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Time Will Tell: The Distant Appeal of Promotion and Imminent Appeal of Prevention
Abstract
What types of products are preferred when the purchase is immediate versus off in the distant future? Three experiments address this question by examining the influence of temporal perspective on evaluations of regulatory-framed products. The results reveal that when a purchase is about to be made, consumers prefer prevention- (vs. promotion-) framed products-an effect that is driven by the pain anticipated from potentially failing one's looming purchasing goal. When a purchase is temporally distant, however, promotion- (vs. prevention-) framed products become more appealing-an effect that is driven by the anticipated pleasure from achieving one's distant purchasing goal. Implications for the psychology of self-regulation, anticipated affect, and willpower are discussed. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..
... Pennington and Roese (2003) show that people are more motivated by accomplishing positive outcomes (avoiding negative outcomes) associated with an event when they perceive the event to be remote (proximal). Mogilner et al. (2008) also find that positively (negatively) framed product claims are more persuasive when people imagine purchasing the product in the distant (near) future. Further, White et al. (2011) report that persuasive messages that invoked abstract (concrete) processing were more effective when framed positively (negatively). ...
... If indeed a state of psychological distance may get activated on account of such spatial cues in a shopping environment, extrapolating from the research by Pennington and Roese (2003), Mogilner et al. (2008), and White et al. (2011) (described in detail above in subsection 3.2), it may be argued that this activated state of psychological distance likely influences consumer response to subsequently presented conditional promotions characterized by gain-framed or loss-framed incentives. ...
... Like the psychological distance literature, prior literature on framing effects is also vast (e.g., Eyal et al. 2004;Herzog et al. 2007;Levin et al. 1998;Mogilner et al. 2008 . 2011) and largely corroborates the Prospect Theory based prediction that loss-framing would be more effective than gainframing in incentivizing consumers because of the negativity bias and the steeper nature of value function in loss domain compared to gain domain. ...
Conditional promotions are designed to entice consumers to increase their basket sizes to meet a preset promotional threshold. In this research, we examine consumers' basket sizes, promotional thresholds, incentive framing and seemingly irrelevant cues in shopping environment as the factors that may jointly influence the effectiveness of a conditional promotion in inducing shoppers to increase their basket sizes. Our findings from five studies demonstrate that (i) the difference between basket sizes and promotional thresholds or seemingly irrelevant cues in shopping environment may induce an experience of psychological distance, (ii) the experience of psychological distance may interact with incentive framing to influence consumers' search likelihood in response to a conditional promotion such that psychological proximity (remoteness) leads to higher search likelihood in response to negatively (positively) framed incentives. We found that this effect is consistent across studies with different values of basket sizes and promotional thresholds and across behavioral and self‐reported measures representing search likelihood.
... Drawing on life-span theory and regulatory-framing literature, we show in both controlled and field settings that for older consumers, marketing communication should stress a new product's benefits as a means to preventing deterioration of the status quo-that is, employ prevention-framed (as opposed to promotion-framed) claims (Mogilner et al., 2008). Resonating with older consumers' maintenance orientation (Cole et al., 2008), such claims can mitigate perceptions of disruption and foster information processing (Aaker & Lee, 2001). ...
... We propose that communication that is congruent with the mastery goal of maintenance orientation can shift older consumers' perception from the salience of disruption-induced inconvenience to the potential benefits of new product alternatives. In this respect, product claims may employ different frames to emphasize the benefit of a product, inducing either prevention-focused or promotion-focused goals (Crowe & Higgins, 1997;Mogilner et al., 2008). Promotion claims use words that highlight a product's ability to achieve positive outcomes, while prevention claims point to the ability to avoid negative outcomes. ...
... Instead of sparing out older consumers from the analysis of adoption behavior, we explicitly account for the potentially differing motivational drivers of interest in new products across the life span by introducing life-span theory to the new product adoption context. In doing so, we contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the effects of regulatory framing (e.g., Mogilner et al., 2008), taking up the notion by Cole et al. (2008, p. 357) that "these theories [life-span theories] and findings suggest a clear but as yet unexplored connection with regulatory focus theory." ...
For firms facing an aging society, substantial adoption gaps that often exist for new product alternatives between older and younger consumers pose a significant challenge. To examine the root cause of this phenomenon, our research draws on life‐span theory and is based empirically on a set of studies involving 2050 participants in both field and controlled settings. As a first contribution, we show that, in contrast to growth‐oriented younger consumers, older consumers exhibit lower levels of novelty seeking because of their relatively higher prioritization of maintenance goals. This predisposition leads older consumers to perceive the inconvenience induced by the possible behavior change associated with purchasing new (vs. established) products in a given category as more salient than potential benefit gains. In comparison, younger consumers perceive benefit gains to be more salient. For established product alternatives with familiar benefits, there is no such clear age‐related difference. As a second contribution, we propose easy‐to‐implement adaptations of the communication strategy to address this issue, and we examine the effectiveness of these adaptations in a field study at the point‐of‐purchase. Specifically, since prevention‐framed (vs. promotion‐framed) claims are more compatible with older consumers' maintenance orientation, they can increase the salience of benefit gains over behavior change for new product alternatives and foster older consumers' product‐related information behaviors and new product consideration. These results have important implications for researchers and managers as they refine the understanding of older consumers' acceptance of new products.
... The two foci are based on a fundamental principle that individuals tend to approach pleasure and avoid pain (Higgins 1997;Lee et al. 2019). Both foci motivate people to attain goals but serve as different means during goal striving (Mogilner, Aaker, and Pennington 2008). To date, regulatory focus has been extensively investigated as message frames in various advertising and persuasion contexts, such as anti-smoking ads (Kim 2006), anti-high-risk driving ads (Park and Morton 2015;Sar and Anghelcev 2015), metaphorical ads (Lee et al. 2019), and green advertising (Kareklas, Carlson, and Muehling 2012). ...
... Previous studies have suggested that the effects of regulatory focus vary by advertising and marketing contexts. Promotion-framed product claims are more appealing to consumers who are deciding for the distant future, whereas prevention-framed ones are more effective to consumers who are deciding for the near future (Mogilner, Aaker, and Pennington 2008). Moreover, promotion-framed advertising messages perform better for hedonic products, sensory experiences, and impulsive purchases (Lee et al. 2019;Roy and Phau 2014), while prevention-framed advertising messages are more compatible with utilitarian products, practical experiences, and careful and elaborated decision making (Lee et al. 2019;Roy and Phau 2014). ...
... Further, the present research contributes to the literature on message framing by investigating the effect of message-induced regulatory focus in advertising (e.g., Kim 2006;Park and Morton 2015;Sar and Anghelcev 2015;Wu and Dodoo 2020). As fundamental motivational orientations, regulatory focus as message frames directs attention to different aspects and exert an impact on consumer information processing and decision-making (Higgins 1997;Mogilner, Aaker, and Pennington 2008). This research is the first to uncover how regulatory focus interplays with color in affecting advertising effectiveness. ...
Brands have been increasingly speaking up on sociopolitical issues (so-called brand activism advertising) to showcase their nonneutrality and drive meaningful societal changes. Yet little is known about how brands can strategize brand activism advertising to effectively engage consumers and benefit companies. Drawing upon the frameworks of transcendent media experiences, color, and message framing theory, this research examines the interplay between a visual element (i.e., image color: black-and-white [BW] versus color) and a verbal element (i.e., message framing: promotion framed versus prevention framed) in the effectiveness of brand activism advertising. Across two experiments, we found that brand activism ads that use BW (versus color) images, when paired with promotion-framed (versus prevention-framed) messages, led to more favorable attitudes toward the ads and elicited higher purchase intentions. We argue that brand activism ads trigger consumers’ transcendent experiences to a varying degree and identify consumers’ perceived inspiration upon viewing the ads as an underlying psychological mechanism. These findings advance current literature by examining brand activism advertising from the perspective of transcendent experiences and explicating the key factors and mechanism that affect consumer experiences and advertising effectiveness.
... Several studies have shown that prevention-focused messages are likely to be more effective in the near future than promotionfocused messages because consumers will focus on the pain they experience if they do not achieve their desired goals, whereas promotion-focused messages are more effective in the distant future than prevention-focused messages because consumers will focus on the pleasure they obtain from achieving their purchase goals (A. Y. Lee et al., 2010;Liviatan et al., 2008;Mogilner et al., 2008;Park & Morton, 2015;Pennington & Roese, 2003). For example, A. Y. Lee et al. (2010) found that people with a promotion focus showed a more positive attitude toward the product when they were exposed to a high-level construal message, whereas people with a prevention focus showed a more positive attitude toward the product when exposed to a low-level construal message. ...
... For example, A. Y. Lee et al. (2010) found that people with a promotion focus showed a more positive attitude toward the product when they were exposed to a high-level construal message, whereas people with a prevention focus showed a more positive attitude toward the product when exposed to a low-level construal message. Mogilner et al. (2008) also found that while product messages framed with a promotion focus are more persuasive when the time of purchase is in the distant future, product messages framed with a prevention focus are more persuasive when the time of purchase is in the near future. Liviatan et al. (2008) showed that while prevention-focused messages were more appropriate when the social distance was close, promotion-focused messages were more appropriate when the social distance was greater. ...
... This is because promotionfocused consumers are more suited to high-level messages with greater social distance (A. Y. Lee et al., 2010;Liviatan et al., 2008;Mogilner et al., 2008;Park & Morton, 2015;Pennington & Roese, 2003), and celebrities with greater social distance enable highlevel construals. Moreover, promotion-focused consumers are, by definition, more likely to focus on the benefits, ideals, and achievements of the product itself rather than on those who deliver the message (Aaker & Lee, 2001;Chernev, 2004;Higgins, 1997). ...
Companies often use influencers to promote their products, and many celebrities have expanded their activities on social media as influencers. In this work, we classified influencers into celebrity and noncelebrity groups and analyzed how they affect consumers' purchase intention. We also analyzed how psychological variables, such as regulatory focus and perceived authenticity affect this process. We conducted three studies with consumers in China, South Korea, and the United States who participated in each between‐subjects experiment. The results showed that people have higher purchase intention for products recommended by noncelebrity influencers than those recommended by celebrity influencers. We also found that regulatory focus moderates the relationship between the influencer type and consumers' purchase intention. Purchase intention for products recommended by noncelebrity influencers were stronger among prevention‐focused consumers. However, no significant difference in the effect of influencer type was found among promotion‐focused consumers. We found that perceived authenticity mediated this moderating effect. The results of this study provide effective marketing strategies and implications for companies when they use influencers as a tool for marketing activities.
