CONSUMER ATTITUDE

FORMATION & CHANGE

Understanding of consumer attitude models, the

hierarchies of attitude, how attitudes are formed
and how attitudes can be molded /changed.
 What are Attitudes
 An attitude is a learned predisposition to a
consistently favorable or unfavorable fashion.
 Attitude are object specific. It can be say for DVD players or may be
for included brands such as Panasonic, Sony, Samsung etc.

 Attitudes are learned predisposition (attitudes have a

motivational quality).
 Attitudes have consistency.
 Attitudes occur within a situation.
 ATTITUDE – DEFENITION & CHARACTERISTICS
 Attitudes are Learned ( formed by an
individual on the basis of some experience
or based on information received about the
object).

 Attitudes are based on Predispositions (they

already reside in the mind).

 Attitude cause Consistent Response (they

precede and produce behavior)
 ATTITUDE – DEFENITION &
CHARACTERISTICS

 Therefore attitudes can be used to predict

behaviour.

 (If you show a positive attitude towards a new

product concept, the marketers predict that
when the product is made available, you are
likely to buy it).
 Alternatively behaviour can be used to infer the
underlying attitudes.

 If you buy a ticket for a fine arts show, then marketers

infer that you have a favorable attitudes towards fine
arts. Later a fund raising letter is send to you in the
hope that the interest in arts category will translate to
support for development of fine arts.
 ATTITUDES AS EVALUATIONS
 Attitudes are our evaluations of objects, people,
places, brands, products, organizations and so
on.

 People evaluate these in terms of their

goodness, likeability or desirability.

 Attitudes are measured by getting customers to

rate statements such as: I like it; I am positive
to this; I feel like buying it.
 Please check how you feel about Anchor
Tooth paste (the 100% vegetarian tooth
paste)
 My Opinion of Anchor is: positive - - - - - -
------ negative
 I dislike Anchor very much - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - I like it very much
 Toward Anchor, I feel favourably - - - - - -
- - - - I feel un-favourably
 The following statements measure your general favourability
toward the web site you just visited. (Tick the no. that best
indicates your agreement or disagreement).

 - Definitely Disagree __________ Definitely Agree

 The web site makes it easy for
for me to build a relationship with
this company 1 2 3
4 5 6
 I would like to visit this web site
again in the future 1 2 3 4 5
6
 I am satisfied by the service provided
by this web site 1 2 3 4 5
6
 I feel comfortable in surfing this site 1 2 3 4 5 6
 I feel surfing this site is a good
pastime for me 1 2 3 4
5 6
 Compared with other web sites
this one of the best 1 2 3 4 5
6
Tri-component Attitude Model

Cognition

Conation

Affect
 Tri-component Attitude Model
 Cognition or thoughts about brands are also called as
beliefs (expectations of what something is or is not, or
what something will do or will not do). Statements of
belief connect an object ( person, brand) to an attribute
or a benefit.
 Affect is feelings a person has toward an object or the
emotions that object evokes for the person.
 Conation is the action a person wants to take toward the
object.
 Researchers can measure attitude components by asking
respondents how well each statement describe them or
their beliefs.
THREE COMPONENT MODEL OF ATTITUDE
An Illustration
 DHL for shipping Small Packages
 Attitude Component – Cognition (Beliefs)
 DHL is very reliable in its service
 DHL is more economical than other package-carrier services
 DHL is not able to customize their offerings
 Attitude Component - Affect (Feelings)
 When I ship by DHL I feel secure
 I am very happy to be using DHL for my services
 I don’t care if DHL goes out of business
 Attitude Component – Conations (Actions)
 I use DHL for my shipping needs than others
 I often recommend DHL to my business associates
 I am looking for alternative carriers.
 Shopping For Airline Tickets On The Internet.
 Attitude Component – Cognition (Beliefs)
 Shopping on Net is very convenient for my airline tickets
 You can get the cheapest airline fares by shopping in internet
 Internet based travel agents provide only very limited travel options
 Attitude Component - Affect (Feelings)
 Shopping on the internet is considered to be ------- (Tick whatever
you feel appropriate). (a) Cool (b) Boring (c) Enjoyable
(d) Confusing (e) Terrible (f) Trendy
 Attitude Component – Conations (Actions)
 I have used the internet for my travel airline tickets recently
 I often search the internet for planning my travel itinerary
 I will not recommend internet to my friends for booking airline
tickets.
 Tri-component Attitude Model
 The Cognitive component:
 Knowledge and perceptions that are acquired by
combinations of direct experience with the object
or through related information from various
sources.
Evaluative scale used to attitude towards Dove moisturizing
lotion - Compared to other moisturizing lotions, Dove is
Moisturizing effect Good ____ ____ _____ ______ Bad
Cleansing effect Positive ____ ____ ____ ______ Negative
Fragrance Pleasant _____ ____ _____ _____ Unpleasant
Packaging /product Appealing _____ _______ ______ Unappealing
 Cognition – Brand Belief
 Cognition or thoughts about brands are also called
Brand beliefs

