Presentation lesyk c-consumer_behavior_research

Apparel, Events & Hospitality Management
Topic 3:
Consumer Behavior Research
HRI 640 – Seminar on Marketing Thoughts
Summer, 2014
Presenter: Christina H. Lesyk, LMSW, CSEP

What is “Consumer Behavior?”
The process by which consumers select, purchase, use,
and dispose of goods and services.
• Includes analyses of how markets and others
influence these processes.
• Includes the application of concepts and methods of
the behavioral sciences to marketing management
decision making.
(Source: Iowa State University, Mkt 447 - Fundamentals of
Consumer Behavior)

Some Basic Concepts in
Consumer Behavior
Roots in Psychology:
• Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs”
• Erick Erikson’s 3 adult stages of human development
• Problem Identification
• Investigation
• Decision-making
• “Buyer’s Remorse” – postpurchase reaction

Consumer Behavior
• Awareness of “needs” which lead to “motivation”
which lead to “behavioral intentions” which lead to
“behavior.”
• Originally 4, then 5 stages from the most basic
physiological needs on up.

Consumer Behavior
• Caveats: Maslow’s work was from the late 60’s.
Also, don’t assume:
• that people progress through all of the stages or
progress through them for the same amount of
time, at the same time, or stay at any stage for
any given amount of time.

Consumer Behavior
• Physiological – food, shelter, clothing
• Safety
• Need to belong
• Self-esteem
• Role of private clubs, special privileges
• Self-actualization – trying to be the best you can be
• Opportunities to learn to excel (ex. golf or tennis
clinics)

Consumer Behavior
• 8 stages postulated, but focus only on adult stages
• Young Adult stage (40 years old or younger)
• Mature stage (40 – 60 years old)
• Older stage (60+ years old)
Caveat: Erickson’s work was from 1950 - Would today’s
“baby boomers” necessarily define themselves as
“older?”

Consumer Behavior
• Young Adult stage (40 years old or younger)
• Focus on early career development and
family-building
• Focus on “possession experiences”

Consumer Behavior
• Mature stage (40 – 60 years old)
• Focus on “catered experiences” (travel,
restaurants, education, sports, etc.).
• Primary target population for hospitality.

Consumer Behavior
• Older stage (60+ years old)
• Focus on “being experiences” (interpersonal
experiences, “simple pleasures”).
• Some hospitality efforts for this target
population include: resorts, spas, reunion
services, spiritual opportunities.

Consumer Behavior
• Problem Identification – What are the internal and external
forces that influence what consumers do?
• Investigation – How do consumers research a problem and
solutions? Does it differ between products and services?
• Decision-making – How do consumers decide what to do?
Do they actually do what they say they’re going to do?

Consumer Behavior
And after all that:
• “Buyer’s Remorse” – postpurchase reaction
• How to avoid/minimize risks to the consumer.
• Legal protection for certain purchases.

Consumer Behavior
“Buyer’s Remorse” – postpurchase reaction
• How to avoid/minimize risks to the consumer (ex. legal
protections, not making promises you can’t keep).
• Financial risks – what would you lose if you made
the wrong decision?
• Performance risks – what if it doesn’t meet your
expectations?

Consumer Behavior
“Buyer’s Remorse” – postpurchase reaction
• How to avoid/minimize risks to the consumer.
• Physical risks – What if you could get hurt
physically or mentally?
• Social risks – What if you’re laughed at?

Why Is It Important in Marketing to
Understand Consumer Behavior?
• “The fundamental reason for being in business is to
create and satisfy consumers.”
(Reid and Bojanic, p. 91)
• How are you going to do this if you don’t
understand consumers and why they do what they
do?
• Would understanding and predicting the behavior of
consumers also help a business stay nimble and
grow?

Starting Point
• Identify sample of 5 professional journal articles
involving the topic of consumer behavior
research.
(Responsibility: Professor Tang)
• Identify these articles based on recency, citation
frequency, and recommendations from other
marketing scholars over a period of time.
(Responsibility: Professor Tang)

Objectives
• Evaluate assigned student’s (Christina Lesyk’s)
ability to analyze and present on the 5 journal
articles.
(Responsibility: All)
• Encourage discourse among class participants.
• Evaluate quality of discussion, including
leadership and participation.

Methodology
1. Brief review of 5 assigned articles on consumer
behavior research appearing in the following
professional journals:
• International Journal of Hospitality Management
• Journal of Consumer Research
• Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice
2. Preparation of class presentation and discussion on
consumer behavior research articles for June 4, 2014.

