Extension of Congruity Theory and Sources †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Extension of Congruity Theory and Sources. Answer: Introduction Consumer behavior and the knowledge and understanding of the interest and attitudes of consumers have become a very significant element in the modern business world as stated by Chen, Kim, and Lin, (2015). At most times consumers always find themselves been indifferent in making choices the will help them satisfy their wants. Consumer behavior, in this case, may be described as the inductive study of different groups, organizations, and individuals in a bid to understand their processes in selecting, use and disposal of products, their experiences, and ideas in satisfying their needs. Many marketing researchers have always tried to provide an understanding and help in the determination of the impact caused by advertising on consumer attitudes towards the purchase of products. They propose a likely potential for a direct link between the attitudes of consumers towards an advertisement and a similar attitude and behavior towards the brand been advertised as analyzed by Soopramanien (20 11, p. 34). Both company advertising and online review are techniques used by marketing officers to enhance and grow their sales. In this study we will provide an understanding of both techniques on what they entail, the impact they bear on consumer decision on purchasing products as well as propose the technique that consumers seem to believe and rely upon than the other. Business advertising and information systems around the globe suggest that most of the companies advertising both through the traditional and through the internet have been argued to be ignored by the audience and at times seen to have no value according to Walther et al. (2012, p. 90). Advertising of company products has been a channel through which most businesses and companies have recorded increased profit margins due to the extensive cover and reach to the companys customers. Owing to its benefits, it cannot be ignored that advertising is a key and significant factor driving the increased financial gains in different companies. However, due to the vast business environments and increased demands of products with detailed specification, the mode of conducting company advertisement has drastically changed from the traditional advertising technique to online business reviews. And as much as the businesses have embraced the change the underlying question is which technique bears mor e positive effects to consumers in making their purchases (Dhurup, Muposhi, Shamhuyenhanzva, 2015, p. 78). Some of the reasons leading to the decline in reliance on traditional media and internet advertising include; increased number of advertisements which are competing for individual attention on a daily basis as provided by Farhangi et al. (2015, p. 678).The time and resource for advertisements are also limited, and hence individuals cannot or find it difficult to dedicate time for the advertisements. Consumer attitudes towards advertisement in the modern world have been used to for different purposes, functions in both building product brands as well as for directional purposes. Different factors have led to different perceptions of advertisements among the consumers as noted by Kugler (2014, p. 45). Consumer attitude about advertising and purchasing of products can be defined as a certain predisposition in consumers which influences their behavior to react and respond in a favorable or unfavorable manner to a particular advertisement. Such an attitude by the consumers can result in e ither an effective component or a cognitive component. An effective component in consumer behavior reflects the emotions evoked by the advertisement while cognitive component reflects the usefulness of the information and message in the advertisement. The way in which a consumer assesses an advertisement has been linked to the impact on the brand attitude by the consumer. Such a result shows that both the consumer attitude towards the brand and the intention to purchase a product is influenced not only by the consumer belief on the brand but also to some extent by the attitude of the consumer towards the advertisement. Another factor which can trigger affective and cognitive feelings towards a particular advertisement is the consumer exposure to the advertisement. Such feelings and thoughts will then influence the consumer's attitude towards the brand being advertised both directly and indirectly through shaping the brand cognitions. It is believed that the consumers with a positive favorable attitude towards an advertisement tend to be more receptive to arguments for the brand being advertised. An advert should not take more attention as compared to the brand attributes as the attributes of a brand or product sell it more as compared to the advertisement itself. There is an argument that consumer levels of involvement in the purchasing decision may also influence by the consumer's attitude towards the brand, these were observations of Schindler and Bickart (2012, p. 78).In this case, the brand attitude is higher under low involvement conditions. Although some other studies show that the consumer attitudes to advertisements often contribute to brand attitudes under both high and low consumer involvement. These findings are supported by the by the fact that different components of consumer attitude to the advertisements require both the central and peripheral processing of the communication messages. Therefore under low involvement, the response of feeling evoked by the advertisement is seeing to be a major contributor to the possibility of consumers to like the advertisement . If the feelings towards the