 A Brand Belief is a thought about a specific property

or quality of the brand. (3 types)

 Descriptive Beliefs
 Evaluative Beliefs
 Normative Beliefs
 Brand Belief - Components
 Descriptive Beliefs connect an object to the
quality of the outcome ( this computer has large
memory; this airline is always late)

 Evaluative Beliefs connect an object to personal

likes or dislikes (this computer is very user
friendly; the service in this airline is pathetic)

 Normative Beliefs invoke moral and ethical

judgments in relation to some ones acts (its
unfair for business to take advantage of innocent
clients)
 Tri-component Attitude Model
 The Affective Component
 The consumers emotions or feelings towards
the object.

 Measuring consumers feelings and emotions with

regard to Dove Moist. Lotion – How your skin felt
after using Dove for 30 days.
 I feel Relaxed (Very) ____ ____ ____ Not at all
 I feel Refreshed ____ ____ ___ ____ Not at all
 I feel Younger ____ ___ ____ ____ Not at all
 Tri-component Attitude Model
 The Conative component
 It is about the likelihood or tendency that an
individual will undertake a specific action or behave
in a particular way to the particular object.
 According to some interpretations, the conative
component may include the actual behavior.
 In marketing and consumer research conative
component is frequently treated as an expression of
consumers intent to purchase.
 Tri-component Attitude Model
 Intention to Buy – Conative Component
 Buyer intention scales are used to assess
the likelihood of a consumer purchasing a
product.
 Consumers who respond positively to an
intention to buy generally purchase the
product (than consumers who were not
asked to respond to the question).
 Tri-component Attitude Model
 Intention To Buy Scales (Examples)
 Which of the following best describes the chance that you will
buy Dove Lotion the next time you buy a skin care product.
 ___I will definitely buy it. * ___ I Probably will buy it
 ___ I am uncertain whether I will buy it.
 ___I probably will not buy it * ___ I certainly will not buy
 How likely are you to buy Dove Lotion in next three months
 __ Very Likely * ___ Likely
 __ Unlikely * ___ Very unlikely
 Multi Attribute Attitude Models

The attitude - The attitude - The Theory –

Toward - Toward – Of reasoned –
Object Behaviour Action
Model Model Model
 Multi Attribute Attitude Models
 Multi attribute models portray
consumers attitude with regard to an
attitude (product / service or an issue)
as a function of consumers perception
and assessment of the key attributes or
beliefs held with regard to the particular
attitude object.
 Multi Attribute Attitude Models
 1. The Attitude Toward Object Model
 Especially suitable for measuring attitudes
toward a product category or specific brands.
 Consumer attitude toward a product (or specific
brands of the category) is a function of the
presence (/ absence) and evaluation of certain
product specific beliefs and / or attributes.
 1. The Attitude Toward Object Model

 Consumers generally have favorable attitude

toward those brands that they believe to have an
adequate level of attributes that they consider as
positive

 And the have an unfavourable attitude toward

those brands which they consider not to have
required level of desired attributes or have too
many negative attributes.