Current Issues in
Article #1: “The disciplinary status of consumer behavior: a
sociology of science perspective on key controversies”
Summary: The authors (MacInnis and Folkes) review the field
of consumer behavior and analyze:
• The definition of “consumer behavior;”
• Whether consumer behavior should be considered an
independent discipline vs. part of another field such as
marketing; and
• Whether the consumer behavior field is an interdisciplinary
one.

Current Issues in
Regarding - the definition of “consumer behavior:”
• What is it and/or what is it not?
• Risk of overly vague boundaries making it difficult to make
certain decisions (ex. what a university offers as study
options, what to include in research).
• Being open to “adjoining” disciplines (ex. psychology,
Sociology) but also limiting focus to people acting in a
consumer role.

Current Issues in
Regarding - Whether consumer behavior should be
considered an independent discipline vs. part of another field
such as marketing:
• Pragmatically, consumer behavior research owes a lot to
marketing.
• Concern when the field of marketing took on a negative
image starting in the 1960s.
• Concern that marketing’s focus was too limited and not
enough emphasis was being made on scientific research.

Current Issues in
Regarding - Whether the consumer behavior field is an
interdisciplinary one:
• A closer look at what “interdisciplinary” means seems to
indicate that we haven’t been using the term correctly.
• A more accurate term might be “multidisciplinary” if we
conclude that the consumer behavior field should be open
to adjoining disciplines.

Current Issues in
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly:
• The authors acknowledge that their perspective on
consumer behavior research is merely one perspective.
• What support is there for authors’ contention that “the
marketing discipline offers attractive opportunities because
academic jobs are ‘lucrative’ and ‘plentiful’ and because
research funding is relatively ‘abundant’ and ‘noncompetitive’
(compared with the grant-based system of funding in other
fields)” (p. 902)?!

Current Issues in
Article #1: “The disciplinary status of consumer behavior:
a sociology of science perspective on key controversies”
• Where the consumer behavior field is now (a
subdiscipline of marketing) isn’t necessarily where it will
end up.
• Changing the perspective of consumer behavior
research away from marketing or towards an “elevated”
level of marketing may be difficult, but worthwhile.

Current Issues in
• Value of considering adjoining disciplines that could
lead to studies on “consumer emotions, goals,
temptations, self-control dilemmas, satisfaction, and
materialism” (p. 905) but not necessarily on “anything…
(meaning everything) “that touches on consumers, such
as decisions about fertility, mobility, education, religion
and political candidates” (p. 905).

Current Issues in
• What are the chances that the field of consumer
behavior research will move in this direction?
• Is the expansion of research boundaries enough of a
motivator for change?
• Supporting such change, including with funding.

Current Issues in
Some questions to consider:
• We’ve talked about considering
hospitality/hospitality management as its own field.
How about consumer behavior? Or is that drilling
down a bit too far?

Current Issues in
• Do you see the field of marketing as having a rather
negative or unsavory reputation (ex. the “car
salesman” stereotype)? Does the reputation of
marketing need to be improved/elevated as the
authors propose?

Current Issues in
• Is the expansion of research boundaries enough of
a motivation or incentive to look at consumer
behavior from a stronger academic/research
perspective?

Current Issues in
Article #2: “Consumer behavior research in hospitality
and tourism journals”
Summary: The author (Mattila) reviews articles
published in 2003 that appeared in 12 professional
hospitality journals to offer a possible definition of
“consumer behavior” and the identification of major
consumer behavior topics.
• 63 articles (inc. 2 of her own) in references, but
probably several others were ultimately discarded.

Current Issues in
• Was an ambitious project – but perhaps too broad?
• Ex. Eugenio-Martin’s 5-stage conceptual model
didn’t indicate what those 5-stages might be
(p.453).

Current Issues in
• Was an ambitious project – but perhaps too broad?
• Ex. Odd, unexplained statement under “Pricing and
other studies” (p. 452): “Noriega and Lin (2003) identified
differences in attitudes and behaviors of gamblers based
on their preferred gambling activity whereas people with
disabilities served as a sample for the effectiveness of
travel agents in Hong Kong (McKercher et al., 2003).”

Current Issues in
• Said lab studies would be better than survey-based or
naturalistic ones, but didn’t really indicate why other
than for more experimental control, how they could be
conducted, or what possible problems there could be.
• Payne and Wansink: “Consumers don’t live, eat, shop
and make decisions in laboratories.” (p. 377)

Current Issues in
• Identified interesting consumer behavior research
topics and perspectives that could be helpful to
beginning research students and for additional
advanced research:
• Gender, age, feelings of control, tourism, tipping,
pricing, safety, cross-cultural issues, motivations,
geography.

