Prioritizing Dimensions of Consumer Value through Consumer Capital

Abstract

The awareness that an up-to-date consumer is characterized by a number of relatively new features has fostered research on value marketing. However, there is a lack of research focused on the dimensions of consumer value through more universal and, at the same time, more latent factors. Therefore, this paper is aimed at supplementing the gamut of existing segmentation techniques by substantiating that consumer capital contributes to prioritizing dimensions of consumer value.

The relevance of consumer capital to dimensions of consumer value is based on the synthesis of the theoretical approaches of a social agent and a new consumer. Decomposition, logical deduction and induction were applied in order to enable the synthesis. Thus, the article is interdisciplinary due to the combination of a sociological theory with a marketing-oriented object. Further on, certain types of consumer capital were interrelated with certain dimensions of consumer value through a combination of two methods - poorly known water logic and widely-spread factor analysis. The instrumental data was collected through a two-stage quantitative survey.

The results reveal that consumers prioritize certain dimensions of consumer value in accordance with a combination of three types of consumer capital possessed: economic, social and cultural. Provided the knowledge about the texture of economic, social and cultural capital of a target group is acquired, certain dimensions of consumer value can be emphasized, while the other ones should be leveled down. Hence, the article is a solid input into the development of a less revealed approach to value marketing. Nevertheless, the approach does not claim for conceptual completeness and is open for refinement.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ss.71.2.536