UNIT-3

consumer behavior
and
customer
relationship
management

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 UNIT – III:
Attitude Measurement and Change
Self Concept and Life Style Marketing,
Influence of Social and Cultural factors on
Consumer Behavior
Family
Reference groups
Cross Cultural Variations in Consumer
Behavior.

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Attitude :
Attitudes are fundamental determinants of our perceptions of, and
actions toward all aspects of our social environment.
Attitudes involve a complex organization of evaluative beliefs, feelings
and tendencies toward certain actions.
• A predisposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively
towards a certain idea, object, person, or situation.
• Attitude can be defined as our response to people, places, things, or
events in life. It can be referred to as a person's viewpoint, mindset,
beliefs, etc.
• In psychology, an attitude is an expression of favor or disfavor toward a
person, place, thing, or event (the attitude object).

Components of Attitude
• There are three major components of attitude.
1. Cognitive: This represents our thoughts, beliefs and ideas
about something. such as 'all teenagers are lazy,' or 'all babies
are cute.'
2. Affective: This component deals with feelings or emotions
that are brought to the surface about something, such as
‘someone might have the attitude that they hate teenagers
because they are lazy’ or that ‘they love all babies because
they are cute.’
3. Conative: This can also be called the behavioral component
and centers on individuals acting a certain way towards
something, such as 'we better keep those lazy teenagers out
of the library,' or 'I cannot wait to kiss that baby.

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Attitude Measurement
• Attitude measurement is a very useful way of self report inventories in
the classroom.
• Attitudes are important in two cases:
1.They may be instructional outcomes in their own
right. ( e. g, Scientific attitude)
2.Measurement of students’ attitude toward certain
classroom activities, the textbook, laboratory
experiences, or teachers own instructions.
• Some information concerning attitude can be
discovered by observation.

 A simple self-report device for measuring

attitude is listing the activities or statements the
students are expected to respond to and then
devising some simple means of responding.
• The direction can be given orally and repeated
for each activity as follows: “Put an X in the
box under the face that tells how you feel about
counting.”
 Another simple and widely used self-report method
for measuring attitude is to list clearly favorable or
unfavorable attitude statements
Strongly agree (SA)
Agree (A)
Undecided (U)
Disagree (D)
Strongly disagree (SD)
This is called Likert Scale.

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Construction of Likert Scale
1. Write a series of statements expressing positive and negative
opinions toward some attitude object.
2. Select the best statements (at least 10), with a balance of positive and
negative opinions and edit as needed.
3. List the statements, mixing up the positive and negative, and put the
letters of the 5-point scale (SD, D, U, A, SA) to the left of each
statement for easy marking.
4. Add the directions telling students how to mark their answers and
include a key at the top of the page if letters are used for each
statement. (SD, D, U, A, SA)
5. Some prefer to drop undecided category so that respondents will be
forced to show agreement or disagreement. Others have expanded the
scale by adding the categories slightly agree and slightly disagree.

Scoring of a Likert Scale

• The scoring of a likert scale is based on assigning
weights from 1 to 5 for each position on the scale.
• Favorable statements are weighted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 going
from SD to SA.
• Unfavorable statements have these weights reversed.
Thus, they are weighted 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 going from SD to
SA.
• An individuals total score on this type of scale is the
sum of scores on all items, with the higher score
indicating a more favorable attitude.

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Statements SD D U A SA

1. Science classes are interesting. 12345

2. I am not very enthusiastic about science. 54321
3. Class activities are good. 12345
4. Most class activities are monotonous. 54321
5. It is fun working on science problems. 12345
6. The problems we are studying are unimportant. 54321
7. Reading the textbook is a waste of time. 54321
8. I enjoy reading the textbook. 12345
9. Science laboratory is dull and boring. 54321
10. The laboratory experiments are interesting. 12345
Advantages Attitude Scale
• It is usually best to ask for anonymous responses.
This will indicate how students in the class feel about
the course.
Anonymous responses provide greater assurance that
the replies will reflect the students’ real feelings.
Separate scales can be used to find out students view
about various activities. These information is useful
in making course revisions.
Students attitude towards teachers instruction can
help him to make adjustments he needed.

