Transcript Social Influence

Social Influence
Reference Group
• A set of people
• Whom individuals compare themselves to
• Guiding attitudes, knowledge and /or
behavior
Types of Reference Groups
• Associative
• Aspirational
• Dissociative
• Marketers
– Identify and appropriately represent target consumers
– Associate product with aspirational group
Aspects of Reference Groups
• Degree of contact
– Primary
– Secondary
• Formality
– Structure
– Ad hoc
Aspects of Reference Groups 2
• Homophily
– Similarity
• Density
– Know each other
• Individual characteristics
– Degree of identification
– Tie-strength
Aspects of Reference Groups
Marketing Implications
• Type of group to target
• How to target a group
• Target grop or individual
• Weak ties
– Serve as bridge between 2 groups
Consumer Socialization
• Direct teaching
• Observation
• Reward / Punishment
• Reference groups change over time
Sources of Influence
• Marketer / Mass Media
• Marketer / Personal
• Nonmarketer / Mass media
• Nonmarketer / Personal
Characteristics of
Influence Sources
• Reach
• 2 way flow of communication
• Credibility
– WOM
Opinion Leaders
• Info broker between mass media and a group
• In one specific domain
• Characteristics
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A lot of product knowledge
Heavy users of media
Buy new products
Credible
no vested interest
Normative Influences
• Social pressure to encourage compliance
with others’ expectations
• Norms
– Collective decisions about what should be
• Rewards and punishments
Normative Influence Process
• Conformity
– Tendency to behave as group wishes
– Varies by culture, or so we think
• Brand choice congruence
– Likelihood consumers will buy what others in
their group buy
Normative Influence Process 2
• Compliance
• Agreement
• Reactance
• Boomerang effect
Product Characteristics and
Normative Influence
• Reference groups influence
– Whether we buy a product
– What brand we buy
• Public / private product?
• Necessity / luxury
Consumer and
Normative Influence
• Susceptibility
– Some consumers are more influenced by
social pressure
• Attention to social comparison info
– Pay attention to what others are doing
• Strength of ties
The Group and
Normative Influence
• Coercive power
• Cohesiveness / similarity
• Group members are experts
Marketing Strategy and
Normative Influence
• Foot-in-the-door technique
– From small to large
• Door-in-the-face technique
– From large to small
• Even-a-penny will help
– charity
• Norm of reciprocity
– A dollar as a thanks
Symbolic Consumption
• Emblems
• Role Acquisition
• Connectedness
• Expressiveness
Special Possessions
• Mementos
• Achievement
• Collections
• Ceremonial symbolic function
Discussion Questions
• Ned enjoyed being with his body piercing friends
and he did so himself. Ping hated these people
and hated body piercing. Explain the reference
group relations in this example.
• Can some reference groups have a greater impact
than others? Why or why not?
• How do marketers make use of norms to sell.
• Do all possessions have a utilitarian use? Explain.