UNDERSTANDING PARTICIPANTS AS CONSUMERS

Why Do We Participate? Personal Improvement –Better health, sense of accomplishment, develop positive values, etc. Sport Appreciation –Enjoy the game and competition Social Facilitation –Spend time with others, feel like part of a group

Adult Sport Participant Market: General Observations Majority of American adults do not participate in many of the most common sports Numbers conflicting; Surgeon General’s Report (only 15% of adults say that they exercise regularly) Why?

Most Popular Sports

Participant Consumption Behavior Actions performed when searching for, participating in, and evaluating the sports activities that consumers believe will satisfy their needs and desires Attempts to understand participant consumption behavior focus on: –Why consumers participate in certain sports –What are the benefits –When, where, and how often they participate

Sports Participant Behavior a Subset of Consumer Behavior (CB) What is consumer behavior? What does the "black box" view of consumers imply? Why are models of consumer behavior important? How can a model of consumer behavior be constructed? What are some examples of models of consumer behavior?

Model of Buying Behavior Marketing factors and other stimuli are inputs into the “buyer’s black box” Stimuli are evaluated in light of the buyer’s decision process and characteristics Buyer responses influence choice of the product, brand, vendor, as well as the timing and amount of purchase

Stimulus-Response Model of Consumer Behavior Stimuli 4P’s Other characteristics economic technological political cultural Buyer Response Product choice Brand choice Dealer choice Purchase timing Purchase amount Buyer’s Black Box Buyer characteristics Buyer decision process

CB Models Simplest CB models have 3 stages: 1.Prepurchase Need recognition, evaluation 2.Consumption Purchase, use or experience, disposal 3.Post-purchase

Model of Participant Consumption Behavior

Decision-Making Process Problem Recognition Information Search Alternative Evaluation Participate Post-Participation Evaluation

Types of Participation Decision Processes Degree of effort or problem solving required for participation/consumption decisions may vary based on familiarity and decision importance. –Habitual problem solving involves routinized or straight rebuy: Requires nearly no effort –Limited problem solving involves evaluating alternatives on a few attributes: Little information search –Extensive problem solving involves evaluating alternatives on more attributes; Meaningful information search

Models of Sports Participants' Decision-Making Process Consumer as Risk Taker –Purchases involve risk –Affected by degrees of uncertainty and the consequences Consumer as Rational Mathematician –Attributes, weights, and ratings –Compensatory (additive), noncompensatory (multiplicative), lexicographic

Are Consumers Rational? Economists expect consumers will maximize their own utility, but from what do consumers obtain utility? –Examples: Coffee mug and chocolate bar

Prospect Theory Indicate your preference of the following option pairs: I.1a. 100% chance of getting $3000or 1b. 80% chance of getting $4000 2a. 25% chance of getting $3000or 2b. 20% chance of getting $4000 II.A. 50% chance of winning $1000 and 50% of getting nothingor B. 100% chance of getting $450

Internal (Psychological) Factors Personality Motivation (for fulfillment of needs) Perception Learning Beliefs and attitudes Unique to each person

Personality & Self-Concept Personality: unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to one’s environment Generally defined in terms of traits Self-concept suggests that people’s possessions contribute to and reflect their identities Useful for segmentation

Motives and Needs Maslow’s hierarchy of needs explains why people are driven by needs at particular times Hierarchy implies that lower level needs must be satisfied prior to higher level needs A motive (or drive) is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction Can vary across people and cultures

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Perception Process by which people select, organize, and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world –Selective attention –Selective distortion –Selective retention

Learning Relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience Interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses, and reinforcement –Drives: Internal stimulus that calls for action –Stimuli: Objects that move drive to motive –Cues: Minor stimuli that affect response –Reinforcement: Feedback on action Strongly influenced by behavioral consequences (classical and operant conditioning) –Behaviors with satisfying results tend to be repeated –Behaviors with unsatisfying results tend to be avoided

Beliefs and Attitudes Belief –Descriptive thought about a brand or service –May be based on real knowledge, opinion, or faith Attitude –Describes a person’s evaluations, feelings and tendencies toward an object or idea –Difficult to change

Model of Attitude Formation

External (Sociological) Factors Derived from external environments Culture Social class Reference groups

Culture Culture is the most basic cause of a person's wants and behavior –Learned from family, church, school, peers, and colleagues –Reflects basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviors –Cultural shifts create opportunities for new products or may otherwise influence consumer behavior –Affects socialization, including sports participation

Subcultures Groups of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences Examples of major subcultures in U.S. –Hispanic consumers –African-American consumers –Asian-American consumers –Mature consumers

Social Class Society’s relatively permanent and ordered divisions whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors Measured by a combination of occupation, income, education, wealth, and other variables

Reference Groups Groups: –People who influence the information, attitudes, and behaviors of other group members –Types: Family Membership Reference (Opinion Leaders) Aspirational –Includes athlete role models

Model of Consumer Socialization

Situational Factors Temporary factors in a particular time or place Physical surroundings –Location, weather, facilities, etc. Social surroundings –e.g., Who is present?, crowds Time – constraints and availability Reason for participation Antecedent states –Physiological (e.g., energy, aches and pains) –Psychological (e.g., moods)

Personal Factors Age and Life-Cycle Stage –People change things bought during lifetimes Occupation –Influences purchase of clothing and other goods Economic Situation –Some goods and services especially income- sensitive

Personal Factors (cont.) Lifestyle –Pattern of living as expressed in psychographics Activities Interests Opinions