CB EXAM

What is consumer behaviour?

How individuals act when searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of their G&S

What is the classic consumer decision making model?

1. Situation/Context (seperate, rest interlinked)

2. Problem Recognition

3. Information Search (triggers more problem recognition)

4. Evaluation & Selection (triggers more information search)

5. Store choice & purchase (goes back to information search)

6. Post-purchase processes (goes back up to problem recognition)

What does the situation and context stage of the consumer decision making process involve?

• mainly concerns the environment in which the momentary purchase decision is made → using the 7Ps physical, people, process (/time, tasks), place etc.

• marketers position their products to therefore meet specific purchase situations

What is a consumer problem (problem recognition)?

When there is a misalignment between their desired state and their perception of their actual state which activates the decision process → the level of desire/motivation for a consumer to act is based on the size of this “gap”, as well as how well marketers seem to address this problem, and their own perceived importance of it ofc

What are consumer needs and what does maslow claim about them?

Consumer needs can either be innate/primary (typically physiological) or acquired/secondary (typically psychosocial) and Maslow claims that we need to fulfil primary needs first and then work our way up to other higher-order needs

What are the tiers of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

Self-actualisation

Esteem

Belonging

Safety

Physiological

What’s the difference between positive and negative motivation? (a strategy used by marketers in problem recognition)

POSITIVE = when an approach goal is used to drive an individual toward an object or condition - using needs, wants & desires

NEGATIVE = when an avoidance goal is used to drive an individual away - using fears & aversions

Types of problems consumers may uncover

• Routine problems (familiar/everyday)

• Planning problems (seen ahead of time)

• Evolving problems (come unexpectedly but not requiring immediate decision)

• Emergency problems

All with differing levels of risk

What’s the difference between internal and external searching?

Internal involves recalling past experiences from memory (i.e. both evaluation criteria and product/brand awareness) whereas external involves seeking external stimuli to guide decision making

Under what circumstances may a consumer prefer external searching in information search?

• When their prior knowledge is insufficient

• When they prefer to have more information

• When there are many alternatives

• When it’s high risk

• When there are low search costs

Describe the flow diagram of categorisation of awareness sets

Starting with all brands in the market, brands you consider are in the ‘Evoked set' (extremely important), others are ‘unknown brands’.

From the evoked set, there are acceptable brands (extremely important), the inert set (brands you are indifferent toward), and the inept set (brands you dislike or actively avoid).

And finally from the accepted brands, you’re either a purchased or non-purchased brand.

How can a brand improve its chances of getting to the evoked and acceptable brand sets?

• Prototypicality (increased representativeness across categories)

• Brand familiarity (increased exposure)

• Goals and usage situations

• Retrieval cues (brand elements)

What are the 3 types of decision makers in the alternative to the classical information search/decision making model?

HABITUAL = low involvement, shopping on autopilot, brand loyalty, repeat purchases

EXTENDED = high-involvement, emotive/identity-constructing, high-risk, complex & timely decisions

LIMITED = middle-ground b/n the above, limited external searching, may change standard behaviour out of boredom or when seeking approval

What are the 3 main types of evaluation criteria?

Affective (whim, emotion-driven)

Attitude-driven (summary impressions)

Attitude-based (judgements on attributes)

What are some examples of low effort cognitive decision heuristics?

• usage of past performance

• habit

• brand loyalty

• price

• normative (social)

What are some examples of low-effort affective decision heuristics?

• (immediate) affect

• variety-seeking

• impulse purchasing

What’s the difference between compensatory and non-compensatory decision rules and how does it impact evaluation?

COMPENSATORY = brands who rate the highest on the total sum of consumer judgements of the relative evaluation criteria will be selected

NON-COMPENSATORY = one negative evaluation criterion cannot be offset by a positive one for the same brand

• consumers tend to use both, particularly for complex decisions

• BUT if all brands are knocked out by non-compensatory then they either need to change their ways or walk away (depends on urgency of matter)

Which step in the consumer decision making process does each roleplayer play?

Problem recognition = Initiator

Information search = Influencer

Evaluation = Decider

Choice = Buyer

Outcome evaluation = User

What’s the difference between post-purchase dissonance and post-purchase regret?

PP dissonance = a general feeling of anxiety over whether the correct purchase decision was made (i.e. when multiple alternatives are attractive, when the decision was rlly important etc.)

