3 7 ^ /JS/d

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PROBLEM RECOGNITION IN THE HOMEOSTATIC PROCESS

OF CONSUMER DECISION MAKING: ITS DEFINITION,

MEASUREMENT AND USE

DISSERTATION

Presented to the Graduate Council of the

North Texas State University in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

By

Gordon C. Bruner II, B.B.A., M.S,

Denton, Texas

August, 1983

B r u n e r I I , Gordon C . , P r o b l e m R e c o g n i t i o n i n t h e

H o m e o s t a t i c P r o c e s s o f C o n s u m e r D e c i s i o n M a k i n g ; I t s

D e f i n i t i o n , Measuremen t and U s e . D o c t o r of P h i l o s o p h y

( M a r k e t i n g ) , A u g u s t , 1 9 8 3 , 1 0 1 p p . , 7 t a b l e s ,

b i b l i o g r a p h y , 66 t i t l e s .

S i n c e 1910 when J o h n Dewey f i r s t d i s c u s s e d i t , t h e

n o t i o n of a f i v e s t a g e d e c i s i o n p r o c e s s h a s been used t o

d e s c r i b e h u m a n t h i n k i n g a n d b e h a v i o r i n s e v e r a l

d i s c i p l i n e s . These f i v e s t a g e s a r e : p r o b l e m r e c o g n i t i o n ,

i n f o r m a t i o n s e a r c h , e v a l u a t i o n of a l t e r n a t i v e s , c h o i c e ,

and o u t c o m e s . I n t h e f i e l d of m a r k e t i n g E n g e l , K o l l a t ,

and B l a c k w e l l h a v e c o n s t r u c t e d a m o d e l o f c o n s u m e r

d e c i s i o n making based on t h o s e s t a g e s . Each of t h e f i v e

main s t a g e s h a s r e c e i v e d c o n s i d e r a b l e t h e o r e t i c a l and

e m p i r i c a l a t t e n t i o n e x c e p t f o r p r o b l e m r e c o g n i t i o n . I t

has been d e f i n e d a s t h e d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n o n e ' s d e s i r e d

s t a t e o f a f f a i r s a n d t h e a c t u a l s t a t e o f a f f a i r s

s u f f i c i e n t t o a c t i v a t e t h e d e c i s i o n p r o c e s s . A l t h o u g h

t h e r e i s some d e s c r i p t i o n o f t h i s p r o c e s s i n t h e

l i t e r a t u r e i t i s mos t ly u n v e r i f i e d .

One purpose of t h e d i s s e r t a t i o n was t o d e t e r m i n e what

t h e o r e t i c a l j u s t i f i c a t i o n e x i s t s t o s u p p o r t t h e

d e s c r i p t i o n of p r o b l e m r e c o g n i t i o n . H o m e o s t a t s i s was

f o u n d t o be a w e l l d o c u m e n t e d and a c c e p t e d t h e o r y o f

t e n s i o n r e d u c t i o n in b o t h p h y s i o l o g y and p s y c h o l o g y . I t

was proposed as a proper theoretical foundation for

problem recognition. It also implied that people develop

styles as they repeatedly deal with similar problems.

Another purpose of the dissertation was to develop a

method for typifying consumers in the way they recognize

problems. Scales were constructed to measure consumers'

tendencies to recognize problems due to a change in one of

their states. Three scales were developed: one to measure

types sensitive to changes in the desired state, one to

measure types sensitive to changes in the actual state,

and a combined scale to measure tendencies to recognize

problems due to changes in either state.

The product category chosen to test the scales was

clothing. The results indicated that all scales were

extremely reliable and moderately valid.

A major conclusion was that the theoretical findings

will have greater practical value once the link between

styles of problem recognition and types of information

search is clarified.

Copyright by

Gordon Carl Bruner II

1983

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF TABLES V

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vi

Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION 1

Background Scope and Limitations Organization of the Study References

II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 12

Homeostasis Use of Homestatic Concepts in

Understanding Problem Recognition Measurement of Problem Recognition References

III. METHODOLOGY 30

Scale Development Pretest Survey References

IV. FINDINGS

Pretest Results Survey Results Discussion Footnotes References

V. CONCLUSIONS 85

APPENDIX

BIBLIOGRAPHY 97

xv

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Pretest Sample 60

2. Difference in Median Response of Pretest Subjects to Problem Recognition Statements 62

3. Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Survey Sample 65

4. Loadings of Problem Recognition Statements on Factors From Initial Factor Analysis (A) and Final Factor Analysis (B). . . . 68

5. Comparison of PR Type Groupings of Pretest Subjects Between Judges' Assessments and Scale Predictions 73

6. Factor Loadings and Alpha Coefficients for the Shopping Enjoyment and Clothing Interest Scales 76

7. Problem Recognition Statements and Their Relative Ordering As Presented on the Pretest and Main Survey Questionnaires . 95

v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure Page

1. The Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell Consumer Behavior Model 2

2. A Conceptualization of the Problem Recognition Process 25

3. A Reconceptualization of the Problem Recognition Process 88

VI

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This first chapter of the study briefly reviews the

general background and justification for the research.

Further, the p u r p o s e of the study as well as its

limitations will be discussed.

Background

It has been hypothesized that consumer decision

making is not so much a single act as it is a process

(Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell 1968). Though some have

posed serious questions to the basic assumptions upon

which process theories are founded (Graham 1981 , Olshavsky

and Granbois 1 979 ), it appears that the weight of the

literature still rests on process theories. One of the

foremost process theories was presented by Engel, Kollat

and Blackwell (1968). A schematic representation of their

theory is made in Figure 1. (Their theory is hereafter

referred to as the EKB model).

The main portion of the EKB model is the purchase

decision process and it is composed of the following five

stages: Problem Recognition, I n f o r m a t i o n S e a r c h ,

Alternative Evaluation, Purchase Choice, and Post-purchase

FIGURE 1

The Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell Consumer Behavior Model

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Outcomes. It is this part of the overall model that is

most widely accepted and used by a majority of consumer

behavior texts (Assael 1981; Berkman and Gilson 1981;

Block and Roering 1979; Cohen 1981; Engel and Blackwell

1982; Hawkins, Best, and Coney 1983 ; Loudon and Delia

Bitta 1 979 ). Much research has been conducted on the

steps in the purchase decision process as noted by the

attention devoted to them in the consumer b e h a v i o r

textbooks cited above. The notable exception is the

Problem Recogniton step (hereafter referred to as PR).

The chapters or sections on the other stages are usually

lengthy and well documented, with c o n c e p t s having

considerable empirical foundation. However, description of

PR tends to be brief, with few references, and with little

discussion of relevant measures or research.

The reason for the investigatory neglect of PR is not

clear. Possibly, understanding how problems occur has not

been viewed as important as the mere realization that

problems exist and that products can be marketed to solve

the problems. Traditionally, marketing's g r e a t e s t

opportunity for understanding and influencing the consumer

has come from research which focused on one of the later

stages in the purchase decision process. However, it has

been maintained by some that the marketing strategist

would benefit from an indepth understanding of the PR

p r o c e s s ( B l o c k and R o e r i n g 1 9 7 9 , p p . 3 8 4 , 3 8 5 ) . F o r

i n s t a n c e , i f a m a r k e t e r d e t e r m i n e s t h a t PR i s t r i g g e r e d

f o r a c o n s i d e r a b l e p o r t i o n o f t h e m a r k e t b y s i m p l y

e x p o s i n g them t o new i d e a s , v e r y d i f f e r e n t p r o m o t i o n a l

s t r a t e g i e s w o u l d b e c a l l e d f o r t h a n t h e s t r a t e g i e s

a p p r o p r i a t e f o r t h e s e g m e n t f o r whom PR t e n d s t o o c c u r

o n l y when t h e p r e v i o u s s o l u t i o n ( p r o d u c t ) t o t h e p r o b l e m

i s used up .

Scope and L i m i t a t i o n s

B e f o r e t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p s b e t w e e n PR and b e h a v i o r i n

t h e o t h e r p r o c e s s s t a g e s can be e x a m i n e d a m e t h o d f o r

measur ing PR mus t be d e v e l o p e d . As i t h a s been d e f i n e d

( E n g e l , K o l l a t , and Blackwel l 1968, p p . 360 , 361 ) , PR h a s

two components : t h e a c t u a l s t a t e and t h e d e s i r e d s t a t e .

The f o r m e r r e f e r s t o t h e way a p a r t i c u l a r n e e d i s

c u r r e n t l y be ing met or no t met . The l a t t e r i s t h e way t h e

consumer would l i k e f o r t h e need t o be me t . T h e r e f o r e , PR

o c c u r s when t h e c o n s u m e r p e r c e i v e s a s i g n i f i c a n t

d i f f e r e n c e t o e x i s t between t h e two s t a t e s .

Since the components of PR have been no more than

hypothetical constructs one purpose of the research was to

empirically verify that the desired state and the actual

state do indeed exist. It was hypothesized that consumers

develop styles of PR to deal with situations which

repeatedly occur. Scales were developed to measure

consumers' tendencies to recognize problems because of a

change in either their actual states (hereafter referred

to as Actual State types) or their d e s i r e d states

(hereafter referred to as Desired State types). Depth

interviews and a mail survey were used to develop these

scales.

A further purpose of the study was to explain PR.

Previously, the literature offered no reasoning behind the

description of the process. Therefore, a search was made

in this study for a well accepted theory which could

explain and lend support to the currently a c c e p t e d

definition of PR.

It should be stressed that this research was not

attempting to refute, challenge, nor in any way modify the

EKB model. What little contradictory evidence was found

in the course of the work was acknowledged and dealt with

in discussion of the results. But, the primary function

of this dissertation was to explain and measure what has

already been described by others.

One problem with this a p p r o a c h is that o t h e r

explanations using very different constructs may very well

exist to interpret what is described in this study as the

PR process. Indeed, many other concepts and theories may

exist which are worth testing. For example, Nicosia

(1966) developed one of the first process models of

consumer decision making. It featured the interaction

between the firm and the consumer and assumed the latter

has no prior attitude toward the product. Howard and

Sheth ( 1969) proposed a comprehensive model which is best

suited to explain the brand choice process. However,

neither of these approaches described to any extent the

process of consumers recognizing problems. The PR process

was assumed so that elaboration focused on the process of

solving problems. It is only Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell

who in each of the four editions of their text ( 1 968 ,

1973, 1978, 1982) have devoted considerable attention to

PR. Although the PR process is not incompatible with the

o t h e r two m o d e l s it is only the EKB m o d e l t h a t

incorporates it as an integral part of the theory.

A limitation imposed on this research by choice was

that the variability of search activity between the

different PR types was not analyzed. Although it was

expected that Desired State types and Actual State types

differ in the amount and nature of their search for

product information this study only laid a foundation for

such a hypothesis to be tested in future work. Indeed, in

a more general sense, that was a limitation of the whole

study. Few results have been produced for the immediate

use of the marketing practioner. The implications are most

likely to assist at the theoretical and methodological

levels initially. Only after the scales developed in this

study are used in conjunction with other investigations of

consumer behavior (such as media habits, p a t r o n a g e

motives, and decision making styles) will the implications

be clear for the businessperson.

There were several limitations associated with the

study's pretest. For one thing, it was not certain at the

outset just e x a c t l y what q u e s t i o n s to ask in the

interviews in order to efficiently and effectively assess

PR style. However, being the first known effort to

investigate this construct necessitated that the matter be

resolved through professional judgment. Experience with

the interviews brought about more skillful phrasing of

questions as the pretest was conducted.

Another constraint on the pretest was its sample

being selected more on convenience than at random. This

was not necessarily a problem since pretest samples do not

have to be perfectly representative of the population

though they should include p e r s o n s from i m p o r t a n t

subgroups (Brown 1980, p. 105). Further, since results of

the pretest were not to be used to make inferences about

the population the need for a random sample was not as

critical.

A limitation shared by the pretest and the survey was

that the samples were totally composed of women. It is

8

possible that the results achieved in this research are

different than what could be expected if only men were

used. H o w e v e r , b e c a u s e PR p r o c e s s e s for f a s h i o n

consumption may vary greatly between men and women, a

limited situation was focused on in this preliminary

study. Then, with reliable and valid scales developed,

they can be tested further to note any differences that

are attributable to gender.

Another feature of both the pretest and the main

survey that could be viewed as a problem is that the data

was derived exclusively from self-reported measures. It

is possible that such data differ from what could be

learned if actual behavior was observed. To be of any

value, however, observation would have to take place for

several weeks or months in order to determine adequately

the tendency one has to recognize problems a certain way.

Such intense and extended observation was not practical in

this nor much of any marketing research.

A mail panel was originally planned for use in the

main survey as the means for collecting data. When a

panel could not be secured a mail survey was conducted.

Low response rate and response bias were acknowledged

weaknesses of the approach. However, these were not

viewed as significant problems since the results of the

survey were not intended to be inferential in nature.

Therefore, scale construction with its attendant focus on

internal validity was emphasized over external validity.

Two important questions which were not addressed by

this study are how do people's PR styles vary over time

and how are they affected by product category involved.

It was expected in both cases that PR styles do change;

i.e., the predominate way in which one recognizes problems

within a particular product category can change over the

years as other factors in one's life change; and, the way

one recognizes problems differs depending upon the product

category involved. Both hypotheses are worth testing but

require that proven scales for measuring PR be available.

That was the purpose of this research.

Finally, a related point that was also not addressed

in this study concerns the determination of how dynamic PR

styles are within product categories. It was assumed that

a consumer's PR style varies from category to category yet

is basically stable within a product category. However,

such a hypothesis is yet to be tested. Certainly, it

would seem that the more similar two products are in the

need they satisfy then the more similar the manner of PR.

The converse would also seem to be a safe assumption.

But, where the boundaries are of a product category cannot

be determined accurately without further investigation.

10

Organization of the Study

The next chapter reviews literature relevant to the

description and explanation of PR. It also looks at

previous attempts to measure PR and suggests a new

approach. The third chapter discusses the methodological

issues involved with the study's pretest and main survey.

Chapter four presents the findings and the last chapter

discusses conclusions of the study.

REFERENCES

Assael, Henry (1981), Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action, Boston: Wadsworth, Inc.

Berkman, Harold W. and Christopher Gilson (1981), Consumer B e h a v i o r ; C o n c e p t s and S t r a t e g i e s , B o s t o n : Wadsworth, Inc.

