The main objective of this research is to identify and describe the associative relationships among personal values, benefits, and attributes perceived by midgrade gasoline consumers. The laddering interview technique was used to access consumers' cognitive structure. Hence, it was possible to identify 5 attributes, 22 benefits, and 13 personal values. The inter-relationships among these elements were represented in a Hierarchical Value Map (HVM), from which eight different groups of midgrade gasoline consumers were identified. The analysis of motivations behind the mentioned personal values revealed that a relevant part of the option for midgrade gasoline is related to the search for stability and conservation, which suggests the existence of a niche market that can be explored by fuel companies. From those and other findings, managerial implications and suggestions for future studies were presented.
Means-End Chain Theory; Personal values; Consumer behavior; Midgrade gasoline; Laddering
