Attitudes and Decision

Making

Assc. Prof. DR. Kardison Lumban Batu, SE., MSc., CPM

Faculty of Economics & Business
Diponegoro University
Attitudes and decision-making are
intricately linked in the realm of consumer
behavior. Attitudes are the evaluations,
feelings, and tendencies people have
toward objects or ideas, while decision-
making involves the cognitive process of
choosing between alternatives.
 Attitudes in Consumer Behavior

1.Cognitive Component: This involves

beliefs or thoughts individuals have about a
particular product, service, or brand.
2.Affective Component: Emotions and
feelings associated with the product or
brand.
3.Behavioral Component: Intended actions
or responses concerning the product or
brand.
 Attitude Functions:
1.Utilitarian Function: Consumers may form
attitudes based on the practical benefits or
functionality of a product.
2.Expressive Function: Attitudes may be
shaped by the product's ability to reflect a
consumer's self-image or personal identity.
3.Ego-Defensive Function: Attitudes might
serve to protect the consumer's self-esteem or
justify choices made.
 Influence on Decision Making:

Consumer Decision-Making Process:

1. Problem Recognition: Attitudes influence how a consumer

perceives a problem or a need, impacting their motivation to
address it through a purchase.
2. Information Search: Attitudes guide the type of information
consumers seek and pay attention to, aligning with their
existing attitudes and beliefs.
3. Evaluation of Alternatives: Attitudes heavily impact how
consumers assess different products or brands based on
their beliefs and emotions.
 Attitude-Behavior Consistency:

1.Attitude Strength: Strong attitudes are more likely

to guide behavior. However, inconsistencies might
arise due to external influences, changing
circumstances, or social pressures.
2.Environmental Factors: Situational or
environmental factors might override attitudes during
decision-making (e.g., peer influence, time pressure,
or marketing cues).
Changing Attitudes for Decision Making:
 Connection between Attitudes and Decision
Making

1.Attitude-Behavior Relationship: While attitudes

strongly influence decision-making, the relationship
between attitude and behavior is complex and can
be influenced by various factors.
2.Feedback Loop: Consumer decision-making can
affect attitudes through post-purchase experiences,
subsequently influencing future choices.
 Purpose of the study

The reasons for choosing British, Dutch, Israeli and Turkish tourists are two-
fold. First, Turkish, British, Dutch and Israeli cultures are quite different from
one another and the complaining behaviors of tourists from these cultures
may be dissimilar. Turkish culture is distinctive in many respects from most
of the Asian and western cultures generally studied in the tourism
literature.

According to Hofstede’s (1980, 1983, 1991) study, large power distance,

strong uncertainty avoidance, moderate femininity and moderate
individualism/collectivism characterize the Turkish culture. Small power
distance, strong uncertainty avoidance, high individualism and
femininity are the key characteristics of Israeli culture, whereas small
power distance, high individualism, weak uncertainty avoidance and
femininity are the main features of the Dutch culture (Hofstede, 1983).
Small power distance, high individualism, weak
uncertainty avoidance and strong masculinity are the
major characteristics of British culture (Hofstede, 1983).

Second, British, Dutch and Israeli tourists and domestic tourists account for
a significant share of the tourism market in Turkey (Tourism Ministry, 2001).
Moreover, Turkish tourists are developing into an attractive market for
European operators, as evidenced by a significant increase in outbound
travel from Turkey particularly to European destinations (Kultur ve Turizm
Bakanligi, 2003)
 Consumer dissatisfaction and consumer complaining
behavior (CCB)
CCB is generally considered to be a set of multiple responses arising out of purchase
dissatisfaction (Singh, 1988, 1990). Several different responses, ranging from doing
nothing to taking legal action can result from a dissatisfying encounter (Huang et al.,
1996).

Complaint responses are generally considered to fall into two broad categories:
behavioral and non-behavioral. Behavioral responses consist of any or all customer
action that conveys an expression of dissatisfaction (Landon, 1977).

Non-behavioral responses, such as when the consumer forgets about a dissatisfying

episode and does nothing, are also considered as a legitimate CCB response (Day,
Grabricke, Schaetzle, & Stavbach, 1981).

Singh (1988) notes this to the extent that some people choose behavioral responses
whereas others elect non-behavioral responses in relatively similar dissatisfying
episodes.
 Nationality, complaint attitude and behavior

Power distance refers to the amount of respect and deference between those in superior
and subordinate positions. In a high-power distance culture, society values obedience,
conformity, authority and supervision. In contrast, in a low-power–distance culture, society
believes that people are equal, and values independence and competition (Reisinger &
Turner, 1998).

