TÜKETİCİ DAVRANIŞLARI

The following presents some definitions of attitudes:

• Attitude is our positive (liking), negative (disliking) or indifferent (neutral, neutrality, aloofness) evaluation of an object, a person or people (including ourselves), a topic or an idea, and our tendency to act in a certain way based on these evaluations (Koç, 2019).

• Attitude is defined as the positive or negative evaluations felt by the individual toward objects, concepts, ideas or symbols (Loudon & Bitta, 1993).

• Attitude is “the tendency to evaluate a symbol, object or event in a negative or positive way” (Katz, 1960).

The purpose of studies on attitude is to predict and to explain behavior of individuals (Eiser, 1997).

Consumers’ attitudes to object of attitudes i.e. products, brands, stores, restaurants etc.can be complex. They vary according to (Blythe, 2001:54):

• valence – whether the attitude is positive, negative or neutral;

• extremity – the strength and the power of the attitude;

• resistance – the degree to which the attitude can be changed by outside influences;

• persistence – the degree to which the attitude erodes over time; and

• confidence – the level at which the consumer believes the attitude is correct.

There are three elements of an attitude: cognitive, emotional and behavioral. The cognitive element refers to the knowledge and beliefs of the consumer about an object or event. The emotional element characterizes feelings about objects. The behavioral element represents goals and the desire to act towards the goal. For more information, refer to Figure 5.1 in the course book.

Consumers approach a product purchase decision as a problem-solving process. In the first level of hierarchy, the consumer forms his beliefs about a product or a brand by accumulating knowledge (beliefs) regarding relevant attributes of the product/brand. Later, the consumer evaluates his beliefs and forms a feeling about the product (affect). For more information please refer to Figure 5.2 in the course book.

After purchasing a product or service, consumers adopt different attitudes based on their liking or disliking. Utilitarian function is related to the basic principles of reward or punishment (Solomon et al., 2006a). For example, a person’s attitude towards a cleaning agent can be shaped by either removing dirt easily (maximizing reward) or preventing consumers from spending too much time to remove dirt (minimizing punishment) (Gregory, et al., 2002). If the object a consumer wants to have in order to meet a specific need serves his/her purpose, the attitude developed towards it will also be positive (İnceoğlu, 2011). People strive to maximize rewards in their external environment and reduce punishments to the lowest level (Katz, 1960). In this example, consumers are maximizing their reward by being able to drive further, and minimizing their punishments through reduced fuel consumption and running costs.

Encouraging attitude formation based on imagined experience: Marketers can communicate information through ads featuring vivid language, detailed pictures, or instructions to encourage consumers to imagine the experience. Doing this may produce positive brand attitudes as long as consumers are good at imagining things and as long as they focus on positive aspects rather than potentially negative aspects.

Scarcity: The more difficult it is to obtain a product or brand, the more attractive it becomes as its quantity decreases. Therefore, it can be very useful to emphasize scarcity in messages to create an attitude. In particular, the use of restriction in campaigns can be given as an example.

Identification: A process of identification occurs when attitudes are formed in order for the consumer to be similar to another person or group. Advertising that depicts the social consequences of choosing some products over others is relying on the tendency of consumers to imitate the behaviour of desirable models.

According to the “Balance Theory”, individuals form a system which they call “triad” and they determine their attitude according to the relationship among triads. Each triad includes 1. a person and his/her perceptions, 2. an attitude object, and 3. “the other” (a person or an object). People can shape their attitudes clearly if the triad is in harmony, and they feel tension if there is a discrepancy between these three things. This theory assumes that balanced states are stable while imbalanced states are unstable. When an unstable situation arises, the psychological tension encourages a person to restore balance cognitively by changing the relationships. Therefore, a person’s attitude towards an object depends on his attitude towards a source that is linked to the object.

Validity is an important issue in attitude scales. Validity expresses the precision and accuracy of scientific findings (Büyüköztürk et al., 2010; McMillan & Schumaher, 2010). One of the most common problems that decrease validity is social desirability. Responses to items in an attitude scale towards social desirability are responses that are inconsistent with the individual’s real feelings.

Success. It’s a Mind Game.

Eating at the canteen is very convenient.

rationale

the strength and the power of the attitude

I-Beliefs

II-Affect

III-Behaviour

involvement

Drive

Balance Theory

Normative scales

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