Part 2: Micro-view of Consumption
Chapter 3: Decision-making and involvement
From choice to decision-making
The decision-making process assumes that we seek to solve a problem or achieve a desired
goal. The level of involvement consumers have with a purchase is a key factor influencing the
decision-making process. Involvement is the perceived relevance of a purchase to the
consumer.
High involvement decisions: some decision-making that is important as it will affect aspects
of our life (i.e. choosing which university course).
Low involvement decisions: the outcome is not likely to be very importance (less of
importance: what to drink when you are thirsty?)
The main difference of significance to marketers is that in the high involvement decision a
choice is made following a process of search and evaluation, where some kind of evaluative
criteria will be applied. In the low involvement decision the choice is made without these
intervening steps. Obviously there are shades of grey, and some researchers distinguish
between what is referred to as extended problem-solving (high involvement) and habitual
decision-making (low involvement). Limited problem-solving occurs in situations where the
consumer is less motivated to search or information or evaluate alternatives in as rigorous a
way as they would for an extended problem-solving choice. In such cases consumers may use
simple evaluation criteria or decision rules such as ‘it must be under €5’ of ‘it must fit into the
space in the corner’. In the low involvement decision the outcomes of the purchase may also
affect evaluative criteria, although the impact may be more limited (identified by the dashed
line in Figure 3.1). A key difference between high and low involvement from a marketing
perspective is that in high involvement consumers are in an active manner as outlines in Table
3.1.
,Active learning involves the acquisition of knowledge before purchase, and therefore
extensive information search (Erdem et al., 2005).
Passive learning is the acquisition of knowledge without active learning (Krugman and
Hartley, 1970). An important aspect of passive learning is an absence of resistance to what is
learned. As active learning is by its nature exciting and engaging, it may bring about more
resistance.
The evoked set refers to all brands they are aware of which might meet their needs.
The consideration set refers to those they might actually consider buying.
,Figure 3.2 shows where intention comes directly after
problem recognition. For the purchase to become a more
routine decision, a positive outcome has to feed back to a
future intention to buy the same brand.
Involvement and decision-making
Table 3.2 shows the level of involvement and relevance
of purchases for consumers can bring about different
decision-making processes. In a low involvement process,
where there a few differences between brands, a
consumer may not be too concerned about their choices.
However, if the choice is a high involvement decision
which may include an element of risk, the consumer is
likely to engage in dissonance reduction (verminderen
van onaangename spanning die iemand ervaart bij
tegenstrijdige overtuigingen, ideeën of opvattingen of bij
handelen in strijd met de eigen overtuiging) strategies to
ensure that they make the right choice. This may mean
that they engage in an extended search and look for reassurance after purchase that they have
the right choice.
While we categorize decision-making by high or low involvement, a consumer’s level of
involvement will depend on how relevant the purchasing decision is to them. Different people
exhibit varying levels of involvement with regard to the same product because of differences
in their personality, socio-economic and demographic factors, previous experience, and the
product’s relevance to them and their situation (Antil, 1984). Other forms of involvement are:
- Product involvement is the perceived personal relevance of the product, based
on needs, values, or interest (Zaichkowsky 1985, 1986).
- Message-response involvement reflects the consumer’s interest in marketing
communications (Batra and Ray, 1983).
- Enduring involvement is ‘the pre-existing relationship between an individual
and the object of concern’ (Houston and Rothschild, 1978: 3).
- Ego involvement is when consumers perceive products or brands as relevant
to their personal interests (Foxall, 1993).
, While personal factors and a long-term interest in a product may affect our level of
involvement, such factors may also change depending upon the purchase situation. Situational
involvement tends to depend on some particular event or time in our lives (i.e. buying a bottle
of wine as gift for a birthday).
How to increase involvement
There are a number of ways that marketers can achieve increased involvement with both their
products and messages so that customers have positive associations with them when making
high or low purchase decisions:
- Link the brand to hedonic (genot is het hoogste levensdoel) needs
- Use distinctive (kenmerkend) or novel ways of communicating your
product to increase involvement
- Use celebrities
- Tell a story: this is particularly effective when there is a longer period of time
to present a narrative, such as in cinema advertising or on the internet.
- Build a relationship: companies that invest in a particular communications
message can build a relationship between the viewer and that message.
Whether or not the consumer is involved with the brand, they will, over time,
build knowledge of what the brand stands for.
- Get the consumer to participate: brands seem to be more successful when
they can get active involvement from consumers, and social media offers them
many opportunities to do this.
Stages in the decision-making process
Problem recognition is a realization that a problem needs to be solved through purchase. It
may be triggered by internal factors such as hunger or thirst, or external factors such as having
to buy a birthday present. Problem recognition occurs in high and low involvement decision-
making when we recognize (not necessarily conciously) the difference between our actual
state and an ideal state.
