CHAPTER II

17

CHAPTER-II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Following the introduction, which showed a bird's eye view of the

study on the influence of advertisement media in buying decision and post
purchase satisfaction level of buyers, this chapter attempts to highlight the
literature pertaining to the studies on influence of advertising media,
customer decision-making process, and post purchase satisfaction. This
would enable the researcher to get a solution to the problems of the topic as
well as, to understand the work done.

Advertisements

Advertisements have become an integral part of our life that we never

feel the need of pausing to consider their value and importance .
•
Advertisements promote products ranging from needles to automotives. The
needs of the growing number of large-sized concerns established to cater to
national and international markets can be met only by the technique of
advertising through various media of mass appeal and mass communication.
Ever since the mass media has become one of the main instruments of media
culture, companies have naturally used this means of communications to let
a large number of people know about their products. However, as the years
progressed, the sophistication of advertising methods and techniques has
advanced, enticing and shaping and even creating consumerism and needs
where there has been none before. With increase in purchasing power,
luxuries have become inevitable necessities. Various studies have been
carried out and they have explored the dominant facets in the field of
advertisin!i and customer behaviour.
 18

The two-wheeler industry is the fastest-growing segment of the

Indian automobile industry. India is the second largest manufacturer and
producer of two-wheelers in the world. It stands next only to Japan and
China in terms of the number of two-wheelers produced and domestic sales
respectively. Of all personal transportation vehicles, the motorcycle segment
is growing fastest, followed by passenger cars. The industry has seen the
entry of a large number of international companies and new technologies,
which have significantly altered the market dynamics.

Sunila George, Raghbendra Jha and Hari K. Nagarajan (2001),in

their study on the evolution of the competitive structure of the two-wheeler
industry in India, the evolution of the industry's competitive structure is
traced using Kendall's Index of Rank Concordance and the Evans-Karras
test of convergence. The industry seems to be characterised by oligopoly
with the onset of economic reforms not making much difference to industrial
structure. They found out convergence of sales and capacity at the level of
the industry is conditional while it is absolute at the level of the segment.
When each of the three segments was analysed separately, it was found that
in the scooter segment there is absolute convergence for both pre reform
( 1986-1990) and post reform ( 1991-1998) periods. The motorcycle segment
yields similar results. But in the moped segment, convergence is absolute in
the pre-reform period and conditional in the post-reform period. 1

Mallikarjuna Reddy (2002), conducted a study among 100

consumers from twin city of Hydrabad and Secunderabad to analyse the
consumer behaviour with reference to selected three motorbikes viz., Hero
Honda, TVS and Yamaha. The author analysed elaborately the impact of
behavioural factors of consumers on choosing particular brand of motor

1
SUNILA, George, JHA, Ragbbendra and NAGARAJAN, K. Hari: "The Evolution
and Structure of the Two-wheeler Industry in India", ASARC Working Papers
from Australian National Univers ity, Australia South Asia Research Centre, 2004,
pp. 7-16.
 19

bikes. The study concludes that price and mileage are the mam factors
2
affecting the two-wheeler sales.

A study by Beth A. Walker and associates (1985), articulates the

impact of advertising on perceived similarity and dissimilarity between the
new entry brand and prototype brands in a laboratory experiment. The study
involved 40 students' subjects and used as stimuli professionally produced
30-second introductory television commercials for a premium beer. Findings
provided evidence for the associative and differentiating properties of
advertising.3

Robert E. Smith (1993) reported in his noteworthy study

' Integrating Information from Advertising and Trial: Processes and Effects
on Consumer Response to Product Information', the ability of attitude
towards the advertisement to mediate advertising' s effects on brand
cognitions and brand attitudes after trial. The study concludes that,
traditional models of advertising response emphasis pre-purchase effects
whereby advertisement based beliefs and attitudes play an effective role in
the decisions to purchase a brand.4

Naik, prasad. A, Murali. K, Mantrala and Alan. G. Sayer.,

( 1998) have found that advertising is effective in building awareness;
conveying product information, and countering the adverse effect of

2
MALLIKARJUNA Reddy, K: "consumers behaviour towards two-wheeler motor
bikes", Osmania University, Hyderabad, 2002.
3
BETH A, Walker, JOHN L, Swasy, and ARNO J, Rethans: "The Impact of
Advertising on Perception Formation in New Product introductions", Advances in
Consumer Research, 13, 1985,w. 121-125.
4
ROBERT E. Smith: "integrating information from Advertising and Trial: Processes
and Effects on consumer Response to Product Informat ion", Journal of
Marketing Research, May, 1993 , pp. 67-98.
 20

forgetting. He tried to findout to what extent the media reflects the real state
of the world. The new technologies are turning the world of advertisement
on its head and paving the way for the creation of massive media groups
with global ambitions. He concluded that, for anyone who is really looking
for honest information and in-depth analysis based on solid understandings,
5
there is no shortage of quality media.

Bobby J. Calder and Edward C. Malthouse, (2006) conducted a

study on Managing Media and Advertising Change with Integrated
Marketing where they defined the integrated marketing process and shows
how it can be used to improve advertising. It discusses how integrated
marketing thinks about brands, the consumer experience with products or
services, and contact points. The role of media in delivering messages is
reconsidered and ways of measuring the engagement with a medium are
discussed. Integrated marketing also addresses the relationship between
brands and customised contact points. 6

Tim Ambler and Hollier E. Ann (2005) reported in their study that
waste the perceived extravagance of an advertisement contributes to
advertising effectiveness by increasing credibility. It draws especially on the
Handicap Principle in biology: animals use wasteful characteristics to signal
their exceptional biological fitness. It hypothesizes that excesses m
advertising work in a similar way by signaling brand fitness. TV
advertisements were evaluated online for perceived advertising expense,
message, brand familiarity, quality, reliability, and likelihood of choosing.

