CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDES IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
ATTITUDES
Attitude can be formed from a person’s past and present. Attitude is also measurable and changeable as well as influencing the person’s emotion and behavior. In simple words, attitude may refer to the distinct concept of mood, or be especially synonymous with teenage rebellion.
According to Gordon Allport
“An attitude is an expression of favor or disfavor toward a person, place, thing, or event, the most distinctive and indispensable concept in contemporary social psychology.”
According to Eagly & Chaiken, 1983
“A psychological tendency that is by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor”
According to Fazio, 1995
“Association in memory between a given objects and a given summery evaluation of the objects.”
According to Petty & Cacioppo, 1981
“A general and enduring positive or negative feeling about some person, objects, or issues.”
According to Zanna & Rempel, 1988
“The categorization of a stimulus objects along an evaluative dimension.”
- Attitudes are acquired; we are not born with them
- Attitudes can be positive or negative
- Attitudes may be complex and contradictory
- Attitudes are functional for an individual’s lifestyle
- Attitudes have different intensities
- Attitudes have centrality, how well they fit our central values
- Attitudes are personally unique to each individual
- Attitudes can be modified and influenced by persuasion
CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDES IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer attitude can be better explained by understanding the nature and characteristics of attitude. Attitudes are composed of three components, viz, a knowledge or cognitive component, a feeling and affect component and a behavioral and conative component.
In terms of consumer learning, the attitude would express a consumer’s feeling of like or dislike about a product or service offering and the marketing mix. The knowledge component is reflected in the learned knowledge that a consumer obtains from his interaction with others as well as his own experiences. The feeling component is reflected in his evaluation, and the resultant feeling of favourableness and unfavourableness. The behavioral component is reflected in the predisposition to act (purchase) based on the evaluation.
Based on this explanation, the nature or characteristics of attitudes in consumer behavior can be elaborated as follows:
ATTITUDES ARE DIRECTED TOWARDS AN OBJECT
Attitudes are directed towards an object (product/service offering, price, store, dealer, promotion, advertisement etc.) about which a consumer has feelings and beliefs.
ATTITUDES HAVE A DIRECTION
Attitudes have a direction; they could be positive or negative. A consumer could possess feelings of like/dislike, favourableness and unfavourableness towards a product or service as well as the mix. They vary in degrees and intensity, and can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favourable to very unfavourable.
ATTITUDES ARE CONSISTENT IN NATURE
Attitudes are consistent in nature, particularly with respect to the third component, i.e. behavior. Consumers are consistent with respect to their behavior. However, they are not entirely permanent and may change if the cognitive or the component is changed.
This implies that if the consumer witnesses new experience or is exposed to new information about product/service offering and the mix (cognition), and) feelings are changed from dislike to like (affect), attitudes towards the offering and the mix can undergo change. In other words, while attitudes are stable and do not change frequently, they can be changed if something is done to change them.
ATTITUDES ARE LEARNED PREDISPOSITION
Attitudes are a learned predisposition. Attitudes are learned; they are formed as a result of
- Self-experiences with the product/service offering and the mix;
- Interaction with other people, be it family, friends, peers and colleagues;
- Information obtained from the marketer through promotion particularly advertisements as well as dealers and salespeople.
Attitude formation as a process is impacted by needs and motivation, perception as well as learning.
ATTITUDES CANNOT BE OBSERVED DIRECTLY
Attitudes cannot be observed directly. While attitudes are comprised of three components, behavior is just one of them. It is only this component that can be seen; the cognitive and affect components cannot be seen.
Thus it is said that attitudes cannot be seen; they can only be inferred from the manner in which an individual behaves. Thus, we can infer that a person who buys Colgate Total toothpaste and disregards Pepsodent has a positive attitude towards Colgate.
ATTITUDES NOT SYNONYMOUS TO BEHAVIOR
While attitudes can be inferred from our behavior, it is not synonymous to behavior. It has two other components, and reflects a learned predisposition to act favorable or unfavorably towards a product and service offering and the mix;
ATTITUDES ARE SITUATION SPECIFIC
Attitudes are situation specific; they occur within a situation. Sometimes depending upon the situation, a consumer may exhibit a behavior that may be inconsistent with his/her attitude. He may prefer to buy Pepsodent over Colgate because the former is on a sales promotion and gets him a free toothbrush.