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Conclusion
• In interpreting the results of attitude scales, it is
important to keep in mind that these are verbal
expressions of feelings and opinions that individuals
are willing to report.
• Even under the ideal condition, it is wise to
supplement attitudes determined by self-report
methods with evidence from other sources. Such as, if
favorable attitudes toward students with disabilities
are reported, this might be checked by observing how
students interact with students disabilities in the classroom.

SELF CONCEPT AND LIFESTYLE MARKETING:

Lifestyle is a distinctive mode of behaviour centred around activities,
interests, opinions, attitudes and demographic characteristics
distinguishing one segment of a population from another.
A consumer’s lifestyle is seen as the sum of his interactions with his
environment.
Lifestyle studies are a component of the broader behavioural concept
called psychographics
Lifestyle marketing is a marketing technique where a product is branded
and marketed such that it is perceived to possess aesthetics, ideals, and
aspirations that the targeted audiences identify with and revolve around
an ideology that gives meaning and purpose to why it exists.
Lifestyle refers to the way consumers live and spend their time and
money. It is determined by one`s past experiences, innate
characteristics, and life situations.
The lifestyle of a person is typically influenced by his/her needs, wants,
and motivations and also by external factors such as culture, family,
reference group, and social class.
The lifestyle of a person involves his consumption pattern, his behavior
in the market place, practices, habits, conventional ways of doing things,
allocation of income, and reasoned actions. It reflects an individual`s
attitudes, values, interests, and views towards society.

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LIFESTYLE & SELF-CONCEPT – A BRIEF Characteristics of
lifestyle
♦ It is a group phenomenon i.e. It influences others in a social group.
♦ It influences all areas of one’s activities and determines the buying
behavior of a person.
♦ It implies a central life interest – A person`s main interest or
profession is influenced by his core interests e.g. Food, Fashion, Music,
etc.
♦ It is affected by the social changes in the society – A person`s
standard of living and quality of lifestyle increases with the increase in
the standards and quality of the society he/she lives in. Lifestyle of a
consumer depends upon various factors and any change in one of these
factors leads to a change in the behavior of the consumer.
These factors are as follows:-
♦ Age

♦ Income

♦ Occupation

♦ Culture

♦ Education

♦ Social Group
The products we consume are a part of our lifestyle. Therefore, our
lifestyle can be determined on the basis of our consumption pattern.
Lifestyle segmentation is based on the activities, interests, and opinions
of a group. Marketers use the AIO Model to find out about the lifestyle of
the consumers.
Self-concept
The self-concept can be described simply as how one perceives himself
and his behavior in the market place.
It is the attitude one holds towards himself.
It is not a realistic concept as an unconscious component is always
present.
It is a social phenomenon.

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Self-image It refers to a person’s perception of his/her self.
The six types of self-image are:-
♦ Actual self – How a person actually perceives himself.

♦ Ideal self – How you would like to see yourself.

♦ Social self – How you think others see you.

♦ Ideal social self – How you would like others to see you.

♦ Expected self – How you expect to be in the future.

♦ Situational self – A person’s self-image in a specific situation.

INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR-FAMILY:
Culture
• Culture is a very important aspect to understand the behavior of a
consumer. It signifies the set of values of a particular community.
• An individual decides to behave in a certain manner because of his
culture. He gets all these values from his parents and family. Every
individual has different sets of values as compared to others, what
they see from their childhood when they start practicing those
habits, they become their culture.
• Culture does vary from individual to individual, region to region,
and country to country, so the marketer needs to pay a lot of
attention in analyzing the culture of various regions and groups.
Throughout the process, the consumer is under influence of his
culture as his friends, family, society, and his prestige influence
him.
• For a marketer, it is very crucial to take all these things into
consideration while analyzing or observing a consumer’s behavior
as they play a vital role in his behavior, perception and
expectations.
• For example, if we observe the taste and preferences, people in
southern India prefers rice to roti whereas north Indian people
prefer roti than rice.
Social Classes
The social groups or membership groups to which an individual belongs
are the social classes that influence him. In the social classes, we usually

