1. University of Wales (UK) Consumer Behaviour (KL003)
Lesson 11
Group Influence and Opinion Leadership

2. Reference Groups
An actual or imaginary individual/group conceived of having significant relevance upon an individual’s evaluations, aspirations, or behavior
Reference groups influence consumers in three ways:
Informational
Utilitarian
Value-expressive

3. Reference Group Influences
Reference group effects are more robust for purchases that are:
Luxuries rather than necessities
Socially conspicuous/visible to others
PRODUCT
Weak Reference Group Influence
Strong Reference Group Influence
BRAND
PUBLIC
NECESSITIES
LUXURIES
PRIVATE
Figure 11.1

4. When Reference Groups Are Important
Social power: capacity to alter the actions of others
Referent power
Information power
Legitimate power
Expert power
Reward power
Coercive power

5. Types of Reference Groups
Any external influence that provides social clues
Cultural figure
Parents
A large, formal organization
Tend to be more product- or activity-specific: comparative influence
Small and informal groups
Exert a more powerful influence on individual consumers
A part of our day-to-day lives: normative influence

6. Brand Communities
A group of consumers who share a set of social relationships based upon usage or interest in a product
Brandfests enhance brand loyalty
Consumer tribe share emotions, moral beliefs, styles of life, and affiliated product
Tribal marketing: linking a product to the needs of a group as a whole

7. Membership vs. Aspirational Reference Groups
People the consumer actually knows vs. people the consumer doesn’t know but admires
Admirational strategies concentrate on highly visible, widely admired figures (athletes or performers)
Membership strategies focus on “ordinary” people whose consumption provides informational social influence
Propinquity, mere exposure, and group cohesiveness

8. Positive vsersus Negative Reference Groups
Reference groups may exert either a positive or negative influence on consumption behaviors
Avoidance groups: motivation to distance oneself from other people/groups
Marketing: ads with undesirable people using competitor’s product
Discussion: Identify a set of avoidance groups for your peers. Can you identify any consumption decisions that are made with these groups in mind?

9. Consumers Do It in Groups
De-individuation
Binge drinking at college parties
Social loafing
We tend to tip less when eating in groups
Risky shift
Diffusion of responsibility
Value hypothesis
Decision polarization

10. Consumers Do It in Groups
Home shopping parties
Tupperware and Botox parties
Informational and normative social influence
De-individuation
Risky shift
Discussion: Are home shopping parties that put pressure on friends and neighbors to buy merchandise ethical?

11. Conformity
Most people tend to follow society’s expectations regarding how to look/act
Change in beliefs/actions toward societal norms
Appropriate clothing/personal items, gift-giving, sex roles, and personal hygiene

12. Factors Influencing Conformity
Cultural pressures
Fear of deviance
Sanctions against “different” behavior
Commitment to group membership
Principle of least interest
Group unanimity, size, expertise
Susceptibility to interpersonal influence
Role relaxed

13. Social Comparison “How am I doing?”
We look to others’ behavior to inform us about reality
Occurs as way to increase stability of one’s self-evaluation (sans physical evidence)
Tastes in music and art
We tend to choose co-oriented peer when performing social comparison

14. Resisting Conformity Independence vs. anticonformity Reactance
“Marching to own drummer” versus being aware of what is expected (and not doing it)
Reactance
Negative emotional state when we are deprived of our freedom of choice
Censored books, TV shows, music lyrics

15. Word-of-Mouth Communication
WOM: product information transmitted by individuals to individuals
More reliable/trustworthy form of marketing
Backed up by social pressure to conform
Influences two-thirds of all sales of goods
We rely upon WOM in later stages of evaluation and adoption
WOM is powerful when we are unfamiliar with product category

16. WOM Communication Product-related conversation factors:
High involvement with product (pleasure)
Knowledgeable about product (impressing others)
Genuine concern for others (avoid wasting money)

17. Negative WOM and Power of Rumors
We weigh negative WOM more heavily than we do positive comments!
Negative WOM is easy to spread, especially online
Determined detractors
Discussion: What is the best way for a company to deal with determined detractors?
Information/rumor distortion
Assimilation, leveling, and sharpening

18. Virtual Communities
A collection of people who share their love of a product in online interactions
Multi-user dungeons (MUD)
Rooms (IRC), rings, and lists
Boards
Blogs/blogosphere
Great potential for abuse via untrustworthy members
Amazon.com lawsuit (charging publishers to post positive reviews of Web site)

19. Types of Web Surfers Discussion: Which type of Web surfer are you?
Figure 11.3
Discussion: Which type of Web surfer are you?

20. Guerrilla Marketing
Promotional strategies that use unconventional locations and intensive WOM to push products
Recruiting legions of real consumers for street theater
Hip-hop “mix tapes”/street teams
P&G’s Tremor
Kayem Foods’ Great Sausage Fanout
Brand ambassadors

21. Viral Marketing
Getting visitors to a Web site to forward information on the site to their friends (for product awareness)
Creating online content that is entertaining or weird
SUBSERVIENTCHICKEN.COM
LINCOLNFRY.COM

22. Social Networking
Web sites letting members post information about themselves and make contact with similar others
Share interests, opinions, business contacts
MYSPACE
THEFACEBOOK.COM

23. Opinion Leadership
We don’t usually ask just anyone for advice about purchases!
We most likely seek advice from someone who knows a lot about a product
Opinion leaders frequently influence other’s attitudes/behaviors
E-fluential advice

24. Reasons to Seek Advice from Opinion Leaders
Expertise
Unbiased knowledge power
Highly interconnected in communities (social standing)
Referent power/homophily
Hands-on product experience (absorb risk)

25. Opinion Leadership
Generalize opinion leader vs. monomorphic/polymorphic experts
Although opinion leaders exist for multiple product categories, expertise tends to overlap across similar categories
It is rare to find a generalized opinion leader
Innovative communicators
Opinion seekers
More likely to talk about products with others and solicit others’ opinions
Casual interaction prompted by situation

26. The Market Maven
Actively involved in transmitting marketplace information of all types
Just into shopping and staying on top of what’s happening in the marketplace
Solid overall knowledge of how and where to procure products
“I like introducing new brands/products to friends”
“People ask me for information about products, places to shop, or sales”
“My friends think of me as a good source of information when it comes to new products or sales”

27. The Surrogate Consumer
A marketing intermediary who is hired to provide input into purchase decisions
Interior decorators, stockbrokers, professional shoppers, college consultants
Consumer relinquishes control over decision-making functions
Marketers should not overlook influence of surrogates!

28. Identifying Opinion Leaders
Many ads intend to reach influentials rather than average consumer
Local opinion leaders are harder to find
Companies try to identify influentials in order to create WOM “ripple effect”
Exploratory studies identify characteristics of opinion leaders for promotional strategies

29. The Self-Designating Method
Most commonly used technique to identify opinion leaders…
Simply ask individuals whether they consider themselves to be opinion leaders
Method is easy to apply to large group of potential opinion leaders
View with skepticism…inflation or unawareness of own importance/influence
Alternative: key informants identify opinion leaders

30. Socio-metric Methods Trace communication patterns among group members
Systematic map of group interactions
Most precise method of identifying product-information sources, but is very difficult/expensive to implement
Network analysis
Referral behavior/network, tie strength
Bridging function, strength of weak ties