Since the 1970s a coherent theoretical structure has emerged to underpin consumer
research. Although there are still many sub-theories and areas of minor disagreement
(see e.g. Kassarjan and Robertson, 1991) the picture can broadly be summarised as
follows. Consumers are believed to view a service such as a restaurant meal in terms
of a set of attributes: i.e. characteristics that make it desirable, ascribing different
levels of importance to each attribute. For example, one market segment may be
attracted by a restaurant’s low price, another by its food quality, another by its
convenient location, and so on. Consumers weigh up the overall value of an offering
in terms of the degree to which each attribute is present and the importance they see
the attribute as having (attribute-value theory).