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find people with similar values, lifestyle and behavior. Now a marketer
or a researcher needs to pay attention here because generally the buying
behavior of people in a particular social class to some extent is similar,
though the level of influence may be low or high, he can tailor his
marketing activities according to different social classes. Social
perception is a very important attribute that influences the buying
behavior of an individual.
Example − A person from a low-income group may focus on price while
making the purchase while a person from a higher income group may
consider the quality and uniqueness of the product.
Sometimes an individual also is influenced by a social group to which he
does not belong, but wishes to get connected with others. For example,
in a college a student is in no need to buy a smart phone but purchases it
to be part of that group and be accepted by them.
• Marketers need to understand these situations well and plan their
strategies accordingly for such social benefits. Individuals play
various roles in the consumer buying process −
• Initiator − Initiator is usually the person who comes up with an
idea and suggests the purchase.
• Influencer − He is the individual who actually pushes for the
purchase. He highlights the benefits of the product. This individual
can be from the family or friend or outside the group too.
• Decision Maker − He is generally the person who takes the final
decision or the final call after analyzing all the pros and cons of the
product. He may not necessarily be the final buyer as may also take
the decision on behalf of the consumer.
For example, a father might decide on buying a laptop for his son or a
brother might decide on the best career option for his sister.
• Buyer − Buyer is generally the end user or the final consumer who
uses the product.
Family
• As we, all know family plays a very important role in making a
purchase. The family is responsible for shaping up the personality
of an individual. Our attitude, perception and values are inculcated
through our family.
• An individual tends to have similar buying habits and similar taste
and preference and consumption patterns as he gets to see within

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 the family. Perception and family values have strong influence on
the buying behavior of an individual which they tend to keep
constant.
• Social Status
• A social status of an individual usually comprises of an individual’s
attitude, class and prestige. It depends on the way he carries
himself socially or the position at which he is in his work or family
or even in his group of friends. The social status of an individual
influences his consumption pattern.
• Example − A CEO may want to have a celebration and give a party
to his colleagues, friends and family, so for his social status he may
want to book a five star hotel, something like Taj or Oberoi instead
of any other normal hotel.
• A purchase decision takes place because of the above-mentioned
factors. A consumer is influenced by his culture, environment,
family, social status and groups. Companies need to understand
these factors and develop strategies and market themselves
accordingly to meet the needs of the consumers and increase sales.
A Group may be defined as two or more people who interact to
accomplish either individual or mutual goals.
Classification of Groups by membership status
Membership Group: A group to which a person either
belongs or would qualify for membership in.
Symbolic Group: A group in which an individual is not likely to
receive membership, despite acting like a member by adopting the
group’s values, attitudes and behavior.
A Reference Group is any person or group that serves as point of
comparison (or reference) for an individual in forming either general or
specific values, attitudes, or a specific guide for behavior.
From a marketing perspective, reference groups are groups that
serve as frames of reference for individuals in their purchase or
consumption decisions.
These groups place no restriction on group size or membership nor does
it require that consumers identify with a tangible group.

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Reference groups that influence general or broadly defined values or
behavior are called Normative Reference Groups (e.g. A child’s
Normative Reference Group is the immediate family) .
Reference Groups that serve as benchmarks for specific or narrowly
defined attitudes or behavior are called Comparative Reference
Groups (A Comparative Reference Groups might be
neighboring family whose lifestyle appears to be admirable
and worthy of imitation).

◦ Membership
 Symbolic
◦ Extent of Interaction
 Direct versus Indirect
◦ Nature of Attraction
 Aspirational versus Dissociative
◦ Degree of Formality
 Informational Influence
Formal versus informal
◦ When a member of reference group provides information
used
to make purchase decisions
Normative Influence
◦ When we conform to group norms in order to belong to
that
group
Identification Influence
◦ When we identify with, and internalize, a group’s values
and Behaviours

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Inform or make the individual aware of a specific product or
brand.
Provide the individual with the opportunity to compare his or
her own thinking with the attitudes and behavior of the group.
Influence the individual to adopt attitudes and behavior that
are consistent with the norms of the group.
Legitimize the decision to use the same products as the group

Friendship Groups
} Shopping Groups
} Work Groups
} Virtual Groups or Communities
} Brand Communities
} Consumer-action Groups
} Celebrities

Friendship groups are typically classified as informal groups because

they are usually unstructured and lack specific authority levels.

