Exam 14: Consumer Decision Making and Diffusion of Innovations

COLLEGE MINI CASE: Evelyn is a high-school senior from Philadelphia looking to apply to colleges. She has decided to apply to the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, and Princeton. She chose not to apply to Brown, Dartmouth, or Yale because she considers them to be too far away from home. A college counselor had suggested to her that Columbia has a comparable reputation to the schools Evelyn was considering, but Evelyn didn't perceive Columbia as having any particular advantage over the schools to which she had already decided to apply. She is eventually accepted to, and decides to attend Cornell University. Upon arriving on campus, Evelyn immediately notices a deliberate effort on the part of the college to make new students not only feel at home, but that they have absolutely made the right decision in attending Cornell. -In the COLLEGE MINI CASE, Yale is part of Evelyn's ________.

A consumer is most likely to use ________ when purchasing a new, updated version of something that he or she has purchased before, such as replacing an old laptop with a new one.

Beth is tired of carrying around a cumbersome CD player and a heavy collection of CDs so she can listen to her music on-the-go, and so has decided to convert her CD music collection to MP3 and buy an iPod. This is an example of ________ need recognition.

Purchasing a diamond represents ________ because consumers buy diamonds infrequently and have no established criteria for evaluating them.

The Lambert family (which has five family members) gives their babysitter a high school graduation gift. This is an example of ________.

________ is the number of alternatives and the amount of information available for each alternative.

John has decided that he needs to switch cellular service providers because his cell phone doesn't work in his new apartment. Within the context of the model of consumer decision making, this is an example of ________ need recognition.

Negative disconfirmation of expectations involves the performance of a product exceeding the consumer's expectations, leading to consumer satisfaction.

A gift given to a romantic other involves lower emotional expectation than a gift given to a friend.

In cases of ________, the consumer needs a great deal of information to establish a set of criteria on which to judge specific brands and a correspondingly large amount of information concerning each of the brands to be considered.

________ implies the notion of a trade-off of benefits - like the features of the purchased item - versus the sacrifice necessary to purchase it - like the time investment and the price.

The four elements of the diffusion of innovations process include: the innovation, the channels of communication, the social system, and time.

In a(n) ________, the consumer ranks a product's attributes in terms of perceived relevance or importance, then compares the various alternatives in terms of the single attribute that is considered most important. When two or more alternatives are comparable for the most important attribute, the consumer rates those alternatives on the basis of the second most important attribute.

Kim finishes a big project for school and treats herself to a coffee and piece of cake at Starbucks. This is an example of ________.

________ is the presentation, format, and content of available information.

GIFT MINI CASE: Winston needs to buy his girlfriend, Vanessa, a gift for her birthday. He knows she will expect the "perfect" gift. He feels like boyfriends are "supposed" to get their girlfriends jewelry or perfume. His older sister recommends a necklace or earrings. While he's at the jewelry store, he also buys a watch for himself, rationalizing that he hardly ever buys stuff for himself and he "deserves it." -In the GIFT MINI CASE, Vanessa's high expectations of Winston are likely to prolong the ________ stage of the decision-making process.

________ is a macro process concerned with the spread of a new product from its source to the consuming public.

The ________ refers to the specific brands a consumer considers in making a purchase within a particular product category.

What factors determine how extensive a consumer's problem-solving task is?

Past experience is considered an external source of information. The greater the relevant past experience, the less internal information the consumer is likely to need to reach a decision.