This book is our invitation to the diverse, intriguing, dynamic, global world of consumers. The world of consumers seems both smaller and larger than it did last year or even yesterday. Human societies have always mixed and changed, but people, ideas and goods move farther and faster today than in previous decades. Cell phones, the Internet, mobile commerce, and global satellite communications bring us together quickly, frequently and almost effortlessly. In the last decade, Internet communications have more than doubled every year. The global marketplace is a fact of life. The world seems smaller. At the same time, the magnitude of our differences, our unique traditions, values, desires, and ways of living are salient and vibrant. Cultures are resourceful, resilient, and unpredictable. We meet Buddhist monks breakfasting at Denny's in L.A., order an orthodox Hindu menu at the McDonald's in Bombay, celebrate Chinese values and traditions with Sesame Street in Shanghai. In our own neighborhood, we find people, beliefs, and behaviors that seem strange, unfamiliar, and confusing. Rap music pervades the globe, but sounds a lot different in Mongolia than it does in Canada, Turkey, or the U.S.A. The world seems larger, more diverse. Local marketers can no longer assume that their local customers will share their particular views on the world. Our intent with this book is to assist readers in making sense of consumers as cultures, social beings, families, and individuals. We are interested in behavior, but also in what consumers think, feel, and say. We are interested in what consumers purchase, but also their consumption dreams and plans, their unfolding consumption experiences, and their consumption satisfaction, and memories. We are interested in the meanings consumers attach to consumption and possessions. We are interested in how people dispose of things they no longer want, as well as precious things they can no longer keep. We offer theories and tools borrowed from all the social sciences, including areas as diverse as neuroscience and evolutionary anthropology to enable readers to thrive in a global marketplace. Thriving in the global marketplace means looking closely at the cultures from which consumer desires emerge, the rituals and patterns associated with products, services, and experiences. Such an approach is especially important when cultures are in turmoil and technologies are disrupting established economic and social patterns of behavior. We believe that the best marketing courses teach students to be sensitive to cultural dynamics. To research and write this book we brought together the multi-disciplinary skills and viewpoints of three consumer researchers. All three of us have traveled extensively in recent years, and been engaged in multi-country consumer research. We are committed deeply and resolutely to understanding and teaching consumer behavior. Each of us is blessed (or cursed) with an eclectic vision of consumers. However, we are grounded in different traditions. Eric Arnould brings a cross-cultural approach to consumer behavior derived from anthropological training and many years of overseas work to the project. Linda Price contributes perspectives from social psychology and more generally the intersections between cognition, society, and culture. George Zinkhan adds his many years of experience with issues in mediated communications, advertising, and marketing to his enduring interests in the literary arts. As authors, we are passionate and active teachers, but also passionate and active researchers. The book offers a cutting- edge treatment of research and practice related to consumers with a wealth of contemporary, real-world examples and marketing applications. Objectives Consumers is intended to serve as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in consumer behavior. The text could also be used as a supplementary text in courses desiring to offer a global perspective on marketing. The tone of the text is conversational, and we offer numerous examples and applications of consumer theory and research in various regions of the world. The objectives of this book are: 1.To highlight the importance and necessity of a global approach to understanding consumers. To offer a book that emphasizes and illustrates the relationships between individuals and the communities and cultures in which they live. 2.To provide a comprehensive understanding of consumers adopting a culturally relative orientation. To illustrate how culture affects both internal, individual variables such as perception, emotions, memory and decision making as well as self-concept, lifestyle, values, and family structure. 3.To illustrate the impact of the Internet and other technological advances on consumers' lives and actions. To illustrate the ways in which mediated communications such as television, the Internet, and e-mail influence consumers and consumer culture. 4.To use simple language and examples to integrate complex contemporary discussions about consumers from a diverse number of disciplines. 5.To provide a clear and wide-ranging treatment of the entire wheel of consumption from pre-consumption thoughts, feelings, and actions, to consumption and post-consumption thoughts, feelings and actions. 6.To offer explicit treatment of topics often neglected or given cursory investigation in consumer behavior texts, including a complete chapter dedicated to consumer satisfaction and a complete chapter dedicated to consumer disposal behaviors. 7.To highlight the connections between understanding consumers and good marketing practice. 