GB534 Unit 8 Reference Group Analysis Example

Six Groups Present at a 1:10 a.m. Purchase: A Unit 8 Reference Group Analysis of a Jogging Stroller

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

GB534: Consumer Behavior

Unit 8 Reference Group Analysis

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The buyer, the groups and every detail are composite and illustrative; the frameworks and sources cited are real.

The Purchase

The buyer, a composite parent in Denver, had run regularly before the baby arrived and wanted to start again. Late one night, after a week of browsing, they ordered an all-terrain jogging stroller from Front Range Strollers for $649. When asked later who had influenced the choice, the buyer said, "No one. I just knew what I wanted." The interview behind this analysis traced where that knowledge came from.

Exhibit 1: The Diagram

The diagram places the buyer at the center, with six groups arranged by closeness.

Primary groups, closest: the buyer's sister, who owns a jogging stroller and had mentioned its suspension, and the buyer's mother, who had warned that running with a baby was unsafe.

Secondary groups: a neighborhood parents' group chat with about 140 members, where strollers are discussed weekly, and the daycare's stroller rack, where the buyer saw which brands other parents chose every morning.

Aspirational and former membership groups: a running club the buyer once raced with, whose members' social media showed them running with jogging strollers, and an online community of parent runners whose reviews the buyer read.

Table 1: Influence by Group

Park and Lessig (1977) distinguished three kinds of reference group influence: informational, when a person accepts others' information as evidence; utilitarian, when a person conforms to gain approval or avoid disapproval; and value-expressive, when a person adopts a group's choices to express or strengthen an identity.

Sister: informational. The sister's comments about suspension shaped the buyer's main criterion, a smooth ride on gravel paths.

Mother: utilitarian, working in reverse. The mother's warning made the buyer look for safety features, a wrist strap and a hand brake, that would answer the objection.

Neighborhood chat: informational. Threads in the chat had compared three jogging strollers; the buyer had read them without posting.

Daycare rack: value-expressive and informational. The brands on the rack showed what parents like the buyer chose.

Running club: value-expressive. Seeing former teammates run with their children connected the purchase to an identity the buyer wanted to recover.

Online parent-runner community: informational and value-expressive. Reviews gave specifications; the community's tone suggested that serious runners chose particular brands.

The buyer consulted no one that night because the consulting had already been done, by groups that never knew they were being consulted.

Public and Private Consumption

Bearden and Etzel (1982) showed that how much groups shape a purchase, and the brand chosen, varies with two things: whether others can see the product in use, and whether most households would consider it essential. A jogging stroller is used in public, on trails, at daycare drop-off and in neighborhood streets, and for this buyer it is closer to a luxury than a necessity, since the family already owned a standard stroller. Bearden and Etzel's framework predicts strong group influence on both the decision to buy and the choice of brand for such products, which matches the buyer's experience.

How the Groups Worked Against Each Other

The groups did not all push the same way. The mother's warning pulled toward not buying a jogging stroller at all, or at least waiting until the child was older. The sister's experience pulled toward buying one now. The buyer resolved the tension by choosing a model with safety features that would answer the mother's concern, and by planning to start with walks before runs. In effect, the buyer satisfied one primary group by adopting another's information. That pattern suggests the brand's safety features do double duty: they reassure the buyer and give the buyer something to show a skeptical relative.

A Dissociative Group

One group appeared as something to avoid. In the neighborhood chat, a thread mocked parents who bought expensive jogging strollers and never ran with them. The buyer mentioned it twice, saying they did not want to be "that parent." Hoyer et al. (2018) describe dissociative groups as those a consumer wants to be distinguished from. The thread may explain why the buyer chose a mid-priced model, $649, rather than the most expensive one, and why the buyer planned a first run within a week of delivery.

Why the Purchase Happened at Night

The 1:10 a.m. timing is not incidental. With the household asleep, the buyer faced no immediate questions about cost or safety. Utilitarian influence, which depends on others' approval, was weakest at that moment, while the value-expressive pull of the running identity was strongest. Many considered purchases may be completed in such private moments, after the social influence has done its work earlier.

What the Buyer's Account Missed

The buyer believed the decision was independent because no one was asked. But the criteria, ride quality and safety features, came from the sister and the mother; the shortlist came from the neighborhood chat; and the brand's appeal came partly from the daycare rack and the running club. Hoyer et al. (2018) note that consumers often underestimate social influence on their choices, particularly when the influence is indirect.

Implications for the Brand

Support informational influence. Make it easy for owners to share specific, credible information: suspension performance on gravel, brake design and fold size. Owners like the sister are the brand's most trusted salespeople, and a simple referral card in the box, with a discount for the friend, would give them a reason to speak up.

Answer the safety objection. The mother's worry is common. Clear guidance on when babies can ride in a jogging stroller, and safety features shown prominently, would help buyers answer relatives.

Be visible where parents gather. The daycare rack and running trails are public displays. Partnerships with running clubs, for example sponsored family runs, would place the stroller where parent runners can see it in use.

Respect the identity motive. Advertising showing parents returning to running, rather than babies alone, speaks to the value-expressive influence the running club represents.

Limits

The analysis relies on one buyer's recollection, prompted by an interviewer. Some influences may be overstated because the interview asked about them. A survey of jogging stroller buyers asking about each group would test whether this pattern is typical, and whether the sister-like role of an experienced owner in the family appears as often as it did in this case and in the full-size purchase mapped in Unit 2.

References

Bearden, W. O., & Etzel, M. J. (1982). Reference group influence on product and brand purchase decisions. Journal of Consumer Research, 9(2), 183-194. https://doi.org/10.1086/208911

Hoyer, W. D., MacInnis, D. J., & Pieters, R. (2018). Consumer behavior (7th ed.). Cengage.

Park, C. W., & Lessig, V. P. (1977). Students and housewives: Differences in susceptibility to reference group influence. Journal of Consumer Research, 4(2), 102-110. https://doi.org/10.1086/208685