Chapter 11 Group Influence and Opinion Leadership

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Chapter 11Group Influence and Opinion Leadership
By Michael R. Solomon
Consumer Behavior Buying, Having, and Being Sixth
Edition
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Opening Vignette Zachary

• Does Zachary meet your mental stereotype for a
  Harley Davidson owner?
• Why does Zachary desire to have more Harley
  stuff?
• How do Zachs fellow RUBs influence his
  purchases?
• What benefits does Zach enjoy from his
  association with other Harley owners?

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Harley Owners Group
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Reference Groups

• Reference Group
• An actual or imaginary individual or group
  conceived of having significant relevance upon an
  individuals evaluations, aspirations, or
  behavior
• Three ways reference groups influence consumers
• Informational
• Utilitarian
• Value-Expressive
• Some people are more influential than others in
  affecting consumers product preferences.

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Relative Reference GroupsInfluence on Purchase
Intention
Figure 11.1
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When Reference GroupsAre Important

• Social Power
• The capacity to alter the actions of others
• Referent Power
• When consumers imitate qualities by copying
  behaviors of a prominent person they admire.
• Information Power
• Able to influence consumer opinion by virtue of
  their (assumed) access to the truth
• Legitimate Power
• Granted to people by virtue of social
  agreements, sometimes conferred by a uniform

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Expert Power

• A physician has expert power, and a white coat
  reinforces this expertise by conferring
  legitimate power.

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When Reference GroupsAre Important (cont.)

• Expert Power
• Derived from possessing specific knowledge about
  a content area
• Reward Power
• When a person or group has the means to provide
  positive reinforcement
• Coercive Power
• Influencing a person by social or physical
  intimidation

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Types of Reference Groups

• Reference Group
• Any external influence that provides social cues
• Normative Influence
• The reference group helps to set and enforce
  fundamental standards of conduct.
• Comparative Influence
• When decisions about specific brands or
  activities are affected.

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Discussion Question

• Marketers often portray products being used in
  groups that represent favorable reference groups
  to the target market.
• What type of message does this ad convey? What
  type of influence is this ad designed to exert on
  its target audience?

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Brand Communities and Tribes

• Brand Community
• A set of consumers who share a set of social
  relationships based upon usage or interest in a
  product.
• Brandfests
• Consumer Tribe
• A group of people who share a lifestyle and who
  can identify with each other because of a shared
  allegiance to an activity or product.
• Tribal Marketing
• To link ones product to the needs of a group as
  a whole.

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Products as a Way to be Popular

• Many products, especially those targeted to young
  people, are often touted as a way to take the
  inside track to popularity. This Brazilian ad
  lets us know about people who dont like a
  certain shoe.

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Membership vs. AspirationalReference Groups

• Aspirational Reference Groups
• Comprise idealized figures such as successful
  business people, athletes, or performers.
• Membership Reference Group
• Ordinary people whose consumption activities
  provide informational social influence.
• Propinquity Physical nearness.
• Mere Exposure Liking persons or things simply as
  a result of seeing them more often (mere exposure
  phenomenon)
• Group Cohesiveness The degree to which members
  of a group are attracted to each other and value
  their group membership.

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Match.com
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Positive Versus NegativeReference Groups

• Avoidance Groups
• Groups that consumers purposely try to distance
  themselves from
• Nerds
• Druggies
• Preppies
• The motivation to distance oneself from a
  negative reference group can be as powerful or
  more powerful than the desire to please a
  positive group

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Positive Reference Groups

• This recruiting ad presents a compelling role
  model for young women contemplating a career in
  the armed forces.

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Consumers Do it in Groups

• Deindividuation
• A process in which individual identities become
  submerged within a group.
• Social Loafing
• People do not devote as much to a task when their
  contribution is part of a larger group effort
• Risky Shift
• Group members are willing to consider riskier
  alternatives subsequent to group discussion
• Diffusion of Responsibility
• As more people are involved in a decision, each
  individual is less accountable for the outcome

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Deindividuation

• Costumes hide our true identities and encourage
  deindividuation.

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Consumers Do it in Groups (cont.)

• Value Hypothesis
• Riskiness is a culturally valued characteristic
  to which individuals feel pressure to conform
• Decision Polarization
• Whichever direction the group members were
  leaning toward before discussion becomes more
  extreme subsequent to discussion
• Home Shopping Parties
• Capitalize on group pressures to increase sales

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Home Shopping Parties

• Women at a home Tupperware party.

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Group Influences

• Group pressure often influences our clothing
  choices.

