Abstract
Content marketing ultimately wants to influence behavior (in the end, especially purchase behavior). Every type of human behavior arises from an intention to act, which in turn arises from attitudes. But the influence of perceived norms and abilities also comes into play. And the MODE model of psychology also shows how attitudes and motivation shape human behavior. By influencing attitudes, motivation, perceived social norms and perceived abilities, content marketing can ultimately change purchase behavior in the short or long term—and thus contribute to the success of marketing.
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Notes
- 1.
The Theory of Planned Behavior is an extension of Icek Ajzen, originally developed by him with Martin Fishbein as Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA, Theory of Reasoned Action; Fishbein and Ajzen 1975), which is often still cited under this name in the literature.
- 2.
“Voluntary” is to be understood here in the sense of targeted behavior, but not as commonly used in colloquial speech as “arbitrary” or “random”. To distinguish between voluntary and involuntary behavior: “Voluntary behavior is directed at a goal. It is activated to create a certain situation. Involuntary behavior is activated because a certain situation exists. Almost all of our behavior is voluntary” (Hoffmann and Engelkamp 2013, p. 40).
- 3.
Note: In the original conception of the Theory of Reasoned Action Fishbein and Ajzen give the formula with an equal sign instead of the proportional sign, thus A = ∑ biei (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975, p. 223). With their—also used in this book—new writing but they make it clear that it is not a mathematical-logical representation of reality, but the symbolic, emblematic representation of the relationship. In addition, it should be noted that this formula does not only occur in connection with the Theory of Reasoned Action (from which it is often quoted, but mainly considered with respect to attitudes to their own behavior), but is already postulated earlier by Fishbein, for. B. in Fishbein 1963.
- 4.
For a more precise distinction of the psychological terms beliefs and knowledge, see, for example, Abelson 1979 as well as Griffin and Ohlsson 2001. In addition, it should be noted that these two terms are used outside psychology with sometimes quite different meanings (e.g. in the sense of subjective belief versus objective truth in philosophy).
- 5.
Psychologically speaking, one lowers the subjectively perceived probability that the relevant assessment of the consequences of the behavior is true. Or more colloquially: The consumer is no longer so sure that this health hazard actually applies or occurs.
- 6.
The terms “automatic” and “spontaneous” should be used here very consciously and not “unconscious”, which must be clearly distinguished for the sake of accuracy. Attitudes can be activated without conscious activity and have an influence on behavior. This can happen unconsciously—that is, without the relevant attitude or its influence coming to the attention of the person concerned. Attitudes can also be activated automatically—without triggering this consciously—but the person concerned can be very aware of it. Therefore, “automatic” and “unconscious” must be understood and used here as two clearly different concepts.
- 7.
The MODE model assumes that attitudes are stored as memory contents. They are understood “as an association in memory between an object and one’s own evaluation of the same” (Olson and Fazio 2009, p. 20). However, it must be pointed out that there are also other definitions in psychology. Although they all understand attitudes as some way of connecting positivity or negativity with an attitude object, they differ in detail as to how this is done. For our focus on the advertising effect of content marketing, this discussion of whether attitudes are memory contents or something else should not be pursued any further and reference should be made to the relevant psychological literature.
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Hörner, T. (2023). How Behavior Arises and Can Be Influenced. In: Advertising Impact and Controlling in Content Marketing. Springer, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40551-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40551-9_5
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