8.To create a book that conveys our own enthusiasm and wonderment about consumers and their cultures. Supplements We understand that new approaches can be foreboding; change is risky. So this package offers you comprehensive supplements and a full array of multi-media materials to use in your classroom. We have done our best to blend the new and exciting features of global consumer behavior with the important features of other consumer behavior texts. Our approach incorporates the latest developments in instructional technology to facilitate efficient organization and delivery of concepts and information. We hope that the book will feel familiar but with a new and exciting flavor. An Instructor's Manual, written by Pamela Kiecker of Virginia Commonwealth University in conjunction with the text's authors goes beyond providing solutions to end-of-chapter questions and problems. It incorporates additional, new material and examples for professors to use with students. Sample course syllabi are also included. Our PowerPoint Presentation is also created by Pam Kiecker of Virginia Commonwealth University in conjunction with the text's authors and is available on the book's website and on our Instructor's CD-ROM. The PowerPoint provides over 350 slides of text material and additional resources for use in class lectures and discussion. The Test Bank, written by Ronald Weir of East Tennessee State University includes over 1300 multiple choice, fill in the blank, and essay questions. Many of the test questions have been class-tested by the text's authors over several semesters. The accompanying Video Package includes a collection of stories shared by consumer behavior teachers and researchers from around the world. These stories bring to life a variety of concepts from the textbook. Other video segments in the package stress the ritual aspects of consumption, illustrate consumption in different parts of the world, and provide examples of consumption within subcultures and communities. A set of Four-colorAcetates is available to adopters of this book. Seventy-five figures, examples, and advertisements from the text and other sources provide examples for class lectures. Our book-specific Website at www.mhhe.com/arnould offers complete classroom support for both students and professors. For students, the site provides student quizzing, an eLearning session, interactive activities, links to companies used as examples in the book, and Internet exercises. For professors, we provide downloadable supplements, a link to PageOut, and updated Business Week articles. Pamela Kiecker of Virginia Commonwealth University will provide updates to the website during the school semester. - Our Instructor's Presentation CD-ROM provides professors with the Instructor's Manual, computerized test bank, images from the acetate package, video clips, links to company sites, and our PowerPoint slides.
Organization The book is organized into four sections. The first section of the book is composed of four chapters. Chapter 1 introduces our perspective on the nature and scope of consumer behavior. We introduce the wheel of consumption that includes production, consumption and disposal activities as a template that broadly structures the content of our book. Chapter 2 provides the crucial link between understanding consumer behavior and marketing strategy. Throughout the book, we give additional examples and illustrations of the connection between understanding consumers and effective marketing strategy. Chapter 3 describes and illustrates a wide range of market research strategies and includes extensive discussion of the impact of new technologies (e.g., the Internet) and globalization on the effective and ethical conduct of market research. As compared to other textbooks, we provide more discussion of anthropological and sociological techniques, and describe details on the Internet and multi-country market research. Chapter 4 overviews the changing world of consumption and illustrates consumptions in different regions of the world with numerous examples. This chapter serves to contrast consumption patterns in less developed countries with those of the industrialized world. In this chapter, we also outline several important trends that shape global consumer behavior. Section 2 provides a background to consumption. In Chapter 5, we outline the meaning and nature of culture and how it influences consumer behavior. This important chapter provides many basic ideas that are referred to throughout the text. Chapter 6 provides a thorough overview of how economic and social structures affect consumer behavior. This chapter is the longest chapter in the book, but other books frequently include multiple chapters on this topic. Rather than deal with these topics in a piecemeal fashion, we have integrated our discussion across the related topics of social class, ethnicity, gender, and age. Chapter 7 provides an overview of how consumers' self-concepts and personalities relate both to the environments in which they live and their consumption behavior. Chapter 8 follows up with a far-ranging discussion of consumer lifestyles that includes lifestyles in many parts of the world such as Japan and France, and discusses how consumer lifestyle is connected to cultural beliefs and values. Chapter 9 provides a basic and provocative overview of consumer perception. Again, our intent is to show how something as individual as perception is shaped by culture and environment. Appropriately, this chapter is rich with visual examples. Section three focuses on consumer purchase and acquisition, the traditional heart of consumer research. In six action-packed chapters, we cover traditional topics, plus some new material. For example, Chapter 10 describes the many ways that consumers acquire products, services, and ideas. In contrast with conventional treatments, we emphasize gift-giving, and secondary markets (e.g., yard and boot sales) as important ways that consumers acquire things. In this chapter, we also include many leading-edge ideas about how and why people shop and how we can understand and predict purchase behavior. Chapter 11 draws on our newest understandings of how humans develop in their cultural environments to cast in new light on the important topic of motivation. Although we cover the usual array of motivational