MBA (MK0011) Consumer Behaviour

Q1. Explain the tri-component attitude model. Psychologists have devoted considerable efforts to understand how attitudes are formed and the relationship between attitudes and behaviour. A number of models have been developed to understand underlying dimensions of an attitude (Richard J. Lutz). Tri-component attitude model According to this model, attitudes are consist of three main components: 1. Cognitive component (knowledge, beliefs) 2. Affective component (emotions, feelings) 3. Conative component (behavioural aspect)

Cognitive component Consumers beliefs about an object are the attributes they ascribe to it. These beliefs are based on a combination of the knowledge, experience and perceptions about the attitude object. For most attitude objects consumers have a number of beliefs and that a specific behaviour will result in specific outcomes. An individual may believe that Thums- Up: 1. Is popular with younger consumers. 2. Is moderately sweet. 3. Contains a lot of caffeine. 4. Is competitively priced. 5. Is marketed by a large company.

The total configuration of beliefs about Thums-Up represents the cognitive component of attitude about this brand of soft drink. It is important to realise that beliefs need not be correct or true. They just need to exist.

Affective component Consumers feelings and emotional reactions to an object represent the affective component of an attitude. This relates to consumers overall evaluation of the attitude object. Consumer beliefs about a brands attributes are multidimensional, but the feeling component is only one-dimensional. The consumer who says, I like ThumsUp or ThumsUp is no good, is expressing the results of an affective evaluation. The evaluation can either be goodor bad, favourable or unfavourable. Emotionally charged evaluations can also be expressed as happiness, elation, sadness, shame or anger etc. Conative component Behavioural (conative) component is the likelihood or tendency of an individual to respond in a certain manner towards an attitude object. For example, a series of decisions to purchase or not to purchase a Canon inkjet printer or recommend it to friends, would reflect the behavioural component of an attitude. In the context of consumer research and marketing, conative component is treated as intention to buy. P a Dabholkar has noted that all the three attitude components tend to be consistent. As a result of this, change in one attitude component tends to trigger related changes in the other components.

Q2. Briefly discuss the consumer Research process Consumer research has emerged as an extension and an integral part of marketing research. It is the set of methods used to identify the needs and then develop products and services to satisfy those needs. The focus of consumer research is exclusively on exploring consumer behaviour. 1. Defining research objectives It is important to clearly define the purpose and objective of research study on which the marketing manager and the researcher agree. This will ensure the development of

appropriate research design. For example, if the purpose of the research study is to come up with new ideas for advertising campaigns, then a qualitative study might be fruitful. 2. Collecting and evaluating secondary data Secondary data is any information originally generated for some other purposes rather than the current problem under consideration and can be either internal or external to the organisation. It includes findings based on data generated in-house for earlier studies, customer information collected by companys sales or credit departments and research conducted by outside organisations. The act of locating secondary data is called secondary research. Original research done by individuals or organisations to meet specific objectives is called primary research. Government agencies, industry sources, trade associations, marketing research firms and advertising agencies are important sources of secondary data. 3. Design primary research The research design for qualitative and quantitative research differs in terms of data collection method, sample design and use of data collection instrument, both research approaches are discussed here. 4. Qualitative research design The researcher first takes into consideration the purpose of the research study and the kind of data needed. Data collection techniques for qualitative studies include focus group, depth interviews and projective techniques. All these techniques relate to psychoanalytic and clinical aspects of psychology. The emphasis is on open-ended and freeresponse types of questions so that the respondents reveal their unconscious thoughts and beliefs. These techniques are frequently used in early stages of attitude research to learn product-related beliefs or attributes and the resulting attitudes. Various techniques like depth interviews, focus groups and projective techniques are used for this. 5. Quantitative research design Quantitative research design includes method of data collection, the data collection instruments and the sample design. Data collection methods there are three basic approaches to collect data in quantitative study: 1. Observation 2. Experimentation 3. Survey

Q3. Explain the VALS (Value and Lifestyle) framework VALS has two dimensions. The first dimension, primary motivations, determines the type of goals that individuals will pursue and refers to pattern of attitudes and activities that help individuals reinforce, sustain or modify their social self-image. This is a fundamental human need. The second dimension, resources, reflects the ability of individuals to pursue their dominant motivations that includes the full range of physical, psychological, demographic and material means such as self-confidence, interpersonal skills, inventiveness, intelligence, eagerness to buy, money, position and education etc.