 Suggest that overall attitude is based on the

component beliefs about the object, weighted by the
evaluation of those beliefs.
 1. Fishbein Model: (Attitude-Toward-Object Mode)
Explain overall attitude by seeing the object as having
a set of consequences which could be desirable/
n
undesirable
Ao is the overall attitude, Bi is the belief that object I
 Ao = i=1 Bi x Ei has a certain consequence, Ei is the evaluation of that
consequence and n is the number of consequences.
 Customer Attitude Toward Two Internet
Service Providers
Evaluation Of Attributes
(Unlikely 1 2 3 4 5 Likely)

America Evaluation OF
Attribute AT&T Consequences
Online
1. Connection will be established 3 5 +3
successfully every time.
2. The connection will be 4 3 +2
established speedily
3. The connection can get 3 3 -3
disconnected in the middle of a
session
4. The price (monthly fee) will be 2 3 -1
high (Very Bad -3 -2 -1 +1 +2 +3 Very Good)

Aaol = 3(3) + 2(4) + -3(3) + -1(2) = 6 / Aat&t = 3(5) + 2(3) + -3(3) + -1(3) = 7
 2. The Attitude-Toward-Behaviour Model
 Is the individuals attitude toward behaving
w.r.to an object rather than the attitude to
the object itself.

 It seems to correspond more closely to

actual behaviour than does the attitude-
toward-object model
 Rahul’s attitude toward the act of purchasing a
BMW (attitude toward the behaviour) reveals more
about the potential act of purchasing
 than just simply knowing his attitude toward
expensive German cars or specifically BMW.

 The consumer might have a positive attitude toward BMW

but is negative about his prospects for purchasing such an
expensive model
 Theory-Of-Reasoned-Action Model

 This model incorporates a cognitive

component, an affective component and a
conative component, however arranged in a
pattern different from that of the tri-
component model.

 With this expanded model, to understand

intention to buy – one has to measure the
subjective norms also.
 A subjective norm can be measured directly by
assessing a consumers feeling as to what others
(friends, relatives, peers) would think of the
action being contemplated.

 A fresh MBA is planning to buy a M. swift. He

stops himself to contemplate what his parents &
girlfriend will think about the same.
 --- such reflection will reflect his subjective
norms.
 3.Extended Model Of Behavioral
Intention

 Also called the THEORY OF REASONED ACTION.

 In this expanded model, to understand purchase
intention we also need to measure the subjective
norms that influence an individuals intention to act.
 Subjective norms can be directly measured by
assessing a the normative beliefs that the individual
attributes as relevant to others (friends, relatives, co-
workers etc.).
 Bachelor planning to buy a Swift may check with his
girl friend and parents.... ”My parents consider the car
expensive, but my girlfriend will love it” …. Will comply
with one of them.
 3.Extended Model Of Behavioral
Intention
BELIEFS ABOUT
OUTCOMES (Bi) Attitude
Bi . Ei
Ao
EVALUATIONS OF
THE OUTCOMES (Ei)

Intention Behaviour

NORMATIVE BELIEFS
RELATED TO OTHER
REFERANTS (Nj) Subjective
Nj . Mj
Norms Sn

MOTIVATION TO
COMPLY WITH
SUBJECT NORMS (Mj)
 Multi Attribute Attitude Models
Beliefs that behaviour
Will lead to certain
Outcomes. Attitude toward
The behaviour
Evaluations of the
outcomes
Intention Behaviour
Belief that my referents Think
that I should/Shouldn’t
perform the behaviour
Subjective norm

Motivation to comply with

The specific referents
 Attitude-Toward-The-Ad Models

 Model to understand the impact of ads or some

other promotion on generating favourable
consumer attitudes towards a brand/ product.
 The consumer forms various feelings (affect) and
judgments (cognitions) as the result of exposure
to an Ad.
 They in turn affect the consumers attitude toward
the brand and also the beliefs about the brand.
 Attitude-Toward-The-Ad Models

Exposure to an ad

Judgment about the Ad Feelings from the Ad

(Cognition) (Affect)

