Chapter 12 Group, Dyadic and Diffusion Processes

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Chapter 12Group, Dyadic and Diffusion Processes

• Consumer Behavior A FrameworkJohn C.
  MowenMichael S. Minor

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Key Concepts

• Groups and types of groups
• Role
• Social comparison processes
• Group polarization
• Trends in household demographics

• Child influence on family decisions
• How business to business and consumer buying
  differ
• Service encounters as theater
• Market mavens
• Diffusion

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Group Processes

• A group is a set of individuals which
• interacts with one another over some period of
  time, and
• shares some common need or goal.

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Groups Influence Buying in Two Ways

• They affect the purchases made by individual
  consumers
• Group members sometimes make decisions as a group

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Types of Groups

• Reference group encompasses a number of more
  specific types of groups.
• Aspiration group
• Dissociative group
• Primary group
• Formal group
• Informal group

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How Do Groups Influence Consumers?

• Group influence processes
• The creation of roles within the group
• The development of conformity pressures
• The social-comparison process
• The development of group polarization

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Group Influence Processes

• Groups influence people by
• providing norms
• providing information
• encouraging them to express certain types of
  values.
• Group influence is greater for public goods,
  not as great for private goods.

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Normative, Informational, and Value-Expressive
Influences

• Normative influence - occurs when group norms act
  to influence individual behavior.
• Informational influence - operates when the group
  provides highly credible information that
  influences the consumers purchase decision.
• Value-expressive influence - consumers sense that
  a reference group has certain values and
  attitudes pertaining to the consumption process.

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A Role . . .

• . . . consists of the specific behaviors
  expected of a person in a certain position
• Role-related product cluster - a set of
  products necessary for playing a particular role.

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Conformity is . . .

• . . . a change in behavior or belief toward a
  group as a result of real or imagined group
  pressure.
• There are two types of conformity
• Compliance
• Private Acceptance

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Factors Leading to Conformity

• Group factors
• Cohesiveness
• Expertise
• Size of group
• Individual Factors
• Amount of information the individual possesses
• Attractiveness of group/Individuals need to be
  liked
• Type of Decision

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Social-Comparison Processes

• The process by which people evaluate the
• correctness of their opinions,
• extent of their abilities, and
• appropriateness of their possessions.

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Group Polarization

• Groups tend to select more extreme positions than
  that of the average group member.
• Conservative as well as risky shifts are possible.

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Families and Households

• Households are composed of all those people who
  occupy a living unit
• The Nuclear Family
• The Extended Family
• The Detached Nuclear Family

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The Demographics of Households
e

• Two general types of
• households
• Families (70.6)
• Nonfamilies (29.4)

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Family Households

• Married couples
• Married with children at home
• Married with no children at home
• Single fathers
• Single mothers
• Other families

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Nonfamily Households

• Men Living Alone
• Women Living Alone
• Other Nonfamilies

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Some Household Trends

• Childless couples 45-64 have the most buying
  power.
• Single parents/childless singles over 45 have the
  least.
• Size has shrunk from 3.14 to 2.67 persons.
• Increase in divorce children leave home prior to
  marriage older people maintain own homes.
• Later marriage.
• 2-career families.

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Family Decision Making

• As in organizational buying units, the decision
  maker may not be the user or maintainer of the
  product.
• Families come in many different configurations so
  it is difficult to identify average family
  decision making.

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Relative Influence Of Decision Makers

• Wife-Dominated Decisions
• Husband-Dominated Decisions
• Autonomic Decisions
• Syncratic Decisions

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Family Influence - Children

• Children have more influence on
• Food, vacations, eating out .
• Adept at forming alliances with 1 parent to
  constitute a majority.
• Child influence increases with age and earnings.

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Childhood Consumer Socialization

• . . . refers to the processes by which young
  people acquire skills, knowledge and attitudes
  relevant to their functioning as consumers in the
  marketplace.