5
NAIK A. Prasad, MURALI K. Mantrala and ALAN G. Sayer: " Planning Media
Schedules in the Preserve of Dynamic Advertising Quality", Marketing Science,
17(3), 1998, pp.231-235.
6
BOBBY J. Calder and EDWARD C. Maltbouse: "Managing Media and Advertising
Change with Integrated Marketing", Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 45,
(04), 2006, pp.356-361.
 21

High perceived advertising expense enhances advertisements persuasiveness

significantly, but largely indirectly, by strengthening perceptions of brand
quality. 7

Leonard M. Lodish (1995), in a study on ' How T.V. Advertising

works', presented that T.V advertising positively affect sales. The author
suggests different variable formulations for choice and market response
models that include advertising. 8

Sudhakar Reddy (1990) has undertaken a study on ' Advertising

Management-Media Management and Audience Behaviour. It was an
attempt to study the audience attitudes towards advertisements in five major
media viz., TV, Radio, Newspaper, Magazine and Cinema. He tried to
examine the sensitivity of media-vehicle exposure to selected variables in
these five media. He found out television has the highest reach and the radio
has the lowest reach. In predicting the audience attitude towards
advertisements, age is a significant variable in four out of five media (except
radio). Older persons have more favourable attitude towards advertisements
carried in these four media.9

Mela et al., ( 1998) in their study on 'Assessing Long - term

Promotional Influences in Market Structure' have analysed how consumers
respond to the offerings made by the manufacturers and concluded that with
high advertising intensity, perceived product differentiation is higher and it

7
TIM Ambler and HOLLIER E. Ann: "The Waste in Advertising Is the Part That
Works", Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 44, Issue 04,2005, pp. 375-389.
8
LEONARD M. Lodish: "How T .V. Advertising Works", Journal of Marketing
Research, Vol14(5), 1995, pp. 58-76.
9
SUDHAKAR Reddy. K: Advertising Management - Media Management and
Audience Behaviour, (Ashish Publishing House, New Delhi, 1990) p.298.
 22

makes consumers less responstve to other offerings, including new

products. 10

Bell et al. (2004) have examined internal marketing relationship and

their influence on salesperson attitudes and behaviours in retail store
environments. To examine this relationship between organisation -
employee and supervisor- employee relationships and their association with
salesperson job motivation and their commitment to service were
investigated. Two important findings emerge from this study. First, it
provides partial support for a positive relationship between internal
relationships and salesperson work attitudes and behaviour; Second, it
demonstrates support for the moderating effects of customer complaints on
intra-organizational relationships and their association with commitment to
customer service. 11

John Philip Jones (1995), in his research work, examined the

difficulties in evaluating the influence of advertising, which has close
relevance to the present study. He believes that STAS (Short Term
Advertising Strength) analysis is suitable to measure accurately the short
term effect of advertising on sales. He proved that in some cases a weak
campaign can , in fact, result in a fall in sales by more than 50 percent in the
short-term. 12

Dobhal (2002) has stated that media had traditionally played little
part in influencing decisions but today, it is a growth and shift from print to

10
MELA F. Carl, SUNIL Gupta, and KAMEL Jedidi: "Assessing Long-term
Promotional Influences in Market Structure", International Journal of Research in
Marketing, 15 (2), 1998, pp. 89-107.
11
SIMON J. Bell, BULET C. Menju and SARA L. Stefani: "When Customers
Disappoint: A Model of Relational Internal Marketing and Customer Complaints"
Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 32(2), 2004, pp.ll2-126.
12
JOHN Philip Jones: "When Advertisements Work", Business India, 1995, p.31 .
 23

television. Print is cerebral medium. It is meant for super literate (The

wholly Indian tactic of classifying people as literate if they can read and sign
and prevent as from using the world without a qualification). Television
images in contrast, completely bypass the cognitive process. They offer bit -
sized packages that can be easily consumed. 13

Matmur And Chattopandhayay (1991) in their study demonstrates

the facilitating effect of positive mood on brand attitudes for readers of print
advertising and explores contingencies and cognitive processes underlying
that effect. Mood appears to affect the amount of total cognitive elaboration,
bias the evaluation of argument quality, and peripherally affect brand
attitudes. An experiment using print ads reveals that positive moods create
less elaboration, which results in more heuristic processing and reduces the
extent to which message evaluation--itself favourably influenced by positive
moods--mediates brand attitudes. They concluded that positive moods
14
actively increased the elaborative processing of happy ads.

Srinivas ( 2004) has explained in his article that the risks associated
with celebrity endorsements in Advertisement. He indicated that there are
many cases of brands failing in the market place despite well-known
celebrities endorsing them. He tried to analyse the reasons for such negative
effect and opines the downside could be caused by a number of factors
namely Image dilution, Image overshadow, and Image failure. He concludes
that a marketer has to decide how for the benefit outweigh the risks
associated before making a commitment. The returns of a celebrity
endorsement are not easy to measure and the benefits accrue over a period of

13
DOBHAL, Shailesh: "Subliminal Persuasiveness", Business Today, Jan 2002, p. 95.
14
MATMUR, M. R and CHATTOPADHAYAY: "The Impact of Models Generated
by Television Programs on Responses to Advertising", Psychology and marketing,
8, 1991. Pp. 59-77.
 24

time, with the celebrity campatgn and other factors contributing to the
overall increase in value. 15

Aslibakan. M (2003) in his study established relationship among

advertising semiotics and marketing demographics. He discussed the
conflicting opinions about the existence, targets and the system of
advertising and to examine its effects on purchasing behaviours. It discussed
the effects of marketing strategies on consumer behaviours and purchasing
preferences. He concluded, advertising is a powerful communication
weapon that interacts with many other variables and it has to be carried out
professionally. With advertising, consumers can be persuaded to purchase a
product only if quality of the product is as good as it is claimed to be in the
• 16
campatgn.