Attitude towards the Ad

Beliefs about the Brand

Attitude towards the brand

 Attitude-Toward-The-Ad Models
 Positive relation exists between attitude
toward the advertisement and purchase
intention for each of the advertised
product/brand.
 For a novel product (foot gear for dogs),
consumer attitude toward the ad has a
stronger impact on the brand attitude and
purchase intention than a familiar product
(dog food).
Attitude Formation

How attitudes are learned and

the sources that influence attitude
formation.
 HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE (1)
 Attitude hierarchies refers to the sequence in
which the three components occur.
 Answering the questions such as Do you think first
and act ? Or do you act first and think afterward ?
 Learning Hierarchy:

Learning Cognitive Affective Conative

(Actions) (Feelings) (Actions)
 HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE 1
 An NRK coming back to settle in India. Will consider his
home town - Trichur, or cities in his state like Kochi or
Calicut. Or metros like Bangalore or Chennai.
 He first rationally consider the cost of living, real estate
costs, infrastructure & facilities, where his friends
relatives are based and his opportunities to pursue
something etc.
 Then he considers all these information and looks at
which of these places excites him to be.
 Based on this judgment he initiates action toward buying
a house/property.
 HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE 2
 Emotional Hierarchy

Affect Conations Cognition

Emotions (actions) (thoughts)
(feelings)

 “My decision to join advertising industry was based

on a commercial I saw on Ad agencies where I saw
young men and women casually dressed having lots
of fun while doing extremely creative work”.
 HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE 2
 Based on your emotions – attraction or
repulsion toward certain brands or person or
things - you embrace (avoid) them, buy
them and start to use them.
 Finally through experience you learn more
about the brand.
 A Manager fixing the site for his next conference –
Goa because the beaches enchanted him. (Eg.
From business situation)
 HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE (3)
 Low-Involvement Hierarchy of Attitude

Low Conation Affect Cognition

Involvement (actions) (feelings) (thoughts)
 HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE (3)
 You are in the neighborhood bakery and see a new
variety of bread with nuts and dry fruits and looked
good.
 The bread is new so you do not have an attitude
towards it. You do not have to know a lot about it
or feel attracted to it to buy it. So you pick it up
and bring it home. You take the first bite and then
find out whether you like it or not.
 Then you may pause to find out about its flavor,
taste and may go through the ingredients and
information on who manufacture it etc.
 HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE
 Learning and Emotional hierarchies are high
involvement hierarchies, because the attitude the
object generates is of high involvement (degree
of stake one has in the object).
 In the case of low involvement product action
comes first followed by affect and thought
process.
 Involvement is not a property of the product or
service, rather it is the importance of it to a
customer.
 HIERARCHIES IN ATTITUDE
 Thus the same product could be low
involvement for some one while its high
for some others.
 Involvement is no dichotomous ( choice
between high & low), but it’s a matter of
degree (continuum).
 At the very low involvement end can be
something of no consequence to the
customer.
 How Attitudes are Learned
 Attitude formation is a result of learning.
 Consumers often purchase new products that are
associated with a favourably viewed brand name.
 Classical conditioning – the established brand
name is the unconditioned stimulus that through
past reinforcements have created a favourable
brand attitude.
 New product yet to be established become the
conditioned stimulus.
 How Attitudes are Learned 2