advertisement are positive then the way in which the advertisement information is also evaluated favorably. Hence the effective component and cognitive component seems to surround the consumer knowledge on the products which limits the usefulness of the technique as many individuals do not have the time to concentrate on advertisements as pointed out by Lemon and Verhoef (2016, p. 34). On the other hand, online product reviews have become an important source of information source of income for consumers in guiding them in making purchase decisions, especially in emerging markets due to the limited information available on the market. There has been an increase or rapid growth in the number of internet users who have adopted the new alternative use of internets to get or search for products. Most of the current online shopping reviews are all about delivering, packaging but not on the actual products. Consumer attitude, in this case, is said to be a combination of perceptions, values, and beliefs. Customers or consumers must therefore first perceive the product as the product, the focus on the value and beliefs attached to the product and then make decisions as to whether they will purchase the products or not as discussed in a report by Jha and Singhs (2014, p. 78). According to Nitzan andLibra (2011), the online reviews have some advantages over company advertisements, which have contributed to popularizing of the online reviews as more reliable and most trusted. Online reviews provide face to face settings where one can engage in conversation online. Since the platform of engagement, the consumer also can escape from negative feelings easily as compared to when doing company advertisement especially the mouth to mouth advertising. The information displayed online caters for the needs of other consumers, and therefore one question may solve a number to other customers. The online reviews provide a self-enhancement platform where one can gain more knowledge of the product as provided online and also the reviews provide advice through responding to customer queries and concerns. There is an also increased social benefit as well as economic incentives such as discounts. Finally, the online review provides a platform to the customers to also help t he company. There are also an increased number of other studies which also provide trust is a significant virtue in online reviews in stimulating purchase. Consumers or customers in electronic commerce have to trust not only the website but also the company behind the site and why the site is trustworthy, as outlined in the study by Mudambi and Schuff (2010, p. 67). Trust, therefore, plays an important role in influencing consumer attitudes. Lemon and Verhoef (2016) also denote that the characteristics of the websites and the given information available might influence the online consumers of brands attitudes towards the online vendors. When a customer or consumer perceive that a website of a certain company presents quality information, they are more likely to have confidence that the vendor is reliable and trustworthy. The effects of a positive online review will, in the end, influence the customer attitudes towards a product. Online review risks can be cognition based, affect-based, experience based or even personality based. Such risks, however, may affect consumers attitudes and decisions about the purchase a product or not. Consumers may be afraid of the risks of fraud in the websites, the risk of inability to see, feel and try out a product and the sharing of personal details such as address and bank accounts. A bad experience with such risks from the customers may prompt the customers to post or such negative experiences on blogs and may adversely affect the companies (Wu et al. 2016, p. 67). Conclusion Both company advertising and online reviews play an important role in the marketing of products. However, the company advertising is more complex and ineffective in meeting the needs of the targeted market due to its nature while the online review technique has become the order of the day in the modern business world. Despite been posed with some associated risks, mechanisms to deal with the fraud issues need to be developed. The number of advantages attached to the online review outweighs the disadvantages or the risks associated with the websites. Consumers can, therefore, believe in the online reviews as compared to the company advertisement. There is an increased need for consumer knowledge and awareness in the online reviews. List of References Chen, K, Kim, J, Lin, J 2015, 'The effects of affective and cognitive elaborations from Facebook posts on consumer attitude formation', Journal Of Consumer Behaviour, 14, 3, pp. 208-218, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 11 May 2017. Dhurup, M, Muposhi, A, Shamhuyenhanzva, R 2015, 'Factors influencing South African consumers' attitudes and purchase intention towards foreign sport apparel', African Journal For Physical, Health Education, Recreation Dance, 21, 4:1, pp. 1271-1289, SPORTDiscus with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 11 May 2017. 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Soopramanien, D 2011, 'Conflicting attitudes and scepticism towards online shopping: the role of experience', International Journal Of Consumer Studies, 35, 3, pp. 338-347, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 11 May 2017. Walther, J, Liang, Y, Ganster, T, Wohn, D, Emington, J 2012, 'Online Reviews, Helpfulness Ratings, and Consumer Attitudes: An Extension of Congruity Theory to Multiple Sources in Web 2.0', Journal Of Computer-Mediated Communication, 18, 1, pp. 97-112, Communication Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 11 May 2017.