Tutorial 8

Mini case studies:

1- Joe was told by his mother that he needed to get a gift for his aunt's
birthday. He had only met his aunt once before and hardly knew her. Joe
was walking through a mall and saw a candy specialty store. He entered
and looked at the selection without much interest. He was about to select
a box of chocolates for his aunt simply because it was cheap when he
remembered that his new girlfriend Julie loved chocolate. Joe really liked
Julie. He began to inspect each box of chocolates carefully, trying to find
evidence of quality. Which type of involvement explains Joe's change of
behavior? And why?

Answer: Purchase situation involvement which is: differences that occur

when buying the same object for different contexts. So, in the first scenario
with aunt, we can say Joe was under obligatory situation because his mother
asked him to do and he do not care much about the look or quality of the
chocolate. The opposite situation for the same object which is chocolate to
his love, he had much more interest to pick high quality one for her.

2- Lindsay believed that customers would come to view her new resort hotel
with high personal involvement because it was a quality property with an
excellent view. Instead, she found that many of her customers came to
the hotel only when she offered special price discounts. What aspect of
consumer involvement has Lindsay ignored? And what is your
suggestions and recommendations for her?

Answer: Lindsay forgot that consumer involvement includes personal

factors and situational factors as well as object factors. (Write your own
recommendations)
Complete the following sentence:

1- Person, object, and situational factors are the three types of influences that
determine a person's level of ________.
Answer: Involvement
2- Consumption at the extreme low end of the involvement continuum is
characterized by ________, when decisions are made out of habit.
Answer: inertia
3- Sally always buys Coca-Cola out of habit, which is an example of
________.
Answer: inertia

Explain

1- Purchase involvement.
Answer: Purchase involvement refers to the differences in motivation
during the process of interacting with the store or Web site
_____________________________________________

2- The concept of involvement and its relationship to motivation.

Answer: Involvement is a person's perceived relevance of an object based

on his or her inherent needs, values, and interests. We use the word object in
the generic sense to refer to a product (or a brand), an advertisement, or a
purchase situation. Consumers find involvement in these objects.

Involvement is a motivational construct; different antecedents can trigger it.

These factors can be something about the person, something about the
object, or something about the situation. Involvement reflects how motivated
we are to process information. To the degree that you feel knowing more
about a product will help you to achieve some goal, you'll be motivated to
pay attention to information about it. As our involvement with a product
increases, we devote more attention to ads related to the product, we exert
 more cognitive effort to understand these ads, and we focus more attention
on the product-related information in the ads

3- The difference of roles of the id, the superego, and the ego
Answer: The id is entirely oriented towards immediate gratification – it is
the „party animal‟ of the mind. It operates according to the pleasure
principle: behavior is guided by the primary desire to maximize pleasure and
avoid pain. The id is selfish and illogical. It directs a person‟s psychic
energy towards pleasurable acts without regard for the consequences.
The superego is the counter weight to the id. This system is essentially the
person‟s conscience. It seeks prevent the Id from self-gratification.

The ego is the system that mediates between the id and the superego. It is in
a way a referee in the fight between them.
The ego tries to balance these two opposing forces according to the reality
principle

4- levels of involvement:
Answer: A person‟s degree of involvement is a continuum that ranges from
absolute lack of interest in a marketing stimulus at one end to obsession at
the other end
• Inertia is consumption at the low end of involvement; decisions made out
of habit (lack of motivation)
• When consumers are truly involved with a product, an ad or a website, they
enter what has been called a flow state. (Obsession)
• Flow state occurs when consumers are truly involved (Sense of control -
Concentration -Mental enjoyment - Distorted sense of time)

5- The definition of purchase situation involvement

Answer: Purchase situation involvement: differences that occur when
buying the same object for different contexts.
• For example, when you want to impress someone you may try to buy a
brand or a product with a certain image that you think reflects good taste and
 When you have to buy a gift for someone in an obligatory situation, like a
wedding gift for a cousin you do not really like, you may not care what
image the gift portrays. Or you may actually pick something cheap that
reflects your desire to distance yourself from that cousin.

6- Definition of consumer value and discuss how it helps in the consumption

activities?
Answer: Value: is a belief that some condition is preferable to its opposite
A person‟s set of values plays a very important role in consumption
activities. Consumers purchase many products and services because they
believe that these products will help to attain a value-related goal. We seek
others that share our values/ beliefs Thus; we tend to be exposed to
information that supports our belief.

7- Definition of Core value, enculturation, acculturation

- Core values: values shared within a culture such as freedom,
youthfulness, achievement, materialism
- Enculturation: learning the beliefs and values of one‟s own culture
- Acculturation: learning the value system and behaviors of another
culture
_________________________________________________________

8- Hofsted‟s culture dimension with the five items

Answer: This measure scores a country in terms of its standing on five dimensions
so that users can compare and contrast values:

A- Power Distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of

organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is
distributed unequally

B- Individualism is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups.

C- Masculinity is the distribution of roles between the genders.

D- Uncertainty Avoidance is a society‟s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity

E- Long-Term Orientation is values associated with Long-Term Orientation are
thrift and perseverance. Values associated with Short-Term Orientation are
respected for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and protecting one‟s “face.”

True or False

1- Involvement can be seen as the motivation to process information about

products or services that consumers believe will help solve a problem or
achieve a goal.
Answer: TRUE
2- Understanding consumer involvement has proven to be quite straightforward
because it generally means the same thing to almost all consumers and
researchers.
Answer: FALSE
3- Product involvement refers to a consumer's level of interest in a product.
Answer: TRUE
4- When Sean Jean cologne encourages department store sales people to give
any potential customer a vial of its product, the company is attempting to
boost consumer involvement by appealing to consumers' hedonic needs.
Answer: TRUE