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Model of Consumer Socialization
Background Factors
Socialization Agents
Learning Mechanisms
Outcomes
Modeling Reinforce- ment Cognitive develop- ment
SES Sex Age Class Religion
Media Family Peers Teachers
The Socialized Customer
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Organizational Buying Behavior

• An organizational buying center is made up of
  those people in an organization who participate
  in the buying decision and who share the risks
  and goals of the decision.

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Building Relationships in Organizational Buying

• Relationship marketing refers to the overt
  attempt of exchange partners to build a long-term
  association characterized by purposeful
  cooperation and mutual dependence and development
  of social, as well as structural bonds.

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Websters Marketing Relationships Continuum
Pure Transaction
1. Transaction
2. Repeated Transactions
3. Long-Term Relationship
4. Buyer-Seller Relationship
5. Strategic Alliance
6. Network Organization
7. Vertical Integration
Source Frederick E.Webster, The Changing Role
of Marketing in the Corporation, Journal of
Marketing 56 (October 1992), pp. 1-17.
Full Integration
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Dyadic Exchange . . .

• . . . takes place when two individuals transfer
  resources between each other

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Word-of-Mouth Communication

• . . . refers to an exchange of comments,
  thoughts, or ideas between two or more consumers,
  none of whom is a marketing source.

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Word-of-Mouth Communication

• May account for 3 times as many sales as
  advertising.
• Is twice as effective as radio ads, 4 times as
  effective as personal selling, 7 times as
  effective as newspapers or magazines.

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Opinion Leaders...

• Lead in a specific product category and
  situation.
• Are usually involved with the product category.
• May have higher social status than followers.
• May be more innovative in purchases than
  followers.
• Are a bit similar to product innovators.

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Types of Opinion Leaders

• Opinion Leader
• Always involved in product category.
• High status, socially active.
• Product Innovator
• Purchases innovative products
• Less integrated into social groups.

• Market Maven
• General market knowledge
• Expertise not product specific.
• Surrogate Consumer
• Often professional tax consultant, wine steward,
  stock broker.

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Service Encounters . . .

• . . a personal interaction between a consumer
  and a marketer.

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Service Encounters as Theater
Management Functions, Rehearsal
Firms Backstage Firms Front
Region Customers Front Region Customers
Backstage
Personal Front, etc. Performance Personal
Front, etc.
Management Functions, Rehearsal
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Symmetrical Customer/ Employee Service Themes

• Indifference
• Cooperation
• Dominance

• Autonomy
• Mutual cooperation
• Total dependence

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Diffusion . . .

• . . . refers to the idea that substances and
  ideas can gradually spread through a medium of
  some type and reach a state of equilibrium.

• . . . in the consumer behavior setting, refers
  to the process by which innovative ideas,
  products, and services spread through the
  consumer population.

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Transmission Processes

• Trickle-Down Theory
• Multi-Step Flow Model

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Multistep Flow Model...
Mass Media
F
Gatekeeper
O
Follow- ers
Mass Media
G
F
O
Mass Media
F
Opinion Leaders
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Implications of Multistep Model

• Mass communications can directly reach nearly
  everyone.
• For some products, opinion leader/follower roles
  are reversed.
• Gatekeepers can choose whether opinion
  leaders/followers get information.
• Communication flows back and forth between all 3
  groups.

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The Diffusion of Innovations

• A product innovation is a product that has been
  recently introduced and is perceived by consumers
  to be new in relation to existing products or
  services

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Managerial Implications

• Positioning. New products should be positioned
  to appeal to opinion leaders, then possibly
  repositioned to appeal to followers.
• Environmental Scanning. Scanning can identify
  what present customers are saying to other
  customers or potential customers about the
  company or its products.
• Market Research. Research can provide insight
  into the shape of the diffusion curve for a new
  product.

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Implications continued...

• Marketing Mix. Promotions can be positioned to
  appeal to children and thus utilize their
  influence in family decision makings.
• Segmentation. Naturally existing groups of
  customers make outstanding target markets.