age and product adoption

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HOW DOES CONSUMER AGE

AFFECT THE DESIRE FORNEW PRODUCTS AND BRANDS?A MULTI-GROUP CAUSAL

ANALYSIS

Roland Helm & Sebastian Landschulze

Review of Managerial ScienceOnline First, 13 August 2011
http://www.springerlink.com/content/1863-6683/http://www.springerlink.com/content/1863-6683/http://www.springerlink.com/content/1863-6683/http://www.springerlink.com/content/1863-6683/


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PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH

Marketing lacks comprehension on theincreasingly important segment ofmature consumers in regard to theirbehavior and respective reasons forcertain behavior.

This study on the desire for alternativeproducts or brands within the domain of

fast moving consumer goods wascapable of verifying differences amongage-groups.

The study also considers a wide range


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AGE EFFECTS

In regard to age effects, as people growolder changes in their biological,

psychological and social status areconsidered to be responsible for shifts intheir behavior. Cohort effectsadditionally cause the elderly to act

differently, however, not because theyhave changed behavior over the courseof time, but because the collectiveexperiences of their respectivegenerations gave a special mark on


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CONSUMERS KEENNESS

Keenness for new products and brandsis markedly dependent on theunderlying product category, we needto focus on predefined products in orderto gain well established insights intoage-specific behavior that can begeneralized for respective branches.

Unfortunately, previous research rarelyacknowledges the fact that, for severalreasons, a wide range of age-specific

behavioral differences may exist in oneroduct cate or but in another one


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RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

Consumer research has examinedbehavioral peculiarities induced by

consumer age for Price consciousness

Quality consciousness

Brand consciousness

Repurchase patterns

Information behavior


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STIMULATION

The consumers desire to switch to

other products and brands (withoutconsideration of age) has foundrecognition in earlier studies inconnection with the Theory of OptimalStimulation

OSL-Theory considers two differentproduct-category-specific behavioral

options to directly urge for alternativesdepending on ones general exploratoryinterests and other variables


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LITERATURE REVIEW

Older consumers propensities toinnovativeness and variety seekingremain inconclusive

Some researchers have found age to bepositively associated withinnovativeness

Others found the two variables to beslightly negatively associated or evenstrongly negatively associated

As far as variety seeking is concerned,findings are also quite heterogeneous


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PREFERENCE FOR ALTERATIONMODEL

Targetconstruct

s

independentexogenous predictors

Mediators


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THEORETICAL MODELLOYAL ATTITUDE

A loyal attitude describes the cognitivecomponent of loyalty (internal

conviction of a brand) that precedes therepurchase intention.

Stress the point of true loyalty alwaysdemanding the customers conviction ofthe offer.

Loyal attitude is assumed to benegatively associated with the desire

for familiar or new brand alternatives


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HYPOTHESIS 1

Age-related effects on the loyalattitude:

An increasing tendency is expected sinceloyal behavior is a consequence of loyal

attitudes seems to increase with age.


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HABITUAL ATTITUDES

Habitual attitudes imply that therespective consumer is characterized byinherent ties with a brand in a domain

that is only driven by customs and notby conviction

Being accustomed to certain brandsmight influence the willingness toswitch to other brands which is why thisvariable has been considered in themodel

According to the Aging-Stability-


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HYPOTHESIS 2

we can assume an increase in habitual

attitudes caused by increasing age


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PERCEIVED RISK

Perceived risk is determined by theprobability of making a purchase whichturns out to be a suboptimal choice

It is evident that a heightenedperceived risk within a domain isdetrimental to the choice of familiar ornew brand alternatives

Switching brands implies greater riskbecause of the insecurity entailed whichis why individual tolerance limits to risk

could be violated.

PREFERENCE FOR ALTERATION


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HYPOTHESIS 3

The mean value of perceived risk is

expected to increase with age since riskconsciousness is likely to increase withage as well


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CATEGORY EXPERIENCE

Category experience, linked to aconsumers previous brand experiencewithin a certain domain, is likely to lead

to increased subjective knowledgeabout the domain

category experience gained by previousconsumptions enables a consumer toencounter a purchase situation withhigher sophistication

Category experience is likely to be

positively associated with loyal and

PREFERENCE FOR ALTERATION


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HYPOTHESIS 4

In regard to the development of

category experience depending on age,we expect an increase due to a higherprobability for extended consumptionhistories in the respective domains


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INDEPENDENT

PREDICTORSThe presumed increase of consumer

satisfaction with age (Hypothesis 5)

Product involvement as a secondexogenous predictor is also likely toincrease with age (Hypothesis 6)


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INDEPENDENT

PREDICTORS Perceived (brand) equalityin terms ofthe consumers impression ofcompeting brands as being very similar

is likely to decrease with age(Hypothesis 7)

In regard to age-influences, we suspecta decrease in risk taking with age(Hypothesis 8)

Variety seeking might also decreasewith age (Hypothesis 9).


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HYPOTHESIS RELATED TOTARGET CONSTRUCTS

Desires for cross-buying probably tendto increase with age(Hypothesis10),especially as aging

people become more loyal to theirbrands

Desires for familiar brand alternatives

in turn, probably decrease with age(Hypothesis 11)

We also expect decreases in the

desires for new brand alternatives


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EMPIRICAL TESTING

The survey refers to specific categorieswithin the domain of fast movingconsumer goods (FMCG)

The survey includes data of 1,189consumers of margarine & hairshampoo

consumers are divided into

The Younger below the age of 50

Best agers between age 50-64


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SAMPLE SIZE


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RESULTS Loyal attitudes, product satisfaction,

and product involvement all increasewith age (in both product categories)Hypothesis 1, 5, and 6 are confirmed

Variety seeking and risk taking are nodomain specific factors and thus theyeach show very similar mean results in

both product categories. There is noage group dependency on the level ofvariety seeking in any of the categories.Hypothesis 9 must be rejected.

Risk taking in contrast is clearly


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DESIRED PRODUCT AND


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DESIRED PRODUCT ANDBRAND CHOICES ACROSS AGE

GROUPS

DESIRE TO SWITCH TO


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DESIRE TO SWITCH TOFAMILIAR BRAND

ALTERNATIVES Variety seeking supports the drop in

desire for familiar brand alternatives asage advances

Familiar brand alternatives is the fact ofolder consumers having stronger loyalattitudes, making brand switches rather

unattractive

The age-dependent decrease in risktaking and the increase in perceived

risk furthermore add to the

DESIRE TO SWITCH TO


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DESIRE TO SWITCH TONEW BRAND

ALTERNATIVESOne cause for mature consumers less

likely seeking to switch to new brandalternatives is to be found in their lowerratings in risk taking

The higher probability of loyal attitudesof the mature consumers, however, is

again explaining their reluctance toswitch to new brand alternatives in asimilar way as in the case of switching

to familiar alternatives


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CONCLUSION

The tendency to engage in cross-buyingis increasing with age while thetendency to switch to alternative brandsin contrast to the one usually bought isdecreasing

Indirect effects of age on consumer

behavior considering the impact ofbehavioral determinants were found toexplain these findings whereby

di d ff b f

age and product adoption

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