 Sometimes attitude follows the purchase of a

product. (Operant / Instrumental conditioning).
 Consumer may buy a brand because it is the only
product available.
 Consumers also make trial purchase of brands in
categories belonging to low involvement for them.
 If they find the brand to be satisfactory then they
will develop favourable attitude.
 Sources Of Influence On
attitude Formation
 Consumer attitude is strongly influenced by
personal experience.
 Primary means of attitude formation is through
consumers direct experience in trying and
evaluating them.
 Realizing this marketers often stimulate trial of
new products by offering special bargains or
free samples.
 Free test drive for cars.
 Sources Of Influence On attitude
Formation 2
 Through mass media we are constantly
exposed to new products, ideas etc thru
advertising.
 For people without direct experience of
the product, exposure to emotionally
appealing Ads will create favourable
attitude.
 Attitudes developed thru direct experience
is much more enduring than those
developed from indirect experience (Ads).
 Sources Of Influence On attitude
Formation 3
 Personality factors also play a critical role in
attitude formation.
 Individuals with a high need for cognition (who crave
for info & enjoy thinking) are likely to form positive
attitude response to direct mail or ads that are rich
with product related info.
 Individual with low need for cognition – ads with
well known model or a celebrity helps.
Strategies of attitude Change
 Factors that are relevant for attitude
formation are relevant for attitude
change also.
 Strategies of attitude Change
 Altering attitude is a key consideration for most
marketers.
 Most competitors target market leaders when
they develop their strategies.
 Their objective is to change the attitudes of the
market leaders customers and win them over.
 Market Leader in turn will try to fortify the
attitudes which customers currently hold towards
them.
 Strategies of attitude Change
 1. Changing consumers basic motivational
function.
 2. Associating the product with an
admired group or event.
 3. Resolving two conflicting attitudes.
 4. Altering components of the multi
attribute model
 5. Changing consumers beliefs about
competitors brands.
 1. Changing The Basic
Motivational Function
 The utilitarian Function
 We hold certain brand attitudes partly because
of its utility.
 The attitude tends to be positive if the product
has been useful in the past.
 One way of changing attitudes is to show that
the product provide a utilitarian function which
the competitors are not giving
 Bacteria Free Air conditioning – Samsung;
Pepsodent 24 hours Germicheck
 Changing The Basic Motivational
Function 3
 The Value Expressive Function
 Attitudes are a reflection of one’s general values.
 If a consumer segment holds positive attitude
owning latest electronic devices, then their
attitudes owning latest cellular phones will also
reflect the same.
 Segment who has a positive attitude toward
‘being in fashion’, will show favourable attitudes
toward high-fashion clothing.
 Changing The Basic Motivational
Function 4
 The Value Expressive Function (contd.)
 Thus by knowing target consumers attitudes,
marketers can anticipate their values, life style
and out look.
 These can the be depicted in the ads which will
create favourable disposition from the target
group.
 The product can then be placed to appeal to the
right attitude of the group.
 Ac Delco (General Motors) “ You have not missed a day of work in 12
years. --- so it comes as no surprise that your auto parts are AC Delco
 Changing The Basic Motivational
Function 2
 The Ego Defensive Function
 Most people want to hide their inner feelings of
doubt and project confident outlook.
 Cosmetic and personal care products understand
this need, increase both their relevance and the
likelihood of a favourable attitude change -------
 By offering reassurance to the consumers self
concept.
 Rexona Deodorant, Fair & Lovely, Axe
 “True Love is not Disposable” Express Zippo Lighter and the long
lasting relationship it can build with the customer.
 Changing The Basic Motivational
Function 5
 The Knowledge Function
 Some individuals generally have a strong need to
know and understand, the people and things
they encounter.
 This cognitive need is important in positioning
 Brand positioning will attempt to satisfy such
people’s ‘need to know’ and it improves
consumers attitude towards the product by
emphasizing its advantages.
 Changing The Basic Motivational
Function 6
 The Knowledge Function
 An Ad message for an advanced-design tooth
brush might point out how it is superior to other
tooth brushes in controlling gum disease by
removing more plaque which is so important for
overall health.
 This Ad also might use a bar or pie chart to
show its plaque removal abilities vis-à-vis
competition.
 2. Associating The Product With A
Special Group
 Attitudes are related at least in part to certain
groups, social events or causes.
 It is possible to alter attitudes toward product,
brands or services by pointing at their
relationship (in ads) with certain social groups,
events etc.
 Microsoft - Bill Gates and their charity
contribution for AIDS patients, Tata Steel and
their community projects
 3. Resolving Two Conflicting Attitudes
 If consumers are made to see that their
negative attitude toward a product, a brand or
its attributes is really not in conflict with another
attitude they may be induced to change their
evaluation (from negative to positive).
 Nitin loves the idea of moving from his computer and
having a portable laptop, but what prevents him is the
slow processing capabilities.
 However on learning Compaq makes laptops with high
processing speed he is considering of purchasing a
laptop seriously.
 4. ALTERING COMPONENTS OF
THE MULTIATTRIBUTE
MODELS
 Global attitude have been measured by a couple
of simple scales such as dislike / like or as
favorable / unfavorable etc.
 We can infer only that customers attitude is
favourable or unfavourable but we do not know
why.
 Multiattribute models help to infer the
underlying beliefs and how they are weighted to
yield overall attitudes.
 4. ALTERING COMPONENTS OF
THE MULTIATTRIBUTE
MODELS 2
 Multi attribute scales bring in the following
advantages.
 Diagnosticity – ability to diagnose or explain
why certain attitudes are the way they are
and the attributes that contributes to them.
 Since Multi Attribute Models specify what
underlies attitudes, it gives us the cue on
how to change or influence customer
attitude.
 Evaluation Of Attributes
(Unlikely 1 2 3 4 5 Likely)