Block, Carl E. and Kenneth J. Roering (1979), Essentials of Consumer Behavior: Concepts and Applications, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

Brown, F. E. (1980), Marketing Research: A Structure For Decision Making, Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.

Cohen, Dorothy (1981), Consumer Behavior, New York: Random House, Inc.

Engel, James R. and Roger D. Blackwell (1982), Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

, David T. Kollat and Roger D. Blackwell (1968), Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

Graham, Robert J. (1981), "The Role of Perception of Time in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, 7(March), 335-342. Marcn), jJb-342.

, Del I., Roger J. Best, and Kenneth A. Coney (1983), m s u m e r B e h a v i o r , D a l l a s , T e x a s : B u s i n e s s blications, Inc.

f

Hawkins C O II U U1L1 V 1. L) U 11 U V

Publications, Inc

Howard, John A. and Jagdish N. Seth (1969), The Theory of Buyer Behavior, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Loudon, David L. and Albert J. Delia Bitta (1979). Consumer Behavior: Concepts and A p p l i c a t i o n s , New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Nicosia, Francesco M. (1966), Consumer Decision Processes: Marketing and Advertising Implications, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Olshavsky, Richard W. and Donald H. Granbois (1979), "Consumer Decision Making—Fact or Fiction?" Journal of Consumer Research, 6(September), 93-100.

11

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

The EKB model was the first popular application of

the five-stage decision process to consumption behavior.

Almost identical conceptualizations were already well

known in the area of general decision making (e.g., Brim

et al 1962). With reference to PR in particular, there is

tremendous similarity between the Engel, Kollat, and

Blackwell (1968) definition and those of several decades

earlier. The definition they gave was that "problem

recognition r e s u l t s when a c o n s u m e r r e c o g n i z e s a

difference of sufficient magnitude between what is

perceived as the desired state of affairs and what is

perceived as the actual state of affairs" (pp. 360 , 361 ).

This is quite similar to a statement made by psychologist

Karl Duncker: "A problem arises when a living creature

has a goal but does not know how this goal is to be

reached. Whenever one cannot go from the given situation

to the desired situation simply by action, then there has

to be recourse to thinking" (1945, p. 1).

Dewey (1910) described the initial step of problem

solving as "the conflict between conditions at hand and a

desired and intended result, between an end and the means

12

13

for reaching it" (p. 72). The relevance of PR to a proper

understanding of the decision process was obvious to Dewey

for as he has pointed out, "the problem fixes the end of

thought and the end controls the process of thinking" (p.

12) .

These descriptions bear s i m i l a r i t y to several

different theories which could be used to explain the

operation of PR as it is now defined in the literature.

What is alike in each of these approaches is that humans

are viewed as tending to m a i n t a i n some l e v e l of

activation. As Maddi (1976) explains, "There is a general

tendency in psychology for all tension reduction theories

to be considered homeostatic in nature. T h u s , the

theories of Freud, Sullivan, Angyal, Bakan, Rank, Kelly,

and Festinger, if not a few others as well, would be

considered homeostatic positions" (pp. 169, 170).

Homeostasis does sound very much like PR for as one

writer put it, "homeostatic activities have as their goal

the reduction of a discrepanacy between a preferred state

and the actual state" (Stagner 1974, p. 97). Therefore,

due to its conceptual simplicity, its acceptance and use

in other fields of study, and the ease with which it can

be applied to consumer behavior the homestasis concept was

used in this research to explain PR. The next sections of

this chapter will focus on the origin of homeostasis and

14

its description as well as its use as an explanatory tool

in the understanding of PR.

Homeostasis

The percept and even the concept that some sort of

natural balance tendency operates in the body has been

discussed for over 200 years (Cofer and Appley 1964,

Langley 1973). However, it was not until 1926 that the

term "homeostasis" was coined for the process by W. B.

Cannon. Although the process is still not completely

understood, homeostasis is an undisputed principle in

physiology prompting one writer to remark that "without an

appreciation of homeostasis and the comprehension of

homeostatic mechanisms, medicine is e m p i r i c a l , not

rational" (Langley 1973, p. 1). Homeostasis is defined in

Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary thusly: "A

tendency to stability in the normal body states ( internal

environment) of the organism. It is achived by a system of

control mechanisms activated by negative feedback" (1974,

p. 720).

A good illustration of the concept as applied at the

physiological level involves the body's regulation of

temperature.

The body temperature tends to remain steady at about 37° C (98.6°). This is not an exact figure, however, and we must think of an upper and lower threshold value, variation being t o l e r a t e d w i t h i n l i m i t s . So, a r i s e in

15

temperature to 37.1° may have no perceptible effect. However, a rise to 38° is likely to set off corrective actions: sweating, relaxation of skin blood vessels, reduced metabolic activity, and so on. These generally lead to restoration of the t e m p e r a t u r e w i t h i n normal l i m i t s . Conversely, if the figure falls to 36° , the skin will pale as blood vessel constriction occurs, shivering may cause heat production through muscle contraction, etc. (Stagner 1974, p. 21).

It should be understood from an example such as this

that temperature is not restored by homeostasis but is

merely an example of homeostasis. Further, it is not that

an absolute difference between actual temperature and

proper temperature triggers corrective action but that a

difference of sufficient magnitude occurs.

One of the first major efforts to explore the topic

of homeostasis was The Wisdom of the Body by Cannon

(1932). He described the tendency of the body to maintain

equilibrium in an effort to preserve its existence in the

face of numerous environmental obstacles. Chief among the

ideas presented by Cannon is the notion of " s t e a d y

states." These represent conditions which the body seeks

to maintain.

Even though the focus of this early book was on

homeostasis in its physiological sense an epilogue was

provided to explore another application. Cannon appears to

be the first to make the leap from the biological realm

and suggest some of the implications the concept might

have for human society at large. These thoughts, however,

16

were d i r e c t e d a t s o c i o l o g i c a l a p p l i c a t i o n s l e a v i n g t h e

p s y c h o l o g i c a l a p p l i c a t i o n s t o be made l a t e r by o t h e r s .

S o o n a f t e r C a n n o n ' s w o r k w a s p u b l i s h e d s o m e

p s y c h o l o g i s t s began t o ask i f h o m e o s t a t i c p r i n c i p l e s c o u l d

a l s o be a p p l i e d t o t h e i r f i e l d ( F l e t c h e r 1 9 3 8 , 1 9 4 2 ;

G u t h r i e 1938; P o f f e n b e r g e r 1938) . F l e t c h e r m a i n t a i n e d :

. . . t h e f a c t s a r e t h a t a c q u i r e d a c t i o n t e n d e n c i e s , o r h a b i t s , t h e d r i v e s of c u l t i v a t e d i n t e r e s t s , i d e a t i o n a l p e r s e v e r a t i v e t e n d e n c i e s , d e v e l o p e d p e r s o n a l i t y t r a i t s , n o t t o m e n t i o n a c q u i r e d drug a d d i c t i o n s , a l l may w i t h o u t d o i n g v i o l e n c e t o e i t h e r l o g i c o r f a c t s be subsumed under t h e c a t e g o r y of h o m e o s t a s i s (1942, p . 8 3 . )

I t was F l e t c h e r ' s c o n t e n t i o n t h a t h o m e o s t a s i s w a s

a p p l i c a b l e t o psychology no t due t o mere ana logy a l o n e b u t

because he f e l t t h e r e was s u b s t a n t i a l e v i d e n c e t o s u p p o r t

i t . He f e l t t h a t t h e m o s t u s e f u l a p p l i c a t i o n o f

h o m e o s t a s i s i n p s y c h o l o g y w o u l d b e t o " p e r s o n a l i t y

a d j u s t m e n t s , " as he s a i d t h a t :

. . . mos t , i f no t a l l , of t h e so c a l l e d d e f e n s e mechanisms, which r e p r e s e n t r e a c t i o n s of human p e r s o n a l i t i e s u n d e r c o n d i t i o n s o f d i s t u r b e d s t a t u s , can be b e t t e r u n d e r s t o o d i f r e f e r r e d t o a s i n g l e , g e n e r a l e x p l a n a t o r y p r i n c i p l e t h a n i f m e r e l y d e s c r i b e d a s s y m p t o m s o r s e t u p a s i s o l a t e d p r i n c i p l e s in t hemse lves (1942, p . 8 6 ) .

Co inc id ing wi th F l e t c h e r ' s d i s c o v e r y of h o m e o s t a s i s ,

G u t h r i e ( 1938) a l s o made t h e c o n n e c t i o n . I n h i s book he

spoke of h o m e o s t a s i s in t h e f o l l o w i n g t e r m s :

Man, l i k e a l l l i v i n g t h i n g s , m e e t s c h a n g e by h imse l f chang ing , bu t a t t h e same t ime r e m a i n i n g in c e r t a i n e s s e n t i a l s unchanged. The v a r i e t y of w a y s i n w h i c h men k e e p warm o r c o o l , o r

17

replenish their supplies of sugar and other necessary chemicals is infinite. Men beg, borrow or steal; they work for wages or they may refuse to work; but the normal outcome of any human activity is to restore some disturbed balance, physical or chemical, in the human organism (p. 7).

One of the first to t h o r o u g h l y i n v e s t i g a t e

homeostasis in its psychological application was Freeman

(1948). He stated quite flatly at the beginning of his

book "that all behavior is an a t t e m p t to p r e s e r v e

organismic integrity by ' homeostatic 1 restorations of

equilibrim" (p. 1). Freeman based this thesis of his on

objective analysis of psycho-physiological research and

rejected the psychic energy constructs of Freudian theory.

Freeman's work still stands as one of the few well

developed theories of homeostasis. Among the series of

"homeostatic principles" he set forth, one is particularly

notable since it was later modified and enriched to meet

some of the criticisms leveled against the theory. This

is the idea of "adjustment levels." As Freeman explained:

The organ or cell is the primary immunological level of defense. A higher and more complicated level is found in the generalized emergency reactions of the total organism, integrated via the autonomic nervous system. The highest level involves cerebrally controlled total behavior, including response that is specifically adaptive to external stimulation and the so-called "ego defenses" that guard the inviolancy of the personality from psychological insult (1948, p. 98) .

18

The s i g n i f i c a n c e of t h i s c o n c e p t , a s Freeman p a r t i a l l y

r e a l i z e d , i s t h a t t h e o r g a n i s m i s n o t an e n t i r e l y c l o s e d

sys tem. T h e r e f o r e , t h e h i g h e r o r d e r a d j u s t m e n t l e v e l s a r e

n e c e s s a r y f o r s a t i s f y i n g t h e needs of t h e i n t e r n a l s y s t e m

th rough i n t e r f a c e wi th t h e e x t e r n a l e n v i r o n m e n t . The f u l l

mean ing of t h i s e s s e n t i a l p o i n t was n o t o b v i o u s u n t i l

l a t e r r e f i n e m e n t by o t h e r p s y c h o l o g i s t s ( D a v i s 1 958 ,

S t a g n e r 1951) , as d i s c u s s e d below.

R o s s S t a g n e r w a s t h e m o s t p r o l i f i c w r i t e r on

p s y c h o l o g i c a l h o m e o s t a s i s i n t h e 1 9 5 0 ' s , t h e 1 9 6 0 ' s , and

t h e 1 9 7 0 ' s . T h e s e w r i t i n g s b e g a n i n 1951 w i t h t h e

a p p e a r a n c e of t h e a r t i c l e e n t i t l e d " H o m e o s t a s i s As A

U n i f y i n g Concept In P e r s o n a l i t y T h e o r y " and c o n t i n u e d up

t o t h e p u b l i c a t i o n of t h e f o u r t h e d i t i o n o f h i s t e x t ,

Psychology of P e r s o n a l i t y in 1974.

S t a g n e r ' s ( 1 9 5 1 ) f i r s t m a j o r c o n t r i b u t i o n w a s

d e v e l o p i n g t h e n o t i o n of "dynamic h o m e o s t a s i s . " I t was

r e l a t e d t o F r e e m a n ' s " l e v e l s of a d j u s t m e n t " m e n t i o n e d

a b o v e . As e x p l a i n e d i n l a t e r t e x t s ( e . g . , S t a g n e r and

Karwoski 1952, S t a g n e r and S o l l e y 1970) t h e r e a r e a t l e a s t

two l e v e l s of h o m e o s t a s i s . " S t a t i c h o m e o s t a s i s " o c c u r s i n

a c l o s e d s y s t e m and i s t h e a u t o m a t i c a d j u s t m e n t o f

e q u i l i b r i u m w i t h no m o d i f i c a t i o n o v e r t i m e d u e t o

l e a r n i n g . An e x a m p l e would be t h a t one d o e s n o t become

b e t t e r a t s w e a t i n g d u e t o l e a r n i n g how t o d e a l w i t h

i n c r e a s i n g t e m p e r a t u r e s . H o w e v e r , w i t h " d y n a m i c

19

homeostasis," past interactive experience with the

environment can modify one's behavior. Thus, through

experience a person learns to listen to weather forecasts

and dress accordingly. Therefore, anticipation of a

potential disturbance of a steady state can motivate one

to take steps to m i n i m i z e such an u n c o m f o r t a b l e

possibility.

Another important concept described early on by

Stagner (1951) also related to Freeman's "levels of

adjustments," dealt with the phenomenon of nonhomeostatic

behavior. Responding to the observation that some human

activities seem to upset equilibrium (e.g., hazardous

hobbies and sports, gambling, delayed gratification,

working to exhaustion), Stagner (and Karwoski 1952)

offered the "principle of dominance." It states that the

organism often has conflicting needs and behavior is the

result of the more dominant needs being satisfied before

other less potent needs. This process has been termed

"heterostasis" by Davis ( 1 958 ). Though some of this was

stated in Stagner's first article on homeostasis in 1951

it was not until later writings that all the concepts and

terms were fully integrated. The conception was made

complete with the addition of "the hierarchy of steady

states."

Each person has a hierarchy of steady states, those uppermost in the hierarchy being dominant

20

o v e r t h o s e i n l o w e r l e v e l s . A s i m p l e i l l u s t r a t i o n : On a h o t d a y t h e t e m p e r a t u r e e q u i l i b r i u m i s m a i n t a i n e d by p e r s p i r a t i o n ; b u t p e r s p i r i n g d i s t u r b s t h e w a t e r b a l a n c e i n t h e b l o o d s t r e a m . The dominance p r i n c i p l e s a y s t h a t t h e i m m e d i a t e d a n g e r o f h e a t s t r o k e m u s t b e a v e r t e d , even i f t h i r s t i s t h e r e b y i n c r e a s e d . Sweat ing i s h e t e r o s t a t i c wi th r e f e r e n c e t o w a t e r b a l a n c e b u t h o m e o s t a t i c w i t h r e f e r e n c e t o body t e m p e r a t u r e ( S t a g n e r and S o l l e y 1970, p . 5 7 ) .

