CONSUMER ATTITUDE

FORMATION & CHANGE Lecture 6

 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Defining Attitudes

Multi-attribute models

Strategies for changing attitudes

An attitude is an enduring organization of
motivational, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive
processes with respect to some aspect of our
environment.

A learned predisposition to behave in a consistently

favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a
given object.
ATTITUDE FORMATION
Consumers learn attitudes
Sources of attitude formation
Experience
Family and friends
Media/Internet/Social Media
Personality factors
Attitude Components & Manifestations
 MULTI-ATTRIBUTE ATTITUDE
MODELS
Multi-attribute attitude models portray consumers’
attitudes with regard to an attitude object as a
function of consumers’ perception and assessment
of the key attributes or beliefs held with regard to
particular attitude object.
Expectancy-value models suggest that attitudes
towards a product depend on consumers’
subjective evaluation of product’s attributes
multiplied by the expectancy that the product
possesses each attribute.
 MULTI-ATTRIBUTE ATTITUDE
MODELS
The Attitude-toward-object Model
Attitude is function of evaluation of product-specific
beliefs and evaluations
The Attitude-toward-behavior Model
Is the attitude toward behaving or acting with respect
to an object, rather than the attitude toward the object
itself
Theory-of-reasoned-action Model
A comprehensive, integrative model of attitudes
ATTITUDE-TOWARD-OBJECT MODEL

Used to change
attitudes by:
Adding an attribute
Changing perceived
importance of an
attribute
Developing new
products
A Simplified Version of the Theory of Reasoned
Action

Beliefs that Beliefs that

specific referents Motivation to
the behavior
Evaluation of think I should or comply with
leads to
the outcomes should not the specific
certain
perform the referents
outcomes
behavior

Attitude toward Subjective

the behavior norm

Intention

Behavior
THE FISHBEIN MODEL

Intentions versus behavior: measure behavioral

intentions, not just intentions
Social pressure: acknowledge the power of other
people in purchasing decision
Attitude toward buying: measure attitude toward the
act of buying, not just the product
 THE FISHBEIN MODEL: THEORY OF
REASONED ACTION
Beliefs are added together to form attitudes and, as the
number of favourable beliefs increases, the amount of
favourable attitude also increases.
A=∑be, where A is the attitude toward a product or an
attitude toward buying the product, b is the belief that the
product has a given attribute considered important to
consumers, and e is the evaluation or the extent to which
consumers like each specific attribute.
Beliefs and evaluations are measured for each important
attribute.
To compute an attitude, consumers multiply their beliefs by
their evaluations for each attribute, and add these ratings.
 THEORY OF REASONED ACTION: ATTITUDE
FORMATION FOR BATA SHOES
Attribute Belief Evaluation (e) Attitude (A)
(b)

Comfort 4 X 5 =20

Support 3 X 4 =12

Style 5 X 5 =25

Overall attitude 57
 THEORY OF REASONED ACTION
The model suggests that marketers can change
consumers’ attitudes by changing beliefs about
level of attribute present in the brand, changing
evaluations about whether the attribute is
important, or both.
The model also informs marketing researchers
about the specific attributes that perform well or
poorly for their brands.
It suggests that subjective norms or social rules for
behaviour also influence consumer intentions.
THEORY OF REASONED ACTION

SN=∑ (NB X MC), where SN refers to subjective

norms, NB refers to normative beliefs or beliefs
about what other people think of you if you use
a product, and MC refers to the motivation to
comply or how concerned you are about what
other groups of people think of you if you use a
product.
Attitudes plus normative beliefs influence
intention to purchase the product.
 THEORY OF REASONED ACTION SUBJECTIVE
NORMS FOR BATA SHOES
Source of Normative Motivation to Subjective
Compliance Belief (NB) Comply (MC) Norm (SN)

Friends 5 X 7 =35

Parents 7 X 1 =7

Co-workers 6 X 6 =36

Overall Subjective Norms 78

 MARKETING APPLICATIONS
OF THE MULTIATTRIBUTE MODEL

Capitalize on Relative Advantage

Strengthen Perceived Linkages

Add a New Attribute

Influence Competitor’s Ratings

CAPITALIZE ON RELATIVE ADVANTAGE
STRENGTHEN PERCEIVED LINKAGES
ADD A NEW ATTRIBUTE
ADD A NEW ATTRIBUTE
INFLUENCE COMPETITOR’S RATINGS
 Attitude-Toward-the-Ad Model

Exposure to
an Ad
Judgments about Feelings from the
the Ad (Cognition) Ad (Affect)

Beliefs about the Attitude toward

Brand the Ad

Attitude
toward the
Brand
ATTRIBUTION THEORY
Attribution theory is concerned with how
people assign casualty to events and
form or alter their attitudes as an
outcome of assessing their own or other
people’s behavior.
SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY
FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR TECHNIQUE
Consumer is more likely to comply with a request if
he has first agreed to comply with a smaller request

LOW-BALL TECHNIQUE
Person is asked for a small favor and is informed
after agreeing to it that it will be very costly.

DOOR-IN-THE-FACE TECHNIQUE
Person is first asked to do something extreme (which
he refuses), then asked to do something smaller.
ISSUES IN ATTRIBUTION THEORY

We Test Our Attributions on:

Distinctiveness,
Consistency over time,
Consistency over modality,
Consensus.
SOCIAL JUDGMENT THEORY

We assimilate new information about

attitude objects in light of what we
already know/feel (internal anchors)
Initial attitude = frame of reference
Latitudes of acceptance and rejection
Assimilation effects
Contrast effects
 THREE TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
CHARACTERISTICS
1. Source Characteristics

 Represents “who” delivers the message

2. Appeal Characteristics

 Represents “how” the message is

communicated

3. Message Structure Characteristics

 Represents “how” the message is presented

SOURCE CREDIBILITY

Influence of receivers’ opinion

Message discrepancy conditions
Low-credibility effectiveness
The sleeper effect
Bases of credibility
SOURCE CREDIBILITY
SOURCE CREDIBILITY
MESSAGE FACTORS

Message Structure
1. Message sidedness
2. Message order (climax vs. anti-climax
order; recency & primacy effects)
3. Conclusion drawing
4. Repetition
 MESSAGE STRUCTURE

 One-Sided versus Two-Sided Messages

 Positive versus Negative Framing

 Nonverbal Components
ONE-SIDED MESSAGE
TWO-SIDED MESSAGE
NONVERBAL COMPONENTS
MESSAGE APPEALS

Humor
Fear Appeals
Emotional vs. rational appeals
Comparative appeals
HUMOUR
HUMOUR
FEAR APPEAL
FEAR APPEAL
RATIONAL APPEAL
EMOTIONAL APPEAL
COMPARATIVE ADS