CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Reference Groups and Family Influences

WHAT IS A GROUP?
1. A group is two or more people who interact to accomplish either individual or mutual goals.

a) This broad definition covers everything from intimate groups to formal work groups.
b) Included in this definition, too, is a kind of one-sided grouping in which an individual
consumer observes the appearance or actions of others who unknowingly serve as
consumption-related role models.
2. Sometimes groups are classified by membership status.
a) A group to which a person either belongs or would qualify for membership is called a
membership group.
3. There are also groups in which an individual is not likely to receive membership, despite
acting like a member by adopting the groups values, attitudes, and behaviorthis is
considered to be symbolic groups.

UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF REFERENCE GROUPS

1. A reference group is any person or group that serves as a point of comparison (or reference)

2.
3.
4.

5.
6.

for an individual in forming either general or specific values, attitudes, or a specific guide for
behavior.
a) They help us understand the impact of other people on an individuals consumption
beliefs, attitudes, and behavior.
b) It helps marketers choose their methodology to affect desired changes in consumer
behavior.
From a marketing perspective, reference groups are groups that serve as frames of reference
for individuals in their purchase or consumption decisions.
Reference groups that influence general or broadly defined values or behavior are called
normative reference groups.
Reference groups that serve as benchmarks for specific or narrowly defined attitudes or
behavior are called comparative reference groups.
a) A comparative reference group might be a neighboring family whose lifestyle appears
to be admirable and worthy of imitation.
Normative reference groups influence the development of a basic code of behavior.
Comparative reference groups influence the expression of specific consumer attitudes and
behavior.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
A Broadened Perspective on Reference Groups
1. The meaning of reference group has changed over the years.

a)

Originally, reference groups were narrowly defined to include only those groups with
which a person interacted on a direct basis.
b) The concept gradually has broadened to include both direct and indirect individual or
group influences.
2. Indirect reference groups consist of those individuals or groups with whom a person does
not have direct face-to-face contact, such as movie stars, sports heroes, political leaders, TV
personalities, or even a well-dressed and interesting looking person on a street corner.
3. References a person might use in evaluating his or her own general or specific attitudes or
behavior vary.
Factors That Affect Reference Group Influence
1. The degree of influence that a reference group exerts on an individuals behavior usually

depends on the nature of the individual and the product and on specific social factors.
Information and Experience
1. An individual who has firsthand experience with a product or service, or can easily obtain

full information about it, is less likely to be influenced by the advice or example of others.
a) A person who has little or no experience with a product or service and does not expect
to have access to objective information about it (e.g., a person who believes that
relevant advertising may be misleading or deceptive) is more likely to seek out the
advice or example of others.
Credibility, Attractiveness, and Power of the Reference Group
1. A reference group that is perceived as credible, attractive, or powerful can induce consumer
2.

3.

4.

5.

attitude and behavior change.

When primarily concerned with the acceptance or approval of others they like, with whom
they identify, or who offer them status or other benefits, consumers are likely to adopt their
product, brand, or other behavioral characteristics.
When consumers are primarily concerned with the power that a person or group can exert
over them, they might choose products or services that conform to the norms of that person
or group in order to avoid ridicule or punishment.
Unlike other reference groups, however, power groups are not as likely to cause attitude
change.
a) Individuals may conform to the behavior of a powerful person or group but are not as
likely to experience a change in their own attitudes.
Different reference groups may influence the beliefs, attitudes, and behavior of an individual
at different points in time or under different circumstances.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Conspicuousness of the Product