A f i n e p o i n t i n S t a g n e r ' s t h o u g h t s on h o m e o s t a s i s and

one c r i t i c a l f o r a c o m p l e t e u n d e r s t a n d i n g h a s t o do w i t h

v a l e n c e and t e n s i o n . A c c o r d i n g t o S t a g n e r and S o l l e y

(1970) , t e n s i o n o c c u r s when a s t e a d y s t a t e i s d i s t u r b e d

and t h e s t i m u l u s sought t o r educe t h e d i s e q u i l i b r i u m h a s a

p o s i t i v e v a l e n c e . Under mos t c i r c u m s t a n c e s , e s p e c i a l l y

wi th r e g a r d t o t h e f u n d a m e n t a l n e e d s , t e n s i o n a r i s e s due

t o t h e s t e a d y s t a t e no t be ing s a t i s f i e d under t h e e x i s t i n g

c i r c u m s t a n c e s . However, t h e r e a r e t i m e s , e s p e c i a l l y w i t h

h i g h e r l e v e l n e e d s , when t e n s i o n i s produced even t h o u g h a

s t e a d y s t a t e i s be ing m a i n t a i n e d . As S t a g n e r and S o l l e y

e x p l a i n :

I t s h o u l d b e a l s o n o t e d t h a t c o n t a c t i n g a p o s i t i v e v a l e n c e may i n i t i a t e m o t i v a t e d b e h a v i o r . Most young c h i l d r e n a r e e n e r g i z e d by c a n d y and o t h e r s w e e t s , w i t h o u t r e g a r d t o w h e t h e r any f o o d d e f i c i t i s p r e s e n t . I n t h i s c a s e t h e t e n s i o n i s i n i t i a t e d by t h e v a l e n c e , r a t h e r t han t h e v a l e n c e b e i n g s o u g h t b e c a u s e of t e n s i o n . Much a d u l t b e h a v i o r i s of t h i s t y p e : t h i s i s p e r h a p s d u e t o t h e f a c t t h a t s o m e l o w - l e v e l t e n s i o n s a r e c h r o n i c a l l y p r e s e n t . An o p p o r t u n i t y t o e a r n money, t o r e c e i v e p r a i s e , o r t o b e c l o s e t o an a t t r a c t i v e member o f t h e o p p o s i t e sex w i l l a c t i v a t e b e h a v i o r u n l e s s one i s q u i t e f a t i g u e d o r o t h e r w i s e s t r o n g l y m o t i v a t e d toward some o t h e r g o a l (1970, p . 5 5 ) .

21

Related to this and other thoughts of Stagner's are

some comments made by Mace ( 1953) in his presidential

address to the British Psychological Society. He argued

that a properly modified understanding of homeostasis

offered a basis for a psychology of values. T h r e e

extensions of the homeostatic concept were proposed:

The first extension would cover the case in which what is maintained or restored is not so much an internal state of the organism as some relation of the organism to its environment (p. 204) .

The second extension would cover the case in which the goal, and/or norm is some state or relation which has never p r e v i o u s l y been experienced (p. 205).

The third way in which the concept can be extended is that in which it would cover second and higher order needs . . . it is the state in which the greatest satisfaction would be given to the total system of original and acquired needs (p. 206).

Mace's first extension indicates that the adjustment and

adaptation of humans to their environment is a homeostatic

process. Secondly, he proposes that maturation and

learning are also homeostatic in nature. Finally, in his

third e x t e n s i o n Mace infers that h o m e o s t a s i s is

fundamental to the development of a system of values and

personality. By broadening homeostasis thusly Mace has

proposed that the concept be the foundation for all

motivation. Further, as has been noted by others (Cofer

and Appley 1964, p. 326), Mace would see problem solving

as an instance of tension reduction. This gives added

22

credence to the conception of consumer decision making as

a homeostatic process, as is discussed in the following

section.

Use of Homeostatic Concepts in Understanding Problem Recognition

There is little difficulty encountered in applying

homeostasis to the consumption process. Given that

homeostatic principles are understood to pervade much

human behavior, its application in consumer behavior

should not be surprising. However, the only apparent use

at the present time is merely noting its function in the

general motivation context (Cohen 1981, 201; Howard and

Sheth 1969, p. 101; Loudon and Delia Bitta 1 979 , p. 305 ).

As it is described below, the application could be much

greater.

One of the major contributions of homeostasis to

consumer decision making is the notion that there is some

kind of "steady state" for every need the consumer tries

to satisfy. "Steady state," then, relates to the desired

state in PR terminology. Because the existing conditions

in which consumers find themselves vary over time the

situation called the actual state is also an essential

ingredient for a complete model of the c o n s u m p t i o n

process. In the context of consumption, homeostasis is

seen to be the tendency for an individual to be motivated

23

to search for products that are perceived to help decrease

the difference in the actual state and some desired state,

therefore, leading to the accomplishment of the "steady

state."

Another contribution of homeostatic theory has to do

with the immediacy of PR once an imbalance has occured.

As was mentioned above in the body temperature example,

energy mobilization for regaining the proper condition

does not necessarily begin just as soon as the actual

temperature is different than 98.6° . There appear to be

threshold levels operating which must be breached before

restitutive behavior is initiated. Such is the case with

PR. It is not a condition of difference itself between a

particular desired state and actual state which is

important, but the degree of difference necessary to draw

attention to the matter.

Finally, another implication for PR from homeostasis

is that the process can occur both due to a change in the

desired state as well the actual state. This would not be

a logical indication if homeostasis was only observed in

its physiological setting. In situations such as in a

closed system, energy activation occurs when the existing

condition departs sufficiently from its permanent "steady

state." In other words, the desired state never changes

and if a problem exists it is due to a change in the

24

actual state. Even in consumer behavior some would

maintain that PR occurs most often because of a change in

the actual state, e.g., running out of a product which had

previously solved the problem (Engel, Blackwell, and

Kollat 1978, p. 229). However, in an open system, movement

can come in either of the states and thereby set off PR.

That the desired state itself can change is evidenced in

"dynamic homeostasis" and behavior involving positive

valences, discussed above.

Drawing from the foregoing discussion it can be

assumed that many of the concepts from homeostatic theory

are isomorphic with ideas developed to describe the PR

stage in the consumer purchase decision process. With the

similarity between the two processes, the empirical

strength behind homeostatic theory lends support to the

hypothesis that much of the current conceptualization of

PR is indeed correct. For purposes of this study, Figure

2 is adopted as a satisfactory illustration of the PR

process. The next step is to determine a means for

measuring the constructs which should exist if this

portion of the consumer decision process model is valid.

Measurement of Problem Recognition

L i t t l e e f f o r t has been devo ted t o d e v e l o p i n g m e t h o d s

f o r m e a s u r i n g PR. T h o s e f e w m e a s u r e m e n t s w h i c h a r e

a v a i l a b l e s e e m t o f o c u s o n l i m i t e d f a c e t s o f t h e

25

FIGURE 2

A Conceptualization of the Problem Recognition Process

Determinants of the Desired State:

• Reference groups

• Other decisions

• Marketing efforts

• Novelty seeking

• Motive activation

Determinants of the Actual State:

• Depletion of previous supply

• Dissatisfaction with present solution

• Altered circumstances

• Marketing efforts

Desired Actual State State

Nature of

Discrepancy

No > • Problem

<or >

Problem Recognized

r

Problem Defined

4

Information Search

"Ho ld" or No Search

Adapted from Block and Roering (1979, p. 376) and Hawkins, Best, and Coney (1983, p. 453).

26

construct. For example, there is the purchase probability

scale discussed by Granbois and Summers ( 1972). Although

it was not conceptualized as such, the measure may be

interpreted as estimating the degree of discrepancy

between the actual state and the desired state. However,

it does not determine how the gap occured. The Problem

Inventory Analysis (Tauber 1975) determines for a list of

problems what products, brands or activities consumers

associate with each. Two additional measures are suggested

by Hawkins, Best, and Coney (1983), activity analysis and

product analysis. In general, they are designed for

exploring what problems exist with particular products and

activities. Thus, the procedures used in previous research

dealing with PR measure only the existence and degree of

problems.

If PR is indeed a homeostatic process then another

approach to measurement is available. That is, because of

the extensions made by Mace ( 1953 ) to the application of

homeostasis in psychology, referred to earlier, it can be

inferred that consumers are likely to develop PR styles as

they repeatedly deal with similar consumption problems.

What is lacking then are scales to measure whether one is

an Actual State type or a Desired State type. The benefit

of having such scales is that it will enable researchers

to determine if, for example, a different search activity

27

is engaged in by different PR types. If a significant

difference is found, preparation of separate marketing

mixes for the different groups may be justified.

This should be of interest to the marketer because

one outcome of PR is no search activity and, therefore, no

purchase (Block and Roering 1979, p. 370, 371). The

marketer should be concerned with assisting the consumer

to take the other option, to search for information to

solve the problem. The hypothesis is that the marketer can

develop strategies for specific consumer groups based on

their respective types of PR. These strategies would be

designed to ease consumers into search activity and to

provide them with the information and influence most

likely to appeal specifically to them. Such strategies

are contrasted against treating all consumers alike in

reference to PR, not realizing that why one person is

shopping for a product may be very different than the

reason behind another person's search for the same

product.

In the next chapter development of PR scales will be

discussed. Further, the methodology of scale testing will

be specified.

REFERENCES

B l o c k , C a r l E. and K e n n e t h J . R o e r i n g ( 1 9 7 9 ) , E s s e n t i a l s o f Consumer B e h a v i o r : C o n c e p t s and A p p l i c a t i o n s , H i n s d a l e , I l l i n o i s : The Dryden P r e s s .

Br im, O r v i l l e G. J r . , David C. G l a s s , D a v i d E. L a v i n , and Norman Goodman ( 1 9 6 2 ) , P e r s o n a l i t y a n d D e c i s i o n P r o c e s s e s , S t a n f o r d , C a l i f o r n i a : S t a n f o r d U n i v e r -s i t y P r e s s .

C a n n o n , W a l t e r B . ( 1 9 3 2 ) , T h e W i s d o m o f t h e B o d y , New York: W. W. Nor ton and Company, I n c .

C o f e r , C. N. and M. H. Appley ( 1 9 6 4 ) , M o t i v a t i o n : Theory and R e s e a r c h , New York: John Wiley and Sons , I n c .

C o h e n , D o r o t h y ( 1 9 8 1 ) , C o n s u m e r B e h a v i o r , New Y o r k : Random House, I n c .

D a v i s , R. C . ( 1 9 5 8 ) , " T h e D o m a i n o f H o m e o s t a s i s , " Psycho logy Review, 6 5 ( J a n u a r y ) , 8 - 1 3 .

Dewey J o h n ( 1 9 1 0 ) , How We T h i n k , B o s t o n : D . C . H e a t h and Company.

D o r l a n d ' s I l l u s t r a t e d M e d i c a l D i c t i o n a r y ( 1 9 7 4 ) , 2 5 t h e d . , P h i l a d e l p h i a : W. B. Saunde r s Co.

Duncker, Karl ( 1 9 4 5 ) , "On Problem-Solving," Psychological Monographs, 58 ( 5 ) .

E n g e l , J a m e s R . , Roge r D. B l a c k w e l l and D a v i d T . K o l l a t ( 1 9 7 8 ) , Consumer B e h a v i o r , H i n s d a l e , I l l i n o i s : The Dryden P r e s s .

, David T. K o l l a t and Roger D. B l a c k w e l l ( 1 9 6 8 ) , Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

Fletcher, John M. ( 1 9 3 8 ) , "The Wisdom of the Mind," Sigma Xi Quarterly, 26 (January), 6 - 1 6 .

_ ( 1 9 4 2 ) , " H o m e o s t a s i s As An E x p l o r a t o r y P r Fn c Fp 1 e I n P s y c h o l o g y , " P s y c h o l o g y R e v i e w , 4 9 ( J a n u a r y ) , 8 0 - 8 7 .

28

29

Freeman, G. L. (1948), The Energetics of Human Behavior, Ithaca, New York: Ithaca University Press.

Granbois, Donald H. and John 0. Summers (1972), "On the Pre-dictive Accuracy of Subjective Purchase Probability," in Proceedings of the Third Annual Conferences of the Association for Consumer Research^ 502-511.

Guthrie, Edwin R. (1938), The Psychology of Human Conflict, New York: Harper and Brothers.

Hawkins, Del I., Roger J. Best, and Kenneth A. Coney (1983), Consumer B e h a v i o r , D a l l a s , T e x a s : B u s i n e s s Publications, Inc.

Howard, John A. and Jagdish N. Seth (1969), The Theory of Buyer Behavior, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Langley, L. L., ed. (1973), Homeostasis: Origins of the C o n c e p t , S t r o u d s b u r g , P e n n s y l v a n i a : D o w d e n , Hutchinson, and Ross, Inc.

f L o u d o n , D a v i d L . a n d A l b e r t J . D e l i a B i t t a (1979) C o n s u m e r B e h a v i o r : C o n c e p t s a n d A p p l i c a t i o n s , New York: M c G r a w - H i l l , I n c .

M a c e , C. A. (1953), " H o m e o s t a s i s , N e e d s a n d V a l u e s , " T h e B r i t i s h J o u r n a l o f P s y c h o l o g y , 4 4 ( A u g u s t ) , 2 0 0 - 2 1 0 .

M a d d i , S a l v a t o r e R. (1976), P e r s o n a l i t y T h e o r i e s : A C o m p a r a t i v e A n a l y s i s , H o m e w o o d , I l l i n o i s : T h e D o r s e y P r e s s .

P o f f e n b e r g e r , A. T . (1938), "Some U n s o l v e d P r o b l e m s i n Human A d j u s t m e n t " , S c i e n c e , 87(February), 124-129.

Stagner, Ross (1951), "Homeostasis as a Unifying Concept in Personality Theory," Psychology Review, 58(January), 5-17.

(1974), P s y c h o l o g y o f P e r s o n a l i t y , New York: M c G r a w - H i l l , I n c .

and T . F . Karwoski (1952), Psychology, New York: M c G r a w - H i l l , I n c .

and Charles M. Solley (1970), Basic P s y c h o l o g y , New York: M c G r a w - H i l l , I n c .