Tendon (1997) has tended to find out public positive attitude towards
advertisement. He reported that majority of respondents had a positive
attitude towards advertisements; in general, he clearly indicated that
advertisement has a useful role to play in the society. On the other hand, he
also consider advertisement in India to be of poor taste, exaggerative and
taking undue advertisement of popular personalities like that of film stars
and sports stars. 17
Ranga Prasad, and Sudhakar Reddy (2003) discuss the role of use
of celebrities in advertising. It focuses on the effect of celebrities on
consumers in their purchase decisions and to look into the appropriateness of

15
SRIVIVAS Cheedi: "Celebrity Endorsements: Risks and Rewards", Marketing
Mastermind, Vol. JV. No.I I, 2004, pp. 7-9.
16
ASLffiAKAN. M : " Marketing demographics, advertising semiotics: The case of
AKSAM newspaper", A thesis submitted to the graduate school of social sciences
of middle east technical university, 2003. pp. 68-79.
17
TENDON: "Factors Affecting the Impact of Negatively and Positively framed
Advertisements Messages", Journal of Consumer Research, (March) 1997,
pp. 85-94.
 25

such celebrities to various products they endorse. They concluded that there
should be connection between the endorser and the product they endorse.
The use of celebrity will have influence to some extent only and they further
add that it is a double - edged weapon and it has to be carefully planned,
thoroughly analysed and properly executed. 18

Srivastava and Sengupta (2004) attempted to study the role of

advertisement in the process of decision making. They investigated the
motivation behind purchase, purchase pattern, group influence and choice -
making, role of advertisements, role of promotional techniques and role of
advertisements in decision - making. The authors concluded that habit and
own choice of consumers dominate their decision - marketing and
advertisement role is not that significant in. the buying process instead other
promotional techniques should be adopted so that the co~sumer gives a trial
purchases to the product and on being satisfied, developing a strong
preference for it. 19

Cam on or and Wilson ( 1979) have examined firms ' positions when
consumers can only consider purchasing products that they are aware
through advertisements. The author's studied two forms of advertising viz.,
blanket advertising and targeted advertising. They stated that finns with low
quality products find it advantageous to set high advertisement levels to
counter their relative product disadvantages, so that a positive relationship
between advertising and price per unit of quality rather than the negative
association should be observed. 20

18
RANGA PRASAD. N.V and SUDHAKAR REDDY. V: "Use of celebrities in
Advertising and their Impact on the Consumer Behaviour", Indian Journal of
Marketing, Vol.X.XXIII No.2, February, 2003, pp. 11-13.
19
SRIVASTAVA, Ashish Kumar and SENGUPTA: "A Peep in to the Mindset of the
consumer a study on men's personal care products", Indian Journal of Marketing,
Vol. XXXIV No.6 June, 2004, pp. 13-15.
°
2
CAMONOR and WILSON: "The Effect of Advertising on Competition: A Survey",
Journal ofEconomics Literature, Voi.J7, 1979, pp. 453-476.
 26

Keller (1987) conducted a study on influence and memory factors

involved in advertising. No significant gender differences were found in
measuring the recall of advertisement message but some differences were
found between age group. The most robust finding regarding age differences
were that older participants are poor in recognition of product type, brand
name and advertisement. Their study revealed that, exposure to ads for
competing items reduces consumer's ability to remember the advertised
item. Memory interference especially hurts new products since awareness
21
and knowledge still need to be created rather than merely maintained.

Kuldeep and Varshney (2003) talk about the marketing trends and
source of information in their article. They conclude that television is the
major source of information followed by print media and radio
advertisement. They further add that shrinking market share and sales of
companies does not mean consumers have been actually price competition
and promotional war between companies which reduces per unit realisation
and profit margin for companies. 22

Bhattacharya and Sarkar (2002) attempted to study the two-

wheeler buyers attitude towards television advertisements and the factors
affecting the media exposure. They tried to analyse how television
advertising positively affects two-wheeler sales and concluded in their
research study among two-wheeler buyers that the facets of risk have

21
KELLER, L Kevin : "Memory Factors in Advertising: The Effect of Advertising
Retrieval C ues on Brand Evaluations", Journal of Consumer Research,
14, December 1987, pp 316-333.
22
KULDEEP Singh and VARSHNEY, S.C: "Consumers Behaviour and Marketing
Trends of Toilet Soaps in Ghaziabad District: A Survey", Indian Journal of
Marketing, Vol XXXII1 No.2, February, 2003, pp. 14-1 7.
 27

different influence on the external advice seeking behaviour of

consequences of mispurchase. 23

Abdul Hayseed, Edwin Gandhi and Abdul Kari (2006) discussed

how the buyers were aware about a particular product in their empirical
study. They concluded that a majority of the respondent two-wheeler
owners came to know about two-wheelers through their family members,
friends and relatives followed by own perception/ past expenence,
TV/Newspaper/ Magazines and Dealers Representatives. 24

In a study conducted by Subhasis and Such Tara Base (2006)

analyses the role of advertisements for service organizations. As the
competition is increasing, all service organisations are advertising the
benefit the customer will get by using their services. They opine that in
service advertising, transformational appeal help to overcome the
intangibility of service and also entrances customer understanding about the
brand. They conclude that experience portrayed in the advertisement and
the experience of using the brand should be tightly connected such that the
customer cannot remember the brand without recalling the experience
generated by the advertisements. 25

