Multi-attribute models and Soft drinks

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the theoretical knowledge of attitudes and their measurements and practical consumer behavior when buying soft drinks. The paper intends to test the theoretical multi-attribute models on the behavior of consumers. The consumer attitude is important to the process of buying, because it relates to what an individual thinks feels or do about a product, brand, shop, company, idea or anotherperson. Whether the consumer will decide to buy a product or not depends on his attitude. Although attitudes are quite stable, they can be learned over time, through experience, word-of-mouth, Internet, mass media, catalogs and etc. In theory, there are different models for measuring consumer attitudes, but this paper focuses on multi-attribute attitude models, like Fishbein model, Theory of reasoned action, Theory of planned behavior, Model of Goal-directed behavior and Ideal Point model of Reference. These models will help to understand how consumers imagine the “ideal” soft drink and how they evaluate existing brands in the beverage market. However, the major finding is that although the researchers have used multi-attribute models for many years, they have a considerable drawback that cannot predict consumer behavior. They help in identifying person's attitude, but they are not a good predictor of their behavior.