Masculinity–femininity is defined as the relative emphasis on the achievement and

interpersonal harmony which characterizes gender differences in some national cultures.

Masculinity is defined as a situation in which the dominant values in society are success,
money and material.

Femininity is defined as a situation in which the dominant values in society are caring for
others and quality of life
High masculinity cultures are more likely to report
dissatisfaction (Crotts & Erdmann, 2002, in Mueller et
al., 2003, p. 402). Hotel guests from a society with a
high masculinity score are more likely to want to get
things straight, resulting in more complaints to the
management and third parties. On the contrary,
hotel guests from a society with a low-masculinity
score are less likely to complain (Huang et al., 1996).
 Individualism–collectivism is about whether one’s
identity is defined by personal choices and
achievements or by the character of the collective
groups to which one is more or less permanently
attached

Collectivist cultures find it difficult to voice complaints and

place higher value on organization initiated recovery
(Pasongsukarn & Patterson, 2001, in Mueller et al., 2003, p.
402) and customers from individualist countries will expect a
more personalised service (Stauss & Mang, 1999, in Mueller et
al., 2003, p. 402).
customers in an individualistic culture are more likely
to voice their complaints than those in a collectivist
culture; moreover, customers in a collectivist culture
are more likely to express private responses than
those in an individualistic culture (Liu & McClure,
2001, p. 57).
Using cross-cultural data, Liu and McClure (2001) identified
that consumers in a collectivist culture (south Korean) were
less likely to engage in voice behavior but were more likely
to engage in private behavior than those in an
individualistic culture (American).

Individualism–collectivism is found to relate to justice

perception and post-complaint behaviors of
customers in a complaint situation. Hui and Au
(2001) reported that Canadians, who are
individualist, perceive a higher level of fairness and
indicated more favorable post-complaint behaviors
than did Chinese, who are collectivists
 Huang et al. (1996) found a significant relationship
between national character and the type of
complaining behavior in which guests intended to
engage. American respondents were more likely to
stop patronizing the hotel, complain to the hotel
management, and warn family and friends than
Japanese respondents were. Japanese
respondents were more likely to take no action in
response to unsatisfactory service (Huang et al.,
1996).
 Attitude toward complaining

The personal tendency of dissatisfied

consumers to seek compensation from the
firm (Richins, 1980)

Hirschman (1970) posited that voice

behavior is partly dependent on the ability
and willingness of the consumer to
complain
Respondents differed on ‘‘I always complain when I am
dissatisfied because I feel it my duty’’ and ‘‘I always feel
better once I voice my dissatisfaction through a
complaint’’.

It appears that compared to Israeli tourists, whose culture

features strong individualism, Turkish tourists may feel sad
once they voice their dissatisfaction through a complaint.

This can be explained by cultural differences in the

individualism/ collectivism dimension. Coming from a
moderate collectivist and feminine society, where caring
for others is much appreciated, Turkish tourists may consider
that their complaint may harm the employee in some way
Respondents also differed significantly in
their voice behavior. More specifically,
British, Dutch, Israeli and Turkish tourists’
likelihood of voicing their dissatisfaction
to the staff, demanding intervention of a
manager and writing a complaint letter
to the company headquarters was
significantly different
British tourists were more likely to voice their dissatisfaction to staff than Dutch
tourists . This may be due to the wider use of the English language.
Turkish tourists were the second group with the highest rating on communicating
their dissatisfaction with staff and demanding manager interventions.
British tourists were more likely to talk to a supervisor for the resolution of the
problem than Dutch and Israeli tourists.
Dutch and Israeli tourists were however more likely to demand manager
interventions than to communicate their dissatisfaction with staff.
While there was no significant difference among the four
nationalities, Dutch visitors scored high on being unlikely to
visit the hotel in the future because of the inconvenience
caused by the failure.

It appears that Israeli tourists are less likely to recommend it

to their friend and relatives than British tourists.

This finding contradicts with the assumption that compared

to collectivist cultures, customers from an individualistic
society (e.g., Israeli) are less likely to talk about the problem
with friends and relatives.
Results further demonstrated that customers
from different countries tended to show
similar behavior in expressing their
dissatisfaction to other customers
This is an expected result as dissatisfied customers
are more likely to get even by telling others about
their dissatisfaction. This behavior may have ripple
effects. Consumers who are exposed to negative
word-of-mouth recommendations may form
unfavorable images, and may, in turn, decide to
avoid the offending seller
Thank you