Why consumers portray stereotypical behaviors?
Many people consider globalization as a phenomena, occurred because of electronic technology. This however, is far from truth; because the concept of globalization is as old as 1492 when Columbus discovered America. For better understanding of the eras of globalization Thomas L. Friedman divided it into three eras and named them as Globalization 1.0 (globalization of countries to discover new territories), Globalization 2.0 (globalization of companies to search for new markets) and Globalization 3.0 (globalization of consumers as individuals or groups to search out where they fit in, what challenges and opportunities are awaiting them and how they can contribute in the global economy) respectively.
With globalization the dynamics of the world also changed. Globalization has not just made things easier for the consumers and organizations to seek out alternatives and best bundle of benefits whether they be in terms of a finished product, raw material, labor, expertise, skills you name it, but it has also created confusions, anxiety, consciousness, peer pressure, judgements regarding brand name, quality, price, acceptability among the consumers. This has not just stopped here, because consumers have taken these social and self-influenced pressures to another level where they have created a self-perceived image of themselves, others and the society at large.
Due to the brand’s power and influence, consumers have become focused more on perceptive image benefits rather than the actual core benefits of the product; hence ignoring the actual quality, features and benefits of a product or service and opting for a brand name by paying higher prices and forgoing benefits obtained through that purchase. Here perceptive image benefits can be defined as a means to make a good judgement about something whether it be a product, service, experience or country of origin. Consumers at time because of their perceptive image fall in the trap of thinking what they believe or perceive is the only truth.
Globalization has also influenced the acceptance of country of origins of certain brands. Products originating from certain countries are held in high esteem while products originating from some other countries are seen as less worthy to even come under consideration by consumers. Some countries may have a positive brand origination image but suffer because of a calamity between the local citizens and the citizens of the target audience, some countries suffer only because of stereotypical attitude of its target segment, while some may purely suffer because there was something actually wrong in the product.
No matter what the reason may be, perceptive image benefits have increased the spread and acceptance of products belonging to a specific country of origin while have made consumers ignore the products which are at equal par and at times even better in terms of quality, features and benefits. In the battle of perception and actuality it appears that perception wins when it comes to product purchase intention even though at times the product judgement might differ causing cognitive dissonance in the consumer’s actual purchase behavior and consumer’s product judgement. Consumers might rate the product high, accept that the benefits of a product are greater, but still will not purchase due to perceptive image benefits.
Equation 1 & Figure 1 depict this relationship.
The perceptive image benefits has several consequences for consumers and companies alike. Perceptive images in consumers’ mind changes and with each change their preferred set of benefits change as well. An example of it can be the transition of home cooked meals, to ready to eat frozen food and now returning back to home cooked food with emphasis on organic food items preferably grown by the consumers themselves. The ease loving consumers have reverted back to working hard to put a healthy meal on their dinner tables. Perceptive image benefits are mostly built upon consumers’ subjectiveness rather than on facts. This trend however, might change because the consumers are now becoming self-aware, environmental aware, economically aware and aware of happenings at the global level. Lack of understanding of perceptive image benefits results in the increased gap between what the consumer wants, needs, expects and perceived usefulness and what the company believes as the best solution for their intended target consumers. Identification of not just perceptive beliefs but also perceptive image beliefs of the consumers could be the key to close this ever growing gap.
