CHAPTER 4
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. According to the text which one of the following statements is false?
a. Many service firms continue to be operations dominated rather than customer
oriented.
b. Consumer orientation lies at the heart of the marketing concept.
c. Researchers clearly understand how consumers make decisions.
d. Differences exist between the way consumers make decisions regarding
services versus goods.
e. All the above statements are true.
2. The consumer decision process consists of:
a. stimulus, problem awareness, and purchase stages
b. prepurchase, consumption, and postpurchase stages
c. problem awareness, evaluation of alternatives, and postpurchase behavior
d. stimulus, information search, and postpurchase behavior
e. information search, purchase, and postpurchase behavior
3. The prepurchase stage consists of all of the following activities except for:
a. the approach
b. problem awareness
c. information search
d. stimulus
e. evaluation of alternatives
4. Consumers determine a shortage or unfulfilled desire exists during which stage
of the consumer decision process.
a. problem awareness
b. information search
c. evaluation of alternatives
d. postpurchase evaluation
e. the choice stage
5. Multiattribute models are used most during which stage of the consumer
decision process.
a. stimulus evaluation
b. problem awareness
c. information search
d. consumption stage
e. evaluation of alternatives
6. Bill’s parents finally convinced him to get a haircut. Bill’s decision process was
prompted by a:
a. physical cue
b. psychological cue
c. pressure cue
d. social cue
e. commercial cue
7. Which of the following is NOT an example of an external search for college
selection?
a. campus visit
b. consumer’s own memories
c. talking to friends
d. reading college magazines
e. asking professor questions
8. During the evaluation of alternatives stage, consumers sometime rely on their
“gut-level feelings.” This type of decision making is called:
a. the lexicographic approach
b. a systematic approach
c. a nonsystematic approach
d. the linear compensatory approach
e. the evoked set approach
9. Using a linear compensatory approach and the information below, which car
rental firm should be selected:
Attribute Avis Hertz Budget Alamo Importance
Price 9 9 10 8 10
Courtesy 7 6 9 9 8
Selection 10 10 7 8 7
Location 10 10 8 8 9
(10 = best/most; 1 = worst/least)
a. Avis
b. Hertz
c. Budget
d. Alamo
e. each customer’s choice will differ based on their gut-level feelings.
10. Using a lexicographic approach and the information below, which car rental
firm should be selected:
Attribute Avis Hertz Budget Alamo Importance
Price 9 9 10 8 10
Courtesy 7 6 9 9 8
Selection 10 10 7 8 7
Location 10 10 8 8 9
(10 = best/most; 1 = worst/least)
a. Avis
b. Hertz
c. Budget
d. Alamo
e. each customer’s choice will differ based on their gut-level feelings.
11. Using a nonsystematic approach and the information below, which car rental
firm should be selected:
Attribute Avis Hertz Budget Alamo Importance
Price 9 9 10 8 10
Courtesy 7 6 9 9 8
Selection 10 10 7 8 7
Location 10 10 8 8 9
(10 = best/most; 1 = worst/least)
a. Avis
b. Hertz
c. Budget
d. Alamo
e. each customer’s choice will differ based on their gut-level feelings.
12. During which stage of the consumer decision process does acquisition,
production and consumption become an entangled process.
a. the prepurchase stage
b. the consumption stage
c. the postpurchase stage
d. the information search stage
e. the problem awareness stage
13. The _____ is the last step in the consumer decision process.
a. postpurchase stage
b. positioning stage
c. problem identification stage
d. prepurchase stage
e. consumption stage
14. According to the text, which one of the following is a type of perceived risk?
a. financial risk
b. performance risk
c. social risk
d. psychological risk
e. all of the above
15. Co-producer risk is directly related to the concept of ______.
a. intangibility
b. heterogeneity
c. inseparability
d. perishability
e. nonstandardization
16. Which of the following statements is not true?
a. service purchases are perceived as riskier than goods purchases
b. the participation of the consumer in the service process increases the
amount of perceived risk
c. the variability in services increases the perceived risk associated with the
purchase.
d. consumers of services have less prepurchase information versus goods
e. services are primarily characterized by search attributes
17. Attributes such as price, fit, and feel are called:
a. experience
b. credence
c. clearwater
d. revival
e. search
18. Services are primarily characterized by
a. search attributes
b. experience attributes
c. credence attributes
d. a and b
e. b and c
19. The reason services have few search attributes is primarily attributed to:
a. inseparability
b. heterogeneity
c. intangibility
d. perishability
e. nonstandardization
20. Which of the following statements is not correct?
a. Service consumers are more brand loyal
b. Personal sources of information are more important to service consumers
versus nonpersonal sources
c. Service consumers have fewer alternatives to consider
d. Self-service is a viable alternative for many services
e. Customers always prefer customized services to standardized services
21. Service consumers tend to be more brand loyal than goods consumers
because _____.
a. More choices are available.
b. Brand loyalty lowers the amount of perceived risk.
c. Each service provider provides many brands.
d. The prices of their main provider are usually less expensive.
e. Location of the provider is the major driver in the consumer selection process.