... To manipulate participants' regulatory focus regarding vacation accommodation purchases, we adapted the manipulation from Mogilner et al. (2008) and Jiang et al. (2020) to fit the Airbnb consumption context. In the promotion-focused (prevention-focused) condition, participants were prompted to think of a property that would help bring about a desirable home-stay outcome (e.g., coziness) (promotion focus) or to think of a property that would help prevent an undesirable home-stay outcome (e.g., uncleanness) (prevention focus). ...
... Participants rated (1) how painful it would be to not fulfill their accommodation goal on Airbnb (1 = not at all painful, 7 = very painful) and (2) how pleasurable it would be to fulfill your homestay goal on Airbnb (1 = not at all pleasurable, 7 = very pleasurable). Based on the assumption that it is more painful to not fulfill a homestay-related minimal consumptive goal than to not fulfill a maximal consumptive goal (Mogilner et al., 2008), the first gauged the potential relinquishment to a minimal goal fulfillment underlying the importance of prevention-framed purchasing, while the second assessed participants' hope for maximal goal fulfillment. The manipulation of regulatory focus was successful in that participants in the promotion-focused condition (M pro = 5.186, M pre = 3.044, t = 8.895, p < 0.001) put greater emphasis on home-staying ideals versus worries than those in the prevention-focused condition (M pro = 2.953, M pre = 4.833; t = −7.800, ...
The growing competition for Airbnb properties is making their visual appeal increasingly important. Drawing from the elaboration likelihood model theory, this study aims to investigate the impact of Airbnb cover photo shot-scale presentation on consumer decisions (i.e., click-through and booking intention). Four experiments were conducted focusing on consumers’ click-through and booking intentions with different experimental stimuli. In particular, the results of Study 1 ( N = 239) demonstrated the interaction effect of shot-scale presentation and regulatory focus, showing that consumers’ promotion focus (vs prevention focus) increases their click-through and booking intentions for panoramic (vs close-range) cover photo. Study 2 ( N = 176) replicated the findings of Study 1 by manipulating consumers’ regulatory focus as a state. Study 3 ( N = 201) revealed the mediation role of the depth of information processing between the interaction effect and consumers’ click-through and booking intentions. Study 4 ( N = 260) further conducted a robustness check to confirm the reliability of the findings. This research bridges photography and hospitality visual marketing literature, enriches theories on visual persuasion and marketing, and offers hosts and platform suggestions on how to use shot-scale to facilitate consumers’ decisions.
... For example, consumers with a chronic promotion focus can temporarily become prevention focused when they view the introduction of a product in terms of avoiding the required risk and negative outcomes. In fact, both academia and industry manipulate consumers' regulatory focus by framing products with different claims through introductions, features, and functions [47]. A similar method has been applied in the field of app promotion. ...
... We manipulated the advertising slogan typefaces in app icons by presenting two painting app icons with the same slogan ("Wonderful pen with the flowers gown" in Chinese) but using two different typefaces [53] in this study (see Appendix 1). In addition, participants' regulatory focus was manipulated by describing the app as either preventing negative outcomes (prevention focus condition) or achieving positive outcomes (promotion focus condition) [39,47]. Participants with a promotion focus would see an app with the following introduction: "This app provides multiple free tools to paint wonderful work, this app can realize your dream of being a painter." ...
With the popularization of smartphones, various types of mobile applications (apps) have been integrated into every aspect of people’s lives. Recently, the insertion of advertising slogans into app icons has become a new promotional method. Accordingly, this research examines the influence of advertising slogan typefaces in app icons on the downloads of consumers with different regulatory focuses. Specifically, the results of two studies demonstrate that consumers with a greater promotion (prevention) focus have a stronger download intention toward apps with handwritten (machine-written) typefaces in advertising slogans in their app icons. Moreover, this effect is mediated by consumers’ risk perceptions regarding app services or functions, and the effect of time pressure as a boundary condition is emphasized. Our findings thus not only contribute to the literature concerning symbolic association, typeface inference, and regulatory focus but also highlight the risk of using handwritten typefaces and provide operational methods that can be applied to increase download intentions.
... The PCAOB's chairman, Erica Williams, similarly noted-after the PCAOB had detected "many deficiencies (in work performed by component auditors in China)"-"now we can go about the work of holding firms accountable and driving audit quality and that's what we're going to do" (Maurer, 2023). through reasoned action, and a prevention focus message is unlikely to have a significant impact on their judgment (Förster & Higgins, 2005;Lee et al., 2010;Mogilner et al., 2008). In the context of an audit, we anticipate that when low-level construals are activated through the use of detailed instructions, component auditors will exhibit higher quality evidence collection when they are provided with a responsibility prompt, compared to when such a prompt is absent. ...
... In general, "regulatory fit" is defined as the enhanced motivational intensity that occurs when a match exists between an individual's goal orientation and the individual's means to sustain the goal orientation (Aaker & Lee, 2006). 5 In our context, it refers to the fit between component auditors' goal orientation (e.g., a prevention focus to sustain obligation and responsibility) and the manner in which component auditors pursue the goal orientation (e.g., instructions that prime low-level construals; Förster & Higgins, 2005;Lee et al., 2010;Mogilner et al., 2008). ...
Regulators have raised concerns about the quality of component auditors' work. Of particular concern is that component auditors often do not adequately perform procedures and gather enough quality evidence. This failure is likely caused by component auditors' different interpretations of lead auditor instructions and by their lack of responsibility. Our interview findings suggest that component auditors tend to interpret lead auditor instructions concretely because they often receive detailed instructions from lead auditors. We propose that a responsibility prompt reminding component auditors to be aware of their obligations to the group audit engagement can improve their evidence collection. In two experiments, we find that our proposed responsibility prompt can effectively improve component auditors' evidence collection decisions and that this finding holds across different cultural settings. Our third experiment provides evidence that a responsibility prompt improves component auditors' evidence collection when provided to auditors who receive instructions that prime low‐level (but not high‐level) construals. Overall, our findings suggest that prompting component auditors to internalize the responsibility of a group audit engagement is a viable way to improve the quality of group audits.
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... In a low distance, the focus falls on concrete and utilitarian aspects. The high psychological distance and promotion focus share similar features, while those with prevention focus is assimilated to the assumptions of low psychological distance (Pennington and Roese, 2003;Mogilner et al., 2008). ...
... Nevertheless, when a purchase is proximal, consumers tend to prefer products related to security, and hence, described in a low distance in a way to reduce any discomfort resulting from the purchase. On the other hand, in a distal situation, products related to hedonic are more attractive to consumers (Mogilner et al., 2008). However, low-income consumer seems to present a peculiar feature, because they consume more than high-income consumers (Fisher et al., 2020). ...
Purpose
This study aims to further analyse the decision-making process of low-income consumer from an emerging market by verifying the influence of regulatory focus and construal level theory on indebtedness.
Design/methodology/approach
An experimental study was carried out with a design 2 (regulatory focus: promotion vs prevention) × 2 (psychological distance: high vs low) between subjects, with 140 low-income consumers.
Findings
Our study points out that the propensity towards indebtedness of low-income consumer is higher in a distal psychological distance. We found that promotion and prevention groups have the same propensity to indebtedness. Moreover, we highlight that low-income consumers are prone to propensity to indebtedness due to taking decisions focused on the present with an abstract mindset.
Social implications
Financial awareness advertisements should focus on providing more concrete strategies in order to reduce decision-making complexity and provide ways to reduce competing situations that could deplete self-regulation resources. Also, public policy should organize educational programs to increase the low-income consumer's ability to deal with personal finances and reduce this task complexity. Finally, educational financial programs should also incorporate psychology professionals to teach mindfulness techniques applied to financial planning.
Originality/value
This study is the first to consider regulatory focus and construal level to explain low-income indebtedness. This paper provides a deeper analysis of the low-income consumers' decision process. Also, it supports and guides future academic and decision-making efforts.
... Messages can somewhat easily cultivate positive attitudes towards the brand or message; however, shaping behavioral intentions is notably more complex, as it requires individuals to believe in the messages' convincing and compelling nature. Consequently, researchers have highlighted the crucial role of perceived message persuasiveness in the persuasion process to facilitate behavioral change (Mogilner et al., 2008;Oinas-Kukkonen, 2010;Pounders et al., 2015). Based on the preceding discussion, this study posits that message persuasiveness, influenced by social norms and temporal framing, positively impacts both purchase and pro-environmental behavioral intentions. ...
Purpose
To enhance the effectiveness of environmental cause-related marketing (CRM) message design, this study identifies two key factors: descriptive social norms (provincial vs general) and temporal framing (near-future vs distant-future). Drawing upon construal level theory, it examined the synergy between the type of social norms and suitable temporal framing, matched at similar construal levels, to optimize CRM’s impact by positively influencing consumer purchase intentions and engagement in environmentally sustainable behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
A full factorial 2 × 2 online experiment was conducted.
Findings
The findings showed that aligning message elements at a low level of construal significantly increases message persuasiveness, enhancing purchase intentions and pro-environmental behaviors. Conversely, matching elements at high levels of construal does not necessarily lead to synergistic effects. Notably, misaligned message elements – where one operates at a higher construal level and the other at a lower level – can generate cognitive resistance, potentially leading to adverse backlash effects. Messages that paired provincial norms with distant future framing were deemed least persuasive, resulting in diminished purchase intentions and pro-environmental behaviors.
Originality/value
This study refines approaches in environmental CRM by illustrating that descriptive social norms alone do not achieve desired impacts. It emphasizes aligning message elements at a low construal level to boost effectiveness and synergistic outcomes. The research also highlights a need to critically reassess matching effects at higher construal levels, thus enriching environmental CRM message strategies.
... Second, this research deepens the understanding of the role regulatory focus and flow experience play in shaping consumer preferences and behaviors. For regulatory focus, previous research primarily establishes the interactive relationship between regulatory focus and other factors (Mogilner et al., 2008;Zhang & Yang, 2015;Hoffman et al., 2016). We attempt to explain the role of regulatory focus from another perspective as a mediator between e-commerce channels and advertising appeals. ...
An increasing number of enterprises are adopting a dual-channel business strategy that combines short video e-commerce with traditional e-commerce in their online activities. Previous research on advertising appeals has primarily focused on ad content, products, and consumers. However, the lack of attention given to shopping channels raises a question for the retail industry: How can enterprises create differentiated ads that cater to the needs of consumers in different channels? Across three studies, this research builds upon the regulatory focus theory to demonstrate that consumers on e-commerce platforms, as opposed to short video platforms, are more likely to adopt a prevention-focused mindset rather than a promotion-focused one and vice versa. This positive consumer response arises from the flow experience generated by the regulatory fit between e-commerce channels and advertising appeals. The findings of this research offer both theoretical and practical contributions to the realms of marketing and e-commerce.
