CONSUMER

BEHAVIOR
Lecture 4 – Chapter 16
Summer Semester 2023

Course Lecturer:
Dr. Sara El-Deeb

E-mail:
Sara.eldeeb@guc.edu.eg

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 Chapter 16:

Alternative
Evaluation and
Selection

Dr. Sara El-Deeb

Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 PART IV: CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Learning Objectives

• Explain types of consumer processes

1

• Discuss meta-goals in decision making

2

• Summarize the nature of evaluative criteria:

3 type, number and importance

• List and calculate the decision rules for

4 attribute based choices

Dr. Sara El-Deeb

Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Consumer Choice and Types of Choice
Processes

Dr. Sara El-Deeb

Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Consumer Choice and Types of Choice
Processes
An Examination of Rational Choice Theory

1. Assumption: Consumers seek one optimal solution to a

problem and choose on that basis
• Reality: Consumers have all sorts of “metagoals” that are
different from this
2. Assumption: Consumers have the skill and motivation to find
the optimal solution
• Reality: Consumers often lack both the skill or motivation
to do so
3. Assumption: The optimal solution does not change as a
function of situational factors such as time pressure, task
definition, or competitive context
• Reality: Context effects are common
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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 How Consumers Make Choices

Metagoals in Decision Making

• Maximize the accuracy of the decision

• Minimize the cognitive effort required for the decision

• Minimize the experience of negative emotion

• Maximize the ease of justifying the decision

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Consumer Choice and Types of Choice
Processes
Attitude- versus Attribute-Based Choice Processes

Attitude-Based Choice Attribute-Based Choice

•Involves the use of general •Requires the knowledge of
attitudes, summary specific attributes at the
impressions, intuitions, or time the choice is made,
heuristics; no attribute-by- and it involves attribute-by-
attribute comparisons are attribute comparisons
made at the time of choice. across brands.

Dr. Sara El-Deeb

Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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Dr. Sara El-Deeb
Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Evaluative Criteria
Nature of Evaluative Criteria
Evaluative criteria are typically associated with desired benefits and can differ
in:

Type
Number
Importance
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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Nature of Evaluative Criteria
Type – Tangible and Intangible

Tangible – cost and performance features

Intangible – style, taste, prestige, feelings generated and

brand image

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Nature of Evaluative Criteria
Number of attributes

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Nature of Evaluative Criteria
Importance

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Evaluative Criteria
Measurement of Evaluative Criteria

Involves a determination of:

 The Evaluative Criteria Used:

 Direct method

 Indirect method

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Evaluative Criteria
Measurement of evaluative criteria - Determination of Which
Evaluative Criteria Are Used

1. Direct methods include asking consumers what criteria they use

in a particular purchase.
• Asking consumers
• Focus groups

2. Indirect techniques assume consumers will not or

cannot state their evaluative criteria.
• Projective techniques - allow the respondent to indicate the
criteria someone else might use.
• Perceptual mapping - researcher uses judgment to
determine dimensions underlying consumer evaluations of
brand similarity.
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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Evaluative Criteria
Perceptual Mapping of Car Brand Perception

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Individual Judgment and Evaluative
Criteria

Accuracy of Individual Judgments

Use of Surrogate Indicators

Evaluative Criteria, Individual Judgments,

and Marketing Strategy
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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Individual Judgment and Evaluative
Criteria
 Accuracy of Individual Judgments
 Sensory discrimination: the ability of an individual to distinguish between
similar stimuli
 Use of Surrogate Indicators
• A Surrogate indicator is an attribute used to stand for or indicate another
attribute. For example, consumers often use the following factors as surrogate
indicators of quality (i.e. quality signals):
 price
 advertising intensity
 warranties
 brand
 country of origin

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Use of Surrogate Indicators
Use of Price

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Use of Surrogate Indicators
Use of Price

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Use of Surrogate Indicators
Use of Celebrity Endorsement

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 Use of Surrogate Indicators
Use of Country of Origin

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Individual Judgment and Evaluative
Criteria

 Evaluative Criteria, Individual Judgments, and

Marketing Strategy

Dr. Sara El-Deeb

Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Individual Judgment and Evaluative
Criteria
Evaluative Criteria, Individual Judgments, and
Marketing Strategy

Dr. Sara El-Deeb

Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices

 Conjunctive Rule

 Disjunctive Rule Non-compensatory

 Elimination-by-Aspects Rule

 Lexicographic Rule

 Compensatory Rule

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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices

Conjunctive Rule: Price 3

Establishes minimum required Weight 4
performance for each evaluative
criterion. Processor 3

Selects the first (or all) brand(s) Battery life 1

that meet or exceed these
minimum standards. If minimum After-sale support 2
performance was:
Display quality 3

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices
Conjunctive Rule

Lenovo, Acer, Dell, and Toshiba are eliminated

because they fail to meet all the minimum standards.

Minimum
3
4
3
1
2
3

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices

Disjunctive Rule: Price 5

Establishes a minimum required Weight 5

performance for each important
attribute (often a high level). Processor Not critical

All brands that meet or exceed the Battery life Not critical
performance level for any key attribute After-sale support Not critical
are acceptable. If minimum
performance was:
Display quality 5

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices
Disjunctive Rule

Acer, Compaq, and Dell meet minimum for at least one

important criterion and thus are acceptable.

Minimum
5
5
-
-
-
5

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Importance Performance Analysis

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 1 6

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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices

Elimination-by-Aspects Rule Rank Cutoff

First, evaluative criteria ranked Price 1 3

in terms of importance Weight 2 4

Second, cutoff point for each Display quality 3 4

criterion is established.
Processor 4 3

Finally (in order of attribute After-sale support 5 3

importance) brands are
eliminated if they fail to meet or
exceed the cutoff. If rank and Battery life 6 3
cutoff were:

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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices
Elimination-by-Aspects Rule
Step 1: Price eliminates Lenovo and Toshiba
Step 2: Weight eliminates Acer
Step 3: Of remaining brands (HP, Compaq, Dell), only Dell meets
or exceeds display quality minimum.
Rank Cutoff

Price 1 3

Weight 2 4

Display 3 4
quality

Processor 4 3

After-sale 5 3
support

Battery 6 3
life
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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices
Lexicographic Decision Rule
Consumer ranks the criteria in order of importance.

Then selects brand that performs best on the most important

attribute.

If two or more brands tie, they are evaluated on the second

most important attribute. This continues through the attributes
until one brand outperforms the others.

Acer would be chosen because it performs best on Price, our

consumer’s most important attribute.

Dr. Sara El-Deeb

Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices
Lexicographic Decision Rule

Rank

Price 1

Weight 2

Display 3
quality

Processor 4

After-sale 5
support

Battery 6
life

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices
Compensatory Decision Rule

The compensatory decision rule states that the brand that rates highest on the
sum of the consumer’s judgments of the relevant evaluative criteria will be
chosen.

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices
Compensatory Decision Rule

Assume the following Importance Score

importance weights: Price 30
Weight 25
Using this rule, Dell has the Processor 10
highest preference and Battery life 05
would be chosen.
After-sale support 10
Display quality 20
The calculation for Dell is:
Total 100

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices
Compensatory Decision Rule

Importance Score
30
25
10
5
10
20

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Decision Rules for Attribute-Based Choices
Summary of Resulting Choices from Different Decision Rules

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Consumer Behavior (MRKT602)
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 Shopping Bots (Smart Sort feature)

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Dr. Sara El-Deeb
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