Ideals (principle): Individuals are guided in their choices by their beliefs and principles and not by feelings, desires and events.

Achievement: Individuals are heavily influenced by actions, approval and opinions of others. Self-expression (action): Individuals desire physical and social activity, variety and risk taking. Innovators (formerly actualises): This segment is small in size compared to other seven but may be the most attractive market because of their high incomes and they are the leading edge of change. Thinkers (formerly fulfilled): Thinkers are motivated by ideals and exhibit behaviour according to the views of how the world is or should be. They are mature in their outlook, satisfied, comfortable, well-educated, reflective people who value order, knowledge and responsibility. Believers: Like thinkers, believers are also motivated by ideals; their basic approach to decision-making is rational. Believers are not well-educated and the moral code of conduct is deeply rooted in their psyche and is inflexible. Achievers: They are motivated by the desire for achievement and make choices based on a desire to enhance their position or to facilitate their move to another groups membership for which they aspire. Strivers: They are trendy and fun-loving and are motivated by achievement and dependent on others to indicate what they should be and do. They believe money represents success and never seem to have enough of it. strugglers): They have narrow interests and are comfortable with the familiar and are basically concerned with safety and security. They are ill-educated, with strong social bonds, low-skilled and are poor. Experiencers: They are young, full of vitality, enthusiastic, impulsive, rebellious and motivated by self-expression. They are avid consumers and spend high proportion of their income on fashion, entertainment and socialising. They are college-educated and much of their income is disposable. Makers: Makers are energetic, like to experience the world, build a house, have families, raise children and have sufficient skills backed with income to accomplish their projects. Q4. Discuss Pavlovs Classical conditioning theory Behavioural learning theories are sometimes also referred to as connectionist or stimulus response theories. Behavioural theories are based on stimulus-response (SR) orientation and the belief is that learning occurs through the connection between the stimulus and a response. When an individual responds in a predictable manner to a known stimulus, the person is said to have learned. Classical conditioning pairs one stimulus with another that already elicits a given response and over a period of repeated trials, the new stimulus will also start causing the same or quite similar response. The Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, was the first who pioneered the study of classical conditioning. He noticed that since his hungry dogs salivated (unconditioned response) at the sight of food (unconditioned stimulus), the connection between food and salivation is not taught and is just a reflex reaction. Pavlov reasoned that a neutral stimulus such as the sound of a ringing bell could also cause the dogs to salivate if it was closely associated with the unconditioned stimulus (food). To test this reasoning, Pavlov rang a bell while giving food to the dogs. After a sufficient number of repetitions, the dogs learned the connection between bell and food when they heard the bell (conditioned stimulus) even in the absence of food, they salivated (conditioned response).

Two factors are important for learning to occur through the associative process. The first is contiguity (conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus must be close in time and space). The second factor is the repetition (the frequency of association). The more the frequency of unconditioned and conditioned stimuli occurring together, the stronger the association between them will develop. From classical conditioning emerge three basic concepts important for understanding consumer behaviour: repetition, stimulus generalisation and stimulus discrimination.

Repetition is believed to work by strengthening the bond of association and thus slowing the process of forgetting. Learning follows a pattern, which is known as learning curve. . In a typical case, the rate of learning is quite rapid in the early stages. In later stages, as the amount learned accumulates, the rate of learning per repetition decreases. This shows that there is a limit to the amount of repetition that will aid learning and beyond a limit, the attention and the rate of learning will decline.

Q5. Describe three types of motivational conflict There is a popular saying, Variety is the spice of life. Hardly anybody is likely to disagree with this saying. We are aware that consumers sometimes display variety seeking behaviour out of sheer boredom or a desire for variety. A motivational goal has valence (strength). This valence can be positive or negative. A product or service that a person might buy to satisfy some need(s) often comes at the expense of depriving another need as the person may be short on resources. These compromises in our ability to satisfy various needs cause motivational conflict (Kurt Lewin, A Dynamic Theory of Personality, and McGraw-Hill). Motivational conflicts can take one of the three principal forms. Approach Approach Conflict This type of conflict occurs when a consumer is faced with two desirable alternatives, such as either to buy a good music system or a computer. The person must decide between the attractive alternatives and may face a situation of periodic indecision temporarily and swing between the alternatives. For example, a timely advertisement favouring one or the other action such as some incentive for buying now could resolve such a conflict. Approach Avoidance Conflict This type of conflict occurs when a consumer is facing a purchase choice that has both positive and negative consequences. Such a situation may arise when the consumer is making a purchase or consumption decision on a single product in which both positive and negative aspects are involved. For example, a consumer may be fond of soft drinks but may also be concerned about not consuming extra calories. The person concerned wants the taste and emotional satisfaction associated with consuming the soft drink (approach) but does not want the intake of extra calories (avoidance). Pepsi and Coke spotted this opportunity and have introduced diet drinks. Avoidance Avoidance Conflict This involves deciding between two or more alternatives that are perceived as undesirable. Such situations are somewhat stable and consumers tend to vacillate between the undesirable choices. For example, if the car is badly damaged in an accident, the

alternatives may be a hefty repair bill or a substantial expense of buying a new one. Comprehensive insurance cover and also the availability of low interest auto finance schemes are ways of reducing this motivational conflict.

Q6. A. What are needs? What are the various types of needs? Discuss their features. B. What are different consumer needs, as described by Maslow? Give proper examples to explain each of them.

A). Needs can be defined as a felt state of deprivation of some basic satisfaction. The point is that this deprivation has to be felt to drive the individual to seek satisfaction. Every person has needs. Some of these needs are basic to sustaining life and are born with individuals. These basic needs are also called physiological needs or biogenic needs and include the needs for air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing and sex. Physiological needs are primary needs or motives because they are essential to survival. Acquired needs are learnt needs that we acquire as a result of being brought up in a culture and society. For example, needs for self-esteem, prestige, affection, power and achievement are all considered as learned needs. Acquired needs are generally psychological, resulting from an individuals subjective psychological makeup and relationship with others and are considered as secondary needs or motives. Needs may also be classified even more basically utilitarian or hedonic. A consumers utilitarian needs focus on some practical benefits and are identified with product attributes that define product performance such as economy or durability etc. Hedonic needs relate to achieving pleasure from the consumption of a product or service and are often associated with emotions or fantasies. Hedonic needs are more experiential as they are closely identified with the consumption process. For example, a hedonic need might be the desire to be attractive to the opposite sex. The evaluative criteria for brands are usually emotional rather than rational (utilitarian).

b). Maslows hierarchy of needs 1. Physiological Needs

According to Maslow, the first and most basic level of needs is physiological. These needs are essential to sustain biological life and include air, water, food, shelter, clothing and sex all the primary or biogenic needs. Physiological needs are very potent when they are chronically unfulfilled. 2. Safety Needs After physiological needs, safety and security needs acquire the driving force and influence an individuals behaviour. These needs are concerned with much more than only the physical safety and health but also include routine, familiarity, security, certainty and stability etc. example, the labour unions in India provide members security of employment. 3. Social Needs The third level, social needs include love, affection, acceptance, belonging and friendship etc. By and large, humans are social creatures and need warm and satisfying human relationships with others. For example, flowers, greeting cards, chocolates, jewellery and diamonds are given as tokens of affection for someone.

4. Ego Needs The fourth level is concerned with ego needs. These needs include reputation, prestige, status, self-esteem, success and independence etc. Many ads of ego intensive products emphasize ego appeals such as expensive watches, jewellery and designer dresses etc. example a rich man buying a BMW car.

5. Self-actualisation Need Self-actualisation refers to a persons desire to achieve or become what one is capable of The only common thing is that they all seem to be striving for excellence in whatever they are doing. Example a bottom level executive become the CEO of the company.