Philip Nelson (1974) examined the relationship between advertising

spending and perceived product quality. He identified that advertising
expenditure and perceived quality are positively correlated even after

23
BHATTACHARYA, DEBASIS and SARKAR, Sanjay Gopal : "Perceived Risk
and Interpersonal information seeking Behaviour", Indian Journal of Marketing,
Vol. XXXII, May-June, 2002, pp. 3-7.
24
ABDUL HANEEF. M, EDWIN GNANADHAS.M and ABDUL KARl B.A:
"Consumer Buyer Behavior of Two- Wheelers in Tirunelveli C ity, Tamil Nadu",
Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol. XXXVI, No.4 April, 2006, pp.24-35.
25
SUBHASIS Ray and SUCH Tara Base: " Strategizing Advertisements in the
Services Sector", Marketing Mastermind, Vol. VI No.6, June, 2006, pp 7-11 .
 28

accounting for objective quality, pnce, and market share- for both
non-durable goods and durable goods. Objective quality, however, is
significantly correlated with perceived quality only for durable goods, after
advertising spending, price and market share are accounted for; he further
argued that higher levels of advertising would be associated with higher
quality products. He concluded that there is a positive relationship between
the level of advertising and product quality. High quality experience goods
will receive more repeat purchase than low quality ones, and hence, the
producers of high quality brands have more incentive to advertise than do
producers oflow quality ones. 26

Decision making

The buying process starts with need recognition. At this stage, the
buyer recognises a problem or need or responds to a marketing stimulus. An
"induced" customer then needs to decide how much information is required.
If his need is strong and there is a product or service that meets the need
close to hand, then a purchase decision is likely to be made then and there. If
not, the process of information search begins.

The usefulness and influence of information will vary by product and

by customer. Research suggests that customer' s value and respect personal
sources more than commercial sources. The challenge for the marketing
team is to identify which information sources are most influential in their
target markets.

In the evaluation stage, the customers come to a decision and choose

between the alternative brands, products and services. The following studies
on customers' purchase decision making will show how complex it is to
determine the customer attitude towards decision making.

26
NELSON and PHILIP: "Information and Consumer Behavior", Journal of Political
Economics, Vol.12, 1974, p.296.
 29

Beatty and Salil ( 1994) have found that the age being shown to be
related to difference in many aspects of teams consumer behaviour such as
adolescents influence in purchase decisions and acquisition of various
consumer skills and also teen shopping behaviour may be similarly related
to age differences, so it was important to systematically examine age in the
27
context of teen shopping.

Mohanram and Mahavi (2007) assert the role of teenagers in

purchase decision - making. They identify the product attribute influencing
teenagers and to investigate the strategies adopted by teenagers to influence
their parents towards purchase. The authors conclude that teenagers are
influenced by updated information of the product and hence, they go for
information search, collect information from different dealers on various
aspects like price, technology and so on. They are also influenced by peer
compulsion and sales talk strategies to convince their parents. They
emotionally and logically convince their parents by applying general
response m respect of product related characteristics. It was found that
products' value is more popular among the teenagers than product image. 28

Subhasis and Avishek (2006) identified the important factors that

influence customer's decision making while purchasing a prepaid mobile
service. The authors enlisted all the attributes that affect the choice of a
customer while selecting a particular mobile service provider. The authors
concluded that four factors viz., service quality, economy brand perception
and strength of network play an important role in customers' decision

21
BEATTY E. Sharon and SALIT- Talpade: "Adolescent Influence in Family
Decision-Making: A Replication with Extension", Journal of Consumer Research,
Vol. 21 September 1994, pp. 332-341.

28
MOHANRAM A.S and MAHAVI. C : " Product related characteristics promotion
and marketing mix are key tools in determining purchase behavior & purchase
decision by teenagers - an empirical study" Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol.
XXXVII, No.2 February, 2007, pp 3-10.
 30

making for mobile phone service provider. They also concluded that though
the schemes and offers help to attract customers, it is brand that ultimately
reigns in decision - making. 29

Neena Prasad (2007) discussed in length the role of youth and their
purchasing power in decision making. The author in her exploratory
research tried to determine the factors influencing the brand awareness level
of the youth and their purchasing power. A sample size of 90 respondents
were selected for the survey in the age group 18-28 chi-square test is used to
analyse the data she conclude that age, education and income were the main
influencing factors in brand awareness and decision - making among
youth.30

Bruce M.K.H.M. and Hill A.J ( 1998) have analysed young

consumers decision-making strategy, their role in family decision making,
how they develop brand loyalty, brand preference and reliance. This paper
reports the initial findings from an exploratory study of over 200 young
consumers (aged 7-1 0) which examined perceptions of branded fashion
clothing: and the impact of social influences on young consumers'
evaluations of branded fashion products. The findings indicate that
product/brand imagery is clearly established among young consumers,
particularly for branded fashion sportswear; and the results suggest that
research design must take account of both age and gender differences when
choosing methods for eliciting data from young consumers. They concluded

29
SUBHASIS Ray and AVISHEK Sankar: "Analysing influence of brand v1s-a-v1s
price in Lndian Lndustry", The ICFAI Journal of Marketing Management, Voi.V,
No.4, November, 2006, pp. 50-59.
30
NEENA Prasad: " New Prosperity feeds Consumerism in Lndia: A study on Youth
and their Purchasing Power", Marketing Mastermind, Vol. VII, No.3, March,
2007, pp. 54-59.
 31

that consumers when exposed to important new information will reconsider

31
an already rejected brand.

