Chapter 11 Group Influence and Opinion Leadership

By Michael R. Solomon Chapter 11Group Influence and Opinion Leadership Consumer Behavior Buying, Having, and Being Sixth Edition

Opening Vignette: Zachary • Does Zachary meet your mental stereotype for a Harley Davidson owner? • Why does Zachary desire to have more Harley “stuff”? • How do Zach’s fellow RUBs influence his purchases? • What benefits does Zach enjoy from his association with other Harley owners?

Harley Owners Group

Reference Group • An actual or imaginary individual or group conceived of having significant relevance upon an individual’s evaluations, aspirations, or behavior

Groupies... The term reference group may be loosely used in order to identify anyone who has an influence on your behaviour. The primary types of reference groups are: • (1) The normative influence – that is, the reference group helps to set and enforce fundamental standards of conduct (e.g. our family’s influence). • (2) The comparative influence – where decisions about specific brands or activities are affected (e.g. a club that you belong to).

Relative Reference Groups’Influence on Purchase Intention Figure 11.1

When Reference GroupsAre Important • Social Power: • The capacity to alter the actions of others • Referent Power: • When consumers imitate qualities by copying behaviors of a prominent person they admire. • Information Power: • Able to influence consumer opinion by virtue of their (assumed) access to the “truth” • Legitimate Power: • Granted to people by virtue of social agreements, sometimes conferred by a uniform

Expert Power • A physician has expert power, and a white coat reinforces this expertise by conferring legitimate power.

When Reference GroupsAre Important (cont.) • Expert Power: • Derived from possessing specific knowledge about a content area • Reward Power: • When a person or group has the means to provide positive reinforcement • Coercive Power: • Influencing a person by social or physical intimidation

Types of Reference Groups • Reference Group: • Any external influence that provides social cues • Normative Influence: • The reference group helps to set and enforce fundamental standards of conduct. • Comparative Influence: • When decisions about specific brands or activities are affected.

Discussion Question • Marketers often portray products being used in groups that represent favorable reference groups to the target market. • What type of message does this ad convey? What type of influence is this ad designed to exert on its target audience?

Brand Communities and Tribes • Brand Community: • A set of consumers who share a set of social relationships based upon usage or interest in a product. • Brandfests • Consumer Tribe: • A group of people who share a lifestyle and who can identify with each other because of a shared allegiance to an activity or product. • Tribal Marketing: • To link one’s product to the needs of a group as a whole.

Keep me close... The likelihood that people will become part of a consumer’s identification reference group is affected by several factors, including: • (a) Propinquity – people just like us. • (b) Mere exposure – physical nearness or distance (imitate those closest). • (c) Group cohesiveness – greatest with small groups (exclusiveness).

Match.com

What do you expect me to do...? • In most instances, consumers model their behaviour in order to be consistent with what they think the group expects of them.

What is a Group? • Two or more people who interact to accomplish either individual or mutual goals • A membership group is one to which a person either belongs or would qualify for membership • A symbolic group is one in which an individual is not likely to receive membership despite acting like a member

Positive Versus NegativeReference Groups • Avoidance Groups • Groups that consumers purposely try to distance themselves from • Nerds • Druggies • Preppies • The motivation to distance oneself from a negative reference group can be as powerful or more powerful than the desire to please a positive group

Positive Reference Groups • This recruiting ad presents a compelling role model for young women contemplating a career in the armed forces.

Consumers Do it in Groups • Deindividuation: • A process in which individual identities become submerged within a group. • Social Loafing: • People do not devote as much to a task when their contribution is part of a larger group effort • Risky Shift: • Group members are willing to consider riskier alternatives subsequent to group discussion • Diffusion of Responsibility: • As more people are involved in a decision, each individual is less accountable for the outcome

Deindividuation • Costumes hide our true identities and encourage deindividuation.

Consumers Do it in Groups (cont.) • Value Hypothesis: • Riskiness is a culturally valued characteristic to which individuals feel pressure to conform • Decision Polarization: • Whichever direction the group members were leaning toward before discussion becomes more extreme subsequent to discussion • Home Shopping Parties: • Capitalize on group pressures to increase sales

Home Shopping Parties Women at a home Tupperware party. Shopping behaviors change when people shop in groups. Home shopping parties capitalize on group pressures to boost sales.

Group Influences • Group pressure often influences our clothing choices.

Are you conformable...? Conformity refers to a change in beliefs or actions as a reaction to real or imagined group pressure. • 1) For a society to function, its members develop norms, or informal rules that govern behavior. • 2) Norms change slowly over time. • 3) Unspoken rules govern many aspects of consumption.

Factor it in... • Among the factors that affect the likelihood of conformity are the following: • 1) Cultural pressures— teenagers tend to “follow the crowd.” • 2) Fear of deviance—the group applies penalties to “rule violators.” • 3) Commitment—the more dedication, the stronger the follower. • 4) Group unanimity, size, and expertise—the “law of large numbers.” • 5) Susceptibility to interpersonal influence—the individual’s need to identify or enhance his or her image in the opinion of significant others.

How do you compare..? Sometimes we look to the behaviour of others to provide a yardstick about reality. • 1) Social comparison theoryasserts that this process occurs as a way to increase the stability of one’s self-evaluation, especially when physical evidence is unavailable. • 2) Consumers are selective about whom they use for benchmarks. Similarity boosts confidence. • 3) In general people tend to choose a co-oriented peer, or a person of equivalent standing, when undergoing a social comparison.