Tauber, Edward M. (1975), "Discovering New Product Oppor-tunities With Problem Inventory Analysis," Journal of Marketing, 39(January), 67-70.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter will discuss those issues involved in the

testing of hypotheses concerning the composition and

measurement of PR. The first section below concerns the

development of the scale items tested in this research.

The following section deals with the preliminary work to

ascertain the adequacy of the scale items before they were

employed in the main survey. The final section discusses

the survey sample and instrument as well as the techniques

used to determine the validity and reliability of the

scales developed for measurement of PR.

Scale Development

Any attempt to measure the PR construct through some

sort of test scale must deal with the issue of specificity.

There can be several levels of abstraction leading to the

measurement of different, though related, constructs. For

example, PR could be measured for a specific purchase

decision, it could be measured as it relates to purchases

within a single product category, or it could be measured

as a trait with similar effect on all purchase decisions.

The middle ground was selected for study here. This

approach was chosen based on the assumption that PR for any

30

31

particular purchase decision is too specific to be of help

in predicting its working in any other particular purchase

decisions. Also, while it is possible that consumers could

be characterized by most purchase decisions tending to be

triggered by a significant change in just one of their

perceived states, it is also quite likely that differences

exist across product categories. Although he does not

mention PR per se, Howard ( 1977) seems to suggest such an

approach when he says, "Arousal is a general effect,

specific not to any brand but only to a product class" (p.

136). Therefore, in this initial exploratory work the

focus was on the measurement of the PR construct as it

related to a single product category.

A second area of concern was the manner in which the

measurement was to be made. To be flexible enough for use

in both personal interviews as well as in the mail survey,

the se1f-designating paper-and-pencil approach was

selected. Likert-type statements were used which focused

on the manner in which purchase decisions tended to be

initiated. The following were assumed to be the major

determinants of the desired state (Engel, Blackwell, and

Kollat 1978): (1) the influence of other decisions; (2)

reference group influence; (3) the desire for novelty; (4)

the effect of marketing efforts; and (5) motive activation.

Likewise, the following were accepted as the m a j o r

influences on the actual state: (1) depletion of the

32

previous solution; (2) dissatisfaction with the previous

solution; (3) altered circumstances; and (4) marketing

efforts. Graphical representation of these determinants

was made earlier in Figure 2.

The specific product category chosen for investigation

in this study was wearing apparel. It was considered to be

appropriate for study since a priori types are easily

recognized; i.e., there are those who buy clothes because

of their sensitivity to fashion changes, and there are

others who are not motivated to purchase until what they

have wears o u t . This is not true of all p r o d u c t

categories. Some are characterized by PR occurring for

consumers mainly because their actual states have changed,

e.g., gasoline. Conversely, those who buy products such as

recorded music do so most likely because changes have

occured just in their desired states. However, with

clothing, both PR styles appear to be evident and neither

seems to dominate. Therefore, statements were needed

specific to the clothing need which reflected either a

change in a desired state or a change in an actual state.

Positive statements for each of two scales, one for

the actual state and one for the desired state, were

relatively easy to generate based on the hypothesized

determinants discussed above. Development of negative

statements was more difficult. This was because negative

33

statements for one of the scales could be interpreted as

positive statements on the other scale. Although one

possible solution was to not use negative items in scale

development, this was rejected since equal use of positive

and negative statements is recommended (Nunnally 1978/ p.

605). The choice here, therefore, was to generate both

positive and n e g a t i v e items w i t h o u t linking them

specifically to either of the two scales. A total of forty

statements were developed and are presented in Table 7 of

the Appendix.

A graphic rating scale was placed next to each

statement on the questionnaire. The rating scales were

also numerical scales since numbers were used as anchors.

A number could be circled by a subject to indicate response

to an item. Seven steps were offered on the scale. This

level of steps was selected because it has been noted that

the reliability of individual rating scales increases with

the number of steps employed and this increase tends to

level off at about seven steps (Nunnally 1978, p. 595). The

steps on the scales were defined at the top of the

questionnaire form. The verbal anchors reflected degrees of

agreement and disagreement. When completing the form

respondents were expected to indicate their sentiments by

agreeing or disagreeing with favorable or unfavorable

statements.

34

Pretest

The data gathered in the pretest were intended to aid

the researcher in selecting statements to be used in the

survey stage of the study. More specifically, as a

foundation for the success of the survey, statements were

required which could distinguish between the responses of

an Actual State type and those of a Desired State type.

Although in a more powerful sense, this is what was done

eventually in the factor analysis of the survey data.

However, if pretesting of the items was not done the

inadequacy of particular items would be learned only after

the data were collected. By pretesting, the likelihood of

having effective discriminators in the survey was

maximized.

Sample Design

To obtain a pretest sample, a list of 200 names was

randomly selected from the Denton telephone directory.

The sample was selected from Denton because it was felt

that people living in the community would be most willing

to cooperate given the importance of the university to the

area. Further, the time and financial constraints did not

allow for personal interviews to take place too far afield

since the researcher's office and interviewee's home were

the two principal sites for interviews.

35

Using t h e a d d r e s s e s o b t a i n e d in t h e phonebook l e t t e r s

were s e n t t o t h e p r o s p e c t i v e s u b j e c t s . Each l e t t e r was

d i r e c t e d towards t h e female head of t h e h o u s e h o l d t e l l i n g

h e r abou t t h e s t u d y . I t was e x p l a i n e d t h a t t h e r e s e a r c h e r

would c o n t a c t t h e " l a d y of t h e house" w i t h i n a few d a y s t o

d e t e r m i n e i f she was w i l l i n g t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n t h e s t u d y .

The l e t t e r was s igned by a p r o f e s s o r as we l l a s t h e Dean of

t h e C o l l e g e o f B u s i n e s s A d m i n i s t r a t i o n i n o r d e r t o

l e g i t i m a t e t h e r e q u e s t .

Upon m a k i n g t e l e p h o n e c o n t a c t w i t h t h e l e t t e r

r e c i p i e n t s a r e q u e s t was made f o r an i n t e r v i e w . I f t h e

p e r s o n a g r e e d , t h e t i m e and p l a c e w e r e d e t e r m i n e d .

F u r t h e r , t h e r e s e a r c h e r i n s t r u c t e d t h e s u b j e c t s t o f i l l ou t

t h e q u e s t i o n n a i r e which was s e n t w i t h t h e l e t t e r . They

w e r e a l s o a s k e d t o b r i n g t h e q u e s t i o n n a i r e t o t h e

i n t e r v i e w .

From t h e a b o v e e f f o r t s i t w a s e x p e c t e d t h a t a

s u f f i c i e n t n u m b e r o f c o n s u m e r s w o u l d a g r e e t o b e

i n t e r v i e w e d . A sample of t h i r t y i s no rmal ly s u f f i c i e n t f o r

p r e t e s t s ( K r e s s 1 9 7 9 , p . 102) and a t l e a s t t h a t many

i n t e r v i e w s were expec ted t o be c o n d u c t e d . I f e x t r e m e l y few

r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f rom e i t h e r t h e A c t u a l S t a t e g r o u p o r

t h e D e s i r e d S t a t e g r o u p were f o u n d i t was p l a n n e d t h a t

a n o t h e r sample would be drawn t o supplement t h e f i r s t .

36

Data Collection

The pretest basically involved two m e t h o d s of

collecting data: questionnaires and interviews. As just

discussed, the questionnaire was mailed to the subjects.

They were asked to fill out the form and bring it with them

to the interview. This was done to prepare them for the

interview, to help motivate them to come to the interview,

and to m i n i m i z e the time r e q u i r e d of them at the

interview.

The questionnaire included several sections. The main

part was composed of the forty positive and negative PR

statements discussed previously. It should be noted that

although the items were written to be general enough to

study fashion as a broad product category the subjects were

asked to think about sportswear, in particular, when

responding. Sportswear was defined on the questionnaire as

including blazers, jeans, pants, shorts, skirts, tops, and

vests. This was done in an effort to have as m u c h

continuity of thought among the subjects as possible.

Anytime a scale is developed a concern is whether

respondents are expressing their true sentiments or

are merely answering in a way they feel is socially

desirable. The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale

(Crowne and Marlowe 1960, 1964) was constructed to help

answer this question and it has become an accepted part of

scale development in psychology. It was included in the

37

questionnaire to note if the PR scales measured anything

besides the respondent's desire to answer in a socially

approved manner. High correlations (greater than ±.7)

between the Social Desirability Scale and the PR scales

were hypothesized to indicate that responses to the latter

are influenced by non-test-relevant factors, thereby

limiting their usefulness.

The questionnaire also collected socioeconomic and

demographic information. The variables of this sort

studied were the normal ones such as occupation, income,

education, age, sex, and marital status. This information

was not of primary concern in the study but was collected

not only to describe the sample but to be available for any

auxilary investigations that may be undertaken.

The second part of the pretest was the interview and

it began when the subject and the researcher met at the

designated time and place. Kahn and Cannell (1957, pp. 80,

81) have stated that it is important for interviewees to

clearly understand at least three things: the purpose of

the interview, the use to be made of the i n t e r v i e w

information, and what is expected of them during the

interview. Individuals were told the purpose of the

interviews was to better understand what basic reasons

eventually lead to people buying clothes. They were also

informsd that the information gathered would help specify

38

the types of consumers that exist. Respondents were told

that they were expected to be honest and open in their

statements but to speak up if they needed clarification or

felt a question was too personal. In addition to these

points, the subjects were told that the interview should

not take more than thirty minutes. Finally, it was

explained that the interview sessions were recorded so that

a clear though temporary account of what was said could

assist the researcher in understanding an individual's

purchase behavior.

The interview itself amounted to the researcher asking

a series of six questions. The following are those six

questions and the sort of responses expected from the two

PR types:

1. "Describe your wardrobe to me, especially its size and

the kind of clothes that are in it." It was expected

that Actual State types would emphasize the lack of

large wardrobes yet the adequacy of what they had for

their purposes. Contrawise, Desired State types were

were anticipated to speak of large wardrobes although

they might mention that many of the clothes were not

worn much since they were out of style.

2. "Tell me about your interest in and your time spent

clothes shopping." D e s i r e d State types were

hypothesized to talk of spending more time and having

39

greater interest in shopping than Actual State types.

Further, the latter persons were expected to emphasize

their lack of interest in the activity.

3. "How important to you is fashion and dressing in

style?" Answers by Desired State types were expected

to reflect a great interest in having stylish clothes.

Actual State types were anticipated to show a lack of

interest although they might indicate some sensitivity

to wearing items very much out of date.

4. "Tell me about the amount of money you spent on clothes

in the last few years." This question was anticipated

to indicate the greater amount of money spent by the

Desired State types and their regularity in doing so.

Actual State types were expected to express more

v a r i a n c e in a m o u n t s spent and lower a v e r a g e

expenditures.

5. "How much effect on you are your friends' fashion

opinions and their ways of dressing?" Responses from

Desired State types were hypothesized to show evidence

of compliance, identification, or internalization with

peer group norms (Kelman 1961). Actual State types

were expected instead to mention that either they did

not care about what other people thought or that their

friends did not show much concern over dressing in

style.

40

6 . "Could you d e s c r i b e to me t h e f e e l i n g s and e v e n t s t h a t

l e d up t o a c o u p l e of y o u r m o s t r e c e n t c l o t h i n g

pu rchases?" Des i red S t a t e t y p e s were expected t o r e f e r

t o any of t h e many r e a s o n s l i s t e d e a r l i e r t h a t a r e

hypo thes i zed by Engel , B l ackwe l l , and K o l l a t (1978) as

t h e m a j o r d e t e r m i n a n t s o f t h e d e s i r e d s t a t e .

L i k e w i s e , A c t u a l S t a t e t y p e s w e r e a n t i c i p a t e d t o

mention r e a s o n s t h a t were hypo thes i zed as d e t e r m i n a n t s

of t h e a c t u a l s t a t e .

For a l l q u e s t i o n s t h e i n t e r v i e w e r made an e x t r a e f f o r t

t o o b t a i n s c o r a b l e r e s p o n s e s . To do t h i s , r e q u e s t s f o r

e l a b o r a t i o n , r e p h r a s i n g q u e s t i o n s , and u s e of p r o b e

s t a t e m e n t s were employed. D i s c r e t e u s e was made of t h e s e

t e c h n i q u e s , h o w e v e r , so t h a t t h e i n t e r v i e w wou ld n o t

r e q u i r e m o r e t h a n t h i r t y m i n u t e s of e a c h s u b j e c t ' s

t i m e .

When a s u b j e c t f i n i s h e d r e s p o n d i n g t o t h e s t a t e m e n t s

she was thanked and t h e s e s s i o n was t e r m i n a t e d .

Data A n a l y s i s

A f t e r l i s t e n i n g to t h e recorded i n t e r v i e w s two j u d g e s

p laced each s u b j e c t i n t o a PR s t y l e g roup . Use of m u l t i p l e

j u d g e s w a s e x p e c t e d t o i n c r e a s e o b j e c t i v i t y o f

c a t e g o r i z a t i o n . The judges made independent d e c i s i o n s and

on ly when t h e r e was d i sagreement o v e r a p e r s o n ' s PR s t y l e

would t h e r e s e a r c h e r s t e p in t o r e s o l v e t h e c o n f l i c t .

41

Scoring and grouping of subjects was done as follows:

if an individual gave a response hypothesized as typical of

a Desired State type problem recognizer, then a score of 3

was given; if the response was one hypothesized as

characteristic of an Actual State type, it was scored as 1;

and if the response did not fit either of the extremes, it

was scored a 2. Then, each respondent's scores to the six

questions were summed. If the total was 6, 7, 8, or 9 they

were classified as Actual State types. If the total was

15, 16, 17, or 18 they were placed in the Desired State

type category. Totals between 10 and 14 inclusive were

interpreted as representing people who were "in-between"

and had characteristics of both PR types.

The bulk of the analysis work performed at this stage

of the research centered around determining if the various

scale items were effective at discriminating between the

different PR types. A nonparametric statistical measure

was selected for use in this task for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, in a strict sense, the quality of data collected

from responses to the Likert-type statements was ordinal.

It is true that in later stages of the research that the

parametric routine of factor analysis was used. However, by

that time, data was normalized and linear combinations were

produced making it more amenable to parametric procedures.

During the pretest, all that was required was some test to

42

note whether the central tendencies of the two extreme

groups on each item were significantly different.

