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Chapter 10

Groups

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, 9eMichael R. Solomon

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Chapter Objectives

When you finish this chapter, you should understand why:

• Others, especially those who possess some kind of social power, often influence us.

• We seek out others who share our interests in products or services.

• We are motivated to buy or use products in order to be consistent with what other people do.

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Chapter Objectives (continued)

• Certain people are particularly likely to influence others’ product choices.

• The things that other consumers tell us about products (good and bad) are often more influential than the advertising we see.

• Online technologies are accelerating the impact of word-of-mouth communication.

• Social networking is changing the way companies and consumers interact.

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Reference Groups

• Reference group: an actual or imaginary individual/group conceived of having significant relevance upon an individual’s evaluations, aspirations, or behavior

• Influences consumers in three ways:

• Informational

• Utilitarian

• Value-expressive

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When Reference Groups Are Important

• Social power: capacity to alter the actions of others

Referent power Information power

Legitimate power Expert power

Reward power Coercive power

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Discussion

High schools have all types of reference groups, with members representing all types of social power. Think back and try to identify people who had the following types of power.

• Referent power

• Information power

• Legitimate power

• Expert power

• Reward power

• Coercive power

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Types of Reference Groups

Any external influence that provides social clues can be a reference group

• Cultural figure

• Parents

• Large, formal organization

• Small and informal groups• Exert a more powerful influence on

individual consumers• A part of our day-to-day lives: normative

influence

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Brand Communities and Consumer Tribes

• A group of consumers who share a set of social relationships based upon usage or interest in a product

• Consumer tribes share emotions, moral beliefs, styles of life, and affiliated product

• Brandfests celebrated by community

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Membership versus Aspirational Reference Groups

• Membership reference groups

• People the consumer actually knows

• Advertisers use “ordinary people”

• Aspirational reference groups

• People the consumer doesn’t know but admire

• Advertisers use celebrity spokespeople

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Factors Predicting Reference Group Membership

Propinquity

Mere exposure

Group cohesiveness

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Positive versus Negative Reference Groups

• Avoidance groups: motivation to distance oneself from other people/groups

• Antibrand communities: coalesce around a celebrity, store, or brand—but in this case they’re united by their disdain for it

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Consumers Do It in Groups

• Deindividuation: individual identities become submerged within a group

• Social loafing: people don’t devote as much to a task when their contribution is part of a larger group

• Risky shift: group members show a greater willingness to consider riskier alternatives following group discussion than if members made their own decisions

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Discussion

Home shopping parties—such as Tupperware, Avon, Pampered Chef, Amway, or Botox—are designed to put pressure on friends and neighbors to buy merchandise.

• Have you attended these parties? Why or why not?

• Do you believe putting social pressure is ethical? Why or why not?

• Why are these parties more common among women?

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Factors Influencing Conformity

• Cultural pressures

• Fear of deviance

• Commitment

• Group characteristics

• unanimity

• size

• expertise

• Susceptibility to interpersonal influence

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Opinion Leadership

• Opinion leaders influence others’ attitudes and behaviors

• Experts

• Unbiased evaluation

• Socially active

• Similar to the consumer

• Among the first to buy

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Opinion Leaders

• Is there a generalized opinion leader whose recommendations we seek for all types of purchases?

• Experts may be monomorphic or polymorphic

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Figure 10.1 Old and New Social Networks

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The Market Maven

Market maven: actively involved in transmitting marketplace information of all types

• Just into shopping and aware of what’s happening in the marketplace

• Overall knowledge of how and where to get products

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The Surrogate Consumer

• Surrogate consumer: a marketing intermediary hired to provide input into purchase decisions

• Interior decorators, stockbrokers, professional shoppers, college consultants

• Consumer relinquishes control over decision-making functions

• Marketers should not overlook influence of surrogates!

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How Do We Find Opinion Leaders?

• The self-designating method

• Simply ask individuals whether they consider themselves to be opinion leaders

• Easy to apply to large group of potential opinion leaders

• Inflation or unawareness of own importance/influence

• Key informant method

• Key informants identify opinion leaders

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Sociometric Methods

• Sociometric methods: trace communication patterns among group members

• Systematic map of group interactions

• Most precise method of identifying product-information sources, but is very difficult/expensive to implement

• Network analysis• Referral behavior/network, tie strength• Bridging function, strength of weak ties

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Word-of-Mouth Communication

WOM is product information transmitted by individuals to individuals

• More reliable form of marketing

• Social pressure to conform

• Influences two-thirds of all sales

• We rely upon WOM in later stages of product adoption

• Powerful when we are unfamiliar with product category

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BzzAgent

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Negative WOM and Power of Rumors

• We weigh negative WOM more heavily than we do positive comments!

• Negative WOM is easy to spread, especially online

• Determined detractors

• Information/rumor distortion

• There are 3 themes to complaint Web sites

• Injustice

• Identity

• Agency

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Figure 10.3The Transmission of Misinformation

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Cutting-Edge WOM Influences

Social Networking

Crowd Power

Guerilla Marketing

Viral Marketing

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Virtual Worlds: The Next Digital Frontier

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Chapter Summary

• People with social power influence our behavior as consumers.

• We are motivated to buy things that are consistent with those in our reference groups.

• WOM communication about products, especially from opinion leaders, may be more influential than information from marketers.

• Web 2.0 accelerates the speed of delivery and the power of WOM communication.