Attitudes in Action

Many of us have encountered various attitudes in our everyday lives. Recently, I visited a pharmacy at a shopping mall to buy toiletries. The salesgirl went out of her way to show me all the different brands of liquid soaps and facial washes on the store shelves. She was chatty and had a smiling face. I left the store happy with a good brand of facial wash at a reasonable price, concluding that she was a good salesperson due to her positive attitude.

In contrast, as a lecturer, I sometimes encounter students with abysmal attitudes, stubbornly refusing to amend written chapters that could lead to improved writing. Similarly, a local newspaper reported on social media about a government office employee who was preoccupied with his phone instead of tending to a visitor. These examples highlight the importance of a good work attitude, which cannot be underestimated.

We sometimes use the word “attitude” generically, saying, “He/She has an attitude!” implying that their attitude leaves much to be desired. But what exactly are attitudes?

Defining Attitudes

Attitude is an individual’s predisposition to react with a degree of favorableness or unfavorableness to an object, behaviour, person, institution or event (Azjen, 1993). This means that we can like or dislike, enjoy or do not enjoy, or feel positively or negatively, towards something – such as watching a Netflix movie, owning a Louis Vuitton handbag, or taking a walk in the park.

According to Azjen (1993), our attitudes stem from our beliefs about an object. We form our attitudes by associating the object with certain attributes or characteristics. For example, if a student stubbornly refuses to make corrections in their work, it can be seen as an indication that they are not serious learners.

This shows that behaviour often stems from attitudes. However, behaviour doesn’t always indicate attitude.

The Complexity of Attitudes

Attitudes are complex constructs consisting of three dimensions: cognitive (involving our perceptions of information towards the object), affective (involving our feelings towards the object), and conative (involving our intentions towards the object).

Attitudes can be expressed verbally (e.g., “I like eating Magnum ice-cream on a hot day”) and non-verbally (e.g., frowning when a colleague is habitually late for a meeting). However, attitudes can be easier to change than, say, our personal values.

Attitudes and Marketing

Marketers often aim to change attitudes to be more positive and favourable towards brands and products. They usually employ a number of tactics, such as getting an attractive spokesperson to endorse a brand or product, which could attract more buyers.

They might also offer product guarantees and warranties, which could lessen buyers’ perceived risks.

And with digitalisation, many marketers now use interactive tools like chatbots and product reviews on social media to obtain continuous feedback from customers and sway attitudes towards the brand.

Conclusion

To sum up, attitudes can indicate an intention to behave in a certain way. However, these intentions do not necessarily translate into actual behaviour. Understanding and influencing attitudes is essential in both personal interactions and professional fields such as marketing.

Reference

Ajzen, I. (1993). Attitude Theory and the Attitude-Behavior Relation. In D. Krebs, & P. Schidt (Eds.), New Directions in Attitude Measurement (pp. 41-57). Berlin, New York.