Baker (1992) has proved that willingness to purchase has been

measured by the indices, purchasing intentions, gift giving and word of
mouth recommendations. The study examined several aspects including the
typical models and assumptions inherent in consumer decision making
process. The findings revealed that the consumers were sometimes rational
and not always. 32

Raju et. al., (1980) in his research has found that the consumers who
are higher on dispositional innovativeness have found to be higher on
optimum stimulation level openness to change independence, risk taking,
venture sameness and tolerance of ambiguity and lower on dogmatism and
conservation. The role of advertisement is stimulating the optimum level
through demographic variables.33

Moreau, Lehman and Markman (200 1) explain the factors that

influence the determination of individuals' decision making. One of the
main objectives facing marketers is to present consumers with information
on which to base their decisions. The most interesting and distinguishing
dimensions of such information systems is the level of control the consumer

31
BRUCE, M.K.H.M., and IDLL A.J: " Fashion brand preferences among youn g
consumers", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management,
Vol.26, Number 8, 1998, pp. 293-300.
32
BAKER J, LEVY M, and GREWAL D: " An Experimental Approach to Making
Retail Store Environmental Decisions", Journal of Retail, No.68(4), 1992,
pp. 445-61 .
33
RAJU S. Putbankurissi: "Optimum Stimulation Level: lt' s Relationship to Personality,
Demographics and Exploratory Behavior", Journal of Consumer Research, 7,
December 1980, pp 272-82.
 32

has over the information system. They have concluded that the adoption,
decision of the consumer and the market factors influence these individual
34
consumer decisions.

Lavoie ( 1994) has pointed out that the need is an important

determinant in the non - durable consumption expenditure decision making
process. In this article, psychological traps that can affect the way a person
can make a decision were analysed. When alternatives are not clearly
defined-even when better alternatives exist, faults may arise in the decision
making process. They are of the opinion that what customers think, and feel
35
about a company and/or its products is a key aspect of business success.

Gupta and Verma (2000) seek to analyse the influence of the

husband, wife and the children and interaction between them in the purchase
decision process. For the purpose of the study, a durable product namely
television was selected. They found out children play an active role in
selection of brand. The study has further shown that a qualified wife,
qualification of children, working women and children have greater
influence in purchase decisions. 36

Grewal et al. (2004) sought to develop a richer theoretical

understanding of the timing of purchases of consumer durable goods by
investigating the influence of contextual variables (the nature of the product

34
MOREAU C. Page, LEHMAN R. Donald, and MARKMAN B. Arthur:
"Entrenched Category Structure and Resistance to New products", Journal of
Marketing Research, Vol.38, February 2001 , pp. 14-29.
35
LAVOIE Marc : "A Post Keynesian Approach to Consumer Choice", Journal of Post
Keynesian Economics, Vol. 16, 1994, pp. 539-562.
36
GUPTA, Som Sen and VERM, D.P.S : "Children as Consumers: A Study of their Role
in Family Purchase Decisions", Indian Management, Vol. 39(5), May 2005,
pp 61-72.
 33

and the decision) and the functional basis of attitudes (knowledge value
expressive, social adjective and utilisation) on inter purchase intervals. From
both descriptive and predictive perspectives results indicate that the models
with contextual and attitude function variables out-perform the models with
37
demographic and economic variables.

The article by Churdawat and Seema (2003) reveals the role

performed by family members in buying decision - making of three
consumer durables viz., television, refrigerators and washing machine
whether these are variations in roles by product or service in the decision -
making and impact of buying decision - making. The authors concluded that
demand initiation comes mostly from the direct user of the product or from
any other family member who feels he or she will be directly benefited from
it. However, children exert greater influence in the purchase of television
and the wife in purchase of refrigerators and washing machines. Information
obtained from family, friends, relatives and acquaintances were considered
to be reliable for all the three products.38

Pierre Filiatrault and Brent Ritchie, J.R (1980) made a

comparison based study on the purchase-decision process by families or
couples without children, husbands tended to dominate decision making
more in families, while joint decision making was more prevalent among
couples. Also, greater variability in the relative influence of husbands and

37
GREWAL, Raj Deep, METHA Raj and KARDES R. Frank : "The Timing of
Repeat Purchase of Consumer Durable Goods: The Role of Functional Bases of
Consumer Attitudes", Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. XLI, Feb. 2004,
pp 101-115.
38
CHURDAWAT D.S. and SEEMA Gupta: "Family Roles and Social influences in
Buying Decision- Making", The ICFAI Journal of Marketing Management,
Vol.II, No.3, August, 2003, pp. 43-56.
 34

wives across different elements of the decision process was found in family
39
decision - making units.

Bina (2005) attempted to examine the influence of individual family

members in the purchase decision of a very important consumer durable, a
car. The fmdings indicate that the primary motivating factor in the purchase
of a car was found to be the joint contribution of both husband and wife,
followed by status pressures and pressures from children. It also found that
purchase of a car is initiated by the husband/wife, while the decision on
40
..
brand and colour are dominated by children.

Raghbir and Pavleen (2006) eloquent the role of women in decision

-making. Their innovative study aims to study the role of women, if gender
role orientation is an important variable determining decision-making in the
Indian families. They concluded that the difference observed in attitude of
families towards woman have significant implications on the role and
participation of family members in making purchase decision. The freedom
of making purchase decisions to wives has not yet been accepted by
traditional Indian families and in modem families the purchase decisions are
made jointly by the spouses. 41

Raghbir and Pavleen (2004) in their innovative study attempt to

identify whether any significant differences exist between urban and rural
families in deciding the purchase of durables. Four durables were chosen,