PP regret = a feeling that the wrong purchase has been made (i.e. when you cannot reverse the decision, have experienced a negative outcome etc.)

Describe the flow diagram of the post-purchase process

Purchase is made.

The user may have PP dissonance or regret, which can lead to non-use, or flow into the regular next step of usage/meaning generation.

The user can choose to dispose of the product first and may or may not display complaint behaviour, or move straight to evaluation of levels of satisfaction → determines future behaviour from discontinued use and brand switching to loyal consumers.

What’s the difference between the traditional and balanced views of consumer meaning generation?

Traditional = consumers interact with G&S from a functional perspective, consumers see their purchases as a bundle of attributes/benefits/utility

Balanced = G&S also have hedonic (sensational) and symbolic roles - i.e. can be a signifier of identities, judgement, culture etc.

What is the disconfirmation paradigm? (evaluation & satisfaction)

The disinformation paradigm states that confirmation (aka satisfaction 1) occurs when performance (P) = expectation (E), and disconfirmation occurs when P > E (satisfaction 2) or P < E (dissatisfaction)

What are examples of typical responses to satisfaction and dissatisfaction?

Satisfaction → habitual behaviour, positive WOM

Dissatisfaction → private action (warn others), direct action (complain), public action (legal)

What are some positive and negative examples of non-usage?

Positive = aesthetically-pleasing products (look, don’t touch)

Negative = return, dispose

What is culture and what does it include?

A sum of total learned beliefs, values and customs that serve to regulate the greater values of a particular society

• Inc. how to function, what is appropriate and what is not (most tactic/unconscious rather than overt laws)

How is culture learnt?

Through social habits (customs, rituals, acquired from young age through parents, religion etc.) and social values (principles related to relationships, fairness, learning etc. again acquired from those around us)

What are subcultures?

A distinct cultural group that exists as an identifiable segment within a larger, more complex multicultural society

• members tend to adhere to most of the beliefs and customs of the wider society

• e.g. ethnicities, religion, age/life stage, socio-economic background, sexuality

What are Hoftstede’s 6 National Cultural Dimensions?

1. Uncertainty avoidance (societal tolerance for ambiguity)

2. Power distance (lower-class acceptance of unequal distribution of power)

3. Collectivism-Individualism

4. Femininity-Masculinity (motivated by success and competition or care and connection)

5. Long-term orientation (future oriented-ness)

6. Indulgence vs Restraint

How does culture connect to marketing and consumers?

Cultural meaning is constantly moving b/n the culturally-constituted world, the consumer, and the good - this process is facilitated by instruments of meaning such as advertising & fashion, and ritualistic consumer x g&s interactions

What are examples of types of rituals used to create meaning out of goods?

Exchange rituals - gift-giving

Possession rituals - the consumer claiming symbolic properties drawn from what was promised in advertising and imbue meaning to confirm or enhance their identity

Grooming rituals - when consumers take special care to draw on image-enhancing properties of appearance-related products

Divesting rituals - cleansing the product of its previously held meaning

What is a reference group?

A person, real of fictitious, who influences the attitudes, behaviours, standards and values of other people

What are the ways in which reference groups influence consumer behaviour?

1. Informational - seeking info from credible sources

2. Utilitarian - conforming to social norms

3. Value expressive - internalising the values of the group

What are the different types of reference groups?

1. Associative (psychologically identify with)

2. Aspirational (not a member of, despite acting like one)

3. Dissociative (avoiding association with)

What factors influence the degree of influence of a reference group?

• information and experience (of the RG)

• the consumer’s confidence in the purchase situation

• power/attractiveness (of the RG)

• commitment to the RG

• visibility of the product

What are opinion leaders?

people whose knowledge and views are valued as the basis of our thinking and decisions

What’s the difference between brand communities and communities of practice?

Brand communities = group of consumers who align around a brand or branded activities (a form of associative RGs)

Communities of practice (CoP) = a group of people who share a concern or passion for something and learn how to do it better as they interact (regularly)

What are the 3 markers of a good brand community?

1. consciousness of kind/shared consciousness (in terms of brand loyalty)

2. rituals and traditions (that continue brand culture)

3. moral responsibility to the group (to encourage brand use)

Why do marketers care about the family?

