Chapter 9 - Reference Groups and Communities

Question 1

What are reference groups?

Answer 1

groups that serve as sources of comparison, influence, and norms for people’s opinions, values and behaviours

Question 2

What is culture?

Answer 2

The collective values, customers, norms, arts, social institutions, and intellectual achievements of a particular society which express its principles, standards, and priorities

Question 3

What is source credibility?

Answer 3

A source’s persuasive impact, stemming from its perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and believability. reference groups have a high degree of source credibility!

Question 4

What are the two source types?

Answer 4

formal sources (either a personal or medium providing consumption-related information and hired and paid by an organization)

informal sources (conversations with someone we trust, and know personally)

Question 5

What are the two types of influence?

Answer 5

Normative influence - learning and adopting a group’s norms, values, and behaviours. (groups in which we naturally belong)

Comparative influence - when people compare themselves to others, whom they respect and admire, and then adopt their values or imitate their behaviours. (ex. recently graduated student admires her boss)

Question 6

What are two types of reference groups?

Answer 6

Membership groups (ex. you are apart of the BAUS)

Symbolic groups (unlikely to belong to the group but you may want to be like them)

Question 7

How are membership groups affected by normative and comparative influence?

Answer 7

Normative - high level of conformity to standards of immediate membership. Aware of the influence of this group.

Comparative - Conformity to the standards of groups that influenced aspire to join. Probably know each other and are aware of the influence

Question 8

How are symbolic groups affected by normative and comparative influence?

Answer 8

Normative - no significant influence

Comparative - high degree of influence event though they know they will never join this group

Question 9

Name some of the consumption related reference groups?

Answer 9

Friends (seeking and maintaining relationships)

Fellow shoppers (shop together to enjoy or reduce perceived risk, brining along someone whose expertise will reduce chances of making incorrect purchases)

Virtual communities (ex. leaving comments and reviews on websites)

Advocacy groups (assist consumers in making decisions and support consumer’s rights)

Question 10

What is conformity?

Answer 10

To influence its members, a reference group must:

• Inform members that the brand or product exists
• Provide opportunity to compare thinking with the attitudes and behaviour of the group
• Influence individual to adopt attitudes and behaviour that are consistent with the group’s norms
• legitimize the member’s decision to use the same product as other members

Question 11

Explain three reference group influences.

Answer 11

Group Power (when consumers are concerned about approval from others they usually adopt the same products or brands as those members who have status)

Product Expertise (Individuals who has firsthand experience with a product or service are less likely to be influenced by others)

Product Conspicuousness (noticeable (stands out!) things are more likely for people to care about in terms of reference groups ex. piercings and tattoos are very conspicuous and toothpaste is not at all)

Question 12

What are some ways to convey company credibility?

Answer 12

Past performance, good reputation, product quality, good service, image and attractiveness of spokespersons, reputation of retailers that carry offerings, media where they advertise

Question 13

What is institutional advertising?

Answer 13

Advertising that promotes a company’s overall image without referring to specific products

Question 14

What do we know about endorsers and spokespersons?

Answer 14

Synergy (the fit, the greater the fit the higher the persuasiveness of the person) between endorser and type of product/service advertised is very important!

Endorsers with demographics similar to the target market audience are more credible and persuasive

Consumers must trust the marketer (even if they like the endorser)

Message contents must be congruent with spokesperson’s qualifications

Question 15

What are four ways marketers employ celebrities in promotion?

Answer 15

Celebrity testimonial: based on personal usage, the celebrity attests to the product’s quality

Celebrity endorsement: celebrities appear on behalf of products with which they may or may not have direct experience or familiarity

Celebrity actor: the celebrity plays a part in a commercial for the product

Celebrity spokesperson: The celebrity represents the brand or company over an extended period.

Question 16

What are “slice-of-life” commercials?

Answer 16

Promotional messages showing typical consumers in everyday situations. Proven to be more effective than commercials featuring fantasy or emotional appeals.

Question 17

What are the three types of credibility discussed?

Answer 17

Salesperson credibility (show confidence and give impression of honesty and integrity are most persuasive)

Vendor credibility (reputation of the retailer)

Medium credibility (reputation of the medium that carries the ad also enhances credibility ex. vogue magazine=status)

Question 18

What are some characteristics of opinion leaders?

Answer 18

Knowledgeable in product category, self-confident, outgoing, sociable, read special-interest publications and websites, often same socio-economic and age group as receivers.

Question 19

What are four ways you can measure opinion leadership?

Answer 19

Self-designation method - asking respondents to evaluate the extent to which they had provided others with information about products and influenced their purchases.

Social interactions - sociometric method traces person to person communications about a product or brand among members of a community where most people know each other by name.

Identifying experts - key informants, people who are keenly knowledgeable about the nature of social communications among members of a specific group

Online influence - klout score, a numerical value that measures person’s influence online based on their ability to generate engagement with and feedback to their online postings.

Question 20

What is important to know about key leaders

Answer 20

people who are keenly knowledgeable about the nature of social communications among members of a specific group

Researchers go to them to know about who opinion leaders are

Question 21

What are social networks?

Answer 21

a virtual community where people share information about themselves with others, generally with similar interests, with whom they had established relationships that, mostly exist in cyberspace

Question 22

What are the three underlying dimensions of consumers’ engagement in word-of-mouth online

Answer 22

1. Tie strength: the degree of intimacy and frequency of contacts between the information seeker and the source
2. Similarity: among the group’s members in terms of demographics and lifestyles
3. Source credibility: The information seeker’s perceptions of the source’s expertise

Question 23

What is brand community?

Answer 23

An online community formed by consumers who share an attachment to a brand

Question 24

What is viral advertising?

Answer 24

A marketing technique that uses social networks to increase brand awareness by encouraging individuals to pass along online email messages or other comments

Question 25

What are the five adopter categories in order?

Answer 25

1. Innovators (10%)
2. Early adopters (15%)
3. Early majority (30%)
4. Late majority (30%)
5. Laggards (15%)

Question 26

What is risk aversion?

Answer 26

Those reluctant to take risks or a low tolerance for ambiguity

1. They always read and follow manufacturers’ warnings
   2.When it comes to medications they always obey instructions
2. They feel reluctant to buy new products they haven’t tried
3. If products come in assembled or unassembled forms, they usually buy the assembled version even if it’s more expensive
4. They do not improvise when they cook and follow recipes fully