1. A visually conspicuous product is one that will stand out and be noticed.
2. A verbally conspicuous product may be highly interesting, or it may be easily described to

others.
3. Products that are especially conspicuous and status revealing (a new automobile, fashion

clothing, sleek laptop computer, or home furniture) are most likely to be purchased with an
eye to the reactions of relevant others.
Reference Groups and Consumer Conformity
1. Marketers may have divergent goals with regard to consumer conformity.
2. The ability of reference groups to change consumer attitudes and behavior by encouraging

conformity is subject to the groups ability to:

a) Inform or make the individual aware of a specific product or brand.
b) Provide the individual with the opportunity to compare his or her own thinking with the
attitudes and behavior of the group.
c) Influence the individual to adopt attitudes and behavior that are consistent with the
norms of the group.
d) Legitimize the decision to use the same products as the group.
3. A nonconformity appeal is also possible but requires a shift in attitudes or behavior.
SELECTED CONSUMER-RELATED REFERENCE GROUPS
1. Five specific reference groups are considered because they give us a kind of cross-section of

the types of groups that influence consumers attitudes and behavior. They are:
a) Friendship groups.
b) Shopping groups.
c) Work groups.
d) Virtual groups or communities.
e) Consumer-action groups.
Friendship Groups
1. Friendship groups are classified as informal groups because they are usually unstructured

and lack specific authority levels.

2. Seeking and maintaining friendships is a basic drive of most people.
3. The opinions and preferences of friends are an important influence in determining the
products or brands a consumer ultimately selects.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Shopping Groups
1. Two or more people who shop together can be called a shopping group.

a) The motivations range from primarily social to reducing risk.

b) A special form of a shopping group is the in-home shopping party.
i) Early purchasers tend to create a bandwagon effect.
ii) Undecided guests often overcome a reluctance to buy when they see their friends
make positive purchase decisions.
iii) Furthermore, some of the guests may feel obliged to buy because they are in the
home of the sponsoring host or hostess.
Work Groups
1. Both the formal work group and the informal friendship/work group have potential for

influencing consumer behavior.

2. The formal work group consists of individuals who work together as part of a team and, thus,
have the opportunity to influence each others consumption-related attitudes and actions.
3. Members of informal work groups may influence the consumption behavior of other
members during coffee or lunch breaks or after-hours meetings.
4. Recognizing that work groups influence consumers brand choices and that most women now
work outside the home, firms are redirecting their sales efforts to the workplace rather than
the home.
Virtual Groups or Communities
1. Thanks to computers and the Internet, we are witnessing the beginnings of a new type of

groupvirtual groups or communities.

2. While fifty years ago the definition of a community stressed the notion of geographic
proximity and face-to-face relationships, todays communities are much more broadly
defined as sets of social relations among people.
a) These communities provide their members with access to an extensive amount of
information and/or fellowship and social interaction covering an extremely wide range
of topics and issues.
3. The anonymity of the Internet gives its users the freedom to express whatever views they
wish, and to also benefit from savoring the views of others.
a) Because of this anonymity, Internet users can say things to others that they would not
say in face-to-face interactions.
4. Communicating over the Internet permits people to explore the boundaries of their
personalities.
Brand Communities
1. The next step in the evolution of communities will be brand communities.
2. An illustration would be Jeep owners.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer-Action Groups
1. A consumer-action grouphas emerged in response to the consumerist movement.

a)

They can be divided into two broad categories.

i) Those that organize to correct a specific consumer abuse and then disband.
ii) And, those that organize to address broader, more pervasive, problem areas and
operate over an extended or indefinite period of time.
2. The overriding objective of many consumer-action groups is to bring sufficient pressure to
bear on selected members of the business community to make them correct perceived
consumer abuses.
CELEBRITIES AND OTHER REFERENCE GROUP APPEALS
1. Celebrities and other similar reference group appeals are used very effectively by advertisers
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3.

4.

5.

to communicate with their markets.