The second reason for preferring a nonparametric test

concerned its lack of assumptions about the distribution of

the parent population. As is explained by one

statistician:

The parametric tests require a specific assump-tion concerning the underlying distribution of the data. In many cases the sample size is not sufficiently large nor are the data sufficiently close to a normal distribution to allow such an assumption. A number of statistical tests exist for dealing with such cases. These statistical procedures are referred to as nonparametric tests (Brite 1980, p. 320).

The nature of the sample used in the pretest would seem to

indicate that a nonparametric test was the most appropriate

analysis to use.

The specific nonparametric procedure selected for use

was the Mann-Whitney test. This particular test was chosen

because of the greater power it is recognized as having.

Speaking of the test's asymptotic relative efficiency

(A.R.E.) Conover (1971) has said:

. . . the A.R.E. of the Mann-Whitney test is never too bad when compared with the two-sample t-test, the usual parametric counterpart. And yet the contrary is not true; the A.R.E. of the t-test may be as small as zero, or "infinitely bad." So the Mann-Whitney test is a safer test to use (p. 224).

43

For each scale statement the null hypothesis was that the

median response of the Desired State group was not

significantly different than the median response of the

Actual State group. The level of significance used in the

tests was .10 percent.

Finally, it should be pointed out that not only was a

statistically significant difference looked for on each

item but conceptually appropriate medians were required as

well. Specifically, for each item the median of the Actual

State group of responses and the median for the Desired

State group of responses were required to fall within oppo

site ends of the scale. That is, if one group's median

fell in an area indicating agreement with a statement then

the median for the other group needed to fall in the area

indicating disagreement with the statement. When a

statement failed at being either statistically or

qualitatively different it was not used further in the

research.

Survey

The intent of the survey was to gather data which

would enable the researcher to complete the construction of

scales for measuring PR styles. The manner in which the

data was collected as well as the method of analysis had

the aim of producing scales which were both reliable and

valid.

44

Sample Design

The population studied in this research could be

defined as those female American consumers who purchase

their own clothing. The sample drawn was as representative

of the p o p u l a t i o n as p o s s i b l e g i v e n the r e s o u r c e

constraints within which the research was conducted.

The ideal sample size for use in this research was

determined with the understanding that a multinomial

population was to be sampled rather than a binomial

population. That is, three styles of PR were hypothesized

to exist in the population which required a different

sample size than if only two groups were thought to exist

(Tortora 1978, Tull and Hawkins 1980). Based on work with

similar statements (Bruner, Greenberg and Lumpkin 1982), a

rough estimation of proportions was made. Specifically,

Actual State types were expected to compose twenty-four

percent of the population, twenty-six percent were expected

to be Desired State types, and the remaining fifty percent

were anticipated to be "In-between" types. With these

expected proportions, an absolute precision of ± 5 percent,

and a confidence coefficient of .95, the minimum sample

size was computed to be 587.

One of the major concerns about the sample since

factor analysis was to be used on the data was having a

45

sufficiently large sample in relation to the number of

statements being tested. According to Nunnally, "unless

the number of subjects is at least ten times as large as

the number of items, factor analysis can take great

advantage of chance" (1978, p. 276). Because there were

just forty statements the sample size of 587 discussed

above was sufficient for the factor analysis.

It was originally planned that this study would gather

its data from a panel. Ultimately, however, the panel was

not available for use at the time required. This

necessitated the use of a mail survey. Due to time

constraints the sample was drawn from telephone books of

six communities in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex each

having just one zip code. This greatly facilitated the

mail out. A total of 2000 names were drawn and

questionnaires sent to that group. Cover letters

instructed the recipients to have an adult female in the

household fill out the form. It was expected that enough

households with adult females would complete and return the

questionnaire so as to satisfy sample size requirements.

It was also accepted, however, that response bias might be

a problem. Therefore, the inferential value of the data

was considered to be limited.

Survey Instrument

As was mentioned in the previous sections the data was

collected through use of a mail questionnaire. The

46

instrument was similar to the one used in the pretest in

that it included the PR scales and the d e m o g r a p h i c

questions. The Social Desirability Scale was not utilized

again. However, the Sensation-Seeking Scale (Zuckerman et

al 1964, Zuckerman and Link 1968) was included. The scale

is well accepted in psychology as a measurement of optimal

stimulation level. It was used in this research to aid in

the establishment of construct validity, as is explained in

the next section.

Data Analysis

Scales are constructed many times based purely on the

judgment of trained researchers. However, if intuition and

experience by themselves are used to develop some measure

of PR several competing explanations would be possible:

that only one scale is required since the desired state and

the actual state are merely opposite extremes of a single

factor; that two scales are necessary since there are two

definite dimensions to PR, change in the desired state and

change in the actual state; and, that several scales are

needed to measure the multiple factors more specific than

just the desired and actual states which may trigger PR.

Rather than relying just on intuition a systematic approach

was needed which would define "which variables exhibit high

intraset correlations and low interset correlations, how

47

many sets there are (each set defining a dimension), and

whether the dimensions can be considered as uncorrelated

themselves" {Green and Tull 1978, p. 421). Such a

procedure is known as factor analysis and it was used in

this research to locate and measure the dimensions assumed

to compose PR.

In that sense then, the work was confirmatory factor

analysis because definite hypotheses were tested. And yet,

it might be better described as a "quasi-confirmatory"

study (Mulaik 1972, p. 363) since the work represents the

first known effort to empirically investigate the latent

variables of PR. In some sense, then, the research was

still quite exploratory and much development, modification,

and verification of the theory remains to be done.

The particular method of factor analysis chosen for

use in this research was image analysis. Although image

analysis has characteristics of both the major forms of

factor analysis, component factor analysis and common

factor analysis, it is more often linked with the latter

(Cattel 1978, Harman 1976, Mulaik 1972, Nunnally 1978).

The link with c o m m o n factor m o d e l s is due to the

development of image analysis {Guttman 1953, Kaiser 1963)

to deal with the traditionally thorny issue of separating

the common and unique parts of variables in a set. As

Harman (1976) explains:

48

The point of departure for image theory is the use of the multiple-correlation approach to identify "commonness." Guttman proposed this in contradistinction to the partial-correlation approach of the more traditional factor analysis, in which the new hypothetical constructs (the common factors) are partialled out to explain the correlations among the variables. Alternatively, these correlations can be explained by means of the multiple regression of each variable on the remaining n - 1 variables of the set. The squared multiple correlation (SMC) for a parti-cular variable represents the proportion of its total variance that is dependent on the remaining variables or how much it has in common with the other variables. The remainder of the unit variance represents the p r o p o r t i o n of the variance that is unique to the p a r t i c u l a r variable (p. 221.)

Therefore, the image of a variable is considered to be the

common part of the variable which can be predicted by all

the other variables in the set.

One of the main reasons for choosing image analysis

was for its ability to make psychometric inferences. That

is, inferences about a universe of psychological variables

may be drawn from a subset (though not necessarily a

representative sample) of that universe. Some other factor

analysis methods also share this ability but one of the

unique advantages of image analysis is that it can directly

compute scores of people on the factors rather than just

estimating them.

Another issue that had to be dealt with was rotating

the factors. Rotation is usually necessary to obtain a

49

more meaningful set of factor loadings and to aid in the

computation of factor scores. Little has been written to

suggest what type of rotation is best to use with image

analysis. However, one of the early writers on the

technique (Kaiser 1963) r e c o m m e n d e d an o r t h o g o n a l

rotation, one in which the r e s u l t i n g f a c t o r s are

uncorrelated. This r e c o m m e n d a t i o n along with the

difficulties of interpreting the results of oblique

rotations (Nunnally 1978, pp. 376-382), those solutions in

which factors are to some degree correlated, led this

researcher to opt for the orthogonal approach.

One particular orthogonal rotation is the Varimax

method. It was devised to satisfy Thurstone's simple

structure criteria (1947, p. 335) and has also been found

to have the property of invariance (1947, p. 361). The

former refers to general principles widely accepted for

guiding rotation so that some relatively pure variables

define each factor. The latter concept has to do with the

ability of a particular factor solution based on a sample

of tests to accurately portray the factors that could be

found in the universe of such tests. Based upon these

advantages, the Varimax method of rotation was selected for

use in this study's factor analysis.

The Statistical Package For The Social Sciences (Nie

et al 1975) was used to perform the image analysis with

50

Varimax rotation. The routine was set up to retain factors

with eigenvalues greater than 1.0, as suggested by Kaiser

( 1 963 ). It was expected that if simple structure was

achieved then factor scores would be directly computed by a

routine using data from all variables composing a factor.

However, if the factor loadings did not a d e q u a t e l y

represent simple structure then the determination of factor

scale scores would be approached differently. In such a

situation, a scale would be c o n s t r u c t e d for each

significant factor and would be composed of only those

variables that had high loadings. "High" was operationally

defined to mean that an item had a loading of at least .50

on one factor and loadings of no more than .30 on other

f a c t o r s . T h i s r u l e of t h u m b c o n f o r m e d to the

recommendations in the literature (Comrey 1973, p. 226;

Lundstrom, Dunn, and Skelly 1980, p. 452; Nunnally 1978,

p. 418).

It was expected that the data would go through several

iterations of factor analysis before a final solution was

achieved. That is, several items might not load well on

any of the major factors after the initial factor analysis.

Similar to the above rule of thumb, items that did not have

a loading of at least .50 on one of the major factors were

eliminated from the next round of factor analysis. This

process continued until a few factors remained, they

51

explained a majority of the variance, and each item

remaining loaded high on just one of these factors. Such a

procedure was anticipated to lead to a more interpretable

set of factors and a more manageable set of variables.

When developing test scales the issues of validity and

reliability must be dealt with. In this study, measurement

of internal consistency was accomplished through use of

Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (Cronbach 1951, Parameswaren

et al 1978). It is a standard procedure for measuring

reliability: in effect, the total set of items is divided

into all possible "equivalent" halves; then, the scores for

each pair of halves are correlated, with the average of the

correlations taken as a measure of internal consistency of

the instrument. Scores of less than .50 were viewed as

indicating questionnable reliability. Scales with scores

greater than .80 were viewed as having good internal

consistency.

Validity measurement is a harder task to accomplish.

At the very least a test instrument must be reliable before

it can be valid. Further, there are several types of

validity. The three tested in this study were content

validity, construct validity, and concurrent validity.

Establishing content validity has to do with conceptually

defining the universe of content of the property being

measured.

52

The researcher has to specify what the variable is and what it is not . . . . The researcher's next step is to formulate a large collection of terms that broadly represent the variables as defined. The researcher needs to be quite careful to include items from all the relevant dimensions of the variable (Churchill 1979, p. 257).

Not only were these procedures followed in the present

research, but other researchers knowledgeable in the area

were asked to judge how representative the items were of

the subject matter. Further, a moderate level of internal

consistency is an indication, though not infallible, of the

existence of content validity (Nunnally 1978, p. 93).

Construct validation was partly dealt with through use

of the factor analysis method. It has been identified by

Kerlinger (1973) as possibly the most powerful construct

validation method. He explains:

In order to study the construct validity of any measure, it is always helpful to correlate the measure with other measures . . . . But, would it not be more valuable to correlate a measure with a large number of other measurements? How better to learn about a construct than to know its correlates? Factor analysis is a refining method of doing this. It tells us, in effect, what measures measure the same thing and to what extent they measure what they measure (p. 468).

Construct validity was also studied through use of the

correlation between the results of the Sensation-Seeking

Scale and the PR scales. It was expected that the domain

53

measured by the PR scales would overlap with that measured

by the Sensation-Seeking Scale. For example, it was

expected that a person who showed a strong tendency to

purchase because of a change in the desired state was also

likely to be one who needed varied, novel, and complex

sensations. In this light then, a correlation of ± .7

between the measures was considered as evidence of the

construct validity of the PR scales.

A subcase of construct validity is nomological

validity. It was particularly relevant in this study since

it involves the relating of measures to some theoretical

model. In the previous chapter the test items were

generated based on the EKB model. In effect, a hypothesis

was developed stating that an actual state and a desired

state exist and operate to trigger PR. Since another major

purpose of factor analysis is to test hypotheses, "if the

factors emerge as predicted, the hypothesis is to this

extent confirmed, the factors would seem to have 'reality"'

(Kerlinger 1973, p. 687).

Concurrent validity is a form of predictive validity

and is "determined by, and only by, the d e g r e e of

correspondence between the two measures involved. If the

correlation is high, no other standards are necessary"

(Nunnally 1978, p. 88). One of the efforts to establish

concurrent validity used the scores assigned to the

54

subjects based on the depth interviews and their respective

scale scores. The former was the criterion and the latter

was the predictor test. The correlation between the

interview scores and the Actual State Scale scores was

computed, as was the former with Desired State Scale

scores. To the extent that the correlations were above ± .7

then concurrent validity was evidenced.

Beyond this quantitative approach to concurrent

validity, a qualitative method was employed too. This

approach amounted to making two predictions of a subject's

PR type based on the scale scores and then comparing these

two categories to each other and to the judgment made from

the interview. More specifically, for each of the scales

developed from the factor a n a l y s i s the m e d i a n was

determined for the group of scores. Those scoring above

the median on the Actual State scale were categorized as

Actual State types, and those scoring below the median were

categorized as Desired State types. A similar procedure

was used to place subjects into one of the two groups based

on their scores on the Desired State scale. The purpose

was to determine if a Desired State type did indeed score

high on the Desired State scale but low on the Actual State

scale. The opposite needed to be shown for Actual State

types.

55

A f t e r each s u b j e c t had t h r e e c a t e g o r y e s t i m a t e s t h e

a c c u r a c y of t h e p r e d i c t i o n s c o u l d be e v a l u a t e d . I f a l l

e s t i m a t e s were t h e same t h e n t h a t c o u n t e d a s a c o r r e c t

p r e d i c t i o n . I f a p e r s o n was t y p i f i e d a s an A c t u a l S t a t e

type based on one f a c t o r and a Des i r ed S t a t e t y p e b a s e d on

t h e o t h e r , t h e e s t i m a t e s would o n l y be c o n s i d e r e d c o r r e c t

i f t h e i n t e r v i e w j u d g m e n t was t h a t t h e p e r s o n was an

" In-Between" t y p e . I f bo th c l a s s i f i c a t i o n s based on s c a l e

s c o r e s were t h e same b u t d i s a g r e e d w i t h t h e i n t e r v i e w

j u d g m e n t t h e n t h a t was c o n s i d e r e d a s a n i n c o r r e c t

p r e d i c t i o n . C o n c u r r e n t v a l i d i t y was c o n s i d e r e d a s

e v i d e n c e d i f s e v e n t y p e r c e n t o f t h e p r e d i c t i o n s w e r e

c o r r e c t .

