ИСТИНА

The modern level of development of the Russian consumer markets allows to judge that the consumer behaviour appears to be a significant phenomenon of a public life, on the one hand, and a prominent aspect of display of the person, on the other, deserving thereby a close attention of the psychologists. Consumer‘s preferences are often defined as аttitudes to products, goods and services. One of the most widespread - three-componential structure of social attitude includes cognitive, emotional and connotative components. The purpose of our research is the analysis of the dynamics of consumer’s attitudes to hi-tech products in changing social and economic conditions of Russia in the middle of 90th XX-th – beginning of the XXI-st century. As an object of the research were consumer’s attitudes to hi-tech services – to cellular communication and the Internet. The empirical hypothesis of the research was that social and economic changes influence the maintenance of the consumer’s attitudes. The main object of research was the consumer’s behaviour of the inhabitants of the Moscow region of both sexes from 18 till 60 years the total sample more than 4000 persons (subscribers of different operators of cellular communication and providers of Internet-services and potential users – those who have made the decision on connecting and using services at the nearest three months, and being in a stage of a choice of the concrete provider). Research was done by a method of tracking gauging annually from 1996 till 2009 in the end (autumn) of each calendar year. 14 points have been done, each of them consisted of three stages: focus groups; the question revealing attitudes to cellular communication; question revealing attitudes to the Internet. Scale of Laikerta was used to measure аttitudes. Results of the research have shown that the general estimation of the cognitive element of the attitude to cellular communication consistently changed according to growth of the market of services. The general point increased and the maintenance of rational opinions went deep: from basic representation about a cellular telephone, as «a toy for rich people» before, to its definition as «necessary means of communication»; from uncertain understanding of the Internet as a «virtual reality» to ordinary – «an information source about all». The emotional component has undergone more difficult development. Firstly, emotional estimations of subscribers and potential users are difficult. Subscribers show the big involvement into a category, i.e. cellular communication for them is emotionally closer, more clear, than for the people only planning purchase. Accordingly the relation of subscribers to cellular communication is more emotionally sated and is friendly. Secondly, in process of market growth the sign of these estimations changed, the mean score thus remained former. The general negative atitude to a mobile communication at the early stage of development of the market («senseless spending of money») was replaced by the general acceptance of service, as "vital". Thus the quantitative mean score slightly fluctuated year by year and practically has not changed (has moderately increased). An exception were the results of 1998 and 2009 when emotional estimations have sharply decreased: the mean score of these estimations has fallen, the quantity of emotional characteristics of the relation to cellular communication was reduced and their sign has changed. The general direction of dynamics of the consumer attitude to the Internet practically coincides with dynamics of attitude to cellular communication. This is a stable, forward growth of mean scores. However, crises of 1998 and 2009. have made smaller impact on emotional and behavioural component of attitude to the Internet, their quantitative estimations remained at the former level. The cognitive element of attitude to the Internet also has not undergone changes, unlike cognitive element of attitude to the cellular communication, estimations of wich have increased. Possibly, cognitive component of the consumer attitude in a greater degree is connected with the general development of the market of the concrete service, and emotional component more reflects the general emotional condition of the consumers, influence of the social and economic situation. The behavioural component of both attitudes practically repeats dynamics of the emotional, having only lower mean score. This component has appeared to be more influenced by social and economic crises.