Current Issues in
• Enthusiastic about the benefits of approaching
consumer behavior research from “interdisciplinary”
approach (Ex, hospitality and tourism, cultural
anthropology) – Also see MacInnis’ differentiation
between “interdisciplinary” and “multidisciplinary.”

Current Issues in
Article #3: “Consumer behavior in the food service
industry: A review”
Summary: The authors (Johns and Pine) review 4
different research methods as they relate to the food
service industry, considered to be an underrepresented
areas for publications.

Current Issues in
Article #3: Consumer behavior in the food service industry:
A review”
• Survey work – includes studies of consumers as groups
• 3-stage schema that sometimes gets blurred:
• Segmentation – finding out who will eat in your
establishment
• Targeting – identifying what particular consumers
will want
• Positioning – identifying what a particular
restaurant style offers the market

Current Issues in
A review”
• Survey work – has resulted in some interesting research:
• Niche markets (ex. age, weight and gender of
consumers)
• Cross-cultural expectations of restaurant service
• Demand for different types of restaurants by
socioeconomic levels

Current Issues in
Article #3: Consumer behavior in the food service
• Experimental studies – involving manipulation of
different factors.
• Authors thought this method was promising,
because it might help “clarify perceived attributes
under different conditions,” but it hadn’t been
utilized much.

Current Issues in
• Experimental studies:
• Studies about the impact of music (tempo,
volume, style), color, image.
• Studies about altering foods (ex. adding sauce or
cheese) and thereby altering perceptions of food
quality and the meal experience.

Current Issues in
• Experimental studies:
• The effect of others on an individual’s drinking
rates or the willingness to try new foods.
• Expectation studies – expecting military,
institutional, and airline food to be poor quality,
even when someone hasn’t even tried it.

Current Issues in
Article #3: Consumer behavior in the food service industry: A
review”
• Investigations involving economics and geography –
representing alternative quantitative approaches that can
look at population flow and behavior.
• Economic research of the foodservice industry tends to
be limited, to appear in trade periodicals, and to become
outdated quickly.
• Is this why little attention has been put towards
forecasting or the impact of restaurants in the
economy, even though the research that has been
done has resulted in significant results?

Current Issues in
A review”
• Investigations involving economics and geography –
representing alternative quantitative approaches:
• Geographic research is thought to be important to
the authors, but again, not executed very often.
Data is not readily accessible/kept confidential.
• Have you ever noticed that wherever a
McDonald’s is, there’s a Burger King that soon
follows right across the street?

Current Issues in
• Research in sociology and anthropology – range of
qualitative research that offers complementary
insights.
• Looking at individual experiences within a wider
social context.
• Social impact, power relations.

Current Issues in
• Foodservice viewed as being able to quickly pivot to
take advantage of new trends, unlike lodging
establishments.

Current Issues in
• Foodservice seen as unique; it can be highly
customizable (ex. high-end, trendy restaurants) vs.
highly operationalized (ex. McDonald’s fast food
establishments) but it’s all foodservice.

Current Issues in
• Whereas Mattila talked about trying to encourage
researchers outside of marketing to contribute,
Johns & Pine’s work included articles that had been
published outside the usual hospitality management
journals

Current Issues in
Another question:
• Foodservice in the form of restaurants has a high
risk of failure – Could its ability to be “fashion-prone”
and “changeable” also be a restaurant’s downfall?

Current Issues in
Article #4: “Quantitative approaches to consumer field
research”
Summary: The authors (Payne and Wansink) look at 4
types of quantitative consumer research, comparing
the value of maximizing control and the value of
maximizing realism.

Current Issues in
research”
• The point was not necessarily to pick whether
qualitative or quantitative research will produce
“better” results.
• The focus is on quantitative research because there
hasn’t been the same level of attention paid to it as
with qualitative research.

Current Issues in
research”
• Faulty or poorly conducted research can result in
epic fails:
• Persil Power laundry detergent – now why would
you assume that consumers would: 1) read the
instructions, and 2) follow the instructions?

Current Issues in
research”
• Not understanding human nature and human
perceptions can result in epic fails:
• Psychological studies with children demonstrated
how they perceived the same amount of water in
tall, skinny glasses vs. short, squat ones – impact
on product packaging decisions. Again, how
many people read labels as they should?

Current Issues in
research”
• The authors conducted a study that involved 12
observers of 216 people at Chinese buffets in the
U.S.
• How many buffets were used? Why were those
chosen? Would it have been different if they
observed during dinner vs. lunch? Only 216
subjects?

