Editing Consumer behaviour (section)

=== Affect: Emotions, feelings and mood ===
The consumer's affective state has implications for a number of different dimensions of consumer behaviour, including information search, evaluation of alternatives, product choice, service encounters, complaining, and advertising responses. Westbrook (1987, p.&nbsp;259) defines affect as a "class of mental phenomena uniquely characterised by a consciously experienced, subjective feeling state, commonly accompanying emotions and moods."<ref>Cited in Bagozzi, R., Gurhan-Canli, Z., Priester, J., ''The Social Psychology Of Consumer Behaviour'', Open University Press, Buckingham, PA, 2002, p. 38</ref> Research suggests that affect plays an important role in underlying attitudes, as well as shaping evaluation and decision-making.<ref>Eagly, A.H., and Chaiken, S. ''The Psychology of Attitudes,'' Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Fort Worth, Texas, 1993.
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Consumer researchers have noted the difficulties separating the concepts of affect, emotions, feelings, and mood. The line between emotions and mood is difficult to draw and consumer researchers often use the concepts interchangeably.<ref>McPhail, J. and Mattson, J "The Effect of Mood States on the Dyadic Service Encounter", ''Asia Pacific Advances in Consumer Research,'' Vol. 2, eds. Russel Belk and Ronald Groves (eds), Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, 1996 pp 41-46. Online: http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=11530</ref> Yet other researchers note that a detailed understanding of the relationship between affect and consumer behaviour has been hampered by the lack of research in the area.<ref>Johnson, A.R. and Stewart, D.W., "[http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.458.2370&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=16 A Reappraisal of the Role of Emotions in Consumer Behaviour: Traditional and Contemporary Approaches]", in Malhotra, N. K., ''Review of Marketing Research,'' Vol 1, Armonk, London, 2005, pp 3-33</ref> Indeed, within the consumer behaviour literature, there is widespread agreement that the role of emotions is an area that is currently under-researched and is in need of greater attention, both theoretically and empirically.

====Information search====

Studies have found that people in a positive mood are more efficient at information search activities.  That, is they are more efficient at processing information, are able to integrate information by identifying useful relationships and arrive at creative solutions to problems. Due to their efficiency processing information, those who are in a positive mood are generally quicker to make decisions and easier to please. Research consistently shows that people in a positive mood are more likely to evaluate information positively.<ref>Bagozzi, R., Gurhan-Canli, Z., Priester, J., ''The Social Psychology Of Consumer Behaviour'', Open University Press, Buckingham, PA, 2002, pp 60-63</ref> As online environments become more important as a consumer search tool, it may be prudent for web designers to consider site-design issues such as ease of navigation, lest poor design contribute to customer frustration thereby engendering a bad mood and ultimately leading to unfavourable product/brand evaluations.

====Choice====

[[File:Ässä Mix.jpg|thumb|The immediate pleasure of eating candy often outweighs the longer term benefit of a healthier food choice.]]

Affect may play an important role in [[impulse purchase|impulse]]-[[buying decision]]s. Research suggests that consumers place higher weightings on immediate affective rewards and punishments, while [[delayed reward]]s receive less weighting.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Cohen, J.B.|author2=Pham, M.T. |author3= Andrade, E.B.|title=The Nature and Role of Affect in Consumer Behavior|pages=33–34| website=APA PsycNet | date=1999-06-01 | url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-16424-011 | access-date=2021-09-09}}</ref> For instance, the immediate pleasure of eating a sweet treat often outweighs the longer term benefits of eating a healthy alternative such as fruit. This occurs because the immediate emotional gain is a strong driver, and one that consumers can readily visualise whereas the more distant goal lacks sufficient strength to drive choice.

====Customer experience====

Customers who are in a bad mood are more difficult to please. They are slower to process information and consequently take longer to make decisions. They tend to be more argumentative and are more likely to complain.