The n e x t c h a p t e r i s c o n c e r n e d w i t h r e s u l t s o f t h e

p r e t e s t and t h e m a i n s u r v e y a s w e l l a s t h e f i n a l

development of t h e PR s c a l e s .

REFERENCES

B r i t e , R o b e r t L . ( 1 9 8 0 ) , B u s i n e s s S t a t i s t i c s , R e a d i n g , M a s s a c h u s e t t s : Addison-Wesley P u b l i s h i n g Company, I n c .

B r u n e r , Gordon C . , B a r n e t t A. G r e e n b e r g , and J a m e s R. Lumpkin (1982) , "An E x p l o r a t o r y S t u d y of t h e P r o b l e m R e c o g n i t i o n C o n s t r u c t , " i n P r o c e e d i n g s o f t h e Sou thwes te rn Market ing A s s o c i a t i o n , 303-306.

Cat t e l l , Raymond B. ( 1978 ) , The S c i e n t i f i c Use of F a c t o r A n a l y s i s , New York: Plenum P r e s s .

C h u r c h i l l , G i l b e r t A. ( 1 9 7 9 ) , M a r k e t i n g R e s e a r c h : Methodo log ica l F o u n d a t i o n s , H i n s d a l e , I l l i n o i s : The Dryden P r e s s .

C o m r e y , Andrew L . ( 1 9 7 3 ) , A F i r s t C o u r s e i n F a c t o r A n a l y s i s , New York: Academic P r e s s

Conover, W. J . ( 1971) , P r a c t i c a l Nonparamet r ic S t a t i s t i c s , New York: John Wiley and Sons , I n c .

C r o n b a c h , Lee J . ( 1 9 5 1 ) , " C o e f f i c i e n t A l p h a and t h e I n t e r n a l S t r u c t u r e o f T e s t s , " P s y c h o m e t r i k a , 16 (Sep t ember ) , 297-334.

Crowne, Douglas P . and David Marlowe ( 1 9 6 0 ) , "A New S c a l e of S o c i a l D e s i r a b i l i t y Independen t of P s y c h o p a t h o l o g y , " J o u r n a l o f C o n s u l t i n g P s y c h o l o g y , 24 ( A u g u s t ) , 349-354.

and (1964) , The Approval Motive New York: John Wiley and Sons , I n c .

Enge l , James . R . , Roger D. B l a c k w e l l , and David T. K o l l a t ( 1 9 7 8 ) , Consumer B e h a v i o r , H i n s d a l e , I l l i n o i s : The Dryden P r e s s .

G r e e n , P a u l E. and Dona ld S . T u l l ( 1 9 7 8 ) , R e s e a r c h f o r M a r k e t i n g D e c i s i o n s , Engelwood C l i f f s , New J e r s e y : P r e n t i c e H a l l , I n c .

G u t t m a n , L . ( 1 9 5 3 ) , " I m a g e T h e o r y f o r t h e S t r u c t u r e o f Q u a n t i t a t i v e V a r i a t e s , " P s y c h o m e t r i k a , 18 (December) , 277-296.

56

57

Harman, Harry H. (1976), Modern Factor Analysis, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Howard, John A. (1977), Consumer Behavior; Application of Theory, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Kaiser, Henry F. (1963), "Image Analysis," in Problem In Measuring Change, Chester W. Harris, ed., Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press.

Kahn, Robert L. and Charles F. Cannell (1957), The Dynamics of Interviewing, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Kelman, Herbert C. (1961), "Processess of Opinion Change," Public Opinion Quarterly, 25(Spring), 57-78.

Kerlinger, Fred N. (1973), Foundations of Behavioral Research, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc.

Kress, George (1979), Marketing R e s e a r c h , R e s t o n , Virginia: Reston Publishing Company, Inc.

Lundstrom, William J., Mark G. Dunn, Gerald U. Skelly (1980), "Cautions About Dimensionality and Method-ological Issues in Scale Development: The Consumer Alienation Index Example," in Proceedings of the Southern Marketing Association, 451-453.

Muliak, Stanley A. (1972), The Foundations of Factor Analysis, New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Nie, Norman H. et al (1975), Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Nunnally, Jum C. ( 1978 ), Psychometric Theory, New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Parameswaran, Ravi et al (1979), "Measuring Reliability: A Comparison of Alternative Techniques," Journal of Marketing Research, 16(February), 18-25.

Thurstone, L. L. (1947), Mut1ipie-Factor A n a l y s i s , Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Totora, Robert D. (1978), "A Note on Sample Size Estimation for M u l t i n o m i a l P o p u l a t i o n s , " T h e A m e r i c a n Statistician, 32(August), 100-102.

58

T u l l , Donald S . and D e l I . H a w k i n s ( 1 9 8 0 ) , M a r k e t i n g R e s e a r c h : M e a s u r e m e n t a n d M e t h o d , New Y o r k : Macmillan P u b l i s h i n g Co . , I n c .

Zuckerman, Marvin e t a l ( 1964) , "Development of a Sensa t i on -S e e k i n g S c a l e , " J o u r n a l of C o n s u l t i n g P s y c h o l o g y , 28(December) , 477-482.

and Kathryn Link ( 1 9 6 8 ) , " C o n s t r u c t V a l i d i t y f o r t h e S e n s a t i o n - S e e k i n g S c a l e , " J o u r n a l o f C o n s u l t i n g and C l i n i c a l P s y c h o l o g y , 3 2 ( A u g u s t ) , 420-426.

CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS

This chapter is divided into three main p a r t s :

results of the pretest, results of the main survey, and

discussion of the findings. It should be pointed out

that, as could be understood from the last chapter, the

analysis here is mostly concerned with methodological

issues of scale development. Demographic and psychographic

description of the various PR types will have to wait

until further work can be performed though some limited

findings are discussed.

Pretest Results

Analysis was based upon thirty-eight subjects from

whom useable questionnaire results and interview comments

were received. A summary of the sample's socioeconomic

characteristics is presented in Table 1 . The majority of

the pretest subjects were married, young to middle age,

white women. A majority of them worked full time and

lived in households with incomes of at least $25 ,000 . As

a group, they had a high education level, with half having

a college degree.

59

TABLE 1

Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Pretest Sample

60

Marital Status

Married Widowed

60.5% 5.3%

Divorced Single

15.8% 18.4%

A£e

Under 25 years of age 15.8% 25 to 34 years of age 31.6% 35 to 44 years of age 34.2%

45 to 54 years of age 13.2% 55 to 64 years of age 0% 65 years and older 5.3%

Employment Status

Employed Full-time 57.9% Employed Part-time 15.8% Retired 2.6%

Unemployed Temporarily, Student, etc. 7.9%

Housewife 15.8%

Occupation

Self Employed 3.6% Office, Clerical, Sales 42.9% Professional 39.3%

Skilled Worker 3.6% Unskilled Worker 10.7% Management 0%

Highest Level of Formal Education

No Formal Schooling Grade School Some High School

0% High School Degree 50.0% 0% College Degree 31.6% 0% Graduate Degree 18.4%

Race

Caucasian Black

94.7% 2.6%

Hispanic Other

2.6% 0%

Total Annual Household Income

Less than $10,000 -$15,000 -$20,000 -

$10,000 $14,999 $19,999 $24,999

23.7% 2.6% 7.9% 2.6%

$25,000 - $29,999 10.5% $30,000 - $39,999 21.1% $40,000 - $49,999 21.1% $50,000 and over 10.5%

61

The main purpose of the pretest was to determine the

subset of PR statements that best discriminated between

Actual State types and Desired State types. This decision

was based upon judgments concerning interview comments and

subsequent analysis of questionnaire data. Working with

the scores given independently by the two judges it was

determined that the sample was composed of eleven Desired

State types, eleven Actual State types, and sixteen people

who were in-between the two extremes. Analysis was then

made of each of the forty PR statements to ascertain which

ones provided conceptual as well as s t a t i s t i c a l l y

significant different (less than 0.10) response tendencies

for the two extreme PR groups. Results of this analysis

are presented in Table 2. The p-value of the Mann-Whitney

test along with the medians of the two groups were used to

measure the effectiveness of the statements. Where the

results were particularly confusing, consultation of

t-tests were made as well. Primarily, if some evidence

could be found that an item m a d e c o n c e p t u a l and

statistical distinction between the two PR types then it

was retained for use in the main study survey. Using this

approach, half of the statements were eliminated leaving

twenty for further study.

It does not appear that pretest s u b j e c t s were

expressing their need for social approval in either their

62

TABLE 2

Difference in Median Response of Pretest Subjects to Problem Recognition Statements

Problem Medians Significance Retained Recognition Actual Desired of For Statement State State Mann-Whitney Main Number* Types Types Test Survey

1 2.000 6.083 .0003 Yes 2 6.813 5.625 .0340 No 3 2.000 3.000 .5253 No 4 5.250 5.125 .8902 No 5 5.750 3.667 .0226 Yes 6 6.250 4.625 .0093 Yes 7 2.125 3.667 .2706 No 8 2.750 6.200 .0004 Yes 9 1 .750 3.875 .0008 No 10 4.875 6.125 .0439 Yes 11 5.875 5.750 .7862 No 12 6.200 4.000 .0201 Yes 13 2.000 4.250 .0275 No 14 1 .417 3.750 .0122 No 15 1 .714 3.375 .0011 No 16 6.063 4.000 .0002 Yes 17 2.083 3.250 .0480 No 18 5.875 4.875 .2029 No 19 5.600 5.375 .8622 No 20 5.917 4.667 .0089 Yes 21 2.250 5.857 .0001 Yes 22 5.250 4.333 .4002 No 23 5.250 3.200 .0210 Yes 24 5.600 3.000 .0989 Yes 25 3.400 3.750 .8911 No 26 5.917 4.750 .2186 No 27 4.000 4.000 .4321 No 28 3.000 5.250 .0255 Yes 29 5.000 2.600 .0076 Yes 30 5.583 3.000 .0153 Yes 31 6.200 4.625 .0038 Yes 32 6.200 3.083 .0024 Yes 33 4.750 2.200 .0058 Yes 34 2.625 5.600 .0005 Yes 35 2.625 2.875 .5802 No 36 2.875 5.375 .0026 Yes 37 5.800 5.000 .2231 No 38 2.200 3.667 .1394 No 39 2.750 5.833 .0001 Yes 40 3.000 3.125 .9200 No

•Numbers refer to statements in Table 7 in the Appendix.

63

interview comments or their responses to PR statements.

The correlation (Spearman) between the interview scores

a s s i g n e d by the j u d g e s and the s c o r e s on t h e

Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale was 0.13. This

lack of association was confirmed by the correlation of

the Actual State Scale and Desired State Scale with the

Social Desirability Scale. Here, correlations of -0.06

and 0.03, respectively were f o u n d . N o n e of these

correlations were statistically significant at the .05

level.

Survey Results

This section is sub-divided into three parts. The

first part will describe the sample used to gather the

data. In the second part, the results of the factor

analysis and scale development will be discussed. The

final part will focus on how well the i s s u e s of

reliability and validity were met.

Survey Sample

Of the 2000 questionnaires mailed out, 499 usable

forms were returned. This represents a response rate of

twenty-five percent, although that should be considered as

a minimum. It is not known how many of the questionnaires

reached a home with an adult female. The effective

response rate, therefore, could e a s i l y be several

percentage points higher.

64

A summary of the demographic characteristics of the

survey sample is presented in Table 3. It bears

similarity with the pretest sample, with a preponderance

of young to middle age, married white women composing the

group. Over half were either employed full- or part-time,

with over seventy percent describing their occupations as

either "Professional" or "Office, Clerical, Sales." The

total annual household income of the group was high, with

almost sixty-five percent making $25,000 or more a year.

Certainly, the majority of the respondents were from high

socioeconomic groups. However, the sample was not

expected to perfectly reflect the adult female clothes

buying public but merely to have some representation from

a variety of groups.

The sample was also analyzed to note any demographic

differences between the different PR types. (Grouping was

done using the scales discussed in the next section.) The

PR types appeared to be homogeneous with respect to all of

the socioeconomic variables studied except for age and

income, having chi-square significance values of .002 and

.08, respectively. The data indicated a salient

association between age and PR type, though not clearly

positive or negative. That is, the relationship was not

linear. For example, those under the age of twenty-five

TABLE 3

Socioeconimc Characteristics of the Survey Sample

Marital Status

65

Married Widowed

74.5% 5.8%

Divorced Single

7.6% 12.0%

Age

Under 25 years of age 12.0% 25 to 34 years of age 28.9% 35 to 44 years of age 21.3%

45 to 54 years of age 17.5% 55 to 64 years of age 10.2% 65 years and older 10.0%

Employment Status

Employed Full-time 49.3% Employed Part-time 17.2% Retired 9.3%

Unemployed Temporarily, Student, etc. 5.5%

Housewife 18.8%

Occupation

Self Employed 16.0% Office, Clerical, Sales 33.1% Professional 37.3%

Skilled Worker 4.4% Unskilled Worker 1.9% Management 7.2%

Highest Level of Formal Education

No Formal Schooling Grade School Some High School

0% High School Degree 46.8% 0.4% College Degree 32.3% 4.0% Graduate Degree 16.5%

Race

Caucasian Black

96.0% 0.8%

Hispanic Other

1 .0% 2.2%

Total Annual Household Income

Less than $10,000 -$15,000 -$20,000 -

$10,000 $14,999 $19,999 $24,999

6.8% 8.6% 6.6%

12.1%

$25,000 - $29,999 10.5% $30,000 - $39,999 22.0% $40,000 - $49,999 12.7% $50 ,000 and over 20.7%

66

were most likely to be Desired State types whereas those

over sixty-five were most likely to be Actual State types.

But, it was not a clear positive trend between those two

extremes. The "curve" in the relationship centered on the

thirty-five to forty-four year olds. As a group, those

middle-aged individuals were the most likely to be Actual

State types and the least likely to be Desired State types.

The relationship between PR types and income was

somewhat more linear, though not without "curves" as well.

It appeared that as incomes increased, greater proportions

of individuals in the income groups were Desired State

types. Specifically, only twenty-four percent of those

making less than $10,000 were Desired State types compared

to forty-eight percent for those making more than $50,000.

