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Chapter 11Group Influence and Opinion Leadership
By Michael R. Solomon
Consumer BehaviorBuying, Having, and Being
Sixth Edition
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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?
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Reference Groups
• Reference Group– An actual or imaginary individual or group
conceived of having significant relevance upon an individual’s evaluations, aspirations, or behavior
– Three ways reference groups influence consumers• Informational
• Utilitarian
• Value-Expressive
– Some people are more influential than others in affecting consumers’ product preferences.
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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
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Expert Power
• A physician has expert power, and a white coat reinforces this expertise by conferring legitimate power.
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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
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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.
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• 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?
Discussion Question
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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.
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Products as a Way to be Popular
• Many products, especially those targeted to young people, are often touted as a way to take the inside track to popularity. This Brazilian ad lets us know about people who don’t like a certain shoe.
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Membership vs. AspirationalReference Groups
• Aspirational Reference Groups– Comprise idealized figures such as successful business
people, athletes, or performers.
• Membership Reference Group– Ordinary people whose consumption activities provide
informational social influence.• Propinquity: Physical nearness.
• Mere Exposure: Liking persons or things simply as a result of seeing them more often (mere exposure phenomenon)
• Group Cohesiveness: The degree to which members of a group are attracted to each other and value their group membership.
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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
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Positive Reference Groups
• This recruiting ad presents a compelling role model for young women contemplating a career in the armed forces.
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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
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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
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Conformity
• Conformity– A change in beliefs or actions as a reaction to real or
imagined group pressure.• Norms
– Informal rules that govern behavior.• Factors Influencing the Likelihood of Conformity
– Cultural Pressures– Fear of Deviance– Commitment
• Principle of Least Interest– Group Unanimity, Size, and Expertise– Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence
• Role-relaxed consumers
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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
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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
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• This ad for a video game says, “Conformity Bytes!”, but then captions, “Join the Revolution!” Why?
• Does this ad encourage independence or anticonformity?
Discussion Question
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Rumors
• Hoaxkill.com is a Web site dedicated to tracking hoaxes and debunking product rumors.
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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
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Cutting-Edge WOM Strategies
• Virtual Communities– Virtual Community of Consumption: A
collection of people whose online interactions are based upon shared enthusiasm for and knowledge of a specific consumption activity.
• Multi-user Dungeons (MUD)
• Rooms, rings and lists (e.g. chat rooms)
• Boards
• Blogs (weblog)
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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
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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.
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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.
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Opinion Leaders Market Shoes
• Opinion leadership is a big factor in the marketing of athletic shoes. Many styles first become popular in the inner city and then spread by word-of-mouth.
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Types of Opinion Leaders
• Innovators– Early purchasers
• Innovative Communicators– Opinion leaders who also are early purchasers
– Opinion leaders also are likely to be opinion seekers
• The Market Maven– Describes people who are actively involved in transmitting
marketplace information of all types.
• The Surrogate Consumer– A person who is hired to provide input in purchase decisions.
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Cool hunters and mavens
• Maven - unpaid enthusiasts who initiate discussions with consumers and respond to requests for information
– neighbourhoods mavens– professional mavens (critics,
reviewers, correspondents)– celebrity mavens (Beckham)
• modern consumers need maverns to
– seek relevant information– provide a ‘trustworthy’
recommendation– decide which is best
• examples– Blair Witch Project– Harry Potter
Lewis and Bridger 2000
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Fashion Opinion Leaders
• Fashion opinion leaders tend to be knowledgeable about clothing and highly motivated to stay on top of fashion trends.
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Identifying Opinion Leaders
• Self-designated Opinion Leaders• Sociometric Methods
– Trace Communication patterns among members of a group.
– Referral Behavior
– Network Analysis: Focuses on communication in social systems
– Referral Network
– Tie Strength: The nature of the bond between people.
– Bridging Function: Allows a consumer access between subgroups.
– Cliques: Subgroups