Title: Group cohesiveness and conformity as determinants of choice of promotions - an empirical study

Authors: Vikas Deep; Shashi Kala; Manpreet Kaur

Addresses: University School of Business Studies, Punjabi University Regional Campus, Talwandi Sabo, Punjab, India ' University School of Business Studies, Punjabi University Regional Campus, Talwandi Sabo, Punjab, India ' P.G. Department of Commerce, Gujranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

Abstract: The marketers use promotions of various kinds to enhance the sales of their products. The peer groups can be targeted by the marketers to formulate the behaviour and preferences of consumers. This paper examines the effect of group cohesiveness and group conformity on the choice of hedonic and utilitarian promotions of an individual by conducting a survey on 415 working professionals in large organisations of service sector in Punjab. The two-stage analytical PLS-SEM revealed that the group cohesiveness positively influences hedonic and utilitarian promotions both. Significant positive influence of group conformity was found on hedonic and utilitarian promotions. This paper contributes to the existing literature on peer groups, group cohesiveness, group conformity and choice of promotions. The findings suggest that marketing managers can focus on the peer groups of their prospective customers by having deep knowledge of the social influences revolving around working professionals.

Keywords: freebies; hedonic; group cohesiveness; group conformity; sales promotions; utilitarian.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2024.137396

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2024 Vol.36 No.2/3, pp.276 - 293

Received: 06 Apr 2020
Accepted: 16 Jul 2020
Published online: 18 Mar 2024 *

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