... For instance, thinking about the scarcity of time before a task would bring the stress of immediate time pressure, while thinking about the scarcity of time remaining in one's life may motivate people to seek more emotionally meaningful pursuits. Mogilner et al. (2008) called on scholars to explore what features of time reminder may lead people to think in a utilitarian way versus an emotional way. The current research aims to shed some light on this issue. ...
Time is an abstract concept which could induce varying connotations in different situations. Previous research mainly emphasized that the concept of time elicits emotional meanings. In the current research, we propose that time is a multifaceted concept and different formats of time may induce different mindsets, which lead to different downstream behavioral consequences. Specifically, except for emotional beliefs, some specific form of time may sometimes activate beliefs about attainment of economic utility. Across two experimental studies, the current research demonstrates that digital (vs. analog) clock is more likely to induce a utilitarian (vs. emotional) mindset, which leads to less (vs. more) donations (both time and money) to charities. It also finds that near future time (vs. distant future time) is more likely to activate a utilitarian (vs. emotional) mindset, which leads to beliefs that happiness derives from materials rather than socially connecting activities. Implication for the four types of time in our daily life are discussed.
... Prevention-focused leaders will be more likely to show a need for security (e.g., Higgins, 1997) and will demonstrate less "attentiveness to positive outcomes" (Kark & Van Dijk, 2007, p. 520). Through the leader's words and actions, this expectation will focus the team more on error prevention than rewards, and this mindset will be reinforced by the attention narrowing associated with prevention focus, in which proximal negative outcomes loom much larger than distal reward opportunities (Pennington & Roese, 2003;Theriault et al., 2008). Thus, teams with prevention-focused leaders will be more likely to embrace an information processing style in which they focus on nearby concerns, rather than seek out opportunities in the larger environment (Förster & Higgins, 2005). ...
We examine the effects of leader prevention focus on the leader's own behavior, in the form of the harmful overruling of good ideas by their follower team, and on the team's collective behaviors, processes, and performance. We argue that when leaders adopt a prevention mindset, it can have costly effects on team outcomes. We tested our hypotheses using an experimental design in which 84 five-person teams engaged in a networked simulation, and we manipulated leader prevention focus through selection and training. Our hypotheses were generally supported. Specifically, we found that leaders with a prevention focus are more likely to engage in the faulty overruling of their team's decisions, causing the team to miss opportunities. We also found that teams with prevention-focused leaders tend to achieve lower levels of performance gains and we test the role of three mediating processes and states that convey the effects of leader prevention focus on reduced performance gains: increased risk avoidance, reduced team prospecting, and lower positive team affective tone. We show support for the mediating role of both reduced team prospecting and lower positive team affective tone. Finally, we show that team member reward responsiveness moderates the effects of leader prevention focus on team risk avoidance and prospecting. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... Es konnte in einer Reihe von Studien gezeigt werden, dass das Construal-Level und der Regulatorische Fokus von hoher Bedeutung für das Konsumentenverhalten sind: Mogilner et al. (2008) Abb. 14.9 Kaufmotivation als System psychologischer Prozesse. ...
Wir haben es in diesem Kapitel mit den Klassikern des Lernens zu tun: Pawlow und Skinner. Dabei schließen wir uns der These an, dass sich Pawlow geirrt hat. Der Hund hatte keinen Reflex, sondern eine Erwartungshaltung, und hat, weil er aktiv an seinem Essen interessiert war, gesabbert. Die Lerntheorie von Skinner ist kaum zu hinterfragen. Wir lernen durch Belohnung. Wir lernen aber auch durch Beobachtung, ohne eine Handlung selber ausgeführt zu haben. Das zeigt uns Bandura. Außerdem lernen wir den Ansatz von Hull kennen, wonach sich das Reaktionspotenzial einer Person auf einen Reiz aus einer Verknüpfung von Gewohnheit, Bedürfnisstärke, Reizstärke und sozialem Druck ergibt.
... Research at the intersection of temporal distance and regulatory orientations provides some evidence for our predictions. Mogilner, Aaker, and Pennington (2007) showed that people tend to purchase products framed with prevention concerns when the point of purchase is temporally imminent and products framed with promotion concerns when the point of purchase is temporally distant. ...
Drawing on regulatory focus and brokerage literatures, we develop new theory that explains individuals’ motivation to form and change their relationships in organizational networks. Specifically, we examine how promotion and prevention regulatory foci influence such relational processes as tie formation, maintenance, dissolution, and reconstitution. We further explore the relationship between motivational orientations of regulatory foci and relational orientations to brokerage (i.e., tertius iungens/gaudens) and develop a typology that outlines four major ego-level configurations. Each of the four configurations, labeled dutiful coordinators, aspirational arbitrators, versatile brokers, and indifferent egos, offers distinct predictions on network change and structuring. Overall, our theory contributes to organization theory by elaborating on the important role of ego motivation and strategy in organizational networks, and in so doing, advances research that focuses on individual agency in social networks and complements structuralist approaches to understanding social network dynamics.
... According to this theoretical account, when a goal is proximal, students become more prevention-oriented, which urges them to act promptly. As goals draw near, messages that are framed in a prevention-focused (versus promotionfocused) manner carry more weight because the focus shifts from achieving positive outcomes to preventing negative outcomes (Mogilner et al. 2008). For example, with goals approaching, concerns about desirability (e.g., "Why should I strive to accomplish this goal?") ...
Drawing on the notion of compensatory behavior, this paper studies how students compensate for learning loss during a pandemic and what role artificial intelligence (AI) plays in this regard. We further probe into a difference in compensatory behavior for learning loss in terms of quantity, pattern, and pace (i.e., tripartite aspect of learning behavior) of AI-powered learning app usage depending on the level of pandemic threat and the proximity of a goal to students. Results show that the pandemic threat affects student learning behavior differently. Immediately following the COVID-19 outbreak, students who live in the epicenter of the outbreak (versus those who do not) use the app less at first, but with time, they use it more (quantity), on a more regular basis (pattern), and rebound to a curriculum path (pace) comparable to students who do not live in the outbreak’s epicenter. These findings collectively explain behavior that is consistent with compensation for learning loss. The results also partially corroborate the goal-proximity effect, revealing that proximity to a goal (e.g., the degree to which the national university admission exam is approaching) has a moderating role in explaining the tripartite perspective of student learning behavior. Overall, these findings have important theoretical and practical implications for understanding how innovative education technologies can not only facilitate student learning during adversity, but also support learning recovery after adversity.
This paper was accepted by D. J. Wu, information systems.
... framing) je potvrđena u mnogim radovima (npr. Lee and Aaker, 2004;Mogilner and Aaker, 2007). To ukazuje na nedvosmisleno veliki značaj koji ima regulacioni fokus u kreiranju promotivnih poruka/akcija. ...
Značajnost regulacionih fokusa, kao psiholoških stanja kod potrošača, prilikom komuniciranja promotivnih poruka je potvrđena u mnogim radovima. Uprkos empirijskim dokazima o značaju regulacionog fokusa u komuniciranju promotivnih poruka, kao i uticaju okruženja na izazivanje regulacionog fokusa, postoji velika praznina u naučnoj i stručnoj literaturi u objašnjavanju načina kako regulaciona stanja utiču na ponašanje potrošača. Popunjavanje ove praznine predstavlja glavni doprinos ovog rada. Korišćenjem primarnih podataka prikupljenih anketnim metodom nad studentima Univerziteta u Beogradu i sekundarnih podaka dobijenih iz Ankete o potrošnji domaćinstava (RZS, 2014), analizirana je uloga regulacionog fokusa u objašnjavanju ponašanja potrošača. Primenom logističke regresije i uparenog t-testa pokazano je da regulaciono stanje značajno utiče na sklonost potrošača ka različitim promotivnim aktivnostima (studija 1 i 2), kao i na spremnost plaćanja (studija 3).
... Promotion-focused individuals and prevention-focused individuals have different behavioral motivations. Previous studies on these differences are mainly reflected in time (Cassie et al., 2008) and information processing (Yoon et al., 2012;Dong et al., 2018), but few studies focused on the effect of different target motivations on serendipity. In this article, when serendipity in an encounter appears, prevention-focused individuals will have lower purchase intention of unexpected products compared with promotion-focused individuals. ...
Previous studies on the follow-up effect of serendipity mostly focused on the positive effects and less on the negative effects. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to investigate the negative effect of serendipity on the purchase intention of unexpected products. To verify all hypotheses in this article, we used online and offline survey data in China. Three experimental results showed that serendipity contains a certain degree of uncertainty, which will cause consumers’ perceived risk and decrease the purchase intention of unexpected products. Perceived risk plays a mediating role in the effect of serendipity on the purchase intention of unexpected products. Moreover, regulatory focus moderates the effect of serendipity on purchase intention of unexpected products. Specifically, for prevention-focused individuals, the negative effect of serendipity on the purchase intention of unexpected products is strengthened. For promotion-focused individuals, the negative effect of serendipity on the purchase intention of unexpected products is weakened. This article augments the understanding of the negative effects of serendipity and provides theoretical guidance and support for the management practice of marketers.
... Time and money are intrinsically related and, to a certain extent, interchangeable (DeVoe & Pfeffer, 2007). However, people often have different opinions regarding the donation of time versus money, depending on their given situation (Mogilner et al., 2008). Previous studies have noted that time is associated with abstract concepts (e.g., happiness, awe, confidence, and enthusiasm) (Aaker et al., 2011;Mogilner et al., 2012;Rudd et al., 2012) and makes people consider their social connections with others in a more comprehensive manner (Mogilner, 2010). ...
Karma is the notion that one's current actions will have consequences in the future. The present research links the belief in karma with a guilt appeal and examines how believing in karma influences the individuals' donation behaviors. The results of four studies demonstrate that for people who hold a strong belief in karma, guilt appeals can arouse the motivation to engage in prosocial activities to remedy past demerits. This “remedy demerits” motivation is the reason why individuals who hold a strong (vs. weak) belief in karma are more likely to donate time (rather than money) and donate money in lump sums (rather than in installments) when the charitable appeal is framed in terms of guilt. Our findings contribute to the literature on specific beliefs, individuals' prosocial behaviors, and the motivations of individuals who believe in karma as concerns their responses to charitable appeals. Charitable organizations can apply the findings by targeting their donor solicitations to individuals who believe in karma to enhance engagement in prosocial activities, and by using karma priming advertisements to induce individuals to think karmically, thus more efficiently promoting specific donation choices.
