In this section, a definition of product involvement is provided, and relevant literature exploring the role of product involvement in advertising is presented.
Involvement Definition
According to Andrews, Durvasula and Akhter (1990) and Mitchell (1981), involvement is an internal state of arousal that is made up of three major properties: intensity, direction, and persistence.Intensity is identified as a person's degree of involvement or motivation. This level of involvement ranges from low to high on a continuous scale (Antil, 1984) and varies with products, situations, and individuals. It is important to
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note that although individual consumers may manifest different levels of involvement for different product classes and purchase situations, some product classes and purchase situations are generally perceived to be more highly involving than others (Hupfer &
Gardner, 1971). Direction is defined as an individual‘s motivation towards the object or issue (Mitchell, 1981), and persistence is the duration of the involvement intensity (Celsi & Olson, 1988).
2.4.1 Product Involvement Definition
Product involvement and its characteristics have long been identified as a significant variable in the consumption behaviour of adult consumers, as well as an important factor in the way young people process marketing and advertising information (Muratore, 2003; Te‘eni-Harari &Lehman-Wilzig, 2009). Decision making processes, consumption behaviours, and advertising receptivity are some of the characteristics that are also influenced by product involvement (Arora, 1982, 1985; Beatty & Smith, 1987).
Slama and Tashchian (1985) suggested that involvement with an object influences attitudes and behaviours towards the object. Hence, involvement plays an essential role in explaining consumer behaviour and decision making.
The literature contains multiple definitions of product involvement. Mittal and Lee (1989) define product involvement as the degree of interest a consumer has in a product category on a continuous basis. Bloch (1986), Flynn and Goldsmith (1993) and Mittal and Lee (1989) suggested that product involvement is the feeling of interest, enthusiasm, and excitement a consumer has about a product category.Celsi and Olson (1988) and Mowen and Minor (1998) define product involvement as the perceived personal importance and consumer‘s interest that is attached to the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of an object, service or idea. Bloch (1981) defines product involvement as a person-specific characteristic, and therefore it is possible for consumers to have different degrees of involvement with the same product or brands within a product category.
Warrington and Shim (2000), suggested that product involvement is analogous to the concept of ego involvement. As defined by Sherif and Cantril (1947), ego involvement occurs when an issue or object is related to the attitudes and values of an individual's
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self-concept. Warrington and Shim (2000) argue that this is similar to Houston and Rothschild‘s (1978) definition of product involvement, an attitude that is activated when a product category is related to a person's centrally held values and self-concept.
2.4.2 Product Involvement Categorisation
According to Kotler and Armstrong (2008, pp. 145-146), product involvement can be categorised into four different types of behaviours: complex buying behaviour, dissonance-reducing buying behaviour, variety seeking buying behaviour and habitual buying.
In terms of involvement intensity, the high-involvement category is associated with purchases that require more time and effort to be spent in search-related activities (Bloch, Sherrell & Ridgeway,1986), require high expenditure, are purchased infrequently, are highly self expressive, or carry personal risk. Examples of such purchases include buying a house, buying a car, or making financial investments. Cars have been found to be a class of relatively high ego-involvement product for many consumers (Hupfer & Gardner, 1971) as they are important purchases that are chosen carefully and are sometimes thought to reflect the owner‘s personality. Conversely, the low-involvement category involves low-cost and frequently purchased products that require very simple evaluation processes and are not considered as highly ego involving across groups of consumers. Examples of low-involvement products include soft drinks, paper towels, and other nondurables (Hupfer & Gardner, 1971).
Zaichkowsky‘s (1985) examination of the level of product involvement among thirteen product categories found there was a significant difference in the level of product involvement for various products. In her study, a low level of product involvement was found for instant coffee, bubble bath soap, and breakfast cereal, a medium level of product involvement for facial cream, mouthwash, headache remedies, and tissues, and a high level of product involvement for calculators and cars. An independent study by Kapferer and Laurent (1986) of twenty product categories also found variation in product involvement for different products. In their study, a higher level of product involvement was found for clothing and perfume categories compared to other product categories.
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Each of these high and low involvement product categories can be sub categorised into those showing significant differences between brands and those showing few differences between brands. Consumers going through the process of purchasing high involvement products that have significant differences between brands are considered to be displaying complex buying behaviour. However, if the product requires high-involvement and has few differences between brands, consumers are categorised into displaying dissonance-reducing buying behaviour. Alternatively, in a purchasing process that involves product that exhibit low-involvement and that has significant differences between brands, consumers will display variety-seeking buying behaviour.
Finally, in scenarios where low-involvement products and few differences between brands are present, consumers will display habitual buying behaviour. Figure 2.b shows this categorisation of buying behaviour.
Previous research has indicated that product attributes have a significant role to play in consumer product evaluation (Deighton 1997; Klein 1998; Smith 1993; Smith &
Swinyard 1982; Wright & Lynch 1995) where product types can affect the way consumers evaluate the product (Klatzky, Lederman, & Matula 1991; Norman 1998).
Hence, in any research investigating product involvement, it is necessary to undertake the study with different product categories.
Figure 2.b: Four Types of Buying Behaviours
Source: Adapted from Henry Assael, Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Action (Boston: Kent Publishing Company 1987), p. 87. Copyright © 1987 Wadsworth, Inc.
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Although it is generally accepted that involvement can be classified as product defined, some researchers argue that involvement should strictly be classified as consumer defined,as no product is intrinsically ego involving or uninvolving (Lastovicka, 1979;
Tyebjee, 1979). Traylor (1981) argues that only consumers can be ego-involved and that for any given product class, one group of consumers can be highly involved and another not.
Instead of categorising product involvement into high and low involvement, some consumer behaviour theorists categorise product involvement into Situational Involvement (SI) and Enduring Involvement (EI) (Bloch & Richins, 1983; Houston &
Rothschild, 1978; Laurent & Kapferer, 1985; Richins & Bloch, 1986; Rothschild, 1979). SI occurs in a risky purchase situation and in a high and relatively short-term interest in a product, whereas EI reflects a person‘s ongoing interest with a product.
2.4.4 The Role of Product Involvement in Consumer Behaviour
Product involvement reflects the recognition that a particular product category may be more or less central to people‘s lives, their sense of identity, and their relationship with the rest of the world (Traylor, 1981). Moreover, studies have found that the product-involvement variable is constant and stable, relative to many other variables.
Research has found that consumer involvement in products has a significant effect on the outcome of consumer behaviour. Consumers are less likely to believe claims of low involvement products but more likely to believe claims of high involvement products (Mueller, 2006). Levy and Nebenzahl (2008) established that product involvement influences interactive communication behaviour, while the type of information being sought is a function of the advertised product category. A relationship also exists between product involvement and brand loyalty (e.g., Iwasaki & Havitz, 1998; LeClerc
& Little, 1997; Traylor, 1981). Consumers‘ perceptions with respect to different products can differ; hence, the perception of involvement may vary with different products. As a result, the product involvement construct may serve marketers and