39
PIERRE Filiatrault and BRENT Ritche, J.R : "Joint Purchasing Decisions - A
Comparison of Influence Structure in Family and Couple Decision Making
Units", Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 7, September 1980, pp.13 1-140.
40 BINA, T : "A Case of Emotional Decision Making", Indian Journal of Marketing,
Vol. XXXV (2), February 2005, pp. 17-20.
41
RAGHBIR Singh and PA VLEEN Kaur: "Gender role orientation and decision-
making in families", The ICFAI Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. No.2,
May, 2006, pp. 73-89.
 35

namely refrigerator, television, two-wheeler and car for their study. The
authors concluded that wives have the greatest influence in the purchase of a
refrigerator, children exercise little influence individually over durables
purchases while all members together use greatest power for purchase of
television and two-wheeler a similar trend is observed for the rural families
also and at the same time rural children show little participation in
decision-making.42

Nathan ( 1997) tended to examine the relative influence of husbands

and wives and the dimensions of husband wife roles in two consumer
purchase situations - automobiles and furniture. The main issues addressed
are relative influence in purchase decision, dimensions of decision roles and
role consensus. The result indicates that more or less in both the studies
husband dominant in automobile decisions and wives with furniture. For
dimensions of decision roles, present study are more unidimensionally
defined than in the Davis study and in role consensus, this study shows
higher intra- family consensus than Davis study. 43

Chakravarti and Janiszewski (2004) have attempted to investigate

the influence of generic advertising on brand preferences. For the empirical
investigation of these issues, four experiments were carried out. Experiment
one, investigated the influence of generic advertising in four product
categories and demonstrates that generic advertising can influence brand
differentiation and brand choice. In experiments 2 and 3, how generic
advertising exerts its influence at the brand level is assessed. In experiment
4, evidence for generic advertising is influencing brand level demand in a

42
RAGHBffi Singh and PAVLEEN Kaur : "Do Rural and Urban families
decide differently to buy?", The ICFAI Journal of marketing management,
Vol. Ill, No.3, August, 2004, pp. 68-82 .
43
NATHAN S.V : "Dimensions of Marital Roles in Consumer Decision Making",
Vikalpa, Vol. 22 (1), Jan-Mar, 1997, pp. 52-64.
 36

different manner and advertising is provided. From the above four

experiments, the conclusions were drawn namely generic advertising has the
potential to re-distribute market shares among brands and generic
advertising has the potential to make people more responsive to price. 44

Monroe (2003) has found that the knowledge of price is considered

to be a fundamental requirement in rational consumer decision making.
Using market research, he found that consumers of leisure experiences
complained about price increases, but continued consuming. They
recommend discounts for those in need and price increases focusing on
product quality. He has further observed that increased exposure to prices is
expected to improve the associated memory tracks and help to create a richer
knowledge base for product prices. 45

Sudhahar and Venkatapathy (2005) tried to find out the factors

influencing purchase decision, especially the influence of peer groups in the
purchase of the car. They concluded that friends are reported as the most
influencing peer group in purchase of different types of cars; the influence of
friends is reportedly higher for the purchase of small cars and the mid-sized
cars are equally influenced by both the friends and consumers. 46

Monroe and Angela ( 1999) have identified that a large proportion of

consumers do not know prices for items they regularly purchase, and that
their price estimates are often far apart from the product's actual prices,
further observed that consumers exposure to market information initiates an

44 CHAKRAVARTI Amitav and JANISZEWSKI Chris : "The Influence of Generic

Advertising rn Brand Preferences", Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 30, March,
2004, pp. 487-502.
45
MONROE B. Kent : Pricing: Making Profitable Decisions, (Mc-Graw- Hill, 3rd Ed,
New Delhi, 2003), p.378.
46
SUDHAHAR J. Clement and VENKATAPATHY, R: "Automobile purchase- peer
influence in decision-making", Indian Journal of marketing, Vol. XXXV, No.6,
June, 2005, pp. 6-9.
 37

information processing sequence, the result of which may be the storage of

price information in long - term memory. 47

Herr et al., (1991) have presented a frame work applicable to market

communication that prominently features the message source. By implying
that consumers cannot always accurately predict their need for variety, this
preference inconsistency also raises the question of what factors influence
consumers' tendency to overestimate their need for the flexibility offered by
manufacturers. Building on the view of choice as a hierarchical decision
process, this research posits that choice among alternatives is a function of
consumers' decision focus. In his classic study, he found that positive word
of mouth has been repeatedly shown to have a major effect on purchase
48
decisions.

Post purchase satisfaction

The pleasure that a carefully selected high-involvement product gives

to a consumer after purchase is known as post purchase satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction is important to both manufacturers as well as to the
individual consumer. It is important to a manufacturer because it is a
significant determinant of repeat sales; and it is important to consumer
because it reflects a positive outcome from the outlay of scarce resources
and for the fulfillment of unmet needs. Growing recognition of customer
satisfaction as critical construct in marketing and consumer behavior has
generated substantial research interest.

47
MONROE B. Kent and ANGElA Y. Lee: "Remembering Versus Knowing: Issues in
Buyers Processing of Price Information", Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science, 27 (2), 1999, pp. 207-225.
48
HERR, P.M., KORDES, F.R and KJM, J : "Effects of Word of Mouth and Product
Attribute Information on Persuasion: An Accessibility and Diagnosticity
Perspective", Journal of Consumer Research, 17 March, 1991 , pp. 454-462.
 38

Vikas et al. (2004) discusses the role of geographic pattern in

customer service and satisfaction. In their empirical research, the authors
pointed out when customers are located in geographically dispersed areas, it
can be a default to manage service quality because its relative importance is
likely to vary spatially. This study aims to show how addressing such
spatial aspects of satisfaction data can improve management's ability to
implement programs aimed at enhancing service quality. They say
specifically that managers can identify areas of high service responsiveness.
That is, areas in which overall satisfaction is low but customers are highly
responsive to improvements in service quality. 32,000 samples are collected
in United States from automobile customers and the data is analysed through
Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) technique. They conclude that
there is a systematic spatial variability in the pattern of overall satisfaction
and the importance placed on its key drivers. They also conclude that the
regional differences in the importance of key drivers and the overall
satisfaction patterns enable a frrm to identify regions in which it should
improve service.49

