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CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT

Consumer involvement refers to degree of information processing or

extent of importance that a consumer attaches to a product.

The degree of involvement has a very significant effect on consumer

behaviour.
When more expensive products are to be purchased, the consumer gets
more involved in purchase process but he may not be equally involved in
a product which is just a rupee or two priced.
Take the example of:

CAR- As it is a expensive product so consumer will get highly involved

resulting in higher involvement.

BOOK- The book purchased by a student for preparing competitive exam

may not be as expensive as car, yet the customer gets highly involved
because it is a important product.

MEDICINE- When a medicine is being purchased, which may not be very

expensive, yet the customer may be highly involved in checking that it shouldnt
react him.

LEVELS OF INVOLVEMENT

LOW INVOLVEMENT- Low involvement purchases are not really

important to consumers, have little relevance and need very limited
information processing.
SOME INVOLVEMENT- Some involvement purchases are of little bit
importance to customers. It includes some evaluation of alternatives.
HIGH INVOLVEMENT- High involvement purchases are those which are
important to consumers such as complex, expensive, risky or egointensive products & require extensive information processing.
TYPES OF INVOLVEMENT MEDIA

HIGH INVOLVEMENT MEDIA- Print media such as newspaper &

magazines are high involvement media because information is processed
clearly leading to attitude formation and finally behaviour.
LOW INVOLVEMENT MEDIA- TV is a low involvement media because it
is a primarily pictorial, allowing viewers passive and holistic processing of
information.
FACTORS AFFECTING DEGREE OF INVOLVEMENT

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1) MODERATING FACTORS: are those which may limit the opportunity & the
ability to process the information and influence the level of involvement.
For example: a consumer is planning the purchase of a mobile phone & the
commercial he is watching would be quite interesting to him. Suddenly
somebody knocks on the door & this distracts his attention from the ad and the
consumer may not posses much knowledge about a particular product and fails
to understand some of the information contained in the ad. So this would limit
the evaluation of alternative brand in a satisfactory manner.
2) INVOLVMENT VARIABLES:

PERSON- The variable related to person refer to personal needs, values,

interests & experiences etc. For example: a person interested in
computers is very likely to have personal interest in computer related
magazines to learn about new development.

STIMULUS/OBJECT- refers to product or stimuli that consumer perceives to

be closely related to his/her values, experience and interest. For
example: in case of computers, one should not expect the same level of
involvement for all consumers.

3) INVOLVEMENT PROPERTIES:

INTENSITY: Involvement intensity refers to the severity of involvement as

experienced by the consumer and is generally categorized as high or low.

DIRECTION: Direction refers to the focus of involvement and involvement

variables will strongly affect this focus. The focus could be a product,
service, ad or purchase decision.

PERSISTENCE: Persistence describes the length of time the consumer

remains involved with purchase decision.

4) RESPONSE FACTORS:

Response factors concern how a consumer behaves under involvement

condition of different intensity.

These factors includes different pattern of information search, information

processing, evaluation of alternatives and post-decision actions.

One may expect that consumer is high in enduring involvement for a

product will undertake regular, ongoing search for information & low
involvement will result in little search for information.