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Thus consumer involvement can be defined as heightened state of awareness that motivates
consumers to seek out, attend to, and think about product information prior to purchase.
CAUSES OF CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT
The factors that influences consumer involvement include personal, product and situational.
erson!l F!ctors
Self-concept needs and values are the three personal factors that influence the extent of consumer
involvement in a product or service. The more product image, the value symbolism inherent in it and
the needs it serves are fitting together with the consumer self- image, values and needs, the more
likely the consumer is to feel involved in it.
Celebrities for example share a certain self-image, certain values, and certain needs. They tend to use
products and services that reflect their life style. They get highly involved in purchasing prestigious
products like designer wear, imported cars, health care products etc.
ro"uct F!ctors
The consumer involvement grows as the level of perceived risk in the purchase of a good or service
increases. It is likely that consumers will feel more involved in the purchase of their house than in the
purchase of tooth paste, it is a much riskier purchase.
or example, involvement in the purchase of car is more than the purchase of household items.
Situ!tion!l F!ctors
The situation in which the product is brought or used can generate emotional involvement. The
reason for purchase or purchase occasion affects involvement.
or example, buying a pair of socks for yourself is far less involved than buying a gift for a close
friend.
T#ES OF INVOLVEMENT
The two types of involvement are!
"# Situation $# %nduring
Situ!tion!l Involvement
Situational involvement is temporary and refers to emotional feelings of a consumer, experiences in a
particular situation when one thinks of a specific product.
En"urin$ Involvement
%nduring involvement is persistent over time and refers to feelings experienced toward a product
category across different situations. or example, holiday- makers renting a resort for their trip are
highly involved in their choice, but their involvement is temporary.

EFFECTS OF CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT
. These result into three categories!
search for information
processing information,
Information transmission.
Customers who are highly involved tend to search for information and shop around more when
compared with low involvement customers. or example, the customer who is highly involved with
UNIT-I/CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR/MIT
cars and thinks about buying it is likely to gather information. &e sees for alternative models to
figure the advantages and disadvantages of each. The more they are involved, the more they learn
about the alternatives with in that category. To gather the information they use various sources. 'ne
such behaviour is to shop around, where they visit various outlets and talk to sales people. The
customers of this kind should be encouraged buy retailers to visit the outlets to know, and compare
various models to meet information needs.
rocessin$ o% In%orm!tion
(rocessing of information means depth of comprehension, extent of cognitive elaboration, and the
extent of emotional arousal of information as discussed below.
&e't( o% Com're(ension
&ighly involved customers tend to process product information at deeper levels of understanding
than the ones with low involvement.
or example educated parents in urban areas are highly involved in baby food purchase decisions
than rural uneducated parents. They also retain this information for long time. In this case marketers
need to provide information cues to help the consumers to retrieve information from memory. $ut
when the target is low involvement consumers, marketers should make the necessary information as
accessible as possible at the time of selection and buying of the product.
E)tent o% Co$nitive El!*or!tion
&ighly involved customers think more about product choices than consumers with low involvement.
Their deep understanding involves support arguments and ) or counter arguments. That is, highly
involved consumers tend to generate cognitive responses either in support of the product information
or against the information provided by the marketers.
If we talk of the previous example, marketing baby food products, the product all though effective
may have significant side effects like obesity. %ducated parents are likely to give this the great deal
of thought before giving it to their children. To ensure that the parents generate positive thoughts, the
marketers have to mention a *uality argument that the product benefits outweigh its negative effects.
If the arguments are less informed and not persuasive, it is likely to produce negative thoughts
resulting in an unfavourable attitude towards the product.
Level o% Emotion!l Arous!l
&ighly involved consumers are more emotional than less involved consumers.
The highly involved react more strongly to the product-related information which may act for or
against marketers. This is because the negative interpretation is likely to be exaggerated more
number of times causing the customers to re+ect the product.
In%orm!tion Tr!nsmission
Transmission of information is the extent to which greatly involved customers send information
about the product to others. This is done usually through word-of-mouth communication. The
researchers have shown that if consumers arehighly involved they talk about the product fre*uently
than others. Satisfied consumers are likely to speak favourable about the product, while unsatisfied
speak negatively. Therefore, marketers catering to highly involved consumers should attempt to
enhance consumer satisfaction and decrease dissatisfaction. or example, customer happy with
',I-" television communicates the same to others through word-of-mouth.
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MO&ELS OF CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT
There are four prominent models of consumer behaviour based on involvement which help marketers
in making strategic decision particularly in marketing communication related strategies. The four
models are as follows.