Current Issues in
research”
• Picking the right method to answer your question.
• Stressing the importance of attention to even the smallest
detail (ex. do you have enough of what you need to work
with – the product?) because something will ALWAYS go
wrong.
• Acknowledging that field studies (vs. experimental
studies) are more vulnerable to human error and bias.

Current Issues in
Article #5: “Objective and subjective knowledge
relationships: a quantitative analysis of consumer
research findings”
Summary: The authors (Carlson, Vincent, Hardesty &
Bearden) compared what consumers believed they
knew (subjective knowledge - SK) and what accurate,
actual information consumers possessed (objective
knowledge – OK).

Current Issues in
• Proposed 11 hypotheses after analyzing 103
independent samples in 51 articles/books (47 which
were published and 4 which were not).

Current Issues in
• Represented almost 28 years worth of articles in 7
professional journals looking for the 2 conditions of
OK and SK.

Current Issues in
• “Walked the walk” as well as “talked the talk” –
authors were meticulous in trying to account for
random errors, biases, and other possible research
flaws.
• Identified and admitted flaws in their own work – ex.
the need for more research on social influence.

Current Issues in
• Resulted in articles that covered a combination of
products and services:
• Cars or car-related: 5 articles
• Wine: 5 articles
• Investment services: 3 articles

Current Issues in
relationships: a quantitative analysis of consumer research
findings”
• Resulted in articles that covered a combination of
products and services:
• Ex. sewing machines, Monopoly and Life games, rock
music, blue jeans, birth control, rock music
• Unique: animal rights, solid waste, macrobiotics

Current Issues in
• Identified factors which may affect the correlation
between OK and SK, such as:
• Amount of information you are exposed to;
• Amount of interest a consumer has in learning
about a product or service.

Current Issues in
• Authors developed 11 hypotheses by developing 10
competitive relationships.

Current Issues in
• Authors conducted a meta-analysis:
• Using statistical analysis to integrate data from
several independent studies, presuming that you
can obtain better results than by just using one
study.

Current Issues in
Pros for a meta-analysis: greater ability to extrapolate
to the general population, considered to be evidence-
based so results are more likely to be accepted.

Current Issues in
Cons to a meta-analysis: takes a lot of time to execute,
possible biases, analytical sloppiness, failure to consider
possibly significant things, overstating the strengths and
precision of the results, not all studies will provide you
with the kind or amount of data desired.

Current Issues in
• H1: Positive relationship between OK and SK is stronger
for products vs. nonproducts.
for search goods vs. experience goods.
for durable products vs. nondurable products.
for hedonic (“fun”) products than for utilitarian products.

Current Issues in
when OK methods use open-ended response format.
when OK methods use multiple-choice vs. true/false
questions.
• H7: The positive relationship between OK and SK is
stronger when you use someone other than yourself in
the study.

Current Issues in
• H8: The positive relationship between OK and SK is
stronger when SK methods use an expert to compare to
than with an “average” person.
• H9a: The positive relationship between OK and SK is
stronger for private goods vs. public goods, or
• H9b: The opposite.
• H10a: The positive relationship between OK and SK is
stronger for necessities vs. luxuries, or
• H10b: The opposite.

Current Issues in
• H11: The positive relationship between OK and SK
is stronger for material goods vs. societal issues.

Opportunities and Challenges in
Major points from Topic 3 articles
• Defining “consumer behavior research”
• What is “consumer behavior?”
• What are you looking for in consumer behavior
research?

Major points from Topic 3 articles - continued
• What consumer behavior research has been done?
• Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research
• How should consumer behavior research be done? Future
directions:
• Quantitative AND qualitative research.
• Recognizing uniqueness of different facets of hospitality.
• Naturalistic observational studies? Experimental
studies? Hybrid studies? Internet studies? A
combination of methods?

• What should consumer behavior research focus on?
• Example: increasing research on the food service
industry? Niche markets?

• Who should be included in consumer behavior
research - Psychology? Sociology? Anthropology?
Economics? Others?
• And to what degree - interdisciplinary?
multidisciplinary?

Research Terms
Attribute-Value Theory (Johns & Pine, p. 121)
“Consumers weigh up the overall value of an offering in
terms of the degree to which each attribute is present
and the importance they see the attribute as having.”
Food service examples of attributes (Johns & Pine, pp.
121-122): food choices, quality, price, service,
atmosphere, location, convenience, cleanliness, value
Other possible determinants: endorsements, alignment
with personal values

Research Terms
Bootstrapping - (Carlson, et al., p. 869)
Research method developed in 1979:
• A resampling of samples because you can’t just keep
taking samples from the general population you are
researching.
• Defeats the purpose of sampling, plus it’s
impractical and expensive.
• Considered a simple process by computers, which
can execute this a ridiculous number of times.