In terms of relative influence, after an individual’s family, his or her friends

are most likely to influence the individual’s purchase decisions.

Seeking and maintaining friendships is a basic drive of most people.

Friends fill a wide range of needs: They provide companionship, security,

and opportunities to discuss problems that an individual may be
reluctant to discuss with family members.

Marketers of products such as brand-name clothing, fine

jewelry, snack foods, and alcoholic beverages recognize the
power of peer group influence and frequently depict
friendship situations in their advertisements.

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Two or more people who shop together, whether for food, for clothing, or
simply to pass the time, can be called a shopping group.
} Such groups are often offshoots of family or friendship groups and
therefore, they function as what has been referred to as purchase pal.
} The motivation for shopping with a purchase pal range from a
primarily social motive to helping reduce the risk when making an
important decision.
} A special type of shopping group is the in-home shopping party,
which typically consists of a group that gathers together in the same
home of a friend to attend a “party” devoted to demonstrating and
evaluating a specific line of products.

} The sheer amount of time people spend at their jobs, frequently more than 35
hours per week, provide ample opportunity for work groups to serve as a
major influence on the consumption behavior of the members.
} Formal Work Group: it consists of individuals who work together as part of
a team, and thus have a sustained opportunity to influence each other’s
consumption related attitudes and actions.
} Informal Work Group: it consists of people who have become friends as a
result of working for the same firm, whether or not they work together as a
team, and they can influence the consumption behavior of other members
during coffee or lunch breaks or at after-work meetings.

A virtual team (also known as a geographically dispersed

team or distributed team) is a group of individuals who work across
time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by
webs of communication technology.

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 } Powell, Piccoli and Ives define virtual teams in their literature
review article "as groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time
dispersed workers brought together by information and
telecommunication technologies to accomplish one or more
organizational tasks.”
} Ale Ebrahim, N., Ahmed, S. & Taha, Z. in their recent (2009)
literature review paper, added two key issues to definition of a virtual
team “as small temporary groups of geographically, organizationally
and/ or time dispersed knowledge workers who coordinate their
work predominantly with electronic information and communication
technologies in order to accomplish one or more organization tasks”.
Members of virtual teams communicate electronically and may
never meet face-to-face.
} Virtual teams are made possible by a proliferation of fiber optic
technology that has significantly increased the scope of off- site
communication.
} Virtual teams allow companies to procure the best talent
without
geographical restrictions.
} According to Hambley, O’Neil, & Kline (2007), "virtual teams
require new ways of working across boundaries through systems,
processes, technology, and people, which requires effective
leadership...despite the widespread increase in virtual teamwork, there
has been relatively little focus on the role of virtual team leaders."

} A brand community is a community formed on the basis of

attachment to a product or marquee.
} Recent developments in marketing and in research in consumer
behavior result in stressing the connection between brand,
individual identity and culture. Among the concepts developed to
explain the behavior of consumers, the concept of a brand community
focuses on the connections between consumers.
} A brand community can be defined as an enduring self-selected
group of actors sharing a system of values, standards and
representations (a culture) and recognizing bonds of membership with
each other and with the whole.

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 } Brand communities are characterized in shared consciousness,
rituals and traditions, and a sense of moral responsibility.
} The term "brand community" was first presented by Albert Muniz
Jr. and Thomas C. O'Guinn in a 1995 paper for the Association for
Consumer Research Annual Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
} In a 2001 article titled "Brand community", published in the
Journal of Consumer Research (SSCI), they defined the concept as "a
specialized, non- geographically bound community, based on a
structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand." This 2001
paper has been acknowledged by Thomson Scientific & Healthcare to be
one of the most cited papers in the field of economics and business.
} Many brands provide examples of brand communities. In
computers and electronics: Apple Inc. (Macintosh, iPod, iPhone), Holga
and LOMO cameras, and Palm and Pocket PC Ultra-Mobile PCs.
 In vehicles: Ford Bronco, Jeep, automobiles, and
 Royal Enfield and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
 In toys: Barbie and Lego.

