Cognitive relationships between automobile attributes and personal values

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the cognitive relationship between personal values of buyers and attributes of automobiles. Design/methodology/approach In total, 60 interviews were performed with buyers of sporty and compact cars. The qualitative laddering technique guided data collection and analysis, resulting in two cognitive value maps (HVM). The results were interpreted based on three theoretical approaches: Schwartz (1994), Allen (2000) and Gutman (1982). Findings The dominant chains from the two models indicate connection between “design and hedonism,” “internal finishing and hedonism” and “security items and safety as a value.” Therefore, these customers are predominantly characterized by individualistic values: by the pursuit of personal pleasure and concern for personal safety. Research limitations/implications Due to qualitative techniques having been used, future research could validate some presented results through surveys based on the connections between the set of attributes and values presented in this research. Practical implications Results from this study can help to develop segmentation and advertising strategies, as well as marketing aftermarket actions based on the psychographic profile provided by the HVMs. They may also assist integration between the initial and final phases of new vehicles’ development which have concepts similar to those studied here. Originality/value The extant literature provides few studies with the specific objective of identifying connections between vehicle attributes and the personal values of the consumers. This paper presents an interpretation of the cognitive relationships between vehicle attributes and personal values through three theoretical perspectives, providing multidimensional profiles to explain consumers’ values.

Evolución de la inversión publicitaria durante la década de crisis económica (2007-2018). El caso del sector del automóvil y su adaptación a Internet

“…Advertising communication partly consists of inducing the audience to desire products offered on the market by means of symbolic representations of goods, services or ideas. The personal values of car buyers that relate to product attributes are hedonism or personal pleasure and design, as well as a concern for safety and the search for protective features (Pimenta and Piato, 2016). If anything, the relevance of advertising values in this sector have increased due to empirical evidence that shows that the gap between perceived and objective quality has decreased over the last two decades (Akdeniz and Calantone, 2017).…”

Predicting Purchase Intention towards Battery Electric Vehicles: A Case of Indonesian Market

“…The emotion criterion explains that car users want the benefits or value of the vehicle they use. These benefits have both personal and social dimensions [53]. The personal benefits of using EVs are felt by the drivers themselves, such as pleasure, pride and negative embarrassment [45].…”

“…The results of this research show that, for the target customers coming from senior level professionals, the criterion of emotion becomes dominant in influencing the purchase intention of target customers. Emotional benefits, both personal and social, explain the symbolic and emotive meanings of the purchase intention of electric vehicles [52,53,80,81].…”

The dawn of traditional CX metrics? Examining satisfaction, EXQ, and WAR

“…The choice of the automotive industry for our study is supported by different streams of research. Scholars posit different drivers of people’s choices for their passenger cars, such as positionality, expressed as the attribute similarity between their existing and new car (Hoen & Geurs, 2011), alignments between car attributes and the customers personal values (Pimenta & Piato, 2016), and cost savings (Kurani & Sperling, 1988). Price and price category are generally considered as choice criteria (Krishna, 1992).…”