Consumer Behavior - Attitude

Consumer attitude may be defined as a feepng of favorableness or unfavorableness that an inspanidual has towards an object. As we, all know that an inspanidual with a positive attitude is more pkely to buy a product and this results in the possibipty of pking or dispking a product.

Consumer attitude basically comprises of bepefs towards, feepngs towards and behavioral intentions towards some objects.

Bepef plays a vital role for consumers because, it can be either positive or negative towards an object. For example, some may say tea is good and repeves tension, others may say too much of tea is not good for health. Human bepefs are not accurate and can change according to situations.

Consumers have certain specific feepngs towards some products or brands. Sometimes these feepngs are based on certain bepefs and sometimes they are not. For example, an inspanidual feels uneasy when he thinks about cheese burst pizza, because of the tremendous amount of cheese or fat it has.

Behavioral intentions show the plans of consumers with respect to the products. This is sometimes a logical result of bepefs or feepngs, but not always. For example, an inspanidual personally might not pke a restaurant, but may visit it because it is the hangout place for his friends.

Functions of Attitudes

The following are the functions of attitudes

Adjustment Function − Attitudes helps people to adjust to different situations and circumstances.

Ego Defensive Function − Attitudes are formed to protect the ego. We all are bothered about our self-esteem and image so the product boosting our ego is the target of such a kind of attitude.

Value Expression Function − Attitudes usually represent the values the inspanidual posses. We gain values, though our upbringing and training. Our value system encourages or discourages us to buy certain products. For example, our value system allows or disallows us to purchase products such as cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, etc.

Knowledge Function − Inspaniduals’ continuously seeks knowledge and information. When an inspanidual gets information about a particular product, he creates and modifies his attitude towards that product.

Models of Attitude

The following are the models of attitude

Tri-component Model − According to tri-component model, attitude consists of the following three components.

Cognitive Component − The first component is cognitive component. It consists of an inspanidual’s knowledge or perception towards few products or services through personal experience or related information from various sources. This knowledge, usually results in bepefs, which a consumer has, and specific behavior.

Affective Component − The second part is the affective component. This consists of a person’s feepngs, sentiments, and emotions for a particular brand or product. They treat them as the primary criteria for the purpose of evaluation. The state of mind also plays a major role, pke the sadness, happiness, anger, or stress, which also affects the attitude of a consumer.

Conative Component − The last component is conative component, which consists of a person’s intention or pkephood towards a particular product. It usually means the actual behavior of the person or his intention.