Consumer Behavior Week 4 SESSION 7 A Consumer

Consumer Behavior Week 4: SESSION 7 A Consumer Motives, Goals, and Involvement (chapter 7) B Perception, Worlds of Sensations (chapter 8) C Experience, Learning and Knowledge (chapter 9) SESSION 8 Chapter cases Perceptual process Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 1

Session 7 Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 2

A Consumer Motives, Goals, and Involvement (chapter 7) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 3

1 If one consumes it is because on is motivated to consume. Thus, consumer motivation is the dynamic drive or stimulus, the consumer motive which reflects the arousal one has for the achievement of a consumer intention (i. e. a particular goal or some end) for oneself or for the cultural community one belongs to (p 259). Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 4

2 Data on motivation can be generated through moving from product attributes to underlying motives – means-ends chain and laddering combining consumer symbolism and myth to pattern motives out – Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET) (pp 277 -279) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 5

3 Consumer motivation depends on (pp 260 -261): The nature of goals to be achieved and in particular whether consumer intention is focal (i. e. specified) in addition to the reasons why such an intention is to be achieved – super-ordinate intentions and the associated actions that contribute to rendering an intention focal sub-ordinate intentions The way the cultural and social context is interpreted depends on our capacity to both select information – neural Darwinism, and use such information creatively – life projects Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 6

4 Motivation can be described in the following ways (pp 267 -271) Motivation results from the interplay of three forces, namely the unconscious – id, the social and cultural values – superego, and the conscious – ego (Freud) Motivation results from the particular archetype (i. e. social templates found in the collective unconscious) in use (Jung) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 7

4 (cont) Motivation results from the achievement of intentions leading to intentions of a higher order (i. e. a hierarchy of intentions ranging from physiological, protective, cultural, self-centered, self-fulfilling (Maslow) Motivation is a function of the particular culture and social context one is in (Murray) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 8

5 Taking Murray’s thesis further, motivation is a function of how a cultural context considers consumer intentions, as Independent: consumers are autonomous and decide on their own consumer intentions and ways to achieve them regardless of the context they are in Interdependent: consumers are part of a social relation where any decision on one’s own consumer intention is influenced by and can influence another’s intention and interpretation of the context Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 9

6 Consumer motives are sensitive as to whether a culture stresses independent or interdependent consumer intentions along with the following drives (pp 272 -275) Achievement: the consumer motive accomplish an intention – consumer seeking to achieve own intention v. meeting expectations) Power: the consumer motive to control others – consumer seeking assertiveness v. accommodating existing circumstances Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 10

6 (cont) Uniqueness: the consumer motive for novelty and differentiation – consumer seeking to differentiation v. conformity to social values Affiliation: the consumer motive to socialize – consumer seeking contact and sociality v. detachment Self-esteem: the drive for maintaining a positive view of oneself – self-enhancing bias v. self effacing Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 11

7 Given the plurality of consumer intentions, consumers weigh the allocation of resources, which may lead to consumer hesitation (i. e. dilemmatic and conflictual situations). Such situations can be described along the following dimensions (p 276) Approach-avoidance: conflict arising from not being able to fulfill all one’s intentions Example: spending money on education and not on travel Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 12

7 (cont) Approach-approach: conflict arising from having two equally desirable intentions Example: wanting to travel to Greece and Cyprus Avoidance-avoidance: conflict arising from having two equally undesirable intentions Example: purchasing insurance and winter tires Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 13

8 The outcome of motivation is consumer involvement, the degree and kind of participation we have with the intended product in the sense that we are ready to put the necessary effort to acquire a product given the available resources to satisfy our end. Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 14

9 Consumer involvement involves the following types (pp 282 -285) Cognitive involvement: thinking and making sense of intended products Affective involvement: emotions associate with intended products Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 15

10 Either can last for a long time – enduring involvement, or for a shorter period – situational involvement. At the same time, consumers may either highly involved or display a lower involvement with intended products. Thus, consumer involvement can be used as a segmentation variable to delimit (p 286): Brand loyalists: consumers who are both highly involved with a product and highly involved with a product category Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 16

10 (cont) Information seekers: consumers who are not highly involved with a product but are highly involved with a product category Routine brand buyers: consumers who are highly involved with a product but are not highly involved with a product category Brand switchers: consumers who are neither highly involved with a product nor with a product category Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 17

B Perception, Worlds of Sensations (chapter 8) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 18

11 If perception refers to the way one senses and interprets the world surrounding us, consumer perception is about sensing and making sense of consumer products, practices and spaces. Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 19

12 Sensing brings about sensation. Put in another way, sensing consumer products brings about consumer sensation. That is, sensory stimuli (vision, smell, hearing, touch, and taste) (pp 300 -304), in particular consumer sensory stimuli, triggered by consumer products and events, bring about sensory presentations, that is, mental (i. e. cognitive) constructs in a process, the consumer perceptual process. Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 20

