The Consumer Reports Mindset: Who Seeks the Value──The Involved or the Knowledgeable?

Abstract

The question of how to assess brand choices that represent best value, and causes of brand choices that deviate from that standard was investigated. The role of product knowledge and involvement in selection of best value brands was then examined. Although knowledge and involvement are usually seen as being positively related, when one examines who chooses the best value brands, these two independent variables can lead in different directions. Whether shopping at a modem-day mall today or buying a rug from a merchant, most consumers seek what they believe is a \"good purchase.\" As Zeithaml (1988) found, some consumers perceive it to be the lowest price, some the best quality, some the product that fills the present need, and some the best value. The purpose of this studywas to examine an operationalization of the concept, \"best value,\" and to look at some factors that may influence who selects a brand that is describable as the \"best value.\" We examined two factors which should relate to consumers` decision choices: prior knowledge and product involvement. In order to examine influences on choosing the best value brand, this study had to accomplish two subordinate tasks. The first was to objectively operationalize \"a smart purchase decision\" in terms of price, quality, and value. The second was to examine the effects of consumers` prior knowledge and product involvement on purchase decisions in ways that had good extemal validity. For the first task-to operationalize the best purchase decision-it was decided to use Maynes` (1976) measure which he called the \"Perfect Information Frontier (PIF).\" The PIF represents the brands with higher quality scores and lower prices. These emphases can also be called the \"Consumer Reports approach\" to brand selection.