... Second, promotion focus has been found to predominate for temporally distant goals, whereas proximal goals are characterized by more balanced considerations of both foci's concerns. In other words, promotion goal importance increases with temporal distance (Mogilner et al, 2008;Pennington & Roese, 2003). According to this temporal perspective, the fact that the texts read by participants were concerned with action to mitigate future effects of climate change would have rendered promotion concerns a more natural fit (see Chang & Lee, 2009). ...
Messages are often tailored to individual differences, as fit is believed to influence behavior. We examine the effects of regulatory fit (i.e., matching promotion/prevention message framing to people’s promotion/prevention orientation) and the priority that individuals attribute to nature values, on the evaluation of climate change messages and donations to pro-environmental charities. We measured participants’ ( n = 570) regulatory focus on ensuring positive outcomes (promotion) versus avoiding negative outcomes (prevention), and nature values. Participants evaluated a promotion- or prevention-framed text (highlighting ensuring the welfare of the environment or avoiding its destruction) and were then invited to donate part of their remuneration to pro-environmental or other charities. Participants who prioritized nature values evaluated the promotion-framed text more favorably the stronger their promotion focus was, but only endorsement of nature values predicted donations. This highlights the importance of measuring actual pro-environmental behavior, as positive message evaluations did not result in donations.
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the efficacy of health promotion vs disease prevention nutrition messages on in-store signage highlighting the benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables (FVs) among consumers with and without a history of chronic disease from the lens of two theories of consumer psychology, regulatory focus theory and construal level theory.
Design/methodology/approach
An online quasi-experiment consisting of a 2 (message valence: promotion vs prevention) × 2 (chronic health condition: present vs absent) × 2 (social distance: self vs family) × 2 (message value: health vs nutrient benefits) between-subjects design was administered to a national panel of 370 US parents (174 with a chronic health condition; 196 with no chronic health condition), aged 21–64 and from low-to-mid socioeconomic households.
Findings
Supporting regulatory fit, findings indicated that messaging alignment with consumer health goals (promotion-focused nutrition messages for those free of chronic disease and prevention-focused messages for those living with chronic disease) resulted in greater purchase intent for the promoted healthy foods (FVs). However, the authors did not find support for the proposal based on construal level theory that consumers thinking about themselves (their families) when shopping may respond more positively to prevention- (promotion-) focused nutrition messaging.
Originality/value
This research is novel in recommending the theoretical concepts of regulatory fit and construal level in tailoring social marketing messages in the underexamined area of healthy food choice in grocery stores to maximize societal impact.
Purpose
Natural environments and imagery are known to have a myriad of effects on people’s physical and psychological states. However, little is known about how exposure to nature-related imagery can influence consumers’ motivational states. This research investigates the effect of exposure to nature on consumers’ regulatory focus. More specifically, this paper proposes that consumers exposed to nature will exhibit stronger promotion-oriented focus and weaker prevention-oriented focus, and as such, these consumers will prefer promotion-framed marketing messages over prevention-framed ones. This paper aims to explore a mediating mechanism and a boundary condition for this effect.
Design/methodology/approach
A series of six experiments, including an Implicit Association Test, examined the effect of exposure to images of natural objects and scenes (in contrast with non-nature imagery) on consumers’ regulatory focus and whether they experienced regulatory fit when encountering promotion-framed (vs prevention-framed) advertising messages.
Findings
The results revealed that consumers exhibited lower prevention-focused and higher promotion-focused motivational orientation after exposure to nature. Furthermore, exposure to nature led consumers to experience more regulatory fit with promotion-oriented marketing messages than prevention-oriented ones. This study found that natural environments offer urban consumers a reprieve from their day-to-day life, which mediates the effect of exposure to nature on regulatory focus. This study investigated the boundary condition of engaging in maintenance of nature (e.g. mow the grass) in which the effects of nature on regulatory focus were attenuated.
Research limitations/implications
This study used text and pictures related to nature as a way to expose the online participants to nature. Future research may use field studies with participants in real natural settings, with expectation of stronger effects. Second, this study examined mostly urban American participants. There may be cultural differences or living situations (e.g. living “off the grid” and in the “wild”) that influence people’s relationship with nature. Future research may examine how these differences can affect the influence of exposure to nature on motivational orientation.
Practical implications
The findings have direct implications for marketing managers and other related stakeholders. Exposing urban consumers to nature – even images of nature – they become more receptive to promotion-framed advertisements and marketing communications (vs prevention-framed messaging).
Originality/value
Little is currently known about how exposure to nature can influence psychological processes such as motivational orientation. This research contributes to the understanding of consumers’ responses to nature-related imagery in advertising and the effect that nature imagery has on consumers’ motivational orientation. This research also contributes to the body of work on regulatory focus by identifying a novel context in which consumers’ motivational orientation can be influenced.
Sales managers often struggle to create effective combinations of promotion framing and promotion reward timing. However, whether gain-framing (vs. loss-reduction framing) promotions are better suited to be combined with immediate or delayed promotions remains an open question. In three studies, we show that the gain (vs. loss-reduction) framing of promotion information activates a high (vs. low) construal level, which leads to a higher preference for delayed (vs. immediate) promotions. We also find that time perception moderates the proposed effect. Specifically, consumers with time-overestimating (vs. time-underestimating) perception are more likely to choose immediate (delayed) promotions when they are at a low (high) construal level. Our findings provide insights for marketers and retailers that consumers would like to wait for a higher reward in a longer horizon under the gain promotion frame, while they prefer an immediate reward even if the benefit is much lower under the loss-reduction promotion frame.
Scarcity appeals have been widely utilized in marketing, yet academic research has predominantly concentrated on the scarcity of products depicted within advertisements rather than the scarcity of the advertisements themselves. The emergence of scarce advertisements, such as one-time view ads on popular social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, has underscored the significance of investigating ad scarcity. This thesis pioneers the exploration of the impact of ad scarcity on viewers' attention and recall, addressing a notable gap in existing literature.
Through three experimental studies, this research supports the hypothesis that ad scarcity positively influences individuals' attention to and recall of an advertisement's content. Furthermore, it identifies boundary conditions affecting this positive effect, specifically focusing on personal traits like Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and Social Media Intensity levels, as well as the influence of a visible countdown timer. Importantly, the thesis reveals that the positive impact of ad scarcity extends beyond the immediate scarce ad, influencing the reception of subsequent ads that are not scarce.
This investigation significantly enriches our understanding of scarcity within the context of marketing and contributes valuable insights to the broader discourse on social media marketing. It not only highlights the effects of ad scarcity but also delves into the psychological and contextual factors that modulate these effects. The findings offer both theoretical and practical implications, suggesting new avenues for marketers to engage audiences and enhance ad memorability.
Introduction
Recent research has emphasized that achievement motivation is context-sensitive and varies within individual students. Ubiquitous temporal landmarks such as exams or deadlines are evident contextual factors that could systematically explain variation in motivation. Indeed, research has consistently found that university students increase their study efforts as exams come closer in time, indicating increasing study motivation. However, changes in study motivation for a specific exam as it comes closer have rarely been investigated. Instead, research on developmental changes in expectancy and value beliefs has consistently founds that achievement motivation declines over a semester. Surprisingly, declining motivation thus apparently coincides with increasing study efforts for end-of-semester exams.
Methods
The present research investigates this apparent contradiction by assessing how exam-specific motivation and study behavior change under equal methodological conditions as an exam draws closer. Using parallel growth curve models, we examine changes in expectancy-value beliefs, performance approach and avoidance motivation and study behavior as well as motivational want- and should-conflicts among 96 students over eight weekly measurement points.
Results and discussion
Results show that students study more for their exam as it comes closer and increase their use of surface learning strategies more rapidly than their use of deep learning strategies. However, even exam-specific expectancy and attainment value beliefs decline while performance-avoidance motivation increases over time, indicating that students increasingly study out of fear to fail as exams come closer. Consistent with these findings, students’ experience of should conflicts decreases while their want conflicts increase over time. We discuss several possible mechanisms underlying our findings in addition to potential theoretical consequences and suggest future research opportunities to better understand students’ changes in situative motivation and study behavior in the context of temporal landmarks.
This research investigates the effectiveness of two types of message framing in pro-environmental communication: prescriptive versus proscriptive appeals in daily and tourism contexts. Two experimental studies were conducted. Study 1a focused on natural park and street park scenarios, while Study 1b examined hotel and office scenarios. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and further explored the mediating role of anticipated pride and guilt. The results indicate that in tourism contexts, prescriptive-framed appeals are more effective than proscriptive-framed appeals, whereas in daily contexts, proscriptive-framed appeals are more effective. Furthermore, the message framing-context congruency effect is mediated by the anticipated pride and guilt. These findings fill a literature gap by revealing the interaction between message framing and context in pro-environmental communication, providing insights for managers to customize appeals, using prescriptive-framed messages in tourism contexts and proscriptive-framed messages in daily contexts, while leveraging anticipated pride and guilt to motivate eco-friendly actions.
We attend to the unexamined intersection between professional social network site (SNS) usage and imposter syndrome. Specifically, we provide the first examination of: do such sites cause imposter thoughts (“others think I am more competent than I think I am”); if so, why and when this happens, and what effect this has on well‐being and consumption‐related results. Supported by objective self‐focused attention theory and two online experiments, we show that professional SNS usage heightens professional self‐focused attention, triggering imposter thoughts. This results in negative emotions and consumption‐related effects. We further examine two boundary conditions, showing that effects are reduced for individuals high in narcissism or work centrality. From these findings, we extend the sociocognitive theorization of the imposter phenomenon by uncovering, first, context‐specific self‐focused attention as the reason “why” people feel imposter‐ish in particular circumstances and second, consumption‐related consequences. We further contribute imposter thoughts as a new alternative explanation for negative emotions experienced whilst using professional SNSs.
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how online consumer reviews (OCRs), countdowns and self-control affect consumers' online impulse buying behavior in online group buying (OGB) and uncover the relationship between these factors.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework, this research examines the effects of OCRs, countdowns and self-control on users' impulse purchases. First, the influence of emotions on impulse purchases in group purchasing is investigated. In addition, this study innovatively applies stress-coping theory to group buying research, with countdowns exerting temporal pressure on consumers and OCRs viewed as social pressure, to investigate in depth how countdowns and OCRs affect users' impulse purchase behavior. Finally, this study also surveys the moderating role of users' self-control in the impulse purchase process.
Findings
The results show that the perceived value of OCRs and positive emotions (PE) were positively correlated with impulsiveness (IMP) and the urge to buy impulsively (UBI), while negative emotions (NE) were negatively correlated with IMP. Countdowns (CD) had a positive effect on UBI. Self-control can indirectly affect users' impulse buying by negatively moderating the relationship between PE and UBI, PE and IMP and CD and UBI.