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Conformity

• Conformity
• A change in beliefs or actions as a reaction to
  real or imagined group pressure.
• Norms
• Informal rules that govern behavior.
• Factors Influencing the Likelihood of Conformity
• Cultural Pressures
• Fear of Deviance
• Commitment
• Principle of Least Interest
• Group Unanimity, Size, and Expertise
• Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence
• Role-relaxed consumers

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Social Comparison

• Social Comparison Theory
• Asserts that people look to the behavior of
  others to increase the stability of their
  self-evaluation
• Co-oriented peer A person of equivalent standing
• Resisting Conformity
• Independence Being oblivious or indifferent to
  the expectations of others
• Anticonformity Defiance of the group is the
  actual behavior
• Reactance The negative emotional state that
  results when we are deprived of our freedom to
  choose

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Word of mouth
rumours
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Word-of-Mouth Communication

• Word-of-Mouth (WOM)
• Product information transmitted by individuals to
  individuals.
• Negative WOM and the Power of Rumors
• Negative WOM Consumers weigh negative info from
  other consumers more heavily than they do
  positive comments

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Discussion Question

• This ad for a video game says, Conformity
  Bytes!, but then captions, Join the
  Revolution! Why?
• Does this ad encourage independence or
  anticonformity?

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Word-of-Mouth

• The U.S. Postal Service hopes to create a buzz
  via word of mouth.

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Rumors

• Hoaxkill.com is a Web site dedicated to tracking
  hoaxes and debunking product rumors.

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The Transmission of Misinformation
Figure 11.2
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Changing Information

• Serial Reproduction
• Technique to examine the phenomenon that
  information changes as it is transmitted among
  consumers
• Assimilation Distortions tend to follow a
  pattern from ambiguous to conventional to fit
  with existing schemas
• Leveling Details are omitted to simplify
  structure
• Sharpening Prominent details are accentuated

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Cutting-Edge WOM Strategies

• Virtual Communities
• Virtual Community of Consumption A collection of
  people whose online interactions are based upon
  shared enthusiasm for and knowledge of a specific
  consumption activity.
• Multi-user Dungeons (MUD)
• Rooms, rings and lists (e.g. chat rooms)
• Boards
• Blogs (weblog)

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Multi-User Dungeons
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Four Types of VirtualCommunity Members

• Tourists
• Lack strong social ties to the group
• Minglers
• Maintain strong social ties, but are not
  interested in the central consumption activity
• Devotees
• Express strong interest in the activity, but have
  few social attachments to the group
• Insiders
• Exhibit both strong social ties and strong
  interest in the activity

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Virtual Communities
Figure 11.3
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Guerrilla Marketing

• Guerrilla Marketing
• Promotional strategies that use unconventional
  locations and intensive word-of-mouth campaigns
  to push products.
• Brand Ambassadors
• Viral Marketing
• Refers to the strategy of getting customers to
  sell a product on behalf of the company that
  creates it.

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Guerrilla Marketing Ads

• Ads painted on sidewalks are one form of
  guerrilla marketing.

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Opinion Leadership

• The Nature of Opinion Leadership
• Opinion Leaders People who are knowledgeable
  about products and whose advice is taken
  seriously by others.
• Homophily The degree to which a pair of
  individuals is similar in terms of education,
  social status, and beliefs.
• How Influential Is an Opinion Leader?
• Generalized Opinion Leader Somebody whose
  recommendations are sought for all types of
  purchases.
• Monomorphic An expert in a limited field.
• Polymorphic An expert in many fields.

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Opinion Leaders Market Shoes

• Opinion leadership is a big factor in the
  marketing of athletic shoes. Many styles first
  become popular in the inner city and then spread
  by word-of-mouth.

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Types of Opinion Leaders

• Innovators
• Early purchasers
• Innovative Communicators
• Opinion leaders who also are early purchasers
• Opinion leaders also are likely to be opinion
  seekers
• The Market Maven
• Describes people who are actively involved in
  transmitting marketplace information of all
  types.
• The Surrogate Consumer
• A person who is hired to provide input in
  purchase decisions.

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Cool hunters and mavens

• Maven - unpaid enthusiasts who initiate
  discussions with consumers and respond to
  requests for information
• neighbourhoods mavens
• professional mavens (critics, reviewers,
  correspondents)
• celebrity mavens (Beckham)
• modern consumers need maverns to
• seek relevant information
• provide a trustworthy recommendation
• decide which is best
• examples
• Blair Witch Project
• Harry Potter

http//www.sharperimage.com
http//www.NewConsumer.co.uk/
Lewis and Bridger 2000
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Perspectives on theCommunications Process
Figure 11.4
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Fashion Opinion Leaders

• Fashion opinion leaders tend to be knowledgeable
  about clothing and highly motivated to stay on
  top of fashion trends.

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Identifying Opinion Leaders

• Self-designated Opinion Leaders
• Sociometric Methods
• Trace Communication patterns among members of a
  group.
• Referral Behavior
• Network Analysis Focuses on communication in
  social systems
• Referral Network
• Tie Strength The nature of the bond between
  people.
• Bridging Function Allows a consumer access
  between subgroups.
• Cliques Subgroups

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Revised Opinion Leadership Scale
Figure 11.5