Santosh Kumari, Reddy and Kameswari (2005) have analysed the

consumer's post - purchase behavior. The main objectives of this study are
to make complete analysis of the Indian two-wheeler industries with specific
reference to Hero Honda Company and to fmd out the post-purchase
behavior of the consumers about product and the brand. The authors
conclude that 90% of the respondents are satisfied with the performance,
maintenance and after sales service provided by the dealers. Most of the

49
VIKAS Metal, KAMAKURA A. Wagner and GOVIND Rahul : "Geographic
patterns in customer service and ratification - An Empirical Investigation",
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 68, No.3, July, 2004, pp.48-62.
 39

respondents opined that the maintenance costs of their two-wheelers are

affordable. 5°

Gabardines and Johnson (1999) opines about the different roles of

consumer satisfaction in their empirical study. The authors analyse the
.t
relationships of satisfaction, trust and commitment to component satisfaction
attitudes and future intentions for the customers of a New York off-
Broadway repertory theater company. They concluded that for the low
relational customers (individual ticket buyers and occasional subscribers),
overall satisfaction is the primary mediating construct between the
component attitudes and future intentions, and for the high relational
customers (consistent subscribers), trust and commitment, rather than
satisfaction are the mediators between component attitudes and future
intentions.51

Mathew et al (2000) discussed the sources of satisfaction and

dissatisfaction with self-service technologies prevailing in the market. This
critical incident study was based on 823 samples. The study was conducted
by collecting data through a web-based survey. The self-service technologies
(SST) included in this study were ATMS, various Internet shopping
services, pay-at-the- pump terminals, various automated telephone services,
automated hotel checkout, package tracking, car rental pickup and return,
and online brokerage services. The authors found that three major groups of
factors lead to satisfaction in SST experience viz., solved intensified need,
Easy to use and Avoid service personal. They also found that four major

50
SANTHOSH A. Kumari, RAGHUNATHA Reddy and KAMESWARI, M. L :
"Consumer Buying Behavior in two-wheeler industry with special reference to
Hero Honda Motorbikes", Indian Journal of Marketing, Vol. XXXV, No. 10,
October, 2005, pp. 12-18.
51
GABARDINES Ellen and JOHNSON S. Mark: "The Different Roles of satisfaction,
Trust and Commitment in Customers Relationship", Journal of Marketing. Vol.63,
No.2, Aprill999, pp.70-87.
 40

group of factors leads to dissatisfaction in on SST expenence namely

technology failure, Process failure, poor design and customer- driven failure.
They conclude that these factors can provide insight for firms that currently
52
offer or planning to offer SST as an alternative method of service delivery.

Woodruff, Cadotte and Jenkins (1983) in their in-depth study

examined consumer satisfaction process. The actual performance and the
expected performance of the consumers were analysed in their study. The
fmdings revealed that expectations and actual performance were plausible
determinants of post purchase satisfaction. 53
J.P.Shim et al. (2002) made a study on retailer web site influence on
customer shopping - an exploratory study on key factors of customer
satisfaction. This two phase study explored customer reaction to web
retailers' presentations of their products/services attempting to identify web-
site characteristics that contribute to customer satisfaction arising from the
web-based shopping experiences. On-line marketing is being found to
include a mix of conventional marketing distribution and advertising
variables. This study conducted with in-depth exploration of shoppers'
views about on-line shopping. The research has suggested that on-line retail
marketers should emphasize the ease of navigation, the ease of finding
critical information, and the quality of the detailed customer service
information provided on their web sites. 54

52
MATTHEW L. Meter, AMYL. Nostrum, ROBERT I. Round Tree and MARY
Jo Biter: "Self Service Technologies: understanding customer satisfaction with
Technology-Based service Encounters", Journal of Marketing, Vol.64, No.3,
July, 2000, pp. 50-64.
53
WOODRUFF B. Robert , CADOTTE Ernest, and ROGER L. Jenkins: " Modeling
Consumer Satisfaction process using experience-based Norms", Journal of
Marketing Research, Vol.XX, Aug., 1983, pp. 296-304.
54
SHIM, J.P, YONG B. Shin and LINDA Nottingham: " Retailer Web Site Influence
on Customer shopping: An Exploratory study on Key Factors of Customer
Satisfaction", Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol.3 , 2002,
pp. 53-76.
 41

Susan and David ( 1999) attempted to rediscover the consumer

satisfaction level in their study. The authors present a phenomenological and
longitudinal investigation of satisfaction, as revealed through consumers'
ownership experiences with technological products. Results show that the
dominant paradigm of satisfaction and its competing models are distinctly
operative in some of the consumers' cases. The findings support a more
holistic, context - dependent and dynamic process of satisfaction. This
process is revealed as a multi-model, multi - modal blend of motivations,
cognitions, emotions and meanings, embedded in socio - cultural settings,
which transforms during progressive and regressive consumer - product
interactions. 55

Srivastava et al. (2006) discussed the role of competition and

satisfaction in telecom sector. In their study, the authors aim to study the
impact of competition and importance of value additions and pricing
strategies in determining satisfaction. 100 samples were collected from
members from different backgrounds percentage analysis is used to analysis
data. The authors conclude that price plays an important role and customers
look for value added features. In addition, better services in determining
customer satisfaction.56

Balaji and Ganesan (2005) explain the dimensions of quality in

selected services and their relationship in customers' satisfaction. The
authors in their empirical study say that customer satisfaction is an
engineering tool that deals with various complex issues like design, delivery,
encounters, quality, profitability and productivity. The eight principal