Originality/value
The research results can help group buying platforms and related participants understand the factors influencing users' impulse purchases in OGB and facilitate them to better design strategies to increase product sales.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore consumer anticipation processes that occur after commitment to a purchase has been made, but before consumption occurs. The authors add to the knowledge and theory building about anticipation that occurs in this liminal phase by investigating the cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes that interact to influence post-consumption evaluations.
Design/methodology/approach
An abductive research approach used a phase-based research design using semi-structured interviews. The authors identify interactions between cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes that occur during anticipation and associate these with post-consumption outcomes.
Findings
Anticipation of a consumption experience, enacted through thoughts, emotions and actions, and undertaken with peers, is an experience per se, independent from and interdependent with the substantive experience, and contributes to performance of the substantive experience. The authors propose a framework in which anticipation – as a performative phenomenon – influences the overall evaluations of the substantive consumption experience in contexts of delayed consumption. The theoretical grounding of performativity makes a useful contribution through its linkage of thought processes to outcomes. The authors further locate their findings within the literature on attribution theory. By engaging in anticipation, informants perceived the locus of causality to be internal, and expressed pride in having anticipated if the subsequent experience was successful. By anticipating, informants perceived an ability to exert control over future events and felt ashamed of not having adequately anticipated if an experience was subsequently unsuccessful.
Research limitations/implications
The theoretical grounding of performativity makes a useful contribution through its linkage of thought processes to outcomes. The authors further locate their findings within the literature on attribution theory. By engaging in anticipation, informants perceived the locus of causality to be internal and expressed pride in having anticipated if the subsequent experience was successful. By anticipating, informants perceived an ability to exert control over future events and felt ashamed of not having adequately anticipated if an experience was subsequently unsuccessful.
Practical implications
The authors discuss the trade-off service providers face between encouraging anticipation, which raises expectations that might not be met, and facilitating anticipatory preparations, which may reduce the risk of service failure.
Originality/value
The authors provide a new lens by conceptualising anticipation as a performative process and identifying mechanisms by which anticipation is embedded in total consumption experience. This study has important generalisable implications for contexts where mechanisms of performative anticipation may be a means for ameliorating uncertainty about future consumption experiences.
İlk olarak filozofların tanımlamaya çalıştığı zaman kavramı, Sanayi Devrimi ile modern insanın yaşamında en önemli kaynaklardan biri haline gelmiştir. Ekonomistlerin ve sosyologların öncülüğünde zaman kavramı akademik bir çalışma alanı olmuştur. Pazarlama akademisyenleri ise öncü çalışmalarda zaman kavramını teorik olarak ele almış ve pazarlama ve tüketici davranışları için önemini açıklamaya çalışmıştır. Daha sonraları, özellikle Kuzey Amerika merkezli pazarlama akademisi merkezli çalışmalarla tüketici davranışında ve pazarlama yönetiminde zamanın önemli bir faktör olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Bu çalışmada, bibliyometrik analiz ile Kuzey Amerika merkezli olan ve temelde zamanı inceleyen tüketici davranışı çalışmalarının genel bir çerçevesi çizilmiştir. Uluslararası çalışmaların büyük bir kısmında nesnel zaman deneysel tasarım kullanılarak ürün yaşam döngüsü, ürün benimseme, karar verme, bekleme süresi, tüketici memnuniyeti, zaman kısıtı ve bağış davranışı gibi çeşitli konu başlıkları altında incelenmiştir. Ulusal pazarlama literatüründe ise zamanın oldukça sınırlı bir şekilde ele alındığı tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca, çalışmada ulusal pazarlama literatüründeki zaman konulu çalışmaların içerikleri incelenerek gelecekte bu konuda araştırmacıların inceleyebileceği araştırma soru önerilerinde bulunulmuştur.
İlk olarak filozofların tanımlamaya çalıştığı zaman kavramı, Sanayi Devrimi ile modern insanın yaşamında en önemli kaynaklardan biri haline gelmiştir. Ekonomistlerin ve sosyologların öncülüğünde zaman kavramı akademik bir çalışma alanı olmuştur. Pazarlama akademisyenleri ise öncü çalışmalarda zaman kavramını teorik olarak ele almış ve pazarlama ve tüketici davranışları için önemini açıklamaya çalışmıştır. Daha sonraları, özellikle Kuzey Amerika merkezli pazarlama akademisi merkezli çalışmalarla tüketici davranışında ve pazarlama yönetiminde zamanın önemli bir faktör olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Bu çalışmada, bibliyometrik analiz ile Kuzey Amerika merkezli olan ve temelde zamanı inceleyen tüketici davranışı çalışmalarının genel bir çerçevesi çizilmiştir. Uluslararası çalışmaların büyük bir kısmında nesnel zaman deneysel tasarım kullanılarak ürün yaşam döngüsü, ürün benimseme, karar verme, bekleme süresi, tüketici memnuniyeti, zaman kısıtı ve bağış davranışı gibi çeşitli konu başlıkları altında incelenmiştir. Ulusal pazarlama literatüründe ise zamanın oldukça sınırlı bir şekilde ele alındığı tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca, çalışmada ulusal pazarlama literatüründeki zaman konulu çalışmaların içerikleri incelenerek gelecekte bu konuda araştırmacıların inceleyebileceği araştırma soru önerilerinde bulunulmuştur.
This research examines how frontline retail employees respond to customers whom they think might write an online review about their
experience. Across six experiments (one field and five online) we show that when employees identify potential online review authors, often by what the customer says or does, it catalyzes them to deliver better service. This ensues because they experience a rise in determination to do well, motivated by the prospect of being associated with a positive review, which they believe will impress the retailer. Thus, they go ‘above and beyond’. However, determination is tempered by two boundary conditions. When employees (i) do not consider that being associated with an online review is beneficial (i.e., not goal relevant) or (ii) feel poorly equipped to serve the customer (i.e., low in self-efficacy), then a better service delivery will not occur. We also show that retailers can enhance customer service through internal championing of the importance of online reviews, so long as this is framed as promotional rather than punitive.
The present research conceptualizes customer care activities as the process through which retailers satisfy consumers' needs by means of a set of interconnected services and address the role of warmth and competence perceptions, as well as consumers' inferred motives, in determining the downstream effects of care management activities on consumers' perceptions and intentions. The results from two experiments show that the number and framing of customer care activities affect customer orientation perceptions (Study 1) and that their fit with the overall retailer's image and the level of professionalism required to carry them out affects store patronage intentions (Study 2).
The outbreak of COVID-19 has offered a painful lesson to the stakeholders of the travel and hospitality industry. To speed up the recovery of the industry, practitioners need to better understand the factors that influence potential travelers’ evaluation of infection risk when traveling abroad. Hence, this study proposes time orientation (future and present orientations) as a robust determining factor. Analyzing 614 pre-pandemic and 606 mid-pandemic survey responses, this study consistently found that future and present orientations positively predict the evaluation of infection risk because of the highly perceived value of cleanliness. The presence of the pandemic amplifies the positive prediction of present orientation on the evaluation of infection risk. These findings extend the literature of time orientation by revealing its influence on travel risk and the psychological mechanisms behind it. Meaningful implications are provided for travel operators to identify the potential travelers.
Message matching refers to the design and distribution of persuasive messages such that message features (e.g., the themes emphasized) align with characteristics of the target audience (e.g., their personalities). Motivational message matching is a form of this technique that seeks to enhance persuasion by matching specifically to differences in motivational characteristics (e.g., salient goals, needs, values). Despite widespread use of motivational matching, there is little understanding of how and when to use it. We conducted a preregistered (PROSPERO CRD42019116688; osf.io/rpjdg) systematic review and three-level meta-analysis of 702 experimental studies on motivational matching (synthesizing 5,251 effect sizes from N = 206,482). Studies were inclusive of publications until December 2018, and primarily identified using APA PsycInfo, MEDLINE, and Scopus. We evaluate moderation using meta-regressions, and provide bias assessments (sensitivity analyses, funnel plots). Motivational matching increases persuasion by an average of r = .20 (95% CI: .18, .22) as assessed by differences in attitudes, intentions, self-reported behavior, and observed behavior, relative to comparison conditions. This effect is larger than previously observed for other message matching approaches (e.g., message tailoring, message framing) which usually average r < .10. Although motivational matching can effectively improve persuasion, its effects are also marked by meaningful heterogeneity. Notably, motivational matching effects are largest when matching to contextual factors (than to individual differences), when compared to messages that conflict with people’s motivations, and when target characteristics are manipulated rather than assessed. Through this review, we develop and evaluate theoretical propositions that inform the optimization of motivational matching.
Motive und Motivation werden als Ursache von Bewegung und Veränderung gesehen. Motivation schließt Energie und Erregung ein. Sie richtet ein vorhandenes Energiepotenzial, welches zunächst ungerichtet ist, auf bestimmte Ziele aus. Motivation hat also eine Steuerungsfunktion. Motive sind auch der Grund der Intensität (Antriebsfunktion) möglicher Aktivitäten. Verhalten ist immer eine Funktion von Umwelt- und Persönlichkeitsvariablen, d. h. sowohl die Umwelt als auch die Persönlichkeit einer Person lösen das Verhalten in einer ganz konkreten Situation aus.
A company often faces incidents in which its offerings cause bodily (e.g., product safety defects) or psychological (e.g., data breach) harm to its consumers. Such incidents may invoke product liability lawsuits against the company. The company may seek to recover from the liability-invoking failure by notifying the affected consumers, offering a remedy, and persuading them to comply with the company message. The authors theorize and experimentally demonstrate that, on average, a prevention-focused message receives greater compliance than a promotion-focused message. Further, a prevention-focused message is more effective with consumers from high uncertainty avoidance cultures, whereas a promotion-focused message is more effective in low uncertainty avoidance cultures. Perceived compatibility of prevention or promotion goals with low or high values of uncertainty avoidance mediates the interaction effect on compliance. The findings help companies overcome consumer apathy to product recall or data breach notices and offer managers ways to promote consumer safety and protection.
