5. I Believe Dominos Uses Only Natural Ingredients in its Pizzas

 Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

6. I Believe Pizza Hut Uses Only Natural Ingredients in its Pizzas

 Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

7. I Believe Dominos Offers a Wide Variety of Toppings for its Pizzas

 Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree

8. I Believe Pizza Hut Offers a Wide Variety of Toppings for its Pizzas
 Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree
Evaluation (importance) of attribute(ei)
1. How Bad/Good is it for Pizza to be Priced Reasonably?
 Very Bad –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 Very Good
2. How Bad/Good is it that Pizza be Delivered on Time?
 Very Bad –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 Very Good
3. How Bad/Good is it that Pizza Contains Only Natural
Ingredients?
 Very Bad –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 Very Good
4. How Bad/Good is it Pizzas With a Wide Variety of Toppings
are Available?
 Very Bad –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 Very Good

 These are the importance weights.

Ao – Attitude Towards the Object
Attribute Dominos Pizza Hut
ei bi bi*ei bi bi*ei
Reasonable Price 2 5 10 4 8
On Time Delivery 3 7 21 6 18
Natural Ingredients 1 3 3 3 3
Variety of Toppings 1 6 6 2 2
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Saundra’s College Decision
Beliefs (β)
Attribute Import. (I) Smith Princeton Rutgers Northland
Academic reputation 6 8 9 6 3
All women 7 9 3 3 3
Cost 4 2 2 6 9
Proximity to home 3 2 2 6 9
Athletics 1 1 2 5 1
Party atmosphere 2 1 3 7 9
Library facilities 5 7 9 7 2

Attitude Score 163 142 153 131

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Limitations of this model
 Knowledge of a persons attitude is not a very good
predictor of behaviour- positive attitude towards Porche vs
Intentions to purchase?
 Does not consider social influence and situational factors
Attitude-Towards-Behaviour Model
 A consumer’s attitude toward a specific behavior is a
function of how strongly he or she believes that the
action will lead to a specific outcome (either favorable
or unfavorable).

 Designed to capture the individual’s attitude towards

behaving or acting with respect to an object, rather than,
the attitude towards the object itself (Figure 8.4)

 Consumer might have a positive attitude about BMW car but

negative attitude as to his prospects for purchasing such a car
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)
 A comprehensive theory of the interrelationship
among attitudes, intentions, and behaviour
 Like tri-component model, incorporate the
cognitive, conative and affective component
 Three Developments
 Behaviour Results From Specific Intention to Behave
 Subjective Norm Included to Account For the Influence
of Others
 Assesses Consumers Attitude Towards The Overt
Behaviour of Buying the Product and its Consequences
Figure 8.5
Theory of Reasoned Action
B  BI = Aact(w1) + SN(w2)
 B is a Specific Behaviour
 BI is Consumers Intention to Engage in that Behaviour
 Aact is Consumers Attitude Towards Engaging in That
Act
 SN is Subjective Norm Regarding Whether Other People
Want Consumer to Engage in That Behaviour
 w1 & w2 is Weights to Reflect the Relative Influence of
the Aact and SN Components on BI
Theory of Reasoned Action
 Aact – Attitude Towards the Behaviour or Action
 Aact = ∑biei
 bi is the Persons Belief that Performing the
Behaviour will Result in Consequence i
 ei is The Persons Evaluation of Consequence i
Bi component:
I Believe That flying lessons will be fun
Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree
I Believe That flying lessons will be educational
Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree
I Believe That flying lessons will be dangerous
Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree
I Believe That flying lessons will be expensive
Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree
Theory of Reasoned Action
Ei Component
How Good/bad is it for Flying Lessons to be fun
Very Bad –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 Very Good
 And so forth
Aact Sky Diving Lessons will be… bi ei bi x ei
fun 7 3 21
educational 6 2 12
dangerous 6 -3 -18
expensive 5 -1 -5
Aact= 10
•Has a positive attitude towards the act of taking
flying lessons
Theory of Reasoned Action
 SN – What They Think Others Want Them to Do
 SN = ∑NBjMCj
 NB are Consumers Salient Beliefs Regarding What
Others Want Me To Do
 MC are The Consumers Motivations to Comply With
These Expectations
What Significant Others Think (NB) Component:
I Believe That my father wants me To take flying lessons
Strongly Disagree –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 Strongly Agree

How Much am I motivated to comply (MC) component:

It is Important to me to go Along With What My father Wants
me to do
Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree
Theory of Reasoned Action
SN (subjective Norms)
What do significant others think(NBj)
and how much do I care(MCj) NBj MCj NBj x MCj
Mother -3 6 -18
Father -1 6 -6
Girlfriend 3 3 9
Best friend 3 6 18
SN= 3

 From Subjective norm component get a very low positive

score.
 Therefore can say person feels some ambivalence about
taking flying lessons
Attitude Toward the Advertisement
 We form attitudes toward objects other than the
product that can influence our product selections.
 We often form product attitudes from its ads
 Ad: attitude toward advertiser + evaluations of ad
execution + ad evoked mood + ad arousal effects on
consumer + viewing context

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Attitude towards-an-ad model
Attitude Formation
 Through Learning Process
 How???
 Sources of Influence on Attitude Formation
 Personal experience
 Influence of family and friends
 Direct marketing
 Indirect Experience (Mass media)
 Internet
 Personality Factors
 High need for cognition
 Low need for cognition
Functional Theory of Attitudes
The theory suggests that attitudes exist because they serve some function
for the person.

UTILITARIAN VALUE-EXPRESSIVE
FUNCTION: FUNCTION:

Relates to rewards Expresses consumer’s

and punishments values or self-concept

EGO-DEFENSIVE
KNOWLEDGE
FUNCTION:
FUNCTION:
Protect ourselves from
Need for order, structure,
external threats
or meaning
or internal feelings

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Changing the basic motivational
functions of attitudes
Changing the Basic Motivation Functions

 The Utilitarian Function

 How well it performs
 Dettol floor cleaner, Domex, Max Bar, Value proposition
 The Ego-defensive Function
 To protect one’s self-concept
 Fashion clothing, cosmetics
 Close-up Whitening toothpaste to preserve self-concept
 The Value-expressive Function
 To convey one’s values and lifestyles
 Molty Foam, Aquafina, Raymond ‘the complete man’, Cadbury
 The Knowledge Function
 A way to gain knowledge
 TV’s, refrigerator, washing machines,
 Dawlance H-Zone, Molty Foam Insulation ad

Combining Several Functions

Discussion
 Imagine that you work for the marketing department of
your college or university and have segmented students
into four different clusters, each representing one of the
four functions identified by Katz.
 Develop a marketing strategy based on each of the four
functions to motivate students to stay in school and
complete their degrees.

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Strategies for Attitude Change
 Associating the Product with a Special Group, Event or
Cause
 Safeguard and children welfare
 Shehzad Roy and Education
 Pampers
Strategies for Attitude Change
 Altering components of the Multiattribute Model
 Changing beliefs about Competitors Brands
 Air Wick- eliminates odours, doesn’t just mask them
 Pepsodent vs. Toothpaste
 Bleach vs. Harpic
The End