Celebrities can be a powerful force in creating interest or actions with regard to purchasing or
using selected goods and services.
Identification may be based on admiration (e.g., of an athlete), on aspiration (of a celebrity or
a way of life), on empathy (with a person or a situation), or on recognition (of a person real
or stereotypical, or of a situation).
Five major types of reference group appeals in common marketing usage are:
a) Celebrity appeals.
b) Expert appeals.
c) Common man appeals.
d) Executive and employee appeals.
e) Trade or spokes-character appeals.
These appeals, as well as less frequently employed appeals, are often operationalized in the
form of testimonials or endorsements.
a) In the case of the common man, they may be presented as slice-of-life commercials.

Celebrities
1. Celebrities have a very common type of reference group appeal.
2. They represent an idealization of life that most people imagine that they would love to live.
3. Advertisers spend enormous sums of money to have celebrities promote their products with

the expectation that the reading or viewing audience will react positively to the celebritys
association with their products.
4. A firm has the choice of using the celebrity in different ways:
a) Testimonialsif the celebrity has personally used the product.
b) Endorsementcelebrity adds his/her name to products which he/she may be an expert
with or not.
c) Actor or Spokespersonthe celebrity represents the product over time in a variety of
media and in personal appearances.
5. Celebrity credibility is a powerful influence.
a) It is based on the audiences perception of the celebritys expertise and trustworthiness.
Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
6. Not all companies use celebrities because they arent convinced they are worth the money.

The Expert
1. A type of reference group appeal used by marketers is the experta person who, because of

his or her occupation, training, or experience, can help the consumer evaluate the product
being promoted.
The Common Man
1. A reference group appeal of based on testimonials of satisfied customers is called the

common-man approach.
a) It demonstrates that someone just like the customer is satisfied with the product or
service.
b) These commercials are of described as being slice-of-life commercials.
i) Families are often depicted in real-life situations in commercials.
The Executive and Employee Spokesperson
1. This form of advertising has grown more popular over the last twenty years and is the result

of the success of highly innovative executive spokespersons.

2. Like the celebrity, the executive spokesperson is admired by the general population because
of his/her achievements and the status implicitly conferred on business leaders in the United
States.
3. A variation of this is the use of a lower level manager or front-line employee who speaks
directly to the consuming public.
Trade or Spokes-Characters
1. The trade or spokes-character and the cartoon character serve as quasi-celebrity endorsers.
2. This person represents the idealized image and dispenses important product information.
3. This category of person is largely exclusive to a specific product or product-line.

Other Reference Group Appeals

1. There are other forms of reference group appeals, such as the respected retailer or the

editorial content of special-interest magazines.

2. Seals of approval and objective product ratings can also serve as potential endorsements.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
THE FAMILY IS A CONCEPT IN FLUX
1. The family is a basic concept in society but is not easy to define because family composition

and structure, as well as the roles played by family members, are almost always in transition.
2. Traditionally, the family is defined as two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or

3.
4.
5.

6.

adoption who reside together.

a) About 68.5 percent of the just over 105.5 million households are families.
Although families sometimes are referred to as households, not all households are families.
Within the context of consumer behavior, households and families usually are treated as
synonymous.
In most Western societies, three types of families dominate: the married couple, the nuclear
family, and the extended family. Types include:
a) The married couplea husband and wife, is the simplest structure.
b) The nuclear familya husband and wife and one or more children. This is still
commonplace.
c) The extended familya husband, wife, one or more children, and at least one
grandparent. At one time this was the norm, but geographic mobility has reduced its
presence.
d) A fourth form, the single-parent familyone parent and at least one childis growing
due to divorce, separation, and out-of-wedlock births.
The predominant form of the family is largely influenced by the culture within which the
families exist.

