Question 1

According to your readings, there is widespread agreeruent between Chinese and Western business people that much of Chinese ethical problerus related to defective products are simply due to a lack of production knowledge and expertise.

Accepted Answer

According to the article, while some Chinese and Western business people do attribute ethical problems in Chinese manufacturing to a lack of production knowledge and expertise, there are also cultural and legal factors at play that cannot be disregarded. So, there is not widespread agreement that this is the sole reason for these problems.

Question 2

While brand laziness is a common occurrence, it is actually an irrational way to make purchase decisions.

Accepted Answer

Brand laziness can be a rational decision-making strategy as it reduces cognitive effort and time spent on evaluating alternatives, especially for low-involvement products.

Question 3

Variety seeking is the opposite of brand loyalty in terms of involvement and information processing.

Accepted Answer

Variety seeking involves low involvement and low information processing, while brand loyalty involves high involvement and high information processing.

Question 4

In the purchase decision stage of the traditional model of consumer decision making, the process always results in actual purchase followed by some post-purchase evaluation.

Accepted Answer

The purchase decision stage in the traditional model of consumer decision making does not always result in an actual purchase; the consumer may decide to delay or not to buy at all after evaluating alternatives.

Question 5

Consumers tend to engage in more variety seeking when they purchase products for themselves versus when they purchase products for others.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Consumers tend to engage in more variety...

Question 6

Because marketing efforts cannot control a person's thoughts, marketing activities cannot trigger problem recognition.

Accepted Answer

Marketing activities can influence a person's thoughts and trigger problem recognition through various tactics such as advertising, social media campaigns, content marketing, etc.

Question 7

Research shows that close proximity among stores can increase a consumer's external information search.

Accepted Answer

Close proximity among stores creates a shopping environment where consumers can easily compare products and prices, leading to an increase in their external information search. This is supported by research in the field of consumer behavior.

Question 8

The difference between brand loyalty and brand laziness can be explained by the amount of information processing a person does.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The difference between brand loyalty and brand...

Question 9

One of the main goals of marketing is to create needs and wants.

Accepted Answer

Marketing aims to identify, anticipate, and satisfy customer needs and wants that already exist, rather than creating them.

Question 10

During intermediate problem solving, consumers are not motivated to rigorously evaluate each alternative, hence they often engage in heuristics to help them.

Accepted Answer

During intermediate problem solving, consumers may not have a high level of motivation to evaluate all available alternatives in detail, so they may use heuristics to quickly and easily make a decision.

Question 11

Extreme degrees of novelty and complexity in the purchase situation can lessen the desire to engage in variety seeking.

Accepted Answer

When a purchase situation involves extreme degrees of novelty and complexity, consumers often feel overwhelmed and prefer to stick with something familiar rather than seek new options, resulting in less desire for variety seeking.

Question 12

The last step in the traditional model of consumer decision making discussed in your readings is the purchase decision.

Accepted Answer

The last step in the traditional model of consumer decision making is post-purchase behavior, which involves evaluating the purchase and the satisfaction derived from it.

Question 13

John is shopping for a new cell phone.Upon entering the large electronics store, he realized there were just too
many choices! He quickly became frustrated and ended up quickly choosing a brand he had often seen advertised on television.John is experiencing a satisfaction paradox.

Accepted Answer

John is experiencing choice overload, not the satisfaction paradox. Choice overload occurs when a consumer is faced with so many options that the decision-making process becomes overwhelming, leading to frustration or a potentially less satisfying choice.

Question 14

In order for problem recognition to occur in the consumer decision process model, the discrepancy between what the consumer wants and what exists must be substantial and must be readily solvable.

Accepted Answer

Problem recognition occurs when there is a discrepancy between the consumer's desired state (what they want) and their actual state (what exists). This discrepancy must be significant enough to be noticed by the consumer, and the consumer must believe that it can be solved. Therefore, the statement is true.

Question 15

While time pressure can cause people to limit external information search, perceptions of crowding in a retail environment can cause people to increase external search due to the social stimulation of crowds.

Accepted Answer

Perceptions of crowding in a retail environment typically cause people to reduce their external search and leave the environment more quickly due to discomfort and stress, rather than increase external search due to social stimulation.

Question 16

Paul recently switched from regular soda to diet sodas because he wants to lose weight.In this case, Paul is engaging in intrinsic variety seeking.

Accepted Answer

Intrinsic variety seeking involves a desire for change due to internal factors like boredom or curiosity, not for a specific goal like weight loss. Paul's switch is motivated by an external goal, making it extrinsic.

Question 17

Christina and Claire are roommates.When Christina shops, she likes to stock up on everything she will need for the next couple of weeks.Claire prefers to only shop for what she needs for the next day or two, making more shopping trips.Christina is more likely to engage in variety seeking than Claire.

Accepted Answer

Christina's tendency to stock up on everything she needs for the next couple of weeks suggests that she is more likely to seek variety in her purchases, whereas Claire's preference for smaller, more frequent shopping trips suggests that she is more focused on meeting her immediate needs.

Question 18

Brand laziness can explain many consumer routine choices.

Accepted Answer

Brand laziness refers to the tendency of consumers to stick to familiar and trusted brands rather than actively seeking out new options. This can explain why many consumers make routine choices without considering alternatives, as they are simply relying on the brands they already know and trust.

Question 19

One way to consider and categorize consumer decision making is to consider processing effort and involvement.

Accepted Answer

This is a well-known framework in consumer behavior research called the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). It proposes that consumers can either engage in high or low processing effort, and can have high or low involvement in the decision at hand. This results in four possible routes to persuasion and decision making: central processing, peripheral processing, low involvement processing, and habit-based processing.

Question 20

As a general rule, the fewer the number of products in a category, the greater the external search.

Accepted Answer

This statement is not necessarily true. The level of external search depends on multiple factors such as the consumer's level of involvement, the perceived risk, and the availability of information. A consumer may conduct extensive external search even if there are only a few products in the category if the decision is important and perceived risk is high. On the other hand, a consumer may not search extensively even if there are many products in the category if the decision is low involvement and perceived risk is low.

Quiz 9: The Consumer Decision Making Process