Understanding Group Dynamics and Consumer Behavior
Understanding Groups
What is a Group?
Two or more people who interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals.
Membership Groups
A group to which a person either belongs or would qualify for membership.
Normative Reference Groups
Reference groups that influence general or broadly defined values or behavior.
Comparative Reference Groups
Reference groups that serve as benchmarks for specific or narrowly defined attitudes or behavior.
Indirect Reference Groups
Individuals or groups with whom a person doesn’t have direct face-to-face contact.
Factors Affecting Reference Group Influence
Credibility, Attractiveness, and Power
Consumers seeking accurate product information are more likely to be persuaded by trustworthy and knowledgeable sources.
Product Conspicuousness
Products that stand out and are noticed, especially verbally conspicuous products, can be highly influential.
Reference Groups and Consumer Conformity
Marketers might encourage consumers to be different when making purchase decisions.
Family
Two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption who reside together.
Family Types
- Married Couple: A husband and wife who haven’t yet started a family.
- Nuclear Family: A husband and wife, and one or more children.
- Extended Family: A nuclear family with at least one grandparent living in the household.
Family Roles and Functions
Economic Well-being
- Married women employed outside the home.
- Teenage children working to pay for their own amusements.
Emotional Support
- Providing support and encouragement.
- Assisting with decision-making, love, affection, and intimacy.
Family Life Cycle Stages
- Postparenthood: When all children have left home.
- Dissolution: Occurs with the death of one spouse; the surviving spouse may seek a second marriage.
- Childless Couples: Couples who choose not to have children.
- Couples marrying later in life: Often have fewer or no children.
- Single Parents I: High divorce rates contribute to single-parent households.
- Single Parents II: Young people with one or more children out of wedlock.
- Single Parents III: Single people who adopt children.
- Extended Family: Young single-adult children returning home to save money while establishing careers.
Nonfamily Households
- Unmarried couples.
- Divorced persons (no children).
Subcultures and Consumer Behavior
Subculture
Groups possessing beliefs, values, and customs that set them apart from other members of the same society.
Acculturation
Hispanic people gradually adopting the consumption patterns of the majority of U.S. consumers.
Twixters
Individuals aged 21-29 who continue to live with their parents, spanning Gen Y and Gen X markets.
Consumer Decision-Making
Levels of Consumer Decision-Making
- Extensive Problem Solving: Consumers haven’t established criteria for evaluating a product category or specific brand.
Input
External influences that serve as sources of information about a particular product.
Marketing Inputs
A firm’s marketing activities aimed at reaching, informing, and persuading consumers.
Sociocultural Inputs
Non-commercial influences such as comments from friends, newspaper editorials, and family usage.
Output
Post-decision activities including purchase behavior and post-purchase evaluation.
Consumer Gift Behavior
An important part of consumer behavior.
Gifting Classification
- Intergroup Gifting: A group gives a gift to another group.
- Intercategory Gifting: An individual gives a gift to a group or vice versa.
- Intragroup Gifting: A group gives a gift to itself or its members.
- Interpersonal Gifting: An individual gives a gift to another individual.
- Intrapersonal Gifting: A self-gift.
Social Class and Status
Social Class
The relative ranking of members of each social class based on specific status factors.
Status Consumption
Consumers attempting to increase their social standing through conspicuous consumption and possessions.
Social Categories
Upper-Upper-Middle-Middle-Working-Lower
Income
Individual or family income used to approximate social-class standing.
Other Variables
Quality of neighborhood and dollar value of residence are rarely used as sole measures of social class.