• typically people’s first reference group

• HH members interact and influence each other when making purchase decisions + vicarious consumption (observation of one another)

• what gets brought into a household typically gets consumed by all members

• different roles in decision making and consumption - marketers care most about the decision-maker and end user

What is the traditional family lifecycle according to spending patterns?

1. young singles ($rent, travel, entertainment)</p></li><li><p>young married</p></li><li><p>parenthood ($ children, household)

2. post-parenthood ($$ leisure, downsizing, caretaking)

3. dissolution

How does social class influence consumer behaviour?

• social rank is often defined in terms of family income/s

• aspiration to increase one’s social status can lead to the purchasing and consumption of status-elevating objects

• there also exists a need to consume to consolidate one’s position in their own social strata

• conspicuous (attention-grabbing) possessions serve as status symbols and can influence decisions

What are status symbols?

possessions that can extend/enhance one’s self-image and consolidate/enhance social standing - e.g. luxury items

• usually underpinned by a strong cultural myth like a brand story

What are some examples of current trends in status/symbols?

• the idea of stealth wealth/quiet luxury is growing and some brands are being pigeonholed as ‘too loud’

• millennials have a desire for uniqueness and seek out their own trends whereas gen z are being fed trends through improving algorithms

What are the 2 main strategies of selling social class?

1. Low end/”Masstiage” = mass prestige, luxury brand extensions to increase sales by appealing to mass markets

2. High end/’Collaboration’ (with other luxury brands)

Explain the 4 quadrant typology of status signalling

HIGH WEALTH, LOW STATUS NEED = Patricians (quiet signallers)

LOW WEALTH, LOW STATUS NEED = Proletarians (no signalling)

LOW WEALTH, HIGH STATUS NEED = Poseurs (mimickers, counterfeits)

HIGH WEALTH, HIGH STATUS NEED = Parvenu (loud signals, obvious)

What is Pierre Bourdieu’s social class theory?

claims that social class informs taste and that you can categorise people into a hierarchy (of which they are trying to move up) by their consumption tastes

What are the 3 main concepts of social class distinction theory?

These determine class according to Pierre / how you move up

CAPITAL - people develop capital in a given social field, either economic (power), social (connections) or cultural (education and etiquette)

HABITUS - regularities of behaviour that are associated with social structures

SOCIAL FIELDS - structured spaces that are organised around particular types of capital (place where you compete to move up)

What is personality?

The inner psychological characteristics that determine how a person responds to their environment

What are the 3 core properties of personality?

1. It’s individual

2. It’s consistent/enduring

3. It can change and evolve through life events

What does Freudian personality theory state (inc. 3 main things) ?

That a person’s psyche is the result of the conflict between 3 forces of the conscious and subconscious…

1. The “Id” (responsible for passion, instinct, sexual desire)

2. The “superego” (your internal moral compass, restrictions from society and others)

3. The “ego” (conscious system of self control and rationality)

MKTG!: most effective ads would appeal to the conflict between all 3 e.g. appeal to desire w/ rational belief and reason to purchase

What is the main assumption of neo-freudian personality theory?

That social relationships are fundamental to personality

LIMITATION: most consumption is undertaken individually

What does Karen Horney’s theory of personality state?

Views 3 types of personality…

1. compliant (toward others)

2. aggressive (mistrusting, wanting power)

3. detached (from others, neither fight nor belong)

…with the underlying assumption that personality is enduring from childhood

What is a trait?

Any distinguishing, relatively enduring way in which an individual differs from another

What are the Big 5?

Openness to experience

Conscientiousness

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

Which 3 cognitive personality factors/traits are marketers most likely to observe and what are the effects?

1. need for cognition (high = complex advertising, low = visual ads)

2. locus of control (internal = likes to control own destiny, external = others have control)

3. uncertainty orientated (amount of ambiguity tolerated)

What is Belk’s extended self theory?

The theory is about the relationship between consumers’ self concept (thoughts and feelings about themselves) and their possessions

• claiming that possessions define and extend our identities, and we are most attached to the ones that display our identities best

• we incorporate possessions into extended self by using them or having knowledge over them

How can extended self be present online?

Our extended self can also be present online through re-embodiment, distributed memory/archives, control over what is shared and hidden, and co-constructing self construct based on others’ interactions with us

What is brand anthromorphism?

When a brand is personified to take on human qualities

• consumers usually choose brands that are ‘like them’/their self concept (the brand is what consumers say it is, not what you say it is)