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Chapter 8 Group and Interpersonal Influence End of Chapter Material Discussion Questions (*) Indicates material on prep cards. Explain how primary, secondary, formal, and informal groups influence consumers. What are the differences between each type of group? Give examples for each type of group that you belong to. Answer: Each type of group influences consumers but influence of primary groups tends to be strongest. A primary group includes members who have frequent, direct contact with one another. Social ties tend to be very strong in a primary group, and the family is a great example of this type of group. A secondary group is similar to a primary group, but contact between members is not as frequent as in a primary group. The social ties are weaker than in a primary group, but they are still present. Students will usually list their families as representing a primary group. They may also mention their fraternities or sororities, especially those students who are living far from home. Possible answers for secondary groups will likely include various clubs to which students belong. Perhaps there is a church-based group or an international group to which they belong. They may also be official members of various sporting groups (e.g., FCA). There are many examples of informal groups to which students may belong. They may report that there is a group of friends who meet regularly to play sports or even hang out at a bar. The intent of this question is to focus on the formal membership process. Explain how family members can influence value perceptions. Answer: Studies reveal that parents can greatly influence the consumer behavior of their children. Children learn through socialization, the processes associated with being a consumer. The spending habits of parents greatly influence the behavior of their kids. Parents can also influence hedonic value by stressing other values that are important in life. By stressing the importance of togetherness, parents can instill in their children a strong personal value for products that promote the family like family vacations, investments in education, and purchases such as SUVs that enable families to spend more time together. What are the various power bases of reference groups? Give examples of how these power bases have influenced you in your personal life. Answer: Several different power bases are found in reference groups. Referent power exists when a consumer desires to be referred to as part of the group. As such, they will emulate group behavior and express references to the group in daily conversation. Legitimate power exists when a group or person holds actual power over another and can, in some cases, control the other’s behavior. For example, a fraternity may legitimately hold power over its members due to specific rules, expectations, and bylaws. Expert power is held when a group holds knowledge that consumers or group members themselves desire to have. For example, a consumer may seek advice from the Better Business Bureau on whether to do business with a company. Reward power exists when a group can give members or consumers something of value based on their behavior. For example, the Chamber of Commerce may award a member as “businessperson of the year.” Finally, coercive power exists when a group can impose sanctions on their members because of their actions. For example, the AAUP may sanction a university for various reasons, or an accrediting body may place some type of sanction on its members. Students will have varying answers for how these power bases have affected them. 4. Compare and contrast the concepts of peer pressure, conformity, and persuasion. Answer: Peer pressure and conformity are similar topics. Likewise, conformity and persuasion have some similarities. Peer pressure has an element of pressure. That is, consumers usually believe that they’ll be sanctioned in some way if they don’t yield to group pressure. With conformity, the perceived pressure is more subtle and is usually based on an internal desire to fit in. Regarding persuasion and conformity, consumers are often giving a reason to change behaviors when they are being persuaded. With conformity, no reason is necessary. Again, choices are more strongly based on internal desires to fit in with the group. 5. Discuss the differences between the informational, utilitarian, and value-expressive influence of reference groups. Answer: Informational influence exists when consumers use the behaviors and attitudes of reference groups as information that affects consumer decision making. Utilitarian influence exists when a consumer conforms to group expectations in order to receive a reward or avoid punishment from a group. Value-expressive influence exists when a consumer internalizes a group’s values or chooses group membership based on their own values that may be reflected in the membership. 6. How does the utilitarian influence of groups emerge for you in one of the reference groups to which you belong? Answer: They often join campus groups to gain a sense of belonging and attachment. For example, an international student organization represents a great way for international students to gain a sense of belonging in a new community. They may also join other groups, such as fan clubs, in order to derive economic benefits. They may join the local Marketing Club organization in order to receive price reductions on professional memberships such as the American Marketing Association. 7. How has Facebook and Twitter affected consumer behavior? How has it affected your behavior as a consumer? Answer: It’s hard to overstate the impact of these websites on consumer behavior. Obviously, consumers are able to connect with one another, and with various groups, in new ways. Twitter allows information to spread very rapidly and has gained in popularity. Social networking sites like these have become a mainstay in consumer life. The fact that thousands of businesses now have Facebook pages and have joined Twitter as well. As such, the influence of these sites is not only on consumer group activity but it also has become a regular part of business-to-consumer marketing. 