Marketing Communications

HIGH ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD, COGNITIVE ATTITUDE FORMATION 89

Based on the TPB model, marketing communicators can try to change consumers’

attitudes and influence their behaviour in several different ways (Figure 3.5). Firstly, they

can try to change brand beliefs. For example, suppose a university has a reputation for

granting degrees too easily and not taking the education task seriously enough. If an

independent quality control committee finds that this university is offering students a good-

quality education, the university might use this conclusion in an advertising campaign in

order to influence existing beliefs. A second possibility is changing attribute evaluations. For

Figure 3.5 Marketing communications and the TORA model

The effectiveness of the TPB model has been shown in a variety of contexts. However, comparisons with more

specific models that are often used in certain research areas are very scarce. Using a combination of real-life

purchase behaviour data and survey information of 634 customers, a recent study compared the TPB with the more

specific Relationship Quality (RQ) model to predict apparel purchases. The RQ or the Satisfaction–Profit Chain

model is one of the most often used models to explain purchase intention and/or behaviour in a non-contractual

customer–firm relationship. It indicates that high levels of relationship quality result in correspondingly high levels

of purchase intention and behaviour.

The results point out that despite the more specific character of the RQ model and the more general character

of the TPB model, the TPB constructs (attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norm and perceived behavioural

control) proved to predict behavioural intentions better than the RQ constructs (trust, commitment and satisfac-

tion). Secondly, the RQ and TPB constructs are fully mediated by behavioural intentions. Thirdly, taking ‘buy–not

buy’ as the dependent variable, intentions had a significant impact on apparel purchase behaviour, above and

beyond the effects of past behaviour. This proves the importance of measuring the TPB constructs, even in situ-

ations when data on past behaviour are available.^53

researCh insight

The explanatory power of the TPB versus the Relationship Quality model in an apparel

context

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