Research Terms
Ceteris Paribus (Payne and Wansink, p. 378)
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
• Adverb, pronounced “kā-tər-əs-ˈpa-rə-bəs”
• Latin for “other things being equal”
• Political economy term for “if all other relevant things,
factors, or elements remain unaltered”
• Consumer research: focusing on just how one variable
will change something else without worrying about
other variables

Research Terms
Commodification (Johns & Pine, p.127):
In Marxist terms, the process by which something is
turned into and/or treated as a commodity that can be
exchanged. This can include ideas and other entities
that normally might not be considered a good (ex. the
American dream)

Research Terms
Disconfirmation – negative and positive (Mattila article):
• Positive: when a product or service delivers MORE
than what is expected.
• Negative: when a product or service delivers LESS
that what is expected.
See also:
Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory
(Johns and Pine, p. 121)

Research Terms
Discourse Analysis – (Johns & Pine, p. 131)
A linguistic technique which studies and analyzes the
uses of language.
• "concerns itself with the use of language in a
running discourse, continued over a number
of sentences, and involving the interaction
of speaker (or writer) and auditor (or reader) in a
specific situational context, and within a framework of
social and cultural conventions" (M.H. Abrams and
G.G. Harpham, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 2005).

Research Terms
Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory
(Johns and Pine, p. 121)
“Consumers gauge their experience according to how
well actual performance confirms or disconfirms their
expectations (emphases mine)…A favourable overall
attitude to a restaurant is believed to result in repeat
business.”
See also: Disconfirmation (Mattila, p. 451)

Research Terms
DINESERVE (Johns & Pine, p. 122)
Modified version of SERVQUAL (consumer research
instrument consisting of 26 standardized questions that
evaluate generalized service attributes considered
relevant to all service industries).
See also:
SERVQUAL (Johns and Pine, p. 122)

Research Terms
Private Good (vs. Public Good) – Carlson et al., p.867)
• Economic concept
• A public good is identified as something:
• whose use/consumption is ordinarily decided by
society (ex. government);
• funded through mechanisms such as taxation;
• that isn’t ordinarily withheld from someone who
doesn’t pay for it (ex. roads, street lighting, law
enforcement); and
• that generally has no market or profitability.

Research Terms
Private Good (vs. Public Good) – Carlson et al., p.867)
• Economic concept
• A private good is identified as something:
• that someone pays for;
• that someone consumes, which then prevents
someone else from having it (exclusivity)
• Ex. BMWs, apples; and
• that a market can be created for and profitable.

Research Terms
Semiotic Analysis (Johns & Pine, p. 129)
Linguistics - the study of signs and symbols, especially
the relations between written or spoken signs and their
referents in the physical world or the world of ideas. (The
Free Dictionary)
• Imparting meaning to symbols

Research Terms
SERVQUAL (Johns & Pine, p. 122)
Consumer research instrument consisting of 26
standardized questions that evaluate generalized service
attributes considered relevant to all service industries.
• Problem is that this instrument doesn’t look at food
quality and other empirical attributes of the
restaurant experience.
See also:
DINESERVE (Johns and Pine, p. 122)

References
Carlson, J., Vincent, L., Hardesty, D., & Bearden, W.
(2009). Objective and subjective knowledge
research findings. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(5),
864-876.
Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and Society. New York:
Norton.
Johns, N., & Pine, R. (2002). Consumer behavior in the
food service industry: A review. International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 21(2), 119-134.

References - continued
MacInnis, D., & Folkes, V. (2010). The disciplinary
status of consumer behavior: a sociology of science
perspective on key controversies. Journal of
Consumer Research, 36(6), 899-914.
Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a Psychology of Being
(2nd ed.). New York: D. Van Nostrand Company.
Mattila, A. (2004). Consumer behavior research in
hospitality and tourism journals. International Journal
of Hospitality Management, 23, 449-457.

References - continued
Payne, C., & Wansink, B. (2011). Quantitative
approaches to consumer field research. Journal of
Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(4), 377-389.
Reid, R.D. & Bojanic, D.C. (2010). Hospitality
Marketing Management (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Topic 3: Consumer Behavior Research
HRI 640 – Seminar on Marketing Thoughts (Summer, 2014)
Presenter: Christina H. Lesyk, LMSW, CSEP
Contact Information:
clesyk@iastate.edu – Email
(315) 212-5805 – Telephone
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS?

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