Search

The article presents abstracts relating to marketing institutions. They include "Retailers' Responses to Consumerism," by Peter LaPlaca, "Identifying Interurban Shoppers: Multiproduct Purchase Patterns and Segmentation Profiles," by Charles Lamb, and "Products, Percentages and Profitability - How Do You Stack Up?" by William S. Penn, Jr.

SUMMARY The impact of person and situation on the influence of informal reference groups on consumer behavior is discussed The social psychological construct of self-monitoring was utilized to examine the person factor, while the social-nonsocial nature of products represented the situation factor. The study employed 141 male and female undergraduates who responded to two measures of co-orientation with informal reference groups and three measures of consumer behavior: information seeking, information source credibility, and group influence on product choice. Results indicate that informal group influence on consumer behavior was significantly greater for high self-monitors as compared with low self-monitors. Situational variations were minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates whether informal groups are important in product evaluations and determine when and for whom group influence is present. Influence of the social environment on consumer behavior; Factors which contribute to the orientation of consumers; Relationship between measures of co-orientation and consumer decision making variables.