.. /ow Involvement /earning 0odel , 1./earn-eel--o &ierarchy model,
2./evel of 0essage (rocessing 0odel, 3.(roduct versus $rand Involvement 0odel
Lo+ Involvement Le!rnin$ Mo"el
/ow Involvement products are those which are at low risk, perhaps by virtue of being inexpensive,
and repeatedly used by consumers. 0arketers try to sell the products without changing the attitudes
of consumers. ,ew product beliefs replace old brand perceptions. 0arketers achieve low4
involvement learning through proper positioning. or example, writing pen with the 5uninterrupted
flow6, and tooth paste with 5mouth wash6 positioning attracts new consumers.
Le!rn-Feel-&o Hier!rc(, Mo"el
$uying decisions vary according to the way there are taken. Some decisions are taken with lot of
thinking, others are taken with great feelings. Some are made through force of habit and others are
made consciously. The learn-feel-do hierarchy is simple matrix that attributes consumer choice to
information 7learn#, attitude 7feel#, and behaviour 7do# issues. The matrix has four *uadrants, each
specifying a ma+or marketing communication goal to be informative, to be effective, to be habit
forming, or promote self-satisfaction. Thinking and feeling are shown as a continuum - some
decisions involve one or the other and many involve elements of both. &igh and low importance is
also represented as a continuum.
Hi$( Involvement / Hi$( T(in-in$
(urchases in first *uadrant re*uire more information, both because of the importance of the product
to the consumer and thinking issues related to the purchases. 0a+or purchases such as cars, houses
and other expensive and infre*uently buying items come under this category. The strategy model is
learn-feel-do. 0arketers have to furnish full information to get consumer acceptance of the product.
Hi$( Involvement / Hi$( Feelin$
The purchase decisions in second *uadrant involve less of information than feeling. Typical
purchases tied to self-esteem- +ewelry, apparel, cosmetics and accessories come under this category.
The strategy model is feel-learn-do. To encourage purchases marketers must approach customers
with emotion and appeal.
Lo+ Involvement / Lo+ Feelin$
The purchases in this *uadrant are motivated primarily by the need to satisfy personal tastes, many of
which are influenced by self-image. (roducts like news paper, soft drinks, /i*uor etc., fall under this
category. 8roup influences often lead to the purchase of these items. The strategy model is do-feel-
learn. It helps marketers to promote products through reference groups and other social factors.
Lo+ Involvement / Lo+ T(in-in$
It involves less in thinking and more of habitual buying. (roducts like stationery, groceries, food etc.,
fall under this category. 'ver a period of time any product can fall in this segment. The role of
information is to differentiate any 5point of difference6 from competitors. $rand loyalty may result
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simply from the habit. The strategy model is do-learn-feel. It suggests that marketers induce trial
through various sales promotion techni*ues.
Level o% Mess!$e rocessin$ Mo"el
Consumer attention to advertisements or any other marketing communication depends on four levels
of consumer involvement! (re-attention, focal attention, comprehension and elaboration. %ach calls
for different level of message processing.
(re-attention demands only limited message processing - the consumer only identifies the product.
ocal attention involves basic information as product name on use.
In comprehension level the message is analysed, through elaboration the content of the message is
integrated with other information that helps to build attitude towards the product. It is suggested that
marketers make advertisements which can induce elaboration.
ro"uct versus Br!n" Involvement Mo"el
Sometimes consumer is involved with the product category but may not be necessarily involved with
the particular brand or vice versa. or example, house wives know more about kitchen ware but may
not know the details of various brands. "ccording to the consumer involvement in either product or
particular brand, consumer types can be divided into four categories as described below.
Br!n" Lo,!ls! These consumers are highly involved with both the product category and with
particular brand. or example, cigarette smokers and paper readers fall in this category.
In%orm!tion See-ers! These buyers are involved more with product category but may not have
preferred brand. They are likely to see information to decide a particular brand. or examples, air-
conditioners and washing machine buyers fall under this category.
Routine Br!n" Bu,ers! These consumers are not highly involved with the product category but may
be involved with the particular brand with in that category. They have low emotional attachment with
the product category and tied mainly with their brand. or example users of particular brand of soap
for years, regular visitors to particular restaurant fall in this category.
Br!n" S+itc(in$! Consumers in this category have no emotional attachment either with product
category or any brand with in it. They typically respond to price. or example stationery items,
fashion products come under this category.