The place of least resistance... Resisting Conformity We take pride in our individualism and uniqueness or in our ability to resist the best sales efforts of salespeople and advertisers. • In the study of consumer behaviour it is important to distinguish between independence and anti-conformity (where there is a defiance of the group). • People have a deep-seated need to preserve freedom of choice. • a) Reactance is a negative emotional state wherein people try to overcome a loss of freedom. For example, censorship makes us want things more.

Customers Providing Testimonials

Social Comparison • Social Comparison Theory: • Asserts that people look to the behavior of others to increase the stability of their self-evaluation • Co-oriented peer: A person of equivalent standing • Resisting Conformity: • Independence: Being oblivious or indifferent to the expectations of others • Anticonformity: Defiance of the group is the actual behavior • Reactance: The negative emotional state that results when we are deprived of our freedom to choose

Discussion Question • This ad for a video game says, “Conformity Bytes!”, but then captions, “Join the Revolution!” Why? • Does this ad encourage independence or anticonformity?

Word-of-Mouth Communication • Word-of-Mouth (WOM): • Product information transmitted by individuals to individuals. • Negative WOM and the Power of Rumors: • Negative WOM: Consumers weigh negative info from other consumers more heavily than they do positive comments

Put your money where your mouth is... • 1) Word-of-mouth communication is viewed as being reliable and trustworthy by most people. • 2) WOM is often backed up by social pressure to conform with recommendations.

Why are you so negative..? Negative WOM Word of mouth is not only rapid, it can be a double-edged sword for marketers. • 1) Negative WOM is weighted more heavily than positive WOM. • 2) Rumours are the chief form. Rumours can easily be spread online. • 3) Though most people would rather tell positive than negative information, rumours tend to reveal the underlying fears of society. • 4) Rumours often result in boycotts of products, companies, or services. These boycotts can be successful or unsuccessful depending on their popularity, duration, and strength.

Word-of-Mouth • The U.S. Postal Service hopes to create a buzz via word of mouth.

Rumors • Hoaxkill.com is a Web site dedicated to tracking hoaxes and debunking product rumors.

The Transmission of Misinformation Figure 11.2

Changing Information • Serial Reproduction: • Technique to examine the phenomenon that information changes as it is transmitted among consumers • Assimilation: Distortions tend to follow a pattern from ambiguous to conventional to fit with existing schemas • Leveling: Details are omitted to simplify structure • Sharpening: Prominent details are accentuated

Bla...Bla...Bla... Various strategies have been used by marketers to try to influence WOM among consumers. One of these is to create an environment for a virtual community of consumption to grow and thrive. Forms of these communities include: • a) Multi-User Dungeons (MUD)—environments where fantasy game players meet. • b) Rooms, rings, and lists—chat rooms, organizations of related home pages, and groups of people on a single mailing list who share information. • c) Boards—online communities organized around interest-specific electronic bulletin boards. • d) Blogs—Weblogs are online personal journals containing random thoughts of thousands of individuals. The universe of active Weblogs is known as the Blogosphere.

Advice... • % of • respondents • that used • a referral • to make one • of these • purchases

Multi-User Dungeons

You are very tense... The intensity of identification with a virtual community depends on two factors: • a) The more central the activity to a person’s self-concept, the more likely he or she will be to pursue an active membership in a community. • b) The intensity of the social relationships the person forms with other members of the virtual community helps to determine his or her extent of involvement.

Four Types of VirtualCommunity Members • Tourists: • Lack strong social ties to the group • Minglers: • Maintain strong social ties, but are not interested in the central consumption activity • Devotees: • Express strong interest in the activity, but have few social attachments to the group • Insiders: • Exhibit both strong social ties and strong interest in the activity

Virtual Communities Figure 11.3

Guerrilla Marketing • Guerrilla Marketing • Promotional strategies that use unconventional locations and intensive word-of-mouth campaigns to push products. • Brand Ambassadors • Viral Marketing • Refers to the strategy of getting customers to sell a product on behalf of the company that creates it. • Buzz Marketing Is a form of viral marketing

Guerrilla Marketing Ads • Ads painted on sidewalks are one form of guerrilla marketing.

Do you like it..? • Everyone knows people who are knowledgeable about products and whose advice is taken seriously by others. These people are called opinion leaders. Reasons for opinion leaders being taken seriously as information providers include: (see following slide)

1) They are technically competent. 2) They have prescreened, evaluated, and synthesized (in an unbiased way) product information. 3) They are socially active and interconnected in their community. 4) They are similar to the consumer in value and beliefs. 5) They are often among the first to buy new products. They often absorb risk because they purchase productsfirst.

The scientific opinion is... • When marketers and social scientists initially developed the concept of the opinion leader, it was assumed that certain influential people in a community would exert an overall impact on group members’ attitudes. • 1) There is a question today as to whether there is such a thing as a generalized opinion leader. • 2) Opinion leaders tend to be concentrated in their field of interest or expertise. • 3) Some opinion leaders overlap into other fields, but not into all fields. • a. Monomorphic—experts in a limited field. • b. Polymorphic—experts in several fields (but usually concentrated).

Do you know..? • Opinion leaders are four times more likely to be asked about political issues, three times more likely to be asked about computers or investments, and twice as likely to be asked about restaurants • Information seekers seek a “strong-tie” source when they know little about a topic, and “weak-tie” sources when they have some knowledge

Opinion Leadership • The Nature of Opinion Leadership • Opinion Leaders: People who are knowledgeable about products and whose advice is taken seriously by others. • Homophily: The degree to which a pair of individuals is similar in terms of education, social status, and beliefs. • How Influential Is an Opinion Leader? • Generalized Opinion Leader: Somebody whose recommendations are sought for all types of purchases. • Monomorphic: An expert in a limited field. • Polymorphic: An expert in many fields.

Chapter 11 Group Influence and Opinion Leadership