Group Influences

Consumer Behaviour

Submitted by:

Group 8

Jan 03, 2017

Group Influences

Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................2
Methodology Adopted...................................................................................................3
Analysis of the Interviews.............................................................................................4
Appendix.......................................................................................................................5
Questionnaire.............................................................................................................5

Group Influences

Introduction
Humans are inherently social animals, and individuals greatly influence
from each other. n individual uses a relevant group as a standard of
reference against which oneself is compared. Reference Group is a useful
framework for analysis of influences of a group on the individual. A
Reference groups come in several different forms viz. Aspiration Reference
Group, Associative Reference Group, Dissociative Reference Group.
Aspirational reference group refers to those others against whom one
would like to compare oneself. For example, many firms use athletes as
spokespeople, and these represent what many people would ideally like to
be. Associative reference groups include people who more realistically
represent the individuals current equals or near-equalse.g., co-workers,
neighbours, or members of churches, clubs, and organizations.
Dissociative reference group includes people that the individual would not
like to be like. For example, the store literally named The Gap came about
because many younger people wanted to actively dissociate from parents
and other older and "uncool" people. The Quality Paperback Book Club
specifically suggests in its advertising that its members are "a breed
apart" from conventional readers of popular books.
Reference groups come with various degrees of influence. Primary
reference groups come with a great deal of influence e.g., members of a
fraternity/sorority. Secondary reference groups tend to have somewhat
less influence e.g., members of a boating club that one encounters only
during week-ends are likely to have their influence limited to consumption
during that time period.
Another typology divides reference groups into the informational kind
(influence is based almost entirely on members knowledge), normative
(members influence what is perceived to be "right," "proper,"
"responsible," or "cool"), or identification. The difference between the
latter two categories involves the individuals motivation for compliance.
In case of the normative reference group, the individual tends to comply
largely for utilitarian reasonsdressing according to company standards is
likely to help your career, but there is no real motivation to dress that way
outside the job. In contrast, people comply with identification groups
standards for the sake of belonging for example, a member of a religious
group may wear a symbol even outside the house of worship because the
religion is a part of the persons identity.

Group Influences

The study which we are doing here is to study the impact of this group
influence among various roommates determining how well they can
identify the brand which is being used by other roommate and identify
whether they are aware of them or not. This study, also, aims to be study
whether these results are beneficial for Marketing Managers and in case, if
they are, how these results can be beneficial for identifying product trends
and formulating strategies based on the result.

Methodology Adopted
For the purpose of this study, we create a questionnaire to be asked from
each responded. The questionnaire consisted of what brands they use
personally and what brands they think their roommates use for different
products. For setting up the questionnaire, the products were classified
under following categories:

Public Luxury
Private Luxury
Private necessity
Public necessity

The classification of the products according to our understanding has been

done in the following wayPublic
Luxury
Sunglasses

Private
Luxury
Moisturizer
Soft drink
Laptops

Private
Necessity

Public
Necessity

Toothpaste
Shampoo
Razors
Soap

Watches
Deodrant
Wallets/Purs
e

The questionnaire is attached in the appendix.

This questionnaire was first asked to be filled by one roommate followed
by asking with another. It was made sure that his/her roommate does not
know what are his/her responses.

Group Influences

Analysis of the Interviews

The results of the interviews are as follows:
A quick analysis of the data given portrays that the Room No. 3 displays
maximum amount of congruence amongst its Roommates and out of all
the roommates. Roommate 1 of Room 3 had the rightest answers about
his/her roommate.
For the Marketing Manager, an analysis that would further help:
Products
Toothpaste
Shampoo
Moisturizer/Sun
screen
Watches
Deodorant
Sunglasses
Wallets/Purse
Soft drink
Laptops
Razors
Soap

Congruenc
e
1
3
3
2
3
3
2
2
6
5
3

Within the product categories, the highest amount of congruence and

brand recall is seen in the category of Laptops. While the lowest is seen in
Toothpaste and Watches.
Thus it is evident, that products that are having less usage minutes per
day are not easily recalled by either of the counterparts.
For the marketing manager, it will be important to package the product
more attractively so as to arrive at better recall through peers

Appendix
Questionnaire
Roommate 1

Roommate 2

Group Influences

What brand
do you use ?
Products Listing
Toothpaste
Shampoo

What
brands
does your
roommate
use?

What
brand do
you use ?

Roommat
e1

Roommat
e2

Moisturizer/Suns
creen
Watches
Deodorant
Sunglasses
Wallets/Purse
Soft drink
Laptops
Razors
Soap

Questions
Do you go shopping together ?
Do you share a bathroom ?
Do you discuss about the products
that you use?
Do you ask each other opinions
about products before buying ?
Do you discuss about offers or
prices changes?
Do you talk about FMCG or tech
products ?

What
brands
does your
roommate
use?