techniques and research, we also emphasize cross-cultural differences. Chapter 12 follows on the heels of Chapter 11 by emphasizing how context and culture influence what consumers experience, learn, and remember. In contrast with other textbooks, we emphasize an understanding of consumer learning and how that relates to knowledge, rather than focusing predominantly on consumer knowledge. We also consider how new technologies might affect what, when and how consumers learn. Chapter 13 summarizes models, theories, and research about consumer decision-making and attitude models. Again, we stress the power of situation and context for altering and framing how consumers decide what to believe, buy, or do. Although we cover conventional ideas about consumer decision-making, we emphasize how consumers creatively construct choices to respond to a particular situation. In Chapter 14, we explore the role of households and formal buying groups in the acquisition and consumption process. We show how the structure of these groups affects acquisition. We summarize how internal resource pooling affects acquisition and consumption. Chapter 15 investigates the processes by which individuals and informal groups influence others' acquisition behaviors. We discuss the behavior of market mavens, celebrity endorsers, and reference groups, for example. Section 4 provides an in-depth treatment of several of the most important topics in consumer theory and research. Some of these topics are given only cursory treatment, or no discussion, in other consumer behavior texts. This section is formulated around the consequences and outcomes of consumer acquisition. Chapter 16 provides a bridge between this and the previous section. It overviews how, why and when consumers purchase new services and products, and then discusses how and whether they integrate these innovations into their everyday lives. Chapter 17 describes what we know about consumer satisfaction. Although consumer satisfaction is considered a key to doing business, this is the first consumer behavior book with an entire chapter dedicated to examining the topic. In one chapter, we compress the most recent research on how to deliver value and satisfaction to consumers. Chapter 18 focuses on what consumption means to consumers. We hope you find this chapter to be one of the richest in the book. Multi-national firms are interested in predicting whether or not consumers will purchase, but they are also interested in what their products or services mean to consumers. We introduce many new ideas in this chapter and describe cutting-edge theories about consumer meaning. We employ numerous common-sense examples that help the reader understand the importance and nature of consumer meanings. The final chapter, nineteen, concludes with a discussion of consumer recycling, reuse, and disposal behaviors. In chapter 4, we identify ecological concerns as a global trend. The final chapter addresses how consumers recycle, reuse, and dispose of things and discusses the micro and macro consequences of consumption. We argue that both marketers and consumers need to pay more attention to what happens after purchase and consumption, and we provide examples of how marketers can profit from understanding post-acquisition attitudes and behaviors. Chapter Structure Based on extensive teaching and writing experience, we have included a number of features in each chapter that should help students learn about consumers. First and foremost, each and every chapter is global in theory and scope, and up to date with reference to both contextual factors such as new technologies and topical theory and research. In addition, we offer a unique blend of old and new. Introductory Vignette. Each chapter opens with a consumer story that overviews many essential aspects of the chapter. The vignettes often draw from the authors' own experiences and are typically global in character. We refer back to these vignettes throughout the chapter to make subsequent theories more tangible for the reader. Learning Objectives. Each chapter begins by outlining a few essential learning objectives that can be used by readers to gauge their comprehension of the text. Consumer Chronicles. Each chapter includes several boxed and detailed consumer examples that help to illustrate a particular theory or idea with the real thoughts, feelings, and experiences of consumers around the world. Good Practice. Each chapter uses set-aside examples of marketing/management good practice related to consumers. Sometimes good practice refers to what companies can, should, and are doing. Sometimes good practice provides a hands-on opportunity for readers to apply a good practice of their own. These sections are target opportunities for in-class discussion and exercises. Industry Insight. Each chapter includes examples from industry that help to highlight the application of consumer theory and research to the practice of marketing and management. As in the case of consumer chronicles, these set-aside illustrations help to texture readers' understandings. ;quot;You Make the Call.;quot; In addition to a set of end of chapter questions and exercises, each chapter concludes with a short case that can help students grasp the big picture and elaborate on their own understandings of the chapter material. The cases are fun vehicles for class discussion, chapter review, and mini-projects. They may even generate some future research! Abundant Use of Full-color Exhibits. This book draws on a wide-array of visual materials. We include author-developed charts, graphs and exhibits, but also include cartoons, photos of billboards, packaging, advertisements, and consumers. More than simply eye-catching and aesthetic, these exhibits are intended to convey the richness and complexity of global consumers. Numerous examples illustrate the Internet and emerging technologies, but other examples illustrate the many places that high technology has not yet penetrated.