Previous research has highlighted that behavior is the result of both individual and situational factors. Therefore, consideration of both these factors is importantto better understand and predict human behavior. Despite this, extant literature is replete with studies which have mostly focused on studying the influence of either individual or situational factors on behavior. Given the (i) increased complexity faced by marketers due to greater number of product and channel options at different stages of customer decision journey (ii) premise involving the importance of studying both individual and situational factors to understand behaviour (iii) paucity of research involving customer decision journey and channels from the regulatory focus theory perspective, this thesis aims to provide a nuanced understanding of customer behavior from a multi-channel and customer decision journey perspective grounded in regulatory focus theory. It provides a rich customer behaviour understanding during different stages of customer decision journey based on chronic and situational regulatory orientation interaction. It provides answers to the “why” (regulatory focus theory), of “what” (means and emotions) and “where” (CDJ and channel context) questions(Ratneshwar, Mick & Huffman 2003). Specifically, this research aims to determine the influence of chronic and situational regulatory focus interaction on the choice of means and emotions faced at each stage of cutomer decision journey. For instance, what means (e.g. channels) will be chosen and what emotions will be experienced in case of chronic promotion person facing promotion situation?A mixed method approach is adopted for this thesis. The first qualitative phase involved in-depth interviews with 30 multi-channel customers. The results of this phase indicated differences in channel choice, actions taken at channels and emotions experienced at each stage of the customer decision journey among the chronic and situational regulatory orientationsinteractiongroups. The results of the first phase helped in the design of second experimental phase. This experiment was conducted in lab settingwith the aim of identifying chronic and situational regulatory focus interaction on the online customer decision journey. The first two stages provide complementarity. The results of the lab session indicate a significantinfluence of incongruent chronic-situation regulatory condition on the basket amount, significant promotion chronicsituation congruent condition on session duration and significant prevention chronic-situation congruent condition on the overall extensiveness of search and comparison. The third phase involved 14 interviews with experts from different industries. These experts highlighted the channel choices and actions of their customers. The experts also explained their implemented marketing strategies for each customer decision journey stage. The results indicate greater focus on push online marketing and separate rather than an integrated focus on each channel. This thesis contributes towards consumer behavior, regulatory focus theory and mixed method literature. It helps obtain a rich understanding of the role of both chronic and situational regulatory orientation on the channel choices and actions taken at these channels during different stages of customer decision journey. This may help marketers in targeting, channel and messagedesign. The results emphasize that marketers must use a combination approach in online channel design, involving usage of visuals and information. Product category may provide further guidance regarding the extent of trade-off between one type of design overanother. The strengths and limitations related to each stage are also provided.
La distance psychologique est omniprésente dans l’esprit du consommateur et influence ses attitudes et son comportement envers les produits hédoniques. Cependant, des contradictions sont présentes dans la littérature quant à la direction (positive ou négative) des effets de la distance psychologique sur les réponses du consommateur envers les produits hédoniques. En effet, certaines recherches avancent que l’augmentation de la distance psychologique influence positivement les réponses du consommateur envers les produits hédoniques. Alors que d’autres suggèrent l’effet inverse, à savoir une influence négative de l’augmentation de la distance psychologique sur les réponses du consommateur envers les produits hédoniques. L’objectif de cette recherche est de réconcilier ces contradictions en examinant sous quelles conditions la distance peut avoir un effet positif ou négatif. Sur la base d’un état de l’art de la littérature et d’une étude qualitative, nous proposons que le degré de proéminence du besoin de justification (non saillant vs saillant) du consommateur au moment où il évalue le produit hédonique modère ses effets et constitue une condition sous laquelle la distance psychologique peut avoir un effet positif ou négatif sur les réponses du consommateur envers les produits hédoniques. Trois expérimentations ont été conduites pour le test de nos hypothèses. Les deux premières suggèrent qu’en condition de besoin de justification non saillant, l’augmentation de la distance psychologique a une influence négative sur les réponses attitudinales et comportementales du consommateur envers les produits hédoniques. La troisième expérimentation, quant à elle, propose qu’en condition de besoin de justification saillant, l’augmentation de la distance psychologique a un effet positif sur la réponse comportementale du consommateur envers le produit hédonique. Cette recherche contribue à la littérature sur le concept de distance psychologique en précisant sous quelles conditions (c.-à-d. besoin de justification saillant vs non saillant) la distance peut avoir un effet positif ou négatif sur les réponses des consommateurs envers les produits hédoniques.
This paper examines the influence of mortality salience on preference for humanoid robot service. Six studies confirm that consumers/tourists are reluctant to adopt humanoid (vs. non-humanoid) service robots and robotic services when mortality is salient. The effect is driven by the perceived threat to human identity. However, temporal distance can alleviate the mortality salience effect. Eliciting a distant-future temporal perspective can reduce consumers'/tourists' existential anxiety, and then attenuate negative reactions to humanoid service robots. This research provides an innovative standpoint on consumers' reactions to service robots under conditions of mortality salience (e.g., during the COVID-19 pandemic). It also offers insight into service robot implementation and design in the hospitality and tourism industry.
Online reviews have gained momentum and continue to be the most influential source of information in consumers' hotel booking decisions in the tourism industry. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, construal level theory, and consideration of future consequences (CFC), this study contributes to the topic by claiming that consumers evaluate hotel reviews differently based upon their regulatory focus (i.e., promotion vs. prevention) and that this evaluation can vary according to contextual (i.e., temporal distance in booking time) and personal factors (i.e., temporal orientation). We found that temporal distance moderated the effect of regulatory-focused reviews on review attitudes when a booking was temporally distant; however, no moderating effect was found when a booking was about to be made. In addition, reviews' perceived relevance fully mediated regulatory-focused reviews' effect on review attitudes for the distant-future condition, but not the near-future condition. Finally, it was revealed that future-oriented consumers showed more positive attitudes when they read promotion-focused reviews (vs. prevention-focused reviews), but no significant differences were found among present-oriented consumers. This study's findings can help travel practitioners better understand consumers' hotel review evaluations and improve their marketing strategies.
Despite the ubiquity of pets in consumers' lives, scant research has examined how exposure to them (e.g., recalling past interactions with dogs and cats, viewing ads featuring a dog or a cat as the spokescharacter) influences consumer behavior. The authors demonstrate that exposure to dogs (cats) reminds consumers of the stereotypical temperaments and behaviors of the pet species, which activates a promotion- (prevention-) focused motivational mindset among consumers. Using secondary data, Study 1 shows that people in states with a higher percentage of dog (cat) owners search more promotion- (prevention-) focused words and report a higher COVID-19 transmission rate. Using multiple products, Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that these regulatory mindsets, when activated by pet exposure, carry over to influence downstream consumer judgments, purchase intentions, and behaviors, even in pet-unrelated consumption contexts. Study 4 show that pet stereotypicality moderates the proposed effect such that the relationship between pet exposure and regulatory orientations persists to the extent consumers are reminded of the stereotypical temperaments and behaviors of the pet species. Studies 5- 7 examine the role of regulatory fit and evince that exposure to dogs (cats) leads to more favorable responses toward advertising messages featuring promotion- (prevention-) focused appeals.
This study seeks to contribute to the literature dealing with the formation of customer-based destination brand equity (CBDBE) using an environmental interpretation strategy. It aims to establish whether (i) participation in an environmental interpretation experience with a gamified design may exert a greater effect on CBDBE than participation in a non-gamified version; (ii) CBDBE is influenced by the tourist's psychological distance relative to the destination in question; and (iii) psychological distance moderates the effect of environmental interpretation (gamified vs. non-gamified) on CBDBE. A quasi-experiment is designed in which the environmental interpretation is manipulated (gamified vs. non-gamified).
The results show that the effect of a gamified environmental interpretation experience on CBDBE is greater than that of a non-gamified version; and that it is greater among participants who perceive the destination to be psychologically near. The study also finds that there is a regulatory construal fit between the use of a gamified design and psychological distance, such that perceived psychological distance exerts a moderating effect on the relationship between interpretation type (gamified vs. non-gamified) and CBDBE. It is identified that, when the destination is perceived to be psychologically distant, the gamified environmental interpretation generates significantly greater CBDBE than the non-gamified version. By contrast, when it is psychologically near, there are no significant differences in CBDBE between a gamified and a non-gamified environmental interpretation experience. These results are relevant both for the literature and for the professional tourism sector, which, by its very nature, operates in an international context.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Confidence has been found to vary with temporal proximity to an upcoming task: People's confidence that they will do well tends to diminish as the "moment of truth" draws near. We propose that this phenomenon stems in part from individuals using their pretask arousal as a cue to their level of confidence. Arousal that is part and parcel of "gearing up" to perform a task may be misattributed to diminished confidence. Consistent with this reasoning, participants in two experiments who were encouraged to misattribute their arousal to a neutral source ("subliminal noise") expressed greater confidence in their ability than did participants not able to do so-a result that would not be obtained if arousal was simply a reflection, and not a cause, of diminished confidence.
In several studies, the authors examine the potential to leverage a consumer's moral identity to enhance brand and company identification and promote goodwill through community relations. Studies 1a and 1b show that even when opportunity costs are equivalent (subjectively or economically), consumers who also have a highly self-important moral identity perceive the act of giving time versus money as more moral and self-expressive. The authors extend these findings to self-reported preferences and establish boundary conditions in two additional studies. Consumers with higher organizational status prefer to give money versus time, but this preference is weaker for those with a highly self-important moral identity (Study 2), and the preference for giving time versus money is more likely to emerge when the moral self is primed and the time given has a moral purpose (Study 3).
Although evidence for unrealistic optimism is considerable, there is reason to believe that individuals will abandon their optimism and may even become pessimistic in anticipation of self-relevant feedback. The authors propose and provide preliminary test of a model of the temporal transition from optimism to accuracy to pessimism in outcome predictions. In Study 1, college sophomores, juniors, and seniors estimated their likely salary at their first full-time job after graduation. Only seniors became less optimistic as graduation approached. In Study 2, students estimated their exam score a month before the exam, then again several times after completing the exam yet prior to receiving feedback. As the proximity of feedback neared, students abandoned their optimistic forecast in favor of a pessimistic forecast. Study 3 showed that, in anticipation of self-relevant feedback, participants with low self-esteem lowered their performance estimates more readily than did those with high self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This research examined individual differences in action identification level as measured by the Behavior Identification Form. Action identification theory holds that any action can be identified in many ways, ranging from low-level identities that specify how the action is performed to high-level identities that signify why or with what effect the action is performed. People who identify action at a uniformly lower or higher level across many action domains, then, may be characterized in terms of their standing on a broad personality dimension: level of personal agency. High-level agents think about their acts in encompassing terms that incorporate the motives and larger meanings of the action, whereas low-level agents think about their acts in terms of the details or means of action. Research on the convergent, divergent, and predictive validity of this construct examined its implications for the individual's overall competence in action, for the individual's inclination toward planful vs impulsive action, and for the degree to which the individual's actions are organized by and reflected in the self-concept. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Describes a study in which 2 groups of 50 male undergraduates decided upon level of difficulty of items in tests to be taken on the same day and after 4 wk., presented in reverse temporal order to the 2 groups. Ss also indicated their expectancy of success and the valence of success and failure in each of the 2 tests. After test completion, Ss were given a projective test assessing need-achievement (n-Ach) and Alpert and Haber's Achievement Anxiety Test. Expected temporal distance resulted in higher risk-taking and higher expectancy of success in success-oriented Ss (high n-Ach, low anxiety) but not in failure-oriented Ss. Temporal distance did not affect significantly verbalized valence of success or failure. Results suggest (a) the operation of time as a meaningful stimulus in the psychological field; and (b) the perception of time by achievement-oriented Ss as instrumental in helping to achieve a better control of the environment, even when objective conditions do not justify such expectancy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Temporal construal theory states that distant future situations are construed on a higher level (i.e., using more abstract and central features) than near future situations. Accordingly, the theory suggests that the value associated with the high-level construal is enhanced over delay and that the value associated with the low-level construal is discounted over delay. In goal-directed activities, desirability of the activity's end state represents a high-level construal, whereas the feasibility of attaining this end state represents a low-level construal. Study 1 found that distant future activities were construed on a higher level than near future activities. Studies 2 and 3 showed that decisions regarding distant future activities, compared with decisions regarding near future activities, were more influenced by the desirability of the end state and less influenced by the feasibility of attaining the end state. Study 4 presented students with a real-life choice of academic assignments varying in difficulty (feasibility) and interest (desirability). In choosing a distant future assignment, students placed relatively more weight on the assignment's interest, whereas in choosing a near future assignment, they placed relatively more weight on difficulty. Study 5 found that distant future plans, compared with near future plans, were related to desirability of activities rather than to time constraints.