55
SUSAN Fournier and DAVID Glen Mick: "Rediscovering satisfaction", Journal of
Marketing, Vol.63, N0.4, October, 1999, pp. 5-23.
56
SRIVASTAVA, R, JATIN Bhaogole, NIRAV Bhatt, KUNAL Gogri and HERNAL
Marfatia: " Role of competition in Growing Marketing", Telecom sector,
September, 2006, pp. 8-16.
 42

quality dimensions compnse Performance, Features, Reliability,

Conformance, Durability, Serviceability, Aesthetics and Perceived Quality.
The authors conclude that service quality and consumer satisfaction can be
improved if the following areas are given due attention. a) Identifying
primary quality determinants b) Managing customers expectations
c) Managing evidence d) Educating customers about the service
e) Developing a quality culture f) Automating quality g) Following up the
service h) Developing a service quality information system I) Employing
benchmarking wherever possible and j) Keeping track of interval costs,
external costs and quality maintenance costs. 57

Sushil Bhal ( 1991) made a study on the relationship between

company and the customer. He pointed out treating a customer as king is not
enough. The customer should be treated as a preferred partner and the
company should provide good quality products to them. Good
communication system helps in building customer loyalty. He suggested
good quality, hard work and positive attitude towards the 'partnership with
the customer' concept can go a long way in building a solid foundation for
the future of any company. 58

Suresh and Raja (2006) made an attempt to measure the level of

customer satisfaction. In this innovative study, they aim to identify the
factors which influence the customers' satisfaction towards the performance
of different models of small cars. The authors elaborate the differences in
demographic groups towards factors of customers' satisfaction. The authors
conclude that five underlying factors viz., Sales support, vehicle design,

57
BALAJI, Band GANESAN, S: "Integrating people, Technology and strategy: Quality
Dimensions in select services", The ICF AI Journal of Marketing Management,
Vol. No. I February 2005, pp. 7-23 .
58
SUSHIL Bhal: "The Customer as partner", Business World, January-February, 1991,
p.19.
 43

purchase support, cost of ownership and vehicle features are the maJor
influencing factors which decides customers' satisfaction. The researchers
recommend that these dimensions should be the integral components in
designing customer's satisfaction studies towards small cars. The study
indicates that there are no significant differences in age groups, mcome
groups and gender towards factor of customer satisfactory. 59

Suresh (2004) attempted to rediscover in his study, that selling

ambience plays a major role in customer preference and satisfaction. The
author believes that in the age of product parity, selling ambience has
become a key strategic element for effective differentiation. He concludes,
successful retailers have customer-centric approach in designing and
creating internal as well as external ambience.60

V.S. Mahesh (1993) in his detailed study explains that not only the
quality but a lot depends on the rate of customer retention which improve
market share of a product. His research shows that it costs six times more to
get a new customer as it does to retain an existing one. Companies that
rightly focus their energies on retaining customers know that true measure of
quality is not zero defects but zero defection. Understanding what the
customer is interested in buying is the right measure. Satisfaction does not
deal in terms of product alone but service has a greater role to play. 61

59
SURESH, A.M and RAJA, K. G: "Measuring customer satisfaction for small cars -
An Empirical study', Lndian Journal of Marketing, Vol. XXXVI ,N0 .2 ,
February, 2006, pp.3-8.
60
SURESH, K: " selling Ambience?", Marketing Mastermind, Vol. IV, N0.4, April,
2004, pp 47-51.
61
MAHESH, V.S : " Discover and Deliver Customer Empowerment", Business lndi ~
September-October, 1993, pp 192-193 .
 44

Richard L. Oliver (1981) conducted a study where he presented a

conceptual basis for understanding consumer satisfaction process, a
methodology to monitor the process of satisfaction. He found out there are
four central concepts viz., expectations, disconfirmation, satisfaction and
attitude, must be measured if a comprehensive satisfactory study is to be
undertaken. 62

Joan L. Giese, Joseph A.Cote, (2002) attempted to defme

'consumer satisfaction'. They pointed out that without a uniform definition
of satisfaction researchers are unable to select an appropriate definition for a
given context, develop valid measures of satisfaction. They suggested a
definitional framework of consumer satisfaction based on commonalities in
the literature and the views of consumers. Further they discussed how this
framework can be used to develop a definition of satisfaction to
accommodate different contextual settings and ensured that our definitions
of satisfaction are consistent with consumers' views. This is critical since,
ultimately, we must understand consumers' meanings of satisfaction and
consumers must understand what we mean when we use the term,
satisfaction. 63

Voss, B, Parasuraman and Grewal (1998) examines the role that

price, performance and expectations play in determining satisfaction. The
authors propose that when price and performance are consistent,
expectations have an assimilated effect on performance and satisfaction
judgments; when price and performance are inconsistent, expectations have

62
RICHARD L. Oliver : "Measurement and Evaluation of satisfaction Process in Retail
Setting", Journal of Retailing, Vol. 57, No.3 , 1981 , pp 25-42.
63
JOAN L. Giese, JOSEPH A. Cote : "Defining Consumer Satisfaction", Academy of
Marketing Science Review, Volume No. I, 2002. pp 1-22.
 45

no effect on performance and satisfaction judgments. The authors conclude

that the results generally support the contingency framework and provide
empirical support for normative guidelines that call for creating realistic
64
performance expectations and offering money-back guarantees.

64
VOSS B. Glenn, PARASURAMAN, A and GREWAL Dhruv: "The Roles of Price,
Perfonnance and Expectations in detennining satisfaction in service Exchanges",
Journal of Marketing, Vol.62, No.4, October, 1998, pp 46-61 .