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Chapter 2

Consumer Behavior in
Service

McGraw-Hill © 2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies

Services:
Search vs. Credence Properties

1. Search qualities
2. Experience qualities
3. Credence qualities
Services: search vs. credence properties

Search Qualities: Attributes that a consumer can

determine before purchasing a product; search
qualities include color, style, price, fit, feel, hardness,
and smell. Goods such as automobiles, clothing,
furniture, and jewelry are high in search qualities for
their attributes can be almost completely determined
and evaluated before purchase.
Services: search vs. credence properties

Experience Qualities: Attributes that can only

be determined after purchase or during
consumption. Experience qualities include taste
and wearability. Goods and services such as
vacations and restaurant meals are high in
experience qualities.
 Services: search vs. credence properties

Credence Qualities: Characteristics that the

consumer may find impossible to evaluate even
after purchase and consumption.
 Continuum of Evaluation for Different
Types of Products
Most Goods Most Services

Easy Difficult
to evaluate to evaluate

Restaurant meals
Clothing

Computer repair
Legal services

Complex surgery
Motor vehicle

Haircut
Foods
Chair

Lawn fertilizer

Entertainment
High in search High in experience High in credence
attributes attributes attributes
 Consumer decision making
process and evaluation of services
Information search Evaluation of alternative
Need •Use of personal sources •Evoked set
Recognition •Perceived risks •Emotion and mood

Post purchase Evaluation Purchase and consumption

•Attribution of dissatisfaction •Service provision as drama
•Innovation diffusion •Service roles and scripts
•Brand loyalty •Compatibility of customers
Consumer decision making process and
evaluation of services
1. Need Recognition:

◦ Physiological needs are biological needs such as food, water and sleep.
◦ Safety and security needs include shelter, protection and security.
◦ Social needs are for affection, friendship and acceptance.
◦ Ego needs are for prestige, success, accomplishment and self-
accomplishment.
◦ Self- actualization involves self- fulfillment and enriching experiences.
Consumer decision making
process and evaluation of
services
2. Information Search
Consumers obtain information about products and services from personal sources( like friends
or experts) and from no personal sources ( such as mass or selective media).
◦ Use of personal sources: Consumers depend on personal sources for buying services because:
◦ Mass media can’t communicate information about experience qualities
◦ Nonpersonal sources are may not be available because
◦ Many service providers are local
◦ Professional associations banned advertising.
◦ Consumers can discover few attributes before purchase of a service
◦ In case of complex products, personal influence is pivotal.
◦ Perceived risks: less prepurchase information, nonstandardized services, no warranty, technical.
 Consumer decision making
process and evaluation of
services
3. Evaluation of Service Alternatives:
◦ The evoked set of alternatives- that group of products a consumer
Considers acceptable options in a given product Category- is likely to
be smaller with service than with goods because:
◦ a single brand for a sale in one establishment
◦ absence of more than one businesses in a given area
Difficulty of obtaining adequate pre purchase information.

◦ Emotion and Mood:

◦ Emotion and mood are feelings that influence people’s (and therefore
Customers’) perceptions and evaluations of their experiences.
◦ Moods are distinguished from emotion in that moods are transient feeling
status that occur at specific times and specific situations, where emotions are
more intense, stable, and preserve.
 Consumer decision making
process and evaluation of
services
4. Service Purchase and Consumption:
◦ Service provision as drama:
◦ The service marketers must play many drama related roles to be sure
◦ The performances of the actors are pleasing to the audience. (actors
and physical settings)
◦ Service roles and scripts: The role of a hostess in a
restaurant.
◦ The compatibility of customers: Customer’s beliefs, values,
experiences, abilities, appearances, age and health should
be considered.
 Consumer decision making
process and evaluation of
services
5. Post Purchase Evaluation

When consumers are disappointed with purchase because-

◦the products did not fulfill the intended needs

◦did not perform satisfactorily, or were not worth their price

They may attribute their dissatisfaction to a number of different sources,

among them the products, the retailers or themselves. Haircut or doctors’
diagnosis.

Failure to obtain satisfaction with any of these serviced may not be blamed
completely on the retailer or producer because the consumer must
adequately perform his or her part in the production process also.
The role of culture in services
Material Culture: It consists of tangible products of culture,
such as, cars, houses, clothes, and furniture.
◦ Mexican having small fridges and go for frequent shopping
◦ Spaniards like to get closed to their cash.

Aesthetics: It refers to cultural ideas about beauty and good

tastes. These are reflected in music, art, drama and dance as
well as color and form. Japanese like earth tones whereas
Chinese like glossy red.
IIUM
The role of culture in services
Educational: It is the process of transmitting skills and knowledge.
Japanese believes in no class participation but Americans believes in
high class participation.

Social Institutions: In health care delivery systems, Americans

believe in high interaction but Japanese believe in low interaction.
Organizational consumers

Organizational consumers are a special category of group of consumers.

Organization often rely on a small number of buyers within the company
to fulfill their purchasing needs, many of whom specialize in purchasing
rather than performing other functions in the company.
Organizational consumers

These buyers are typically organized either formally or informally into

buying centers, which include all people involved in the decision process:

 The initiator identifies the organizational need.

 The gatekeeper collects and controls information about the purchase.
 The decider determines what service to purchase.
 The buyer or purchasing agent physically acquires the service.
 The user consumes the service.

Among the characteristics of organizational buyers (compared to

consumers) are geographic concentration, professionalism, price inelasticity
and desire for close customer-supplier relationship.