Acknowledgments Since this project has taken ten years to bear fruit, a lot of people share the credit for coaxing us along. Mary Fisher and Bill Schopf of Austen Press, a short-lived experimental arm of Irwin Press, initially talked Linda and Eric into doing the book as part of a close working team. Both have since gone on to pursue other dreams. Various editors at Irwin and later Irwin/ McGraw-Hill have patiently nudged us forward including Nina McGuffin and Barrett Koger. In fact, the whole team of people associated with Irwin McGraw Hill worked very patiently with us to bring the book and pedagogical package to fruition. We've had quite a bit of help from graduate students who collected materials, and reviewed and edited drafts of this book. They include Stephanie Nelson (UNL) and Rich Gonzalez (USF). Austen Arnould provided excellent critical guidance from the perspective of a prospective undergraduate reader. Linda and Eric put up with and encouraged each other as part of their ongoing personal / professional experiment. Both want to thank co-author George Zinkhan who was brought into the project when it already resembled a lumbering run-away train, and has patiently helped guide it into the station by providing additional energy and insight. Michelle Morrison and Kate Sirgany provided useful insights on later drafts of the manuscript. A number of reviewers, some of who appropriately read us the riot act at earlier stages of manuscript preparation, and others who gracefully offered constructive comments, all played a role in the development of the final product. In particular, we wish to thank: Lon Camomile, Colorado State University Paul Chao, University of Northern Iowa Sylvia Clark, CUNY, Queensborough Joel Cohen, University of Florida Darren Dahl, University of Manitoba Cathy Hartman, Utah State University Jo Anne Hopper, Western Carolina University Vaughan C. Judd, Auburn University Dimitri Kapelianis, University of Arizona Steven Kates, Monash University, Australia Thomas I. Kindel, The Citadel Jim Munch, University of Texas Carmen Powers, Monroe Community College Shelley M. Rinehart, University of New Brunswick in Saint John Greg Rose, University of Mississippi Amy Rummel, Alfred University Jackie Snell, San Jose State University T.N. Somasundaram, University of San Diego Ajay Sukhdial, Oklahoma State University Ottilia Voegtli, University of Missouri-Saint Louis Terry Witkowski, California State University About the Authors Dr. Eric Arnould is Professor of Marketing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln despite the fact that he holds a Ph.D. degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Arizona (1982). He has also taught at Odense University, Denmark, the University of South Florida, California State University Long Beach, and at the University of Colorado at Denver. From 1975 to 1990, he tried to do less harm than good working on economic development issues in more than a dozen West African nations for governmental and non-governmental organizations. Since 1990, he has been a full-time academic. Occasionally, he is let loose on a minor consulting assignment. His research investigates consumer ritual (Thanksgiving, New Year's, football bowl games, Halloween, inheritance), service relationships (including river rafting and commercial friendships), West African marketing channels, and the uses of qualitative data. To his enduring surprise, his work appears in the three major US marketing journals (Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research), as well as many other social science periodicals and edited books. Dr. Arnould is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences. He speaks French and Hausa and enjoys running, do-it-yourself work on his old house, and being a parent. Dr. Linda L. Price is E.J. Faulkner Professor of Agribusiness and Marketing at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. She received her Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Texas Austin in 1983. She has also been on the faculty at University of South Florida, University of Colorado, Boulder, University of California, Irvine, Odense University, Denmark and University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Price has published over 50 research papers in areas of marketing and consumer behavior. Many of these papers appear in leading consumer and marketing journals such as Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and Organization Science. Linda is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, universities and community forums. She has consulted for several large multi-nationals, but has also conducted research for many small enterprises, national and regional agencies, and not-for-profit organizations. Dr. Price's research focuses on consumers as emotional, imaginative and creative agents and on the relational dimensions of consumers' behaviors. Her major areas of teaching include consumer behavior, market research, and marketing theory. Dr. George Zinkhan is the Coca-Cola Company Chair of Marketing at the University of Georgia, Terry College of Business. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Michigan in 1981. Besides the University of Michigan, he has also taught at the University of Houston, University of Pittsburgh, and the Madrid School of Business. Dr. Zinkhan has published over 100 research papers in the areas of marketing, advertising, and electronic commerce. These papers appear in leading journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Decision Sciences, and the Journal of Advertising.Among his recent co-authored books are: Electronic Commerce: The Strategic Perspective (Harcourt, Inc., 2000) and Advertising Research: The Internet, Consumer Behavior, and Strategy (American Marketing Association, 2000). As indicated by the themes of these books, Dr. Zinkhan's research interests focus on: consumer behavior, communication, electronic commerce, and knowledge development. Dedications For my mother and daughter who believe the world is wonderful and mysterious, and share great hope for humankind. Like bookends, their optimism frames the content of this book. Linda L. Price Written in hopes of living up to the spirit of two great educators, my late uncle Robert S. Brumbaugh, professor of Philosophy (and so much more) at Yale University, and the late Robert Netting of the University of Arizona, an inspiration to a generation of cultural anthropologists. Eric J. Arnould To my family and friends. George M. Zinkhan |
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education