The Changing U.S. Family

1. Important demographic changes reflect the dynamic nature of the family.
2. There is no doubt that the typical or traditional family household has changed.

a)

Today, the most common type of household in the United States is not married, no
children with 32 percent of the total of households.
b) In 1972, 73 percent of children lived with two parents. That number is only 51 percent
in 1998.
3. Attitudes with respect to children and child-rearing have also been changing.
SOCIALIZATION OF FAMILY MEMBERS
1. The socialization of family members is a central family function.
2. In the case of young children, this process includes imparting to children the basic values and

modes of behavior consistent with the culture.

a) These generally include moral and religious principles, interpersonal skills, dress and
grooming standards, appropriate manners and speech, and the selection of suitable
educational and occupational or career goals.
3. Marketers frequently target parents who are looking for assistance in the task of socializing
their children.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
a)

To this end, marketers are sensitive to the fact that the socialization of young children
provides an opportunity to establish a foundation on which later experiences continue to
build throughout life.

Consumer Socialization of Children

1. The aspect of childhood socialization that is particularly relevant to the study of consumer

behavior is consumer socialization, which is defined as the process by which children

acquire the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to function as consumers.
2. A variety of studies have focused on how children develop consumption skills.
a) Many preadolescent children acquire their consumer behavior norms through
observation of their parents and older siblings who function as role models and sources
of cues for basic consumption learning.
b) In contrast, adolescents and teenagers are likely to look to their friends for models of
acceptable consumption behavior.
3. Shared shopping experiences (i.e., co-shopping when mother and child shop together) also
give children the opportunity to acquire in-store shopping skills.
a) Co-shopping is a way of spending time with ones children while at the same time
accomplishing a necessary task.
4. Consumer socialization also serves as a tool by which parents influence other aspects of the
socialization process.
a) For instance, parents frequently use the promise or reward of material goods as a device
to modify or control a childs behavior.
b) According to research, adolescents reported that their parents frequently used the
promise of chocolate candy as a means of controlling their behavior (e.g., getting them
to complete homework or to clean their rooms).
Adult Consumer Socialization
1. Socialization begins in early childhood and extends throughout a persons entire life.