} A particular kind of consumer group-A Consumer Action Group-

has emerged in response to the consumerist movement. Today there are
a large number of such groups that are dedicated to providing consumer
products in a healthy and responsible manner, and to generally add to
the overall quality.
} For example, a diverse range of consumer concerns being addressed by
private and public consumer-action groups: neighborhood crime watch,
youth development, forest and wildlife concerns, children and
advertising, race and ethnicity, community volunteerism, legal
assistance, public health, disaster relief, energy conservation, education,
smoking, the environment, access to telecommunications, science in the
public interest, credit counseling, privacy issues, and children and
internet.
Two broad categories of Consumer Action Groups:
} Those that organize to correct a specific consumer abuse and then
disband (Agitation against liquor shop in a community) .

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} Those that organize to address broader, more persuasive problem areas
and operate over an extended or indefinite period of time (Group
against drunk driving).

} A celebrity is a person who has a prominent profile and

commands a great degree of public fascination and influence
in day-to-day media. The term is often synonymous with
wealth (commonly denoted as a person with fame and
fortune), implied with great popular appeal, prominence in a
particular field, and is easily recognized by the general public.

} A second type of reference group appeals used by marketers is the

expert, a person who, because of his or her occupation, special training,
or experience, is in a unique position to help the prospective consumer
evaluate the product that the advertisement promotes.
} e.g. An ad for a quality frying pan may feature the
endorsement of a chef.

} A reference group appeal that uses the testimonials of satisfied

customers is known as the common-man approach.
} The advantage is that it demonstrates to prospective customers that
someone just like them uses and is satisfied with the good or service
being advertised.
} The common man appeal is especially effective in public health
announcement (such as antismoking or high B.P. messages), for
most people seem to identify with people like themselves when it comes
to such messages.

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} The popularity of this type of advt. probably is due to the success and
publicity received by a number of executive spokespersons.
} Like celebrity spokespersons, executive spokespersons seem to be
admired by the general population because of their achievements and
the status implicitly conferred on business leaders.
} e.g. Ratan Tata, K. Birla, Mukesh Ambani etc.

} These are often employed as attention grabbers, acting as

spokespersons to promote children’ products.
} Trade characters are intended to bond a child to a brand so that the
child’s brand awareness might form the basis of brand preference either
immediately or later in life.
} e.g. Animated characters used by marketers in
advertisements for children products

} A variety of other promotional strategies can function creatively as

frames of reference for consumers.
} Respected retailers and the editorial content of selected special interest
magazines can also function as frames of reference that influence
consumer attitudes and behavior.
} e.g. Indian Dental Association’s seal of approval for
toothpaste.
Cross-Cultural Variations in Consumer Behavior
Concept of culture
How culture is shared and acquired
Cultural values
–classified into 3 categories
Culture includes non-verbal communications
Risks and opportunities of cross-cultural or ethnic marketing

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Cultural Influences — Overview
• Definitions
• Cultural values
• Cross-cultural variations
• Non-verbal communications
Definition of Culture:
• Complex concept that includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law,
morals, custom, and any other capabilities acquired by humans as
members of society.
• Culture includes almost everything that influences an individual’s
thought processes and behaviors.
Cross-Cultural Variations:
(Factors Influencing Non-Verbal communications)
• Symbols
• Agreements
• Etiquette
• Environment
• Time
• Space
• Friendship
• Things
Three broad classifications are used:
1.Other-oriented:
• Individual vs collective (initiative, conformity)
• Romantic orientation (love)
• Adult vs child (child’s place)
• Masculine vs feminine (male role)
• Competition vs cooperation (excel or not?)
• Youth vs age (wisdom of elders)

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Environment-Oriented Values:
• Cleanliness (extent of)
• Performance vs status (performance or class)
• Tradition vs change (new behaviors?)
• Risk-taking vs security (risk encouraged?)
• Problem-solving vs fatalism (acceptance encouraged?)
• Nature (admired or overcome?)
• Active vs passive (physical activity)
• Self-Oriented Values
• Material vs non-material approach (acquisition?)
• Hard work vs leisure (admire hard work?)
• Postponed vs immediate gratification (save/enjoy now)
• Sensual gratification vs abstinence (food, drink)
• Humour vs seriousness (is life serious?)

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