INDIVIDUAL AND SITUATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS THAT INFLUENCE

ATTITUDE CHANGE
Attitude change is determined by the individual and the situation as well as the activities
of the firm or social agency. There are individual differences in how easily individuals will
shift attitudes. Some people are more stubborn or closed-minded or less subject to social
influence than are others.
Attitudes that are strongly held are more difficult to change than are those that are
weakly held. Think of something you feel strongly about - perhaps your school, your
favorite sports team or band, or a disliked behavior such as chewing tobacco. What would
be required to change your attitude about this item or activity? Clearly, it would be difficult.
Consumers tend to avoid messages that are counter to their attitude.
The Elaboration likelihood model (ELM) is a theory about how attitudes are
formed and changed under varying conditions of involvement. The ELM suggests that
brand involvement (the degree of personal relevance of the brand, which may change with
the situation) and decision motivations are key determinants of how information is processed
and attitudes are changed. High involvement results in a central route to attitude change by
which consumers deliberately and consciously examine and precede those message elements
that they believe are relevant to a meaningful and logical evaluation of the brand.
The ELM suggests that vastly different communications strategies are required to
communicate effectively with consumers highly involved with the product compared with
consumers with little product involvement. In general, more detailed, factual and logical
information can be used in high-involvement, central route situations. Low-involvement,
peripheral route situations generally require limited information, such as pictorial ads that
allow quick association to the key attribute with the brand.
COMMUNICATION CHARACTERISTICS THAT INFLUENCE ATTITUDE
FORMATION AND CHANGE
In this, we describe communication techniques that enhance attitude change. It must
be emphasized that, as with all aspects of consumer behavior, individual and situational
characteristics interact with the communication features to determine effectiveness.
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49 ANNA UNIVERSITY CHENNAI
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Source Characteristics
The source of a communication can be an identifiable person, an unidentifiable person
(a typical home-maker), a company or organization, or an inanimate figure such as a
cartoon character. The source of message is important because consumers respond
differently to the same message delivered by different sources.
Source Credibility: Influencing attitudes is easier when the target market views the source
of the message as highly credible. This is referred to as source credibility. Source credibility
appears to be composed of two basic dimensions: trustworthiness and expertise. A source
that has no apparent reason other than to provide complete, objective, and accurate
information would generally be considered trustworthy. Most of us would consider our
good friends trustworthy on most matters. However, our friends might not have the
knowledge necessary to be credible in a certain area. Although sales personnel and
advertisers often have ample knowledge, many consumers doubt their trustworthiness
because it might be to their advantage to mislead the consumer.
Celebrity sources: Celebrities are widely used in advertising, and evidence indicates that
their use may increase a firms value. A visible use of celebrity endorsers in recent years
has been the mustache campaign for milk. Celebrity sources may enhance attitude change
for a variety of reasons. First, they may attract more attention to the advertisement than
would non celebrities. Second, they may be viewed as more credible than non celebrities.
Third, consumers may identify with or desire to emulate the celebrity. Finally, consumers
may associate known characteristics of the celebrity with attributes of the product that
coincide with their own needs or desires.
Sponsorship: A company providing financial support for an event such as the Olympics
or a concert is one of the most rapidly growing marketing activities. It often works in much
the same manner as using a celebrity endorser. That is, the characteristics of the sponsored
event may become associated with the sponsoring organization