22. The costs associated with changing from one provider to another are referred to
as:
a. performance costs
b. economic costs
c. selection costs
d. switching costs
e. financial costs
23. The switching costs associated with the time it takes simply thinking about
making a change in service providers is called:
a. emotional costs
b. cognitive costs
c. learning costs
d. performance costs
e. customer habit costs
24. Switching costs generally associated with changing from one service provider to
another include all of the following except for:
a. performance costs
b. loyal customer discounts
c. emotional costs
d. cognitive costs
e. search costs
25. When changing dentists, the patient was required to pay for a new set of X-rays.
This type of switching costs is referred to as:
a. performance costs
b. loyal customer discounts
c. emotional costs
d. cognitive costs
e. transaction costs
26. Consumers of services tend to rely on personal sources of information
more than nonpersonal sources for all of the following reasons except:
a. Many service providers are small and lack the resources or expertise to
use nonpersonal sources
b. Opinion leaders play an important role in the purchase of services.
c. Due to intangibility, mass media is an effective tool for communicating
with service consumers.
d. The use of personal sources reduces the risk associated with the
purchase.
e. Professional restrictions may limit the use of nonpersonal sources of information
in some service sectors.
27. With regards to the number of service alternatives available, which of the
following statements is false?
a. Consumers are aware of fewer alternatives because less prepurchase
information is available.
b. Self-service, in some instances, is a viable alternative.
c. In general, individual service providers tend to offer only one brand of service
d. The evoked set for services is smaller.
e. All the above statements are correct.
28. Which of the following statements about the consumption stage of the consumer
decision process for services is not correct?
a. The activities of buying, using, and disposing occur in a definite order and have
clear boundaries between them.
b. The concept of disposal is irrelevant with regards to services.
c. The consumption stage is more complex for services than goods.
d. Consumer evaluation of the service occurs during and after consumption.
e. Service marketers are able to change consumer evaluations during the service
encounter.
29. Postpurchase models attempt to describe the process by which consumers
evaluate their purchase decisions. Which of the following models evaluates
services by comparing expectations with perceptions?
a. the role congruence model
b. the perceived-control model
c. the expectancy disconfirmation model
d. the script perspective
e. the Servuction model
30. The postpurchase model in which consumers evaluate services by the amount of
influence they have over the service encounter is:
a. the role congruence model
b. the perceived-control model
c. the expectancy disconfirmation model
d. the script perspective
e. the Servuction model
31. The postpurchase model which is based on the idea that in a service encounter,
customers and employees perform roles, and that satisfaction is a function of
role congruence—where actual behaviors are consistent with expected roles is
called:
a. the dissonance model
b. the perceived-control model
c. the expectancy disconfirmation model
d. the script perspective
e. the Servuction model
32. What type of control has the ability to control what is actually going on?
a. Behavioral control
b. Cognitive control
c. Service control
d. Perception of control
e. None of the above
33. Roles differ from scripts in that roles are:
a. extra-individual
b. intra-individual
c. capable of being modified through training
d. modified over time with experience
e. flexible.
34. Scripts differ from roles in that scripts are:
a. extra-individual
b. inflexible
c. written
d. intra-individual
e. performed by both employees and customers
35. Scripts differ from roles in that:
a. scripts also concern the impact of the service setting
b. scripts and roles are terms used to describe the same subject
c. roles are intra-individual
d. scripts are extra-individual
e. scripts cannot be modified via training and experience
SHORT-ANSWER ESSAYS
36. Explain the relevance of search, experience, and credence attributes as they
apply to services? Explain.
37. Discuss the special considerations about services during the prepurchase
stage of the consumer decision process.
38. Discuss the special considerations about services during the consumption
stage of the consumer decision process.
39. Discuss the special considerations about services during the postchoice
stage of the consumer decision process.
40. Describe models that attempt to explain the consumer’s postpurchase
evaluation.
41. Explain why consumers of services tend to be more brand loyal.