Means-End Chains Analysis Online
Suzanne C. BeckmannDepartment of Intercultural Communication and Management, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
Morten SchrøderDirector and Partner, Wilke A/S, Denmark.
THE MEANS-END CHAINS APPROACH IN MARKETING RESEARCH
Means-end chains theory recognizes that consumers do not buy products for the product's sake, but for what the product can do for them. The theory relates the product to the consumer by positing a hierarchical cognitive structure involving linkages between attributes of the product, consequences of product use, and personal values of consumers (cf. Gutman, 1982). While attributes are theconcrete, tangiblecharacteristics oftheproduct, consequences refer to what the product...