America Evaluation OF
Attribute AT&T Consequences
Online
1. Connection will be established 3 5 +3
successfully every time.
2. The connection will be 4 3 +2
established speedily
3. The connection can get 3 3 -3
disconnected in the middle of a
session
4. The price (monthly fee) will be 2 3 -1
high (Very Bad -3, -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 Very Good)

A aol = 3(3) + 2(4) + -3(3) + -1(2) = 6 / A at&t = 3(5) + 2(3) + -3(3) + -1(3) = 7
 4. ALTERING COMPONENTS OF
THE MULTIATTRIBUTE MODELS 3

 Customer attitude can be changed in

three ways (Multi attribute rule based)
 1. By changing a specific component of
belief, which can be done by changing
the perception about an attribute or
associated consequence.
 (AOL has higher rating on speed. So
emphasize the importance of speed to
increase its evaluation)
 4. ALTERING COMPONENTS OF
THE MULTIATTRIBUTE MODELS 4

 2. By changing the importance customers assign

to an attribute
 (AOL improves its connection success rate and
initiates communication about this to
consumers).
 3. By introducing a new attribute (a new
evaluation criteria) into customers evaluation
process. (If AOL has superior customer support
then convince customers the importance of this)
 4. ALTERING COMPONENTS OF
THE MULTIATTRIBUTE
MODELS 5
 Changing The Overall Brand rating
 Attempting to alter consumers overall
assessment of the brand directly, without
attempting to improve or change their
evaluation of any single attribute
 “We are the No. 1” – “The largest selling Brand”
 “The one all other imitate”
 “We set standards for other cars” – Honda.
 5. Changing Beliefs About
Competitors Brands
 Changing consumer beliefs about the
attributes of competitor brands.
 Comparison Ads
 Indica V2 vs. Santro
 Ford Ikon vs. Accent
 It can boomerang as it give unwarranted
visibility to competitors claims.
 The Elaboration Likelihood Model
 ELM: Consumer attitudes are changed by
two distinctively different routes.
 Central route & Peripheral route
 Central route happens when consumer is
motivated to assess the object.
 He will actively seek and analyze
information leading to attitude learning
and change.
 The Elaboration Likelihood Model
 The peripheral Route is when consumer’s
motivation or assessment skills are low.
 Consumer learning and attitude change
occur without consumer actively searching
for information relevant to the object.
 Attitude change often is due to secondary
inducements – discounts, samples, great
packaging, ambience, celebrity
endorsements etc.
 DEGREES OF INVOLEVEMENT &
TYPES OF ATTITUDE HEIRARCHY
High
Emotional Hierarchy Rational Hierarchy
Involvement
Begins with intense Begins with
emotions consideration of
multiple features

Begins with
Begins with consideration
mood of 1 or 2
features

Low
Involvement
hierarchy

Low Involvement
 CONSISTENCY AMONG THE THREE
COMPONENTS
 A person tries to make the three components consistent
and to maintain consistency among them.
 Certain cognitions will give rise to certain affect and certain
action tendencies.
 The Consistency can be related to two factors
 1. Valence & 2. Strength
Three Attitude Components in
Affective Mutual Interdependence
(feelings)

Conative Cognitive
(actions) (thoughts)