Intergenerational Socialization
1. It is common for product or brand loyalty or preference to be passed from one generation to
another, sometimes up to three or four generations.
OTHER FUNCTIONS OF THE FAMILY
1. Other basic functions include economic well-being, emotional support, and suitable family
lifestyles.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Economic Well-Being
1. Providing financial means to its dependents is unquestionably a basic family function.
2. How the family divides its responsibilities for providing economic well-being has changed
considerably during the past twenty-five years.
a) No longer are the traditional roles of husband as economic provider and wife as
homemaker and child-rearer still valid.
b) It is very common for married women with children in the United States and other
industrial countries to be employed outside the home and for their husbands to share
household responsibilities.
c) More than 70 percent of women in United States who are over the age of 18 claim that it
is more difficult to be a mother now than it was 20 or 30 years ago.
3. The economic role of children also has changed.
a) Today, although many teenage children work, they rarely assist the family financially.
b) Teenagers are expected to pay for their own amusements; others contribute to the costs of
their formal education and prepare themselves to be financially independent.
Emotional Support
1. The provision of emotional nourishment (including love, affection, and intimacy) to its
members is an important core function of the contemporary family.
2. The family provides support and encouragement and assists its members in coping with
decision making and personal or social problems.
3. If the family cannot provide adequate assistance when it is needed, it may turn to a counselor,
psychologist or other helping professional as an alternative.
Suitable Family Lifestyles
1. Another important family function in terms of consumer behavior is the establishment of a
suitable lifestyle for the family.
2. Upbringing, experience, and the personal and jointly held goals of the spouses determine the
importance placed on education or career, on reading, television viewing, the learning of
computer skills, the frequency and quality of dining out, and on the selection of other
entertainment and recreational activities.
3. Family lifestyle commitments, including the allocation of time is greatly influencing
consumption patterns.
FAMILY DECISION MAKING AND CONSUMPTION-RELATIED ROLES
1. Marketers most frequently examine the attitudes and behavior of the one family member
whom they believe to be the major decision maker.
2. Sometimes they also examine the attitudes and behavior of the person most likely to be the
primary user of the product or service.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Key Family Consumption Roles
1. For a family to function as a cohesive unit, various tasks must be carried out by one or more
family members.
2. In a dynamic society, family-related duties are constantly changing.
a) We can identify eight distinct roles in the family decision-making process, however.
b) The number and identity of the family members who fill these roles vary from family to
family and from product to product.
3. The eight roles in the family decision-making process include:
a) Influencersfamily member(s) who provide information to other members about a
product or service.
b) Gatekeepersfamily member(s) who control the flow of information about a product or
service into the family.
c) Decidersfamily member(s) with the power to determine unilaterally or jointly whether
to shop for, purchase, use, consume, or dispose of a specific product or service.
d) Buyersfamily member(s) who make the actual purchase of a particular product or
service.
e) Preparersfamily member(s) who transform the product into a form suitable for
consumption by other family members.
f) Usersfamily member(s) who use or consume a particular product or service.
g) Maintainersfamily member(s) who service or repair the product so that it will provide
continued satisfaction.
h) Disposersfamily member(s) who initiate or carry out the disposal or discontinuation of
a particular product or service.
Dynamics of Husband-Wife Decision Making
1. Marketers are interested in the relative amount of influence that a husband and a wife have
when it comes to family consumption choices.
2. Family consumption decisions can be classified as:
a) Husband dominated.
b) Wife dominated.
c) Jointequal or syncratic.
d) Autonomicsolitary or unilateral.
3. The relative influence of a husband and wife on a particular consumer decision depends in
part on the product and service category.
a) It changes over time.
4. Husband-wife decision-making also appears to be related to cultural influence.
a) In the Peoples Republic of China there were substantially fewer joint decisions and
more husband-dominated decisions for many household purchases than among Chinese
in the United States.
b) In another recent cross-cultural study, husband-wife decision-making was studied among
three groups: Asian-Indians living in India, Asian-Indians living in the United States, and
American nationals.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
i) Results show a decrease in husband-dominated decisions and an increase in wifedominated decisions, going from Asian-Indians in India, to Asian-Indians in the
United States, to American nationals.
THE FAMILY LIFE CYCLE
1. Sociologists and consumer researchers have long been attracted to the concept of the family
life cycle (FLC) as a means of depicting what was once a rather steady and predictable series
of stages that most families progressed through.
2. The current decline in the percentage of families that progress through a traditional FLC (to
be explored shortly) seems to be caused by a host of societal factors including:
a) Increasing divorce rate.
b) The explosive number of out-of-wedlock births.
c) The 35-year decline in the number of extended families as many young families moved to
advance their job and career opportunities.
3. FLC analysis enables marketers to segment families in terms of a series of stages spanning
the life course of a family unit.
4. The FLC is a composite variable created by systematically combining such commonly used
demographic variables as marital status, size of family, age of family members (focusing on
