Abstract

Modern society has been becoming more complex. And that situation have been laying in marketing and advertising area. In today's environment, the consumers are also getting sophisticated. So, marketers are facing many difficulties in understanding consumers' decision in marketing. In this trend, some researchers have been interested in the theory related to consumer decision. That is Means-end chain theory. Especially, the focus of this theory is value and cognitive structure which consumers have in the relation with product or brand.

Means-end chain theroy is and umbrella term that refers to a set of methods for interviewing consumers about the reasons for their decision choice and interpreting consumer's responses in terms of linkages between outcomes(Olson an Reynlods, 2001). And, in th most general means-end formulation, consumers have three levels of product-related knowledge-product attributes, the consequences or outcomes of using a product, and the broad goals or values that may be satisfied by use of that product.

To research consumer's means-end chain in marketing situation the researchers have to use the tool of research like laddering interview. Therefore, the laddering interview is the preferred method for indentifying consumers' means-end chains. Actually, laddering is a method in which respondents describe, freely in their own words, why something is important to them. The qualitative nature of laddering derives from th open-ended response format.

But, sometimes, the features of this open-ended laddering has brought about some pracitcal problems in research methods: (1) the significant time and cost of gathering individal in-depth, means-end(laddering) data; (2) the time and effort required to perform the content analysis of the qualitative responses(steps in the ladders) and the quantitative summaries of the dominant pathways: (3) the lack of any detailed framework or system to translate strategic options as represented in the summary Hierarchical Value Map into a working format for the agency creative staff.

In this point, the purpose of this study is to develop a new closed laddering, using software in on-line, and applying it to marketing and advertising strategy. That is, the development and practical use of a new laddering technique is to overcome the problems of open-ended laddering and contribute to the prosperity of means-end chain theory.

After reviewing the literature and considering research purpose, the following research questions are established.

Research Question ¥°: Do the closed laddering using software have the validity in comparing to the open-ended laddering?

Research Question ¥±: How can the closed laddering using software be used in the practical area in means-end chain theory?

RQ ¥±-1: What is the Hierarchical Value Map of consumers in brands researched with the colsed laddering using software?

RQ ¥±-2: How can the Hierarchical Value Map of consumers researched with the colsed laddering using software be applied into developing advertising strategy?

A new closed laddering software was developed and used for 155 samples of university and college students and empirical data of it was collected and analyzed by SPSS(11.0).

The research results are as follows. First, the frequency order of relations between the open-ended laddering items and software closed laddering items is almost consistent among each levels(attribute-functional consequence-psychological consequence-value) on Hierarchical Value Map. So, the software closed laddering is testified to have the validity in methodology.

Secondly, applied in the results form using software colsed laddering, the Hierarchical Value Map of consumers for 4 brands such as Anycall, Giodano, Krinex, and Minishell is significantly analysed through frequency and correlation analysis among each items of levels(attribute-functional consequence -psychological consequence-value). It means the software closed laddering has the efficiency in applying it to practical use.

Lastly, the application in advertising strategy development which the results of Hierarchical Value Map of consumers for 4 brands are substituted for is proved to have the efficiency. Especially, the results of advertising strategy for 4 brands was different from the subjects' sex. And driving force(value) in 4 brands was almost same. That means the respondents have the same ends. In applying to advertising strategy, it is supported that the software closed laddering has the efficiency.

Although the newly developed software closed laddering has the validity in methodology and efficiency in applying to practice, there are some limitations in this study. Firstly, the research sample was limited to university and college students, so the result of this study could not be generalized. Secondly, the fixed depth response form consumers. Thirdly, although this study use the variable like sex in demographics, this study has the limitation in not applying some various variables to this research. Lastly, because the value items in using the software closed laddering was restricted to the personal values' items, this study has the limitation not to constitute other various value items.

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