13 The consumer perceptual process is premised on a differential change in the sensory stimuli. Such differential involves sensory thresholds if two types (pp 304 -397): Absolute threshold: the lowest sensory input that is detected by the various sensory receptors and necessary to bring about sensation. Example: the use of background music in shopping malls Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 21

13 (cont) Differential threshold: the minimum change in sensation necessary for a person to detect it – Weber’s law stating that difference is noticeable according to the strength of sensory stimulus Example: discounts are noticeable when the price change is important relative to the initial price (i. e. price elasticity of demand is important) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 22

14 The consumer perceptual process consists in the following integrated aspects (pp 308 -319) Pre-attentive processing involves the use of senses to monitor events on a continuous basis (i. e. consumers are continuously exposed to product-related sensory stimuli) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 23

14 (cont) Perceptual selection involving the voluntary or involuntary use of one portion of the sensory stimuli for conscious processing – focal attention, while other sensory stimuli remain operative (i. e. in an off-focal condition) (i. e. consumers are attracted by some products and events) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 24

14 (cont) Perceptual organization involving the comparison between a perceived event and (primitive) categorical knowledge (involving grouping, foregrounding and closure) (i. e. consumers compare that which they know and that which they experience) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 25

14 (cont) Cognitive interpretation involving the use of (Kantian) schemata and scripts to make sense of sensations as such, or to go beyond them – perceptual inferences (i. e. consumers cognize sensations) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 26

14 (cont) Cognitive elaboration involving the integration of sensations in prior knowledge and the transformation of the latter in various directions even opposite – boomerang effect (i. e. consumers learn or re-discover a consumption experience) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 27

15 With cognitive interpretation and elaboration, perceptual judgments are made concerning the quality of products by means of cues, namely (pp 320 -321): Extrinsic: price, brand name, store name, country of origin, color, and prior experience with the product Intrinsic: taste, texture, aroma and aesthetic qualities Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 28

C Experience, Learning and Knowledge (chapter 9) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 29

15 If consumers are able to interpret products and consumption events it is because of the interplay between the dynamic processes of experiencing, learning and knowing. Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 30

16 Experiencing are the physical, cognitive and emotional interactions with an environment (p 341). In particular, consumer experiences are the physical, cognitive and emotional interactions consumers have with products and consumer events that include timerelated events (p 347): Past: remembered consumption (rituals, telling stories, comparing, daydreaming, memorabilia) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 31

16 (cont) Present: purchase experience (choice, payment, transport, service, environment), consumption experience (sensing, satiation, satisfaction, arousal, transformation) Future: anticipated consumption (purchases, plans, daydreaming, fantasizing) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 32

17 Learning is the adaptive process involving the transformation of behaviors and knowledge through experiencing (p 342). In particular consumer learning is about adapting to new products and consumer events that involve (after Russell) (pp 351 -352) Learning by description, constituting knowledge through consumer stories and myths Learning by acquaintance, constructing knowledge through a direct experience with products Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 33

18 Consumer learning can be seen to be a function of Consumer habits or stimulus generalization premised on the idea that similar consumer sensory stimuli bring about similar consumer responses (classical conditioning theory) (Pavlov) Response or instrumental conditioning premised on the idea that consumer behavior is shaped by social rewards and punishments (Skinner) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 34

19 Memory involves the re-creation of experience through knowledge and learned elements that have been selected through experiencing (p 342). In particular, consumer memory is about recreating and reconstructing consumer experiences that involves (pp 359 -361): Sensory memory: information processed as a function of the senses Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 35

19 (cont) Short-term memory: information processed as a function of prior knowledge (i. e. for current use) involving the processing of images – imagery processing, and texts – discursive processing Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 36

19 (cont) Long-term memory: information processed as a function of future knowledge (i. e. for future use) involving recalled events associated either with a sense of when they have been acquired – episodic memory, or without a sense of when they have been acquired – semantic memory (i. e. consumer knowledge) Given the lapses in memory (fading, absentmindedness, blocking, misattribution, bias, persistence) (pp 362 -367), consumers are to be aided by means of memory recalls (p 368) Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 37

20 Knowledge can be seen to be the (calibrated) information used for identifying and naming things (pp 342 -343). In particular, consumer knowledge is about the ability to name (i. e. categorization) and use products for consumer intentions. Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 38

Session 8 Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 39

1 Activity 1: class to be divided into two teams to read chapter cases p 290 and p 327 and answer to the posed questions – 20 min; findings/answers are to be formally presented (Power. Point slides) – 10 min. 2 Activity 2: in teams describe the ways you perceive the consumption of a commodity by detailing the perceptual process – 20 min; findings are to be shared in class – 10 min. Dr. P. Zamaros - Consumer Behavior W 4 40