The authors demonstrate that choosing one product from a set of competing alternatives can change expectations about the chosen product such that consumers can become optimistic about the product's performance, and this optimism can then fade away. In five experiments, the authors show that this phenomenon of fading optimism in products is robust across different experimental settings and product categories and is moderated by prior attitude toward the product category and ambiguity of the product's performance.
In this article, the authors examine cross-cultural variations in how people discount the future. Specifically, they predict that people from Western cultures are relatively less patient and therefore discount the future to a greater degree than do people from Eastern cultures, and thus Westerners value immediate consumption relatively more. Further-more, on the basis of regulatory focus theory, the authors predict that when Easterners are faced with the threat of a delay in receiving a prod-uct (i.e., a prevention loss), they are more impatient, whereas when Westerners are faced with the threat of not being able to enjoy a product early (i.e., a promotion loss), their impatience increases. This enhanced impatience manifests in preference for expedited consumption of a prod-uct purchased online in two studies. In both studies, the authors used a priming methodology on "bicultural" Singaporean participants; the results support the predictions. In the second study, they also found evidence in support of the process-based explanation for the interaction between cul-ture and message framing.
We propose that consumers' investment decisions involve processes of promotion and prevention regulation that are managed across separate mental accounts, with different financial products seen as representative of promotion versus prevention. Consistent with this hypothesis, we show that (a) investors are differentially sensitive to gains and losses and differentially risk-seeking depending on the financial products being considered, and (b) that these phenomena occur because of strong associations between financial products and promotion versus prevention. Therefore, investors' goals may be determined by the investment opportunities under evaluation, rather than being independent of these opportunities as is assumed in standard finance theory.
In four experiments, we show that goals associated with approach and avoidance needs influence persuasion and that the accessibility of distinct self-views moderates these effects. Specifically, individuals with an accessible independent self-view are more persuaded by promotion-focused information that is consistent with an approach goal. In contrast, individuals whose interdependent self-view is more accessible are more persuaded by prevention focused information that is consistent with an avoidance goal. When the persuasive appeal is compatible with self-regulatory focus, individuals demonstrate greater recall of the message content and are more discerning regarding argument strength. These findings provide convergent evidence that central processing under goal compatible conditions underlies the persuasion effects. Copyright 2001 by the University of Chicago.
This article examines how consumer decision making is influenced by automatically evoked task-induced affect and by cognitions that are generated in a more controlled manner on exposure to alternatives in a choice task. Across two experiments respondents chose between two alternatives: one (chocolate cake) associated with more intense positive affect but less favorable cognitions, compared to a second (fruit salad) associated with less favorable affect but more favorable cognitions. Findings from the two experiments suggest that if processing resources are limited, spontaneously evoked affective reactions rather than cognitions tend to have a greater impact on choice. As a result, the consumer is more likely to choose the alternative that is superior on the affective dimension but inferior on the cognitive dimension (e.g., chocolate cake). In contrast, when the availability of processing resources is high, cognitions related to the consequences of choosing the alternatives tend to have a bigger impact on choice compared to when the availability of these resources is low. As a result, the consumer is more likely to choose the alternative that is inferior on the affective dimension but superior on the cognitive dimension (e.g., fruit salad). The moderating roles of the mode of presentation of the alternatives and of a personality variable related to impulsivity are also reported. Copyright 1999 by the University of Chicago.
Time is a resource. As such, consumers have to make decisions regarding their use of time in the purchase and consumption of goods and services. Using prospect theory and mental accounting as theoretical frameworks, this article investigates whether consumers treat time like money when they make decisions. In a series of studies, we found that the value of consumers' time is not constant but depends on contextual characteristics of the decision situation. Our results also suggest that in deterministic situations, people make decisions involving time losses in a manner consistent with the convex loss function proposed by prospect theory. However, in decision making under conditions of risk, people seem to make risk-averse choices with respect to decisions in the domain of time in contrast to the risk-seeking behavior often found with respect to decisions involving losses of money. We discuss the nonfungibility of time as an explanation for the discrepancy between decisions involving time and those involving money.
This article presents a theory of how different types of discrepancies between self-state representa- tions are related to different kinds of emotional vulnerabilities. One domain of the self (actual; ideal; ought) and one standpoint on the self (own; significant other) constitute each type of self-state representation. It is proposed that different types of self-discrepancies represent different types of negative psychological situations that are associated with different kinds of discomfort. Discrepan- cies between the actual/own self-state (i.e., the self-concept) and ideal self-stales (i.e., representations of an individual's beliefs about his or her own or a significant other's hopes, wishes, or aspirations for the individual) signify the absence of positive outcomes, which is associated with dejection-related emotions (e.g., disappointment, dissatisfaction, sadness). In contrast, discrepancies between the ac- tual/own self-state and ought self-states (i.e., representations of an individual's beliefs about his or her own or a significant other's beliefs about the individual's duties, responsibilities, or obligations) signify the presence of negative outcomes, which is associated with agitation-related emotions (e.g., fear, threat, restlessness). Differences in both the relative magnitude and the accessibility of individu- als' available types of self-discrepancies are predicted to be related to differences in the kinds of discomfort people are likely to experience. Correlational and experimental evidence supports the predictions of the model. Differences between serf-discrepancy theory and (a) other theories of in- compatible self-beliefs and (b) actual self negativity (e.g., low self-esteem) are discussed.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators.
Four studies examined whether people tend to lose confidence in their prospects for success the closer they are to the "moment of truth." Study 1 found that students think they will do better on their midterm exams when asked on the 1st day of class than when asked on the day of the exam. Studies 2 and 4 replicated this finding under controlled conditions. Study 3 demonstrated that the same effect holds retrospectively: People are more confident that they would have performed well at a task long after the time to perform has passed. Data are presented indicating that these results stem from a tendency for people to feel more "accountable" for their assessments, and thus focus less on the causes of success and more on the causes of failure, as the time to perform approaches. Implications for the experience of regret are discussed.
People approach pleasure and avoid pain. To discover the true nature of approach-avoidance motivation, psychologists need to move beyond this hedonic principle to the principles that underlie the different ways that it operates. One such principle is regulatory focus, which distinguishes self-regulation with a promotion focus (accomplishments and aspirations) from self-regulation with a prevention focus (safety and responsibilities). This principle is used to reconsider the fundamental nature of approach-avoidance, expectancy-value relations, and emotional and evaluative sensitivities. Both types of regulatory focus are applied to phenomena that have been treated in terms of either promotion (e.g., well-being) or prevention (e.g., cognitive dissonance). Then, regulatory focus is distinguished from regulatory anticipation and regulatory reference, 2 other principles underlying the different ways that people approach pleasure and avoid pain.
The classic answer to what makes a decision good concerns outcomes. A good decision has high outcome benefits (it is worthwhile) and low outcome costs (it is worth it). I propose that, independent of outcomes or value from worth, people experience a regulatory fit when they use goal pursuit means that fit their regulatory orientation, and this regulatory fit increases the value of what they are doing. The following postulates of this value from fit proposal are examined: (a) People will be more inclined toward goal means that have higher regulatory fit, (b) people's motivation during goal pursuit will be stronger when regulatory fit is higher, (c) people's (prospective) feelings about a choice they might make will be more positive for a desirable choice and more negative for an undesirable choice when regulatory fit is higher, (d) people's (retrospective) evaluations of past decisions or goal pursuits will be more positive when regulatory fit was higher, and (e) people will assign higher value to an object that was chosen with higher regulatory fit. Studies testing each of these postulates support the value-from-fit proposal. How value from fit can enhance or diminish the value of goal pursuits and the quality of life itself is discussed.
This research demonstrates that people's goals associated with regulatory focus moderate the effect of message framing on persuasion. The results of 6 experiments show that appeals presented in gain frames are more persuasive when the message is promotion focused, whereas loss-framed appeals are more persuasive when the message is prevention focused. These regulatory focus effects suggesting heightened vigilance against negative outcomes and heightened eagerness toward positive outcomes are replicated when perceived risk is manipulated. Enhanced processing fluency leading to more favorable evaluations in conditions of compatibility appears to underlie these effects. The findings underscore the regulatory fit principle that accounts for the persuasiveness of message framing effects and highlight how processing fluency may contribute to the "feeling right" experience when the strategy of goal pursuit matches one's goal.
The authors propose that when a message recipient "feels right" from regulatory fit (E. T. Higgins, 2000), this subjective experience transfers to the persuasion context and serves as information for relevant evaluations, including perceived message persuasiveness and opinions of the topic. Fit was induced either by strategic framing of message arguments in a way that fit/did not fit with the recipient's regulatory state or by a source unrelated to the message itself. Across 4 studies, regulatory fit enhanced perceived persuasiveness and opinion ratings. These effects were eliminated when the correct source of feeling right was made salient before message exposure, supporting the misattribution account. These effects reversed when message-related thoughts were negative, supporting the claim that fit provides information about the "rightness" of one's (positive or negative) evaluations.