the age of the oldest or youngest child), and employment status of the head of household.
5. The ages of the parents and the relative amount of disposable income usually are inferred
from the stage in the family life cycle.
6. The text divides the treatment of the FLC concept into two sections.
a) The first section considers the traditional FLC schema.
b) The alternative FLC stages, including increasingly important nontraditional family
structures are considered separately.
Traditional Family Life Cycle
1. Traditional family life cycle models have five basic stages.
a) Stage IBachelorhood. Young single adult living apart from parents.
b) Stage IIHoneymooners. Young married couple.
c) Stage IIIParenthood. Married couple with at least one child living at home.
d) Stage IVPostparenthood. An older married couple with no children living at home.
e) Stage VDissolution. One surviving spouse.
Stage IBachelorhood
1. The first FLC stage consists of young single men and women who have established
households apart from their parents.
2. Most members of this FLC stage are fully employed, many are college or graduate students
who have left their parents homes.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
3. Young single adults are apt to spend their incomes on rent, basic home furnishings, the
purchase and maintenance of automobiles, travel and entertainment, and clothing and
accessories.
4. It is relatively easy to reach this segment because many special-interest publications target
singles.
5. Marriage marks the transition from the bachelorhood stage to the honeymooner stage.
Stage IIHoneymooners
1. The honeymoon stage starts immediately after the marriage vows are taken and generally
continues until the arrival of the couples first child.
2. This FLC stage serves as a period of adjustment to married life.
3. These couples have available a combined income that often permits a lifestyle that provides
them with the opportunities of more indulgent purchasing of possessions or allows them to
save or invest their extra income.
4. Honeymooners have considerable start-up expenses when establishing a new home (major
and minor appliances, bedroom and living room furniture, carpeting, drapes, dishes, and a
host of utensils and accessory items).
a) Also important as sources of new product information are the so-called shelter
magazines, such as Better Homes and Gardens and Metropolitan Home.
Stage IIIParenthood
1. When a couple has its first child, the honeymoon is considered over.
2. The parenthood stage (sometimes called the full-nest stage) usually extends over more than a
20-year period.
a) Because of its long duration, this stage can be divided into shorter phases.
i) Preschool phase.
ii) Elementary school phase.
iii) High school phase.
iv) College phase.
3. Throughout these parenthood phases, the interrelationships of family members and the
structure of the family gradually change and the financial resources of the family change
significantly.
4. Many magazines cater to the information and entertainment needs of parents and children.
Stage IVPostparenthood
1. Postparenthood, when all the children have left home, is traumatic for some parents and
liberating for others.
2. This so-called empty-nest stage signifies for many parents almost a rebirth, a time for
doing all the things they could not do while the children were at home and they had to worry
about soaring educational expenses.
3. For the mother, it is a time to further her education, to enter or reenter the job market, to seek
new interests.
4. For the father, it is a time to indulge in new hobbies.
Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
5. For both, it is the time to travel, to entertain, perhaps to refurnish their home, or to sell it in
favor of a new home or condominium.
6. Married couples tend to be most comfortable financially.
7. Many empty nesters retire although they are still in good health.
8. Older consumers tend to use television as an important source of information and
entertainment.
a) They favor programs that provide the opportunity to keep up with whats happening,
especially news and public affairs programs.
Stage VDissolution
Dissolution of the basic family unit occurs with the death of one spouse. The surviving spouse
(usually the wife) often tends to follow a more economical lifestyle. Many surviving spouses
seek each other out for companionship; others enter into second (or third and even fourth)
marriages.
Marketing and the Traditional FLC
1. It is possible to trace how the FLC concept impacts a single product or service over time.
Modifications to the FLC
1. The traditional FLC model has lost some of its ability to represent the current stages a family
passes through.
2. The underlying sociodemographic forces that drive this expanded FLC model include
divorce and later marriages, with and without the presence of children.
3. Although somewhat greater reality is provided by this modified FLC model, it only
recognizes families that started in marriage, ignoring such single-parent households as unwed
mothers and single persons who adopt a child.
Nontraditional FLC Stages
1. Nontraditional FLC stages that are derived from the dynamic sociodemographic forces
operating during the past 25 or so years.
2. These nontraditional stages include not only family households but also nonfamily
households: those consisting of a single individual and those consisting of two or more
unrelated individuals.
3. Nearly 30 percent of all households are currently nonfamily households (i.e., men or women
living alone or with another person as an unmarried couple).
Consumption in Nontraditional Families
1. When households undergo status changes they become attractive targets for many marketers.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
2. In another sphere, the substantial increase in dual-income households (i.e., working wives
and the subset of working mothers) has also tended to muddy the lifestyle assumptions
implicit in the traditional FLC.
3. The side-by-side existence of traditional and nontraditional FLC stages is another example of
our reoccurring observation that the contemporary marketplace is complex in its diversity,
and it is a challenge to segment and serve.

Mahesh Gowda S DEPT OF MBA, SJ B IT, Bangalore

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