The opposite was generally true for Actual State types.

So, age and income may be linked to style of PR.

However, these findings must be r e p l i c a t e d b e f o r e

conclusions are drawn.

Factor Analysis and Scale Development

The initial run of the twenty PR statements using

image analysis and Varimax rotation produced nine factors.

Image analysis tends to produce more factors than other

approaches, with approximately one factor for every two

variables, resulting in several trivial factors (Nie et al

67

1975, p. 482). Only the first two factors had significant

loadings and it is only these two that are presented in

Table 4A.

Seventeen of the variables loaded at the 0.5 level or

better on one of the two factors. Statement #5 did not

load well on any of the factors developed and #30 was

badly split between the first two factors.1 These two were

eliminated and factor analysis was run again. Variables

#16, #24, and #34 were also somewhat split between the two

major factors but it was decided to retain them since they

did not greatly violate the p r e - s p e c i f i e d loading

parameters, which could be considered rather stringent for

exploratory factor analysis.

The results of the second round of factor analysis

are presented in Table 4B. This time the a n a l y s i s

produced eight factors, again with the first two being the

only ones with significant loadings. Factor 1 and factor

2 had eigenvalues of 20.74 and 4.19, r e s p e c t i v e l y .

Together they accounted for 73.5 percent of the total

variance in the set of eighteen variables. Eleven of the

items loaded highest on factor 1 with the remaining seven

loading highest on factor 2. Due to these loadings,

factor 1 can be interpreted as representing the Desired

State construct with factor 2 representing the Actual

State construct.

68

TABLE 4

Loadings of Problem Recognition Statements on Factors From Initial Factor Analysis (A) and Final Factor Analysis (B)

Problem Recognition Statement Number*

A

Factor 1

Factor 2

Factor 1

B

Factor 2

1 .7144 -.2929 .7278 -.2977

5 -.1765 .0616 — —

6 -.2009 .5167 -.2171 .5192

8 .7559 -.2934 .7607 -.2956

10 .5781 -.2694 .5278 -.2606

12 -.1971 .6213 -.2204 .6256

16 -.3454 .5394 -.3581 .5380

20 -.1421 .6096 -.1539 .6094

21 .7176 -.2510 .7297 -.2542

23 -.5394 .2502 -.6230 .2681

24 -.5419 .3277 -.5409 .3255

28 .6131 -.1928 .6506 -.2032

29 -.6008 .2038 -.6743 .2170

30 -.4702 .3950 — —

31 -.1609 .7027 -.1658 .7003

32 -.2788 .5873 -.2909 .5882

33 -.6268 .2947 -.7018 .3078

34 .3404 -.4891 .3072

LO

00 •

1

36 .7342 -.2610 .7564 -.2667

39 .6866 -.2657 .6802 -.2663 *Numbers refer to statements in Table 7 in the Appendix.

69

Factor scores were not d i r e c t l y c o m p u t e d for

respondents due to the u n e x p e c t e d c o n c e p t u a l and

computational complexity. Further, it was felt that use

of the results by others would be more likely if a simple

Likert-type scale was used versus a weighted linear

combination. Therefore, a Desired State Scale and an

Actual State Scale were developed by merely summing the

raw data over the variables that composed each set and

dividing the total by the number of non-zero responses.

This produced scores for each person on the two scales

which varied between one (representing very little of the

particular trait) and seven (representing a great deal of

the trait).

Beyond measuring each respondent's scores on the two

scales, measurement of a person's PR type with relation to

the rest of the s a m p l e was a l s o d o n e . T h i s w a s

accomplished by noting whether a person scored above or

below the median on each of the scales. Desired State

types were empirically defined as those who scored above

the median on the Desired State Scale as well as below the

median on the Actual State Scale. Thirty-four percent of

the sample fell into this category. Actual State types

were classified as those who scored above the median on

the Actual State Scale and below the median on the Desired

State Scale. Thirty-eight percent of the sample was in

70

this group. The remaining twenty-eight percent either

scored high or low on both scales, and were, therefore,

classified as In-between types.

Reliability and Validity

The alpha coefficients calculated for the Desired

State Scale and the Actual State Scale were 0.93 and 0.85,

respectively. Such high scores indicate that the scales

are internally consistent and are precise measuring

instruments.

The initial group of forty statements was considered

to cover most facets of PR and have, therefore, content

validity. However, not all of these items were tested in

the main survey or, if tested, proved significant. The

greater question is then, what is the content validity of

the final scales? It is true that several of the

theoretical dimensions were not empirically verified and,

therefore, missing from the final scales. The Desired

State Scale does not take into account the influence of

friends, marketers, or other purchases on PR. It focuses

on the tendency to want new clothes despite the condition

of one's wardrobe. The Actual State Scale faired

similarly. It focuses on the lack of interest in new

clothes and the perceived failure of promotion to affect

purchase motivation. This scale does not, however,

account for the theoretical d i m e n s i o n of "altered

71

circumstances," such as weight changes or events calling

for new articles of clothing.

Although it may appear that the content validity of

the scales is in question, it should be realized that the

facets which make the greatest difference between PR types

are included in the scales. As indicated in the results

of the pretest, some dimensions are hypothesized to affect

one state or the other, but this is in reference to a

single occurrence of PR rather than a long term tendency.

When the concern is on variables which separate types of

problem recognizers some of the dimensions seem to make

little or no difference. For example, if a person's size

changed thereby prompting a purchase of clothes, we would

theorize that PR had occurred due to a change in actual

state. However, that one incident does not make that

person an Actual State type. The person may frequently

buy new clothes indicating Desired State typification.

The point is that the variables proposed by Engel,

Blackwell, and Kollat ( 1978) are most appropriate for

describing specific instances of PR. However, when the

purpose is to measure personality and behavioral types

that develop over repeated occurrences some of the

variables continue to be valid while others do not.

Therefore, content validity has been adequately attained

for the level of generality for which the scales were

72

developed. Indeed, some confirmation of the scales'

content validity comes from the high level of internal

consistency reported above; i.e., the set of statements in

each scale do measure something in common.

Moderate success was also achieved in establishing

concurrent validity. One method used to measure concurrent

validity was through correlation of pretest subjects'

i n t e r v i e w s c o r e s and the two scale s c o r e s . T h e

correlation (Spearman) between interview scores and the

respective scores on the Desired State Scale was 0.61.

The correlation between the scores on the Actual State

Scale and the respective interview scores was -0.70.

The other approach at measuring concurrent validity

compared the ability of the scales to place pretest

subjects into PR groups on par with the i n t e r v i e w

judgments. As can be noted in Table 5, sixty-eight

percent of the scale p r e d i c t i o n s agreed with the

assessment made from the interviews. The scales seemed to

be most accurate in predicting PR type for those persons

in one of the extreme groups. However, the scales were

too liberal in placing subjects in the extreme groups, and

by consequence, misclassified the In-between types the

most. None of those in either of the extreme groups based

on the interview judgments were misclassified into the

extreme opposite group by the scales. If an "error" was

73

Table 5

Comparison of PR Type Groupings of Pretest Subjects Between Judges' Assessments and Scale Predictions

Subjects judged to be Actual State Types;

Desired State Scale

Low

High

Actual State Scale Low High 1 9

Subjects judged to be In-between Types:

Desired State Scale

Low

High

Actual State Scale Low High 3

4

4

5

Subjects judged to be Desired State Types

Desired State Scale

Low

High

Actual State Scale Low High

1

9

0

1

Correct Predictions: (9) + (4+4) + (9) = 26 (11) + (16) + (11) 38

68.42%

Actual State Types

In-between Types

Desired State Types

Judges1

Groupings

11

16

11 38

Scale Predictions

13

12

13 38

74

made it was to classify an In-between type as one of the

extreme types, or vice versa. Though not exceedingly

strong, the scales succeeded in showing evidence of

concurrent validity.

The strongest piece of evidence to indicate that at

least some construct validity existed came from the factor

analysis itself: the hypothesized latent structure of the

multi-item set was confirmed. Two factors representing

two particular constructs were expected and, indeed, very

strong evidence was found attesting to those constructs'

reality. However, some of the other evidence which would

have strongly supported construct validity was lacking.

It was hypothesized that evidence of construct

validity would be shown if correlations of ± .7 or better

could be found between scores on the PR scales and the

respective scores on the Sensation-Seeking Scale. No

correlation was found. Specifically, the correlation

(Spearman) between the Desired State Scale and the

Sensation-Seeking Scale was 0.06. The correlation between

the Actual State Scale and the Sensation-Seeking Scale was

-0.02. Neither of these was significant at the .05 level.

Although the above was planned as the main test of

c o n s t r u c t v a l i d i t y , upon its failure to p r o d u c e

significant evidence a couple of other measures were

substituted. The survey questionnaire gathered data on

75

several other issues, two of which were respondents'

interest in clothing and their enjoyment of shopping.

Measurement of both of these constructs was based on

previously developed scales (Greenberg, Lumpkin, and

Bruner 1982; Schrank and Gilmore 1973). Factor loadings

and alpha coefficients as used in this study are presented

in Table 6. It was hypothesized that there was a

significant relationship between PR type and interest in

clothing. It was expected that the Clothing Interest

Scale would have a positive correlation with the Desired

State Scale and have a negative correlation with the

Actual State Scale. Likewise, it was hypothesized that

there would be a significant though possibly moderate

relationship between PR type and enjoyment of shopping.

The Desired State Scale was expected to be positively

correlated with the Shopping Enjoyment Scale while the

Actual State Scale was e x p e c t e d to be n e g a t i v e l y

correlated with it.

These hypotheses were generally borne out. The

Clothing Interest Scale had correlations (Spearman) with

the Desired State Scale and the Actual State Scale of 0.59

and -0.59, respectively. The Shopping Enjoyment Scale had

correlations with the Desired State Scale and the Actual

State Scale of 0.40 and -0.41, respectively. All of these

correlations were significant at the .001 level.

76

TABLE 6

Factor Loadings and Alpha Coefficients for the Shopping Enjoyment and Clothing Interest Scales

Factor Loadings Alpha

The Shopping Enjoyment Scale .7892

1. I get a psychological lift from shopping. .5765

2. Shopping gives me a chance to get

out and do something. .4977

3. I am interested in shopping. .6671

4. Shopping is a real bother to me. -.6273

The Clothing Interest Scale .7965

1. I like clothes like some people do such things as books, records and movies. .5836

2. Clothing is so attractive to me that I am tempted to spend more money than I should. .6220

3. I would rather spend my money on clothes than on anything else. .6274

4. Planning and selecting my wardrobe is one of my favorite activities. .5745

77

While these results of the testing of construct

validity are not wholly consistent, it is clear that at

least some evidence exists. The confusing nature of these

results as well as other issues will be examined further

in the following section.

Discussion

A question that may be asked about the findings here

is, "what inferences concerning PR type can be made about

the population?" The appropriate answer is "none."

Although the proportions in the survey sample were

estimated and some idea of the accuracy of those estimates

is known, analysis was not based on a true random sample.

Therefore, confidence intervals for population estimates

cannot be calculated. Estimates of population proportions

will have to be made in future studies which have as their

focus external validity rather than internal validity.

Further, estimates will need to be made particularly for

those specific segments which hold some significance to

marketers. For example, if the young adult female segment

is particularly important to a company in its clothing

sales then it could benefit from understanding proportions

of PR types which compose that specific market. Not only

could this knowledge have some inherent value but it could

also have some implications for the company's promotion

strategy, although it is this link between type of PR and

78

type of search behavior that is yet to be empirically

defined.

Another point of discussion concerns the effect of

the orthogonality assumption on the results. This is

important since it is reasonable to assume based on the

theory that Desired State type PR and Actual State type PR

are related. That is, a person who is a Desired State

type is almost sure to not be an Actual State type, and

vice versa. The constructs and, therefore, the factors

could easily be assumed to have negative correlation.

However, by using an orthogonal rotation the factors

p r o d u c e d in the a n a l y s i s here are t h e o r e t i c a l l y

uncorrelated. Several oblique rotations were tried though

none approached simple structure near as well as the

Varimax rotation. It is of interest to note that even

though the factors are supposed to be uncorrelated after

an orthogonal rotation the scales produced from those

factors in this research had a correlation (Spearman) of

-0.58, significant at the .001 level.

A problem of somewhat greater concern is the content

validity of the scales. Although moderate success was

achieved in establishing the PR scales several dimensions

are missing, as mentioned in the above section. There are

several reasons why some of these dimensions have not been

represented in the present scales. Firstly, it is the

79

impression in hindsight that the parameters for using

pretested statements in the main survey may have been too

rigid. Accepting lower statistical and c o n c e p t u a l

differences might have been justifiable in light of the

exploratory nature of the w o r k . If some of these

"marginal" items had been used in the main survey and

loaded well on one of the two main factors then the extra

dimensions would have increased the content validity of

the scales.

A second problem with establishing the content

validity of the scales concerns their correlation; that

is, a variable which loads positively on one of the

factors will usually have a negative loading on the other

factor. (This tendency was consistent and can be noted in

Table 4). Therefore, even though statements representing

a dimension can be theorized to load on a particular

factor, they could load in the opposite direction on the

other factor. With this in mind, a judgment of content

validity may be more correctly made of the scales as a set

rather than individually. In fact, this lends support to

the idea of a composite PR scale which will be examined

later in this section.

Finally, the most important reason why some content

validity was lacking may be due to a d i f f e r e n c e in

specificity between the initial theory and the eventual

80

measurement. Basically, as presented in the four editions

of the EKB model (1968, 1973, 1978, 1982), the theory

proposed variables which might affect one of the two

states in a situation. However, the scales developed here

and the thinking behind them focus on the facets which

reflect the kind of PR a person tends to experience over

time in a particular product category. If the results of

the pretest are any indication, there are dimensions of PR

which do not distinguish between the PR types. The three

such dimensions apparent from the pretest are: the affect

of other decisions on a particular decision (statements #4

and #27), reference group influence (statements #37 and

#38), and altered circumstances (statements #18, #19, #22,

#25, #35, #37, and #40).^ jt can be assumed that these

influences and situations trigger PR despite one's type.

It is the other situations, however, where PR cannot be

assumed that are of primary concern in the development of

measurements.