The present research demonstrated that in considering an action, considerations against (con) the action tend to be subordinate to considerations in favor of (pro) the action in that cons are considered only if the level of pros is sufficient, whereas pros are considered independent of the level of cons (Studies 1A and IB). The authors therefore concluded that pros constitute a higher construal level than cons and predict, on the basis of temporal construal processes (Y. Trope & N. Liberman. 2003). that pros would be more salient in making decisions for the more distant future, whereas the reverse should hold for cons. As predicted, participants generated more pros and fewer cons toward new exam procedures (Study 2), public policies (Study 3), and personal and interpersonal behaviors (Studies 4-6) that were expected to take place in the more distant future. This research also examined the limiting conditions and the evaluative consequences of these shifts.
In 3 experiments, the authors investigated how strategic inclinations associated with promotion versus prevention orientations--that is, eager approach versus vigilant avoidance, respectively--affect the use of language. It is hypothesized that eager promotion strategies used to attain desired end states entail using more abstract language than used with vigilant prevention strategies. This is shown to hold for experimentally induced relationship goals (Experiment 1) and communication goals (Experiment 2). In the 3rd experiment, the authors examined the impact of abstractly and concretely worded messages upon the behavioral intentions of chronically prevention- and promotion-oriented individuals and found support for the hypothesis that behavioral intentions to engage in specific activities are stronger when there is a fit between message wording and chronic orientation than when there is no fit. The broader implications of these findings are discussed.
Investors systematically deviate from rationality when making financial decisions, yet the mechanisms responsible for these deviations have not been identified. Using event-related fMRI, we examined whether anticipatory neural activity would predict optimal and suboptimal choices in a financial decision-making task. We characterized two types of deviations from the optimal investment strategy of a rational risk-neutral agent as risk-seeking mistakes and risk-aversion mistakes. Nucleus accumbens activation preceded risky choices as well as risk-seeking mistakes, while anterior insula activation preceded riskless choices as well as risk-aversion mistakes. These findings suggest that distinct neural circuits linked to anticipatory affect promote different types of financial choices and indicate that excessive activation of these circuits may lead to investing mistakes. Thus, consideration of anticipatory neural mechanisms may add predictive power to the rational actor model of economic decision making.
Microeconomic theory maintains that purchases are driven by a combination of consumer preference and price. Using event-related fMRI, we investigated how people weigh these factors to make purchasing decisions. Consistent with neuroimaging evidence suggesting that distinct circuits anticipate gain and loss, product preference activated the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), while excessive prices activated the insula and deactivated the mesial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) prior to the purchase decision. Activity from each of these regions independently predicted immediately subsequent purchases above and beyond self-report variables. These findings suggest that activation of distinct neural circuits related to anticipatory affect precedes and supports consumers' purchasing decisions.
In five studies, university students predicted their affective reactions to a wide variety of positive and negative future events. In Studies 1 to 3, participants also reported the affective reactions they experienced when the target event occurred. As hypothesized, they tended to anticipate more intense reactions than they actually experienced. In Studies 3 to 5, a cognitive determinant of this “intensity bias” was examined. It was hypothesized that people anticipate stronger affective reactions when they focus narrowly on an upcoming event in a manner that neglects past experience and less intense reactions when they consider a set of relevant previous experiences. Evidence from thought-listing measures as well as an experimental manipulation of temporal focus supported this hypothesis.
Thirty six subjects chose individually between pairs of gambles under three time pressure conditions: High (8 seconds), Medium (16 seconds) and Low (32 seconds). The gambles in each pair were equated for expected value but differed in variance, amounts to win and lose and their respective probabilities. Information about each dimension could be obtained by the subject sequentially according to his preference.The results show that subjects are less risky under High as compared to Medium and Low time pressure, risk taking being measured by choices of gambles with lower variance or lower amounts to lose and win. Subjects tended to spend more time observing the negative dimensions (amount to lose and probability of losing), whereas under low time pressure they preffered observing their positive counterparts. Information preference was found to be related to choices.Filtration of information and acceleration of its processing appear to be the strategies of coping with time pressure.
We demonstrate the differential effects of framing health hazards as occurring every day versus every year, two reference periods that objectively refer to the present but subjectively seem different. Through three studies, we show that every day framing makes risks appear more proximal and concrete than every year framing, resulting in increased self-risk perceptions, intentions to exercise precau- tionary behavior, concern and anxiety about the hazard, and effectiveness of risk communication. Across different health domains, we show that, while temporal frames moderate self-positivity biases (study 1), difficulty of preventive behaviors (study 2) and outcome valence (study 3) moderate temporal framing effects. Four hundred and forty thousand Americans succumb each year to the deadly effects of tobacco smoke. (Brody 2001)
We find that the pleasure of a gain is generally greater than the pleasure of a nonloss and that the pain of a loss is generally greater than the pain of a nongain. These patterns were found when participants reported both how they would feel if these outcomes were to happen (Studies 1 and 2) and how they actually felt when they happened (Study 3). Our results also suggest that it is stronger cheerfulness (rather than quiescence) that underlies the greater pleasure of a gain and stronger agitation (rather than dejection) that underlies the greater aversiveness of a loss. This set of findings is predicted by our regulatory focus conceptualization of how gain (promotion success) and nongain (promotion failure) versus nonloss (prevention success) and loss (prevention failure) differ in whether they are experienced in relation to a maximal goal or a minimal goal, respectively. Implications for models of emotional experiences and prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979) are discussed.
Three studies demonstrated that mental simulations and affect are related to temporal changes in subjective confidence. In Study 1, students' confidence in their midterm exam performance lessened from the first day of class (3.5 weeks before the exam) to exam day, and confidence correlated negatively with upward simulations (i.e., simulations that are better than reality) and negative affect. In Study 2, manipulated upward simulations produced low confidence and negative mood even when the exam was viewed from a distance; students who were forced to think about upward simulations 1 month prior to the exam felt no more confident than did students on exam day. In Study 3, manipulated negative moods produced low confidence and more upward simulations when students anticipated laboratory tasks, and again distal and proximal confidence did not differ. Discussion centers around reciprocal relations between mental simulations and affect, and a possibly integrative account of previous explanations.
Six experiments examine the impact of time-interval descriptions on consumers' discount rates. Consumers exhibit more discounting (e.g., they demand more money to delay income) when delay intervals are described by extents of time than when delay intervals are described by dates. This pattern holds in various contexts, including gains and losses, and is robust to response-mode changes. Findings further indicate that this effect may arise because, compared with date descriptions, extent descriptions enhance perceptions of interval length. The author discusses other potential mechanisms and implications.
Four studies identify and examine a temporal component to regulatory focus. Results support the assertion that promotion focus tends to predominate for temporally distant goals, whereas proximal goals are characterized by more balanced consideration of both promotion- and prevention-focused concerns. In Study 1, students rated the importance of promotion and prevention goals at two points in time: 2 weeks before and a few minutes before an examination. Promotion goal importance increased with temporal distance, whereas prevention goal importance remained constant over time. Study 2 replicated this pattern holding the actual time-span constant (3.5 weeks) and varying only the psychological sense of proximity/distance. In Study 3, subjects rated the regulatory focus of goals at varying points in time, both future and past. The temporal effect was replicated for both time periods. Study 4 provided evidence for the reverse effect, that of regulatory focus on the perceived temporal distance of future goals. Taken together, these findings suggest an integration across research domains that links regulatory focus to temporal perspective for both prospective and retrospective judgments.
Three studies examined the predictions that in the context of evaluation of fairness and concessions in negotiations, losses would be perceived as more intensely negative than non-gains, and that non-losses would be perceived as more positive than gains. Extant studies tested only the first of these predictions. These predictions derive from the principle of loss aversion (LA), according to which losses are experienced more intensely than gains of similar objective magnitude. In this view, losses and non-losses are measured against the steep loss part of the value curve, whereas gains and non-gains are measured against the shallow part of the value curve. Our studies replicated extant studies in confirming the first prediction but failed to confirm the second prediction. Specifically, opposite to the prediction of LA, gains were perceived as more intensely positive than non-losses. It seems, therefore, that LA is not a sufficient explanation of why losses are perceived as more averse than gains. Feature positive and regulatory focus effects are discussed as additional potential contributors to the phenomenon.
Following damage to specific sectors of the prefrontal cortex, humans develop a defect in real-life decision making, in spite of otherwise normal intellectual performance. The patients so affected may even realize the consequences of their actions but fail to act accordingly, thus appearing oblivious to the future. The neural basis of this defect has resisted explanation. Here we identify a physiological correlate for the defect and discuss its possible significance. We measured the skin conductance responses (SCRs) of 7 patients with prefrontal damage, and 12 normal controls, during the performance of a novel task, a card game that simulates real-life decision making in the way it factors uncertainty, rewards, and penalties. Both patients and controls generated SCRs after selecting cards that were followed by penalties or by reward. However, after a number of trials, controls also began to generate SCRs prior to their selection of a card, while they pondered from which deck to choose, but no patients showed such anticipatory SCRs. The absence of anticipatory SCRs in patients with prefrontal damage is a correlate of their insensitivity to future outcomes. It is compatible with the idea that these patients fail to activate biasing signals that would serve as value markers in the distinction between choices with good or bad future outcomes; that these signals also participate in the enhancement of attention and working memory relative to representations pertinent to the decision process; and that the signals hail from the bioregulatory machinery that sustains somatic homeostasis and can be expressed in emotion and feeling.
Five studies tested the predictions of temporal construal theory and time-discounting theories regarding evaluation of near future and distant future options (outcomes, activities, products). The options had abstract or goal-relevant features (called high-level construal features) as well as more concrete or goal-irrelevant features (called low-level construal features). The studies varied the valence (positive vs. negative) and the type of valence (affective vs. cognitive) of the low-level and high-level construal features. The results show that the weight of high-level construal features, compared with the weight of low-level construal features, is greater in determining distant future preferences than near future preferences. The implications of the results for extant theories of time-dependent changes in preference are discussed.
We propose a reciprocal relation between regulatory-focus systems and global versus local processing styles-specifically, that global processing fits a promotion focus on advancement, whereas local processing fits a prevention focus on security. In Study 1, participants were shown large letters made of small letters and decided if either of two specific letters appeared on the screen. Strength of promotion focus was positively correlated with speed of processing global letters and negatively correlated with speed of processing local letters, whereas the reverse was true for strength of prevention focus. In Study 2, participants first worked on a global or local task and later chose between two objects. Consistent with our fit proposal, participants who had performed the global task assigned a higher price to their chosen object if they had chosen it in a promotive, eager manner than if they had chosen it in a preventive, vigilant manner, whereas the reverse was true for participants who had performed the local task.
This paper discusses the discounted utility (DU) model: its historical development, underlying assumptions, and "