Attitude Change

Marketers often attempt to alter consumers’ attitudes by changing one of the components of attitudes listed in the ABC model of attitudes (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1975). In the case of the Tanzanian population and the high unbanked population, attitude change strategies can be used in a beneficial manner to increase the banked population of Tanzania and, in turn, the benefits experienced by consumers

and the country’s economy. Care needs to be taken when attempting to alter individuals’ attitudes as the encouragement of unhealthy consumption patterns by firms is likely to raise negative publicity (Ikechukwu, Daubry and Chijindu, 2012). The ABC model suggests that for attitude change to occur, the following three components need to be addressed: (1) cognitive, (2) affective and (3) behavioural (Ikechukwu, Daubry and Chijindu, 2012).

3.7.1 Cognitive Component

A common and effective approach to altering attitudes is to focus on the cognitive component. Four basic strategies exist for altering the cognitive structure of a consumer’s attitude: (1) change beliefs, (2) shift importance, (3) add beliefs and (4) change ideal (Smith and Swinyard, 1988).

3.7.1.1 Change Beliefs

The change beliefs strategy involves shifting beliefs about the performance of the brand on one or more attributes. Firms usually attempt to change consumers’ beliefs by providing facts or statements about performance or benefits. Changing beliefs is considered to be a difficult task for marketers and for this reason it is recommended that brand managers identify the weakest brand beliefs and attempt to change these, rather than stronger ones. A degree of evidence exists that states that beliefs tend to be consistent with one another, thus altering one belief is likely to cause other beliefs to change too.

3.7.1.2 Shift Importance

Consumers consider certain product features to be more important than others when making a purchase decision. Marketers often attempt to alter consumers’ attitudes by communicating that the product features or attributes which their brand excels in are more important than others. In the case of the Tanzanian banking industry, the importance of attributes can be shifted in consumers’ minds by communicating that the attributes offered by the formal banking sector are more beneficial than those offered by informal, culturally-based banking services.

3.7.1.3 Add Beliefs

Marketers often attempt to add new positive beliefs to existing ones held by consumers about their product or service. However, as previously explained, attempting to add new positive beliefs can be difficult as firstly, they might not become salient beliefs and thus do not form part of attitudes and secondly, consumers’ beliefs are arranged in a hierarchy (expectancy-value model) and thus each successive belief contributes significantly less to the hierarchy.

3.7.1.4 Change Ideal

The final strategy for changing the cognitive component of attitudes is to change the perceptions of the ideal brand or situation. Examples of firms attempting to alter consumers’ perceptions of the ideal brand or situation can be seen in the recent trend by marketers to communicate that less packaging is better, in an attempt to save the environment.

3.7.2 Affective Component

Firms are increasingly attempting to influence consumers’ liking of their brands without directly influencing either beliefs or behaviour. Increased liking has been shown to lead to increased positive beliefs, which in turn lead to improved attitudes and increased purchase. Three approaches exist for directly increasing the affect component of attitudes: (1) classical conditioning, (2) affect toward the ad or website and (3) mere exposure.

3.7.2.1 Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning involves a stimulus that the audience likes, such as music, being constantly paired with a brand name (Grossman and Till, 1998). Marketers hope that over time some of the positive affect associated with the music will transfer to the brand (Grossman and Till, 1998).

3.7.2.2 Affect Toward the Ad or Website

Research has shown that advertisements and websites which consumers like generally increase the liking of the brand too (Celuch and Slama, 1995). Thus, marketers are encouraged to make use of humour, celebrities and emotional appeals when designing websites and advertisements.

3.7.2.3 Mere Exposure

While controversial, research has found that affect or brand preference may be increased by mere exposure (Hawkins and Hoch, 1992). Mere exposure involves presenting a brand to an individual on a large number of occasions in an attempt to make their attitude more positive. Mere exposure is based on the “familiarity leads to liking” principle.

3.7.3 Behavioural Component

The behavioural component of attitudes, specifically purchase or use behaviour, may precede the development of cognitive and affect components. For example, a consumer may dislike the taste of fruit drinks and believe that artificial sweeteners are unhealthy. However, rather than appear rude, the same consumer may accept a diet beverage when offered one at a social function by a friend. Drinking the beverage may offer the consumer perceptions of its taste and lead to liking; this in turn may lead to increased learning, which changes the cognitive component. Marks and Kamins (1988) found that attitudes formed as a consequence of product trial are strongly held. Kempf (1999) notes that behaviour can lead either to affect or cognition or to both simultaneously. Consumers frequently try new brands or types of low cost items in the absence of prior knowledge or affect. Also, firms can change consumer behaviour by optimizing and monitoring service system performance (Asiegbu, Ubani and Barinedum, 2011).

Changing behaviour prior to changing affect or cognition is based primarily on operant conditioning. Thus, the key marketing task is to induce individuals to purchase or consume the product, while ensuring that the purchase and

consumption will indeed be rewarding. Consumers can be encouraged to consume a new product through: (1) coupons, (2) free samples, (3) point-of-purchase displays, (4) discounts and (5) tie-in purchases (Kotler and Keller, 2010).

By studying the behavioural component of attitudes it would appear that attitudes influence and predict consumers’ behaviour. However, attitudes have been found to be a poor sole predictor of ones behavioural intention (Abelson, 1972). Abelson (1972) provides the following quote to describe the phenomena suggesting that humans are, “ very well trained and very good at findings reasons for what we do, but not very good at doing what we find reasons for.” Thus merely altering the behavioural component of the negative attitudes that Tanzanians possess towards banks is insufficient to cause them to open a formal bank account.