Study Guide for the Mid-term Exam
MKT 332: Buyer Behavior
Spring 2002
Chapter 1
Why is it important to study consumer behavior?
Make sure you know the elements in the overall model of consumer behavior.
What are the major approaches to studying consumer behavior? You should not only know the name but also understand the basic elements of each approach.
Chapter 13 & 14
What variables are included in the generic model of consumer decision process? You should be able to use the model to explain a specific purchase decision-making process (e.g., buying a computer).
What is consumer involvement? How does it impact consumer's decision-making process?
How do consumers recognize problems? And how do non-marketing factors impact consumers' problem recognition?
How can we measure consumer's problems? What methods are often used?
How could marketers plan strategies based on the understanding of problem recognition? Make sure you are able to phrase marketing strategies to activate consumer problem recognition if I give you a product.
Chapter 15
What type of information do consumers search when making decisions? You should be able to apply it to real purchase decisions (e.g., in buying a new car).
What categories of decision alternatives do consumers possess for internal product information?
Where do consumers search for information externally? And how to measure the amount of external information search?
How do different information sources compare to each other in terms of search effort required and source credibility?
What are the factors influencing consumers' information search effort? How to explain their search behavior from the economics perspective?
Chapter 16
What elements are included in consumers' alterative evaluation and selection process?
Make sure you understand the decision rules consumers often use in evaluating and selecting products. You should be able to apply these rules if I give you a product decision.
You should understand that in reality consumers often combine these rules to make decisions.
What's the difference between attribute-based and attitude-based choice?
What are consumer heuristics? How do consumers use them in product choice decisions?
Chapter 17
What types of risk do consumers often perceive in purchasing decisions?
What criteria are often used in evaluating a store/outlet?
When selecting outlets and brands, how do consumers make choices (e.g., brand first, outlet second)? You should be able to give examples for each decision mode.
What is impulse purchase? Why is it important? What factors will influence consumers' impulse purchase?
How does the store atmosphere impact consumers' shopping behavior?
How does a stockout situation impact consumer's action?
Chapter 18
What activities are composed of postpurchase consumer behaviors?
What alternatives does a consumer have to dispose a product?
What is the relationship among consumer expectations, product performance, and consumer satisfactions?
What will a dissatisfied consumer possibly do?
What is customer retention? Make sure you are able to calculate the customer retention rate?
What strategies could firms use to retain dissatisfied customers?
How do the various consumer behaviors relate to the marketing mix elements?
Chapter 8
What is consumer perception? And how is it formed?
What are the important elements of perception?
What is the Weber's law? And how could it be used in marketing?
What are the elements in consumers' information processing?
What is reference price? How do marketers often manipulate price claims?
What are intrinsic cues? How about extrinsic cues?
Chapter 9
What is learning?
What learning approaches are consumers often involved in?
What is classic conditioning? What is operant conditioning? Make sure you understand the process and are able to apply them in designing advertisements.
What type of schedules do marketers often use to arrange reinforcement?
What is shaping? How does it relate to marketing?
What is cognitive learning? How does it differ from conditioning?
What are overt modeling, covert modeling, and verbal modeling? What factors may influence the effectiveness of modeling?
Which learning mode(s) often takes place in low involvement learning situations? What mode(s) often takes place in high involvement situations?
Chapter 10
What is consumer motivation? How does it develop?
How could marketers use Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory?
What factors influence an individual's selection of goals?
What is rational motive? What is emotional motive? How are they useful in marketing?
How do people often cope with frustration?
What is personality? What personalities have researchers defined so far?
How is personality research important to marketing?
Chapter 11
What is attitude? How is it formed?
How to measure the three components of attitude?
Make sure you are able to apply the multi-attribute attitude model?
Based on the multi-attribute attitude model, how could marketers develop strategies to change consumers' attitude toward their brand?
What is the theory of reasoned action? Make sure you are able to use it to explain consumers' behavioral intention?
What's the relationship between behavioral intention and consumers' behavior? What factors influence this relationship?
Bring a calculator to the exam!