Influence of Social Reference Groups on Consumer Buying Behavior: A Review

This paper aims to review the research on and applications of different ways reference groups influence consumer behavior. It provides insights on these influences on consumer segments and across product categories. The review is based on a compilation of studies relevant to the three forms of reference group influences, namely, informational, utilitarian, and value-expressive. The sources reviewed include published academic articles, textbooks/eBooks, and electronic sources from 1941 to 2015. Studies from this period were selected using the keywords “consumer behavior, ” “reference groups, ” “product conspicuousness, ” and other related terms. The paper examines the consumer segments of students, women, young adults, and housewives and concludes that these segments are susceptible to group influences. Different product categories are found to have different levels of conspicuousness, where public luxury products are more susceptible to reference group influence than private necessities.