====Customer satisfaction====

The relationship between affect and customer satisfaction is an area that has received considerable academic attention, especially in the services marketing literature.<ref>Gountas, S. and Gountas, J. "The Influence of the Customer's Emotions on their Service Product Evaluation", Perdue, R.R. and Immermans, H.J. P. and Uysal, M. Consumer Psychology of Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure, (Vol. 3), 2004</ref> The proposition that there is a positive relationship between affect and satisfaction is well supported in the literature.  In a meta-analysis of the empirical evidence, carried out in 2001, Szymanski et al., suggest that affect may be both an antecedent to and an outcome of satisfaction. Emotions elicited during consumption are proposed to leave affective traces in memory that are available for consumers to access and integrate into their satisfaction assessments.<ref>Szymanski, D.M. and Henard, D.H, "Customer satisfaction; A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Evidence", ''Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science'', vol. 29, no. 1 2001 pp 16-35, Online: http://davidhenard.com/Landing_Page/About_files/Szymanski%20%26%20Henard%202001.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012223510/http://davidhenard.com/Landing_Page/About_files/Szymanski%20%26%20Henard%202001.pdf |date=2016-10-12 }}</ref>

A 2011 meta-analysis<ref>https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=db-management {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> illustrates how both repurchase intent and loyalty enjoy a strong positive relationship (0.54) with customer satisfaction. Another <ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309449362|title=The antecedents of brand loyalty: a meta-analysis study|first1=Wann-Yih|last1=Wu|first2=Nadia|last2=Anridho|date=1 January 2016|journal=International Journal of Services and Standards|volume=11|issue=3|page=242|via=ResearchGate|doi=10.1504/IJSS.2016.10000889}}</ref> meta-analysis finds that "The results indicate that both cognitive-related variables (including brand awareness, brand personality, and brand identity) and hedonic-related variables (including hedonic attitude, entertainment, and aesthetic appeal) have significant impacts on quality and value perceptions towards the brand (including perceived quality, reputation, brand image, perceived value, commitment, and trust). In addition, these variables are all significant predictors of brand loyalty."

A third <ref>{{cite journal|title=Brand personality: A meta-analytic review of antecedents and consequences|first1=Martin|last1=Eisend|first2=Nicola E.|last2=Stokburger-Sauer|s2cid=144201875|date=27 February 2013|journal=Marketing Letters|volume=24|issue=3|pages=205–216|doi=10.1007/s11002-013-9232-7}}</ref> meta-analysis, from 2013 elaborates on the concept of brand personality (bp): "First, the key drivers of BP are communication with hedonic benefit claims, branding activities, a brand's country-of-origin, and consumer personalities. Second, the study finds that the effects of BP are stronger for mature brands than for brands in the early life cycle stages. Third, sincerity and competence have the strongest influence on brand success variables (e.g., brand attitude, image, commitment, purchase intention), while excitement and ruggedness have the weakest influence on brand attitude and brand commitment."

====Advertising====

Emotion can play an important role in advertising. In advertising, two different approaches to persuasion are common: (a) ''thinking ads'' that require cognitive processing (also known as the ''central route to persuasion'') and, (b) ''feeling ads'' that are processed at an emotional level (also known as the ''peripheral route'').<ref>Cacioppo, J.T., Petty, R.E.; Chuan Feng, K. and Rodriguez, R. "Central and peripheral routes to persuasion: An individual difference perspective", ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'', Vol 51, No. 5, 1986, pp 1032-1043. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.51.5.1032</ref> Advertisers can bypass cognitive, rational processing which can lead to counter-arguing by simply appealing to the emotions. Neuro-imaging studies suggest that when evaluating brands, consumers primarily use emotions (personal feelings and experiences) rather than information (brand attributes, features, and facts).<ref>Murray, P.N., "How Emotions Influence What We Buy: The emotional core of consumer decision-making", ''Psychology Today'', Feb 26, 2013 Online: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/inside-the-consumer-mind/201302/how-emotions-influence-what-we-buy</ref>

It is relatively widely accepted that emotional responses require fewer processing resources (i.e. are easier) and also result in more enduring associations with the brand being advertised.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|author1=Heath, R. |author2=Brandt, D. |author3= Nairn, A |s2cid=54530013 |name-list-style=amp |date=2006|title=Brand Relationships: Strengthened by Emotion, Weakened by Attention|journal= Journal of Advertising Research |doi=10.2501/s002184990606048x|volume=46|issue=4 |pages=410–419}}</ref> Feelings elicited by the advertising message can shape attitudes towards the brand and to the advertisement.<ref>{{Cite book|title=''Marketing communications: Brands, experiences and participation''|last=Fill, C|publisher=United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited|year=2013}}</ref>