8. Describe ways in which consumers can benefit from social buying and couponing websites such as Groupon and LivingSocial. Answer: Like Facebook and Twitter, these sites have become very popular with consumers. Consumers derive utilitarian value from the many good deals that are included on these sites and they are often encouraged to shop at local outlets. There is also a sense of community in that many other consumers join in and obtain the same deals. Answers are likely to vary depending on the level of experience that students have with these sites. 9. What role does Twitter play in consumer word-of-mouth? Answer: Twitter is very powerful in spreading WOM. Given that tweets are limited in size, the information that is spread is usually very brief and to the point. With over 300,000,000 tweets being sent daily, it is clear that this website has become a major player in consumer word-of-mouth. Students are likely to share some personal experiences that they’ve had with the website and how it has impacted their behavior. 10. How is buzz marketing related to consumer word-of-mouth? What buzz marketing campaigns are you familiar with? Have you ever participated in spreading word-of-mouth? Answer: As the book discusses, most buzz marketing campaigns focus on encouraging consumer word-of-mouth. The book gives three specific examples of how buzz marketing can be used to generate WOM, often with the help of opinion leaders. Examples are the Ford Fiesta example, the BCBGirl example, and the Ford “What Women Want” example. Students will have varying degrees of experience with buzz marketing campaigns. They all, however, have probably had experience in spreading WOM. 11. What is meant by the consumer doppelganger effect? Do you think the effect is as popular with men as it appears to be with women? Why or why not? Answer: The consumer doppelganger effect is used in the textbook to illustrate the research finding that many mothers are influenced by their daughters’ fashion styles. This is generally fairly easy to see if students will look hard enough. But it is unlikely that the effect is as strong for men as it is for women. Students may give several reasons why the effect is most likely not as strong for men, and a popular reason would be the sex-role orientations of men in different cultures. Also, for the most part, men do not feel the cultural pressure to look young like the pressure that women often feel—especially in Western cultures. It is interesting to see how students look at these issues. 12. How do households influence consumer behavior? How does your household influence you? Answer: This question is similar in some ways to the question about how families influence value perceptions. As was stated in that question, parents greatly influence their children’s behavior. They might relate this question back to the information on the behavioral intentions model. Students feel normative pressure from parents to behave in particular ways and they can choose to follow—or not follow—parental directives. As the book discusses, parents have a great influence on spending and saving patterns. Also, kids influence their parents. This finding is also noted in the chapter. Group Activity Have students break up into teams. Have each team begin a group page on Facebook for their particular team, restricting membership to only team members. Have students use the group as a discussion board for this project. Have each team member post a question on their own walls about a particular product or brand for this project. For example, a question might be: “Does anyone know where I can get a good deal on a used car?” or “I’m looking for a new hair stylist, does anyone have any ideas?” Each member is to take notes of the responses they get and then report it back to the team on Facebook. Let this continue over the course of several weeks, including several different questions. At the end of the exercise, have students report on the types of responses they got from Facebook for the various questions, the usefulness of the information they obtained, and also how useful their new group was for discussion purposes. Have them summarize their findings to class. Make sure they focus on the usefulness of the Facebook group as compared to meeting face-to-face. How useful was the experience? Did they learn anything new regarding the questions that they asked? Assignments 13. Make a list of all the formal and informal groups that you belong to. Which ones are most important to you? Why? How long have you belonged to these groups? If they are formal groups, what was the process of joining? Answer: This is a good opportunity for students to see how important group membership is to their daily lives. This is also an opportunity for students to realize that it might be time to start joining some formal groups that might be helpful for them in finding their first job (e.g., groups like Students in Free Enterprise, the local Marketing Club, etc.). 14. Locate an advertisement that uses a theme of conformity. This can be to either get a customer to conform to trends, or to avoid following a crowd and instead acting individually. Do you think the ad is effective? Why or why not? Answer: Advertisements that use a conformity theme often attempt to persuade consumers to not follow the crowd and instead act on their own by adopting a specific product that is being advertised. This is a good exercise to get students to see how often conformity-related themes are used in marketing. 15. Considering the power bases of referent, expert, reward, coercive, and legitimate, think of examples of how a group holds this type of power over you. There should be one group for each type of social power. Of these groups, which ones are most important to you and why? Answer: When students value the groups that they belong to, they will be able to speak of the kinds of power that each group hold over them. The book details several examples. This is a good exercise to encourage class discussion of a topic that we see in everyday life. 16. Take a survey of students and find out how many groups they belong to on Facebook. Ask them why they join these specific groups. What meaning do they carry for them? Are there some that they take more seriously than others? Why? Answer: Students generally belong to many groups on Facebook. Many are simply for fun, but some are quite serious. This exercise calls attention to the difference between the types of groups and the role they play in our daily lives. 17. Using a website like Whatthetrend or Tweetreach, take note of popular trends over the course of a week. Why do you think these tweets were so popular? What ones were you particularly interested in? Answer: Twitter is especially good for tracking trends of what is popular in consumer culture. It is interesting to see if students care about the particular trends or not. 18. Discuss the issue of “boomerang kids” with classmates. What are your classmates’ attitudes on the subject? Do they plan to move back in with their parents after graduation? What are your thoughts on the subject? Do you think about moving back in to your parent’s home after graduation if you’re not living there now? How do you think most people your age feel about the subject? Answer: This is a great opportunity to discuss generational differences in opinions on a contemporary topic. As the book discusses, attitudes toward boomerang kids appear to be evolving, especially with younger consumers. Older consumers tend to share a relatively poor attitude toward the subject. Chapter Video Summary To view the video case Teenage Research Unlimited, go to the CB companion website login.cengage.com to select this video. Teenage Research Unlimited Gathering information is key to marketing success. For businesses interested in selling products to teens, Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU) is an invaluable research partner. The marketing research firm has been studying teen habits since the 1980s, and data collected from TRU’s focus groups and surveys reveal the ways in which teens are influenced by reference groups and each other. According to analysts, the teenage consumer segment will continue to grow in importance, especially in the age of cell phones, iPods, and social networking. Ask your students: Why is gathering information important for marketers? Answer: Marketers have realized that teens are savvy recipients of marketing messages; hence they consider this group important. Teenage Research Unlimited (TRL) conducts research on teenagers for companies. Companies use this collected data to formulate their marketing strategies, develop their products or improve their products. By collecting information marketers can better understand their customers, their reference groups, and the influence of the reference groups on their buying behavior. Knowing why a customer desires a particular product or service allows a company to make fast decisions. How do companies benefit from the information obtained by TRU? Answer: The information collected by TRU helps companies understand teenagers. This data can be used to form marketing strategies, bring in improvements in products and services, and develop new products. Since TRU conducts researches in all product categories, marketers have a chance to understand teens in all those categories. Research at TRU has shown that majority of teens use social networking sites. Thus, companies can use social media to promote their products. Why is the teenage group important to marketers? Answer: Teens are savvy recipients of marketing messages. They inform each other through word-of-mouth. They discuss about products and services through social networking sites. They write blogs and tweet. They could spread positive or negative word-of-mouth. They also form a very large segment of the population that the marketer cannot ignore. They can influence other teens into buying a product or staying away from a particular product. CB Scenario Video A woman prepares street food on a busy street while another woman eats it quickly, standing in the street. In a restaurant, a customer is able to order a meal at leisure, referring to a menu and having the chef prepare the meal while he waits. Ask your students: Assume that the woman in the video who is seen eating street food belongs to a group that loves street food. The group promotes eating at local eateries and meets regularly to eat at the street food-stalls. The group does not have any particular rules, codes of conduct or values. Identify the type of reference group in this scenario. Answer: The reference group in this scenario is an informal one as codes of conduct, rules, and values do not exist. Assume that the man at the restaurant was told by his friends to try out Mexican cuisine at that restaurant. Identify the reference group influence on that man. Answer: In this instance, the reference group influence would be informational influence. Informational influences of groups refer to the ways in which consumers use the behavior and attitudes of reference groups as information for making their own decisions. Jack is a foodie who wants to join the Fine Diners club in his locality. He admires the club’s members as they get opportunities to try out various international cuisines, write blogs about food and participate in food exhibitions. Which type of social power can be associated with Jack? Answer: Jack can be associated with referent power. Consumers with reference power will admire the qualities of the group and try to emulate their behavior. Solution Manual for CB Consumer Behaviour Barry J. Babin, Eric G. Harris 9781305403222, 9781305577244