With respect to the Sensation-Seeking Scale, there

were two problems encountered with it which affected the

results to some extent. One p r o b l e m was with the

administration of the scale: its forced choice nature did

not lend itself for use in a mail survey. Over fourteen

percent of the people simply choose not to respond at all

to one or more of the pairs in the inventory. Apparently,

81

neither alternative in one or more of the pairs accurately

reflected their views. This by itself should not have

affected the results greatly since scores for such persons

were adjusted to account for this situation.

The g r e a t e r p r o b l e m a p p e a r s to be t h a t the

Sensation-Seeking Scale and the PR scales represent two

different levels of measurement. The former measures a

broad personality trait whereas the latter are specific to

one product category. It is not known how much this

affected the results. It does seem unusual, however, that

at least some nominal level of correlation was not found.

Since the association between sensation seeking and PR is

still valid in t h e o r y , it is s u g g e s t e d that this

relationship be re-examined in the future with greater

attention given to the methodological issues raised here.

The final point of d i s c u s s i o n c o n c e r n s the

justification for and development of a composite PR scale.

Some reasoning for a composite scale was made above: that

the desired state and the actual state constructs are

highly related, that the scale scores have proven to be

correlated, and that some variables theorized to load on

one of the factors ended up loading in the opposite

direction on the other factor. A further reason for just

one scale rather than two is the greater ease of use;

i.e., one scale is simply easier to administer, analyze,

82

and interpret than two. If the internal consistency of

the one scale is as good or better than the two separate

scales then that would indicate the items have much in

common and appear to measure the same basic construct. In

this case, the alpha coefficient for the combined Desired

State Scale and Actual State Scale was 0.93. With such a

high reliability it is even possible that some of the

items which are conceptually redundant might be eliminated

without seriously affecting the internal consistency.

A further indication of the composite scale's value

is its correlation with the Shopping Enjoyment Scale and

the Clothing Interest Scale. The correlations (Spearman)

with the PR Scale were 0.45 and 0.66, respectively. Both

were significant at the .001 level. Possibly even more

important was the PR Scale's 0.70 correlation with the

judges' scores of pretest interviews. This was also

significant at the .001 level. These correlations provide

some evidence that the PR Scale is not only as reliable as

the two separate scales but just as valid.

FOOTNOTES

1. The numbers referred to in this paragraph correspond to statements listed in Table 7 in the Appendix.

2. Same as above.

83

REFERENCES

Engel, James R. and Roger D. Blackwell (1982), Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

, , and David T. Kollat ( 1978 ), Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

, David T. Kollat and Roger D. Blackwell (1968), Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

, , and ( 1 973 ) Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

Greenberg, Barnett A., James R. Lumpkin, and Gordon C. Bruner (1982), "Opinion Leadership and Innovativeness in Fashion Diffusion," in Proceedings of the American Institute for Decision Sciences, 240-242.

Nie, Norman H. et al (1975), Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Schrank, Holly L. and D. Lois Gilmore (1973), "Correlates of Fashion Leadership: Implications for Fashion Process Theory," The Sociological Quarterly, 14 (Autumn), 534-543.

84

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS

It has been the purpose of this investigation to

determine if theoretical justification for the PR concept

could be found, and if so, to develop scales adequate for

its measurement. This has largely been accomplished.

Homeostasis has been proposed as the reason why PR occurs:

to resolve c o n s u m p t i o n i m b a l a n c e s . Not only has

homeostasis been found to be consistent with existing

description of PR but it implies other relationships that

should exist, namely that consumers develop styles of PR

over time specific to particular product categories. Based

on the results of the pretest interviews and the mail

survey, scales have been developed for the measurement of

the two main forms of PR: the Desired State type and the

Actual State type. The scales have shown evidence of being

reliable and valid, with the former being especially

strong.

There may be some application of these findings to

general decision making theory, whether it be in an

individual or organizational context. For example, there

may be styles of PR in business management. That is, some

managers do not deal with problems until the very last

85

86

moment when attention and resolution become crucial. Then,

there are others who seem to anticipate problems and make

plans to deal with them long before a breakdown or crisis

develops. The former relates to Actual State types and the

latter to Desired State types. C e r t a i n l y , such a

hypothesis requires verification but the point is that

there is now reason to believe that such styles exist and

affect problem-resolution behavior.

Although it has not been captured in a quantitative

sense, a phenomenon of some interest was observed in the

course of this research which deserves m e n t i o n i n g .

Specifically, some women expressed that they went shopping

for clothes as a result of feeling sad, bored, or after

experiencing some other mild emotional dissonance. In

other words, there was no apparel problem as such; i.e.,

neither the desired state nor the actual state for clothes

shifted significantly though a purchase still resulted due

to a non-clothing related problem. It is possible that

some moods and states of emotion present problems which are

not tackled directly. Rather, the purchase of clothing is

perceived as a positive experience and one which might

offset the emotional disturbance. So, the purchase is a

surrogate—it appears to solve one problem where in fact it

is intended to satiate another. That is why any number of

purchases might serve the purpose though clothing seems to

87

be particularly attractive. Admittedly, these thoughts are

mere speculation but they represent hypotheses worthy

of further development and investigation.

Among other suggestions for further research is that

c a u s a l m o d e l i n g be used to e m p i r i c a l l y test the

determinants of PR as given by Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell

(1968, 1973, 1978, 1982). At this point the information we

have, as insightful as it is, is based more on speculation

than research. It is proposed here that any modeling that

is done incorporate the variables which determine the

desired state (e.g., reference group influence, the effect

of other decisions, novelty seeking, motive activation),

the variables which determine the actual state (e.g.,

dissatisfaction with a current solution and running out of

a previous supply), and variables which can influence both

states (e.g., altered family or financial circumstances and

the influence of marketers). To account for the insights

gained from this research and to illustrate the other

relationships needing investigation, the model of the PR

process presented in Figure 2 is updated in Figure 3.

A similar suggestion can also be made concerning PR

s t y l e s — f u r t h e r research is needed to s p e c i f y the

determinants. Although there might be some overlap in the

variables relevant at the various levels of abstraction

(e.g., a specific instance of PR versus a style of PR

88

FIGURE 3

A Reconceptualization of the Problem Recognition Process

Determinants of the Desired State:

• Reference groups

• Other decisions

• Novelty seeking

• Motive activation

Variables Affecting Both Desired and Actual States:

• Altered circumstances

• Marketing efforts

I I Desired Actual

State State

Nature of

Discrepancy

Determinants of the Actual State:

• Depletion of previous supply

• Dissatisfaction with present solution

= No > • Problem

<or >

Problem Recognized

Problem Defined

Information Search

1 "Hold" or No Search

Copyright 19 83 by Gordon C. Bruner II

89

developed over time), the sets are not likely to be exactly

the same. The work reported here offers some indication of

the variables working in the apparel context which affect

the development of PR styles. With this foundation the

next step can be causal modeling. The following are

variables suggested for inclusion in such a model: 1) the

desire for novelty, 2) product interest, 3) satisfaction

with status quo, 4) degree of inner/other directedness, 5)

age, and 6) income. Although this list is biased by the

product category used in this research it should be

sufficient for exploratory work in other product areas.

Certainly, it would be quite beneficial to the

theory's development if scales could be successfully

constructed for other product categories. The reporting of

reliability and validity measurement would be extremely

helpful. The product categories which lend themselves to

this sort of study are those where Actual State types and

Desired State types hypothetically exist in more than

nominal proportions. Some categories that would seem to be

appropriate for study are furniture, various large and

small appliances, and automobiles. It is this last category

that is especially fitting for study due to the ill health

of the industry and the apparent p r e c a r i o u s n e s s of

demand.

90

Once PR scales have been developed for several product

categories, it will be of interest to note their degree of

intercorrelation. As previously stated, it is not expected

that consumers are characterized by the same sort of PR for

widely varying product categories but the exact nature of

the pattern requires examination. Clarification is also

needed to understand the effect that type of PR has on type

of information search. That is, it is possible that PR

type and search style are related. In fact, they may be

related so closely that the link holds across product

categories despite how a person's PR changes. In other

words, there may be some unique characteristics of Actual

State type search behavior despite the category involved,

and likewise for Desired State types.

Indeed, the PR/search link is a critical one to verify

if the full practical value of this piece of research is to

be received. Although there is practical value in under-

standing a person's PR type, there is greater value in

understanding the effect it has on search activity. This

is because the marketer would learn not only why a person

is typically in the market for a certain category of

product but could also learn how and where that type of

problem recognizer searches for solutions. How do PR types

differ in successfulness of internal search? And, in terms

of external search, do the PR types differ in their

91

p r e f e r e n c e o f p e r s o n a l / n o n - p e r s o n a l , c o m m e r c i a l /

non-commercia l s o u r c e s of i n f o r m a t i o n ? A l l such q u e s t i o n s

r e l a t i n g t o i n f o r m a t i o n s e a r c h d e s e r v e i n v e s t i g a t i o n

b e c a u s e o f t h e i r d i r e c t b e a r i n g o n p r o m o t i o n a l

s t r a t e g y .

F i n a l l y , t h e p o s s i b i l i t y c e r t a i n l y e x i s t s t h a t no

d e f i n i t e l i n k w i l l be f o u n d b e t w e e n PR t y p e and s t y l e of

s e a r c h . I n d e e d , a s m e n t i o n e d i n t h e I n t r o d u c t i o n , some

such h y p o t h e s i s must have been he ld by p r e v i o u s r e s e a r c h e r s

in o r d e r f o r t h e c o n s t r u c t t o have been so n e g l e c t e d . I f

t h a t i s t h e c a s e , t h e v a l u e o f t h e p r e s e n t w o r k t o

p r a c t i o n e r s m i g h t be d i m i n i s h e d . At t h e v e r y l e a s t ,

d i f f e r e n t p romot iona l a p p e a l s would seem t o be n e c e s s a r y

s i n c e t h e PR t y p e s a r e in t h e marke t f o r w i d e l y d i f f e r e n t

r e a s o n s . But i f t h e r e i s no d i f f e r e n c e i n m e d i a h a b i t s ,

f o r e x a m p l e , t h e n k n o w l e d g e of PR t y p e may b e l e s s

r e l e v a n t .

W h a t e v e r t h e u l t i m a t e f i n d i n g s , t h e t h e o r e t i c a l

c o n t r i b u t i o n of t h i s work w i l l r ema in : consumers have been

documented a s d e v e l o p i n g s t y l e s of PR and i t i s p r o p o s e d

t h a t t h e s e s t y l e s a f f e c t t h e u n f o l d i n g o f t h e w h o l e

d e c i s i o n p r o c e s s . A f i r s t s t e p i n u n d e r s t a n d i n g PR h a s

been t aken and has been s u c c e s s f u l . Much more work has y e t

t o be done . I t i s hoped t h a t t h e t h e o r e t i c a l and p r a c t i c a l

v a l u e of f u r t h e r r e s e a r c h i s p e r c e i v e d by o t h e r s i n o r d e r

92

t h a t t h e c o n s u m e r d e c i s i o n p r o c e s s b e s p e c i f i e d

s u f f i c i e n t l y and become a c o r n e r s t o n e t o m a r k e t i n g ' s

s c i e n t i f i c f o u n d a t i o n .

REFERENCES

Engel, James R. and Roger D. Blackwell (1982), Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

, , and David T. Kollat ( 1978), Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

, David T. Kollat and Roger D. Blackwell (1968), Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

, , and (19 7 3) Consumer Behavior, Hinsdale, Illinois: The Dryden Press.

93

APPENDIX

94

95

TABLE 7

Problem Recognition Statements and Their Relative Ordering As Presented on the Pretest and Main Survey Questionnaires

1. * I go shopping for clothes long before what I have gets old.

2. I don't go out shopping for clothes just because what's in fashion changes.

3. Despite their condition, I don't wear clothes that aren't part of a season's style.

4. Many times after getting one piece of clothing (like a skirt or pants) I then realize that I need to buy another piece of clothing (like shoes).

5. * It takes getting bored and dissatisfied with my clothes before I go out and buy more.

6. * I can be satisfied with my clothes even if they aren't the latest fashion as long as they are clean and fit well.

7. My ideas about what is right to wear for situations change each season.

8. * I go out shopping for clothes long before what I have wears out.

9. I buy new clothes when I realize what I have is not in style.

10. * I often feel I need new clothes even though I could "make do" with what I have.

11. I buy new clothes which are fashionable for several seasons so I don't have to be changing styles all the time.

12. * Despite what fashions come out each season, it usually takes something else to get me to buy new clothes.

13. Advertisements I see about changing fashions often lead me to realizing that I need something new.

14. Because clothes just aren't fashionalbe for long, I am constantly updating my wardrobe.

15. When a season's new fashions are introduced, that alone can prompt me to update my wardrobe.

16 * I get a lot of wear out of my clothes and am not always looking to buy more.

17. Most of my clothes have little wear by the time I get rid of them or replace them.

18. It's unusual for me to have to buy clothes because of my size changing.

19. I buy clothing when nothing I have will be right for a situation (job, party, outing, etc.)

20. * Whether the clothes I wear are in style or not has little to do with my reason for needing to buy more.

96

TABLE 7 (con't)

21 . * I buy new clothes even when my old ones are still okay to wear.

22. When I'm in the market for new clothes it's often because some I have are not fitting as well as I'd like them to.

23. * My clothes are not in the best condition by the time I get ready to replace them.

24. * Simply wanting something new is not a reason I use to buy new clothes.

25. When I buy clothes it rarely has anything to do with some of my other clothes not fitting well.

26. Seeing new displays of fashions does not have much to do with my desire to buy clothes.

27. I tend to buy one item of clothing at a time rather than several pieces (like a blouse, pants, and shoes) at about the same time.

28. * My clothes are still in good condition when I replace them.

29. * I tend to go shopping for clothes only when what I have is getting old.

30. * I don't often feel I need new clothes since I can easily "make do" with what I have.

31. * Fashion changes don't really affect what I feel is "right" or "okay" to wear.

32. * I feel that advertisements about new fashions are a waste on me since they do not affect what I do.

33. * When I buy new clothes, it is because my old ones are nearly worn out.

34. * When I am shopping and see new fashions displayed, it is not unusual for me to feel I need something new.

35. I wouldn't go out and buy new clothes just because I'd been invited to a big social event.

36. * I tend to buy clothes long before my other ones wear out.

37. * My friends have little effect on whether I need to go shopping for clothes or not.

38. If my friends point out to me that styles are changing I usually begin shopping for something new.

39. * It's not unusual for me to buy clothes simply because I want something new.

40. I usually buy clothes because my figure or weight has changed.

* These statements were used in both the pretest and the main survey.

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