Social Influences on

Consumer Behavior

By
Dr. Kevin Lance Jones
Social Influences
 Information and Pressures from Individuals, groups,
and the mass media that affect how a person
behaves.

 Why are social influences important?

 Source is creditable.
 Source can communicate information widely.
 Source uses communication frequently.
 Source determines socially appropriate and inappropriate
behaviors
 Sources of Influence on
Consumer Behavior
 Sources of influence can be described as marketer
dominated or non-marketer dominated.

 Marketer dominated sources are influences

delivered from a marketing agent (advertising,
personal selling etc…)

 Non-marketer dominated sources are influences

delivered from an entity outside a marketing
organization (friends, family, the media).
 Sources of Influence on
Consumer Behavior
 Marketer and non-marketer dominated sources may be
delivered personally or via mass media.

 Marketer-dominated sources delivered personally refer to

salespeople, service representatives, and customer service
agents who deliver information in retail outlets, at consumers
homes or office, over the phone or at trade shows.

 Marketer-dominated sources delivered via mass media

include advertising, sales promotions, publicity and special
events.
 Sources of Influence on
Consumer Behavior
 Non-marketer-dominated sources delivered
personally refer to word of mouth communication
from friends, family neighbors, casual
acquaintances, and even strangers.

 Non-marketer-dominated sources delivered via

mass media refer to television coverage, internet
sites, Consumer Reports, and other media not
controlled by the marketer.
 How Do These General Sources
Differ?
 Marketer and non-marketer dominated
sources delivered personally or via mass
media differ in the following ways:

1. Reach
2. Capacity for two-way communication
3. Credibility
How do marketers build on these
differences?
 Marketers should use non-marketer
dominated sources to enhance credibility.

 Use personal sources to enhance two-way

communication.

 Use a mix of sources to enhance impact

 Special Sources of Influence
 Opinion Leaders and market mavens are two special
sources of profound influence.

 Opinion Leaders are individuals who act as as an

information broker between the mass media and the
opinions and behaviors of an individual or group.

 Market Mavens are consumers who has and

communicates considerable marketplace information
to others.
 Opinion Leaders
 Learn a lot about products
 Heavy users of mass media
 Buy new products when first introduced into
the marketplace.
 Self-confident and Sociable
 Willing to share product information
 More important in China due to govt. system
 Regarded as knowledgeable about
acquisition, usage and disposition options
 Market Mavens
 Know about the market place in general
 Where and when to shop
 What is on sale when
 Which products are good and bad
 Self confident about knowledge
 Heavy users of a wide range of information
sources, both getting and giving marketplace
information.
 How do Marketers
Influence Opinion Leaders?

 Target opinion leaders

 Use opinion leaders in marketing
communications
 Refer consumers to opinion leaders
 Reference Groups as
Sources of Influence
 Types of Reference Groups:
 Aspirational Reference Groups: a group that we
admire and desire to be like.

 Associative Reference Groups: a group to

which we currently belong.

 Dissociative reference groups: a group we do

not want to emulate.
 Reference Groups as Sources of
Influence
 Marketers should associate products with
aspirational reference groups

 Marketers should accurately represent associate

reference groups.

 Marketers should help to develop brand

communities

 Marketers should avoid using dissociative reference

groups
 Characteristics of Reference Groups
 Reference groups are described as follows:
 Degree of contact
 Primary reference groups: a group with whom we
have physical (face-to-face) interaction.

 Secondary reference group: a group that influences

us but with whom we do not have direct contact.

 Formality
 Similarity among members
Characteristics of Reference Groups

 Group attractiveness
 Density
 Degree of identification
 Strength of the ties connecting
members
 Reference Groups Affect
Consumer Socialization
 Socialization is the process by which individuals
acquire skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes that
are relevant for functioning in a given domain.

 Consumer Socialization is the process by which we

learn to become consumers and come to know the
value of money; the appropriateness of saving versus
spending; and how, when, and where products
should be bought and used.
 How Socialization Occurs
 Parents may instill thriftiness by:
1. Directly teaching children the importance of
saving money.
2. Letting children observe them being thrifty.
3. Rewarding children for being thrifty

Direct teaching works best for younger children

while observational learning is most effective in
older children.
 How Socialization Occurs
 TV, music, video games, the internet, and ads
also serve as socializing agents.

 Stereotyping of sex roles

 Consumer products such as childhood toys

could influence who we are and what was
expected of us.
Normative & Informational Influences
 Sources of influence whether general, special or
group exert two types of influence, normative and
informational.

 Normative Influence is social pressure designed to

encourage conformity to the expectations of others.

 Normative influence is derives from norms, which

are societies collective decisions about what
behavior should be.
Normative & Informational Influences

 Normative influences implies that consumers

will be sanctioned or punished if they do not
follow the norms and likewise implies
consumers will be rewarded fro performing
the expected behaviors.
Normative & Informational Influences
 Normative influences have several important effects on
consumption behaviors.

 Brand-choice congruence: the likelihood that consumers

will buy what others in their group buy.

 Conformity: doing what others in the group do.

 Compliance: doing what the group or social influencer

asks.

 Reactance: Doing the opposite of what the individual or

grtoup wants us to do.
The Strength of Normative Influence
 The strength of Normative influence depends
on the:
 Product Characteristics
 Consumer Characteristics
 Group in which consumer belongs
 Coercive power: the extent to which the group

has the capacity to deliver rewards and

sanctions.
 Informational Influence
 Informational influence is the extent to
which sources influence consumers simply by
providing information.

 Informational influence is important because

it can affect how much time and effort a
consumer devote to information search and
decision making.
 The Strength of Informational
Influence

 The strength of the informational influence is

dependent upon:
 Product characteristics
 Consumer and Influencer Characteristics
 Group Characteristics
Descriptive Dimensions of Information
 Information is described by the dimensions of
valence and modality when dealing with consumer
behavior.

 Valence refers to whether the information about

something is good (positive valence) or bad
(negative valence).

 Modality refers to the method in which information

is delivered -verbally or nonverbally.
Descriptive Dimensions of Information
 VALENCE:
 Negative information is more likely than positive
information to be communicated.

 Dissatisfied customers are more likely to

complain to 3 time’s (11 compared to 3) more
people that satisfied customers are to tell about
pleasurable experiences.

 Negative information is given more weight and

people pay more attention to it.
Descriptive Dimensions of Information
 MODALITY:
 Word of Mouth is information about products or
services that is communicated verbally.

 It is more persuasive than written information and

is the number one source affecting food and
household product purchases.

 It is seven times more effective than print media,

twice as effective as broadcast media, and four
times more effective than salespeople in affecting
brand switching.
Viral Marketing
 Viral marketing is the online consumer to
consumer communication that supports a
particular offering.

 This source is non-marketer dominated and

the message is delivered personally adding
credibility
 Marketing Implications for
Word of Mouth
 Word of mouth has a dramatic effect on consumer’s
product perceptions and offerings the in the
marketplace.

 Marketers need to prevent and respond to negative

word of mouth.

 Marketers need to engineer favorable word of

mouth.

 Marketers options for dealing with rumors