產品能見度及知名品牌與消費者從眾之相關性初探

Abstract

消費者從眾是消費者行為研究中，結合社會心理學的一項有趣的研究議題。從眾代表個人為了使團體接受或認同他，改變自己原本的想法或行為，進而採取與團體一致的想法或行為，這種現象常常是受到規範性與資訊性的社會影響的結果。若能夠使消費者從眾在行銷領域產生實務應用，則對於產品的銷售一定有相當的助益。 本研究以消費者從眾其中一項構面：「注意社會比較訊息」，來作為對消費者從眾高低之衡量，另外加入產品能見度與知名品牌兩項變數，探討消費者從眾與此兩者之間的關係。產品能見度方面的產品選擇，以衣服與內衣作代表；知名品牌則作本研究定義。以「注意社會比較訊息」量表施測結果，研究對象可區分為高分群的從眾消費者，與低分群的從眾消費者。主要研究目的在於探討高低分群之從眾消費者此兩獨立群體在產品能見度與知名品牌方面，其購買意向受到親朋好友影響產品選擇的程度。除此之外，本研究也測量「注意社會比較訊息」量表，與「恐懼負面評價」與「公眾面前自我意識」量表之相關性。另外並作不同處理之變異數分析，以及簡單迴歸分析。 本研究以便利取樣的抽樣方法，總共蒐集638份有效問卷。以獨立樣本t檢定之統計分析，檢定從眾高分群與低分群在衣服與內衣、知名品牌與不知名品牌方面受親朋好友影響的購買意向。結果顯示，產品能見度及知名品牌與否，確實會影響消費者從眾程度。產品能見度愈高，消費者從眾傾向愈明顯；消費者從眾在知名品牌與不知名品牌，也有明顯的差異。另外，雖然性別是一項重要的人口統計變數參考指標，但性別對於消費者從眾，並沒有顯著的影響。然而，性別因素會影響衣服與內衣購買之消費者從眾。相對於男性而言，女性在內衣購買上，比較會產生從眾。「注意社會比較訊息」量表，與「恐懼負面評價」與「公眾面前自我意識」量表三者實證結果，其相關性非常顯著。另外，「注意社會比較訊息」與「恐懼負面評價」並且與「親朋好友影響產品選擇」相關。因此證明「注意社會比較訊息」量表除了可以有效地預測消費者從眾，更能夠用來預測親朋好友影響產品選擇，並建立迴歸模型；「恐懼負面評價」亦同，但「公眾面前自我意識」在此項則不適用。 本研究實證結論，產品能見度確實會影響消費者從眾程度。建議廠商更應該利用消費者從眾心理，對於能見度低的產品，藉著團體規範的規範性社會影響，或是消費者參考他人資訊的資訊性社會影響，來達成較好的銷售。知名品牌則是未來潮流與趨勢，品牌的建立象徵著有形產品的進步與其他無形價值的累積，也證明了品牌在消費者腦海與心目中，已經留下不可磨滅的印象。 在行銷領域中，消費者從眾仍屬於值得研究探索的消費者行為的一部份。若能有效且廣泛地抓住消費者從眾心理，落實在商品販售及促銷之應用，必定能夠對行銷實務層面產生莫大助益。

“Consumer Conformity” is an emerging topic in consumer behavior research with arising interests. Social psychologists first studied conformity using mostly experiments and generated many impressive results. An individual is more likely to conform to referent groups or significant others in order to gain group acceptance and rewards, or to avoid punishment. Conformity differs in two ways; Public Compliance means an individual only changes his thinking and behavior in public face-to-face situation under group pressure. Private Acceptance represents an individual’s internal transformation of his thinking as well as his behavior in accordance with the referent groups or significant others. This research examines the “Attention-to-Social-Comparison-Information” measure, one construct generating conformity, as an individual factor influencing conformity in product visibility and branded (or non-branded) products. Clothes and underwear are selected to represent the extremes of product visibility in the clothes category. The researcher defined Branded (or non-branded) products, using the daily-spoken name to symbolize its generic meaning. “Branded” products represent those brands that are well-known and easily-recognized among general public with unique style and image; meanwhile, it is relatively highly-priced, differed from low-priced non-branded products. 638 self-administered questionnaires are collected through a convenience sample approach. Independent t test is practiced in order to test the significance among high and low ATSCI subjects. The result shows that conformity is relatively higher among high ATSCI subjects concerning product visibility. High ATSCI subjects also tend to have favorable intention in buying branded clothes and underwear, compared to low ATSCI subjects. Female and male do not differentiate in their ATSCI scores as is consistent with past gender-conformity research. However, compared to male subjects, females tend to conform higher in their intentions in buying underwear. No gender differences in clothes buying intentions were found. This research shows evidences that product visibility and branded products (vs. non-branded products) greatly influence consumer conformity. Suggestions are as the follows: Firstly, for low-visible products, group norms could be taken advantage of, in order to persuade consumers to conform to the group decision in buying certain products. On the other hand, referent groups can provide valuable information in buying low-visible products and thus create consumer conformity through informational influence. Secondly, brand is the future. Make products branded ones. Brand is not only an image rooted in consumers’ minds and hearts, but also a diamond symbol in accordance with efforts and progresses in business. Consumer conformity is still in need of exploration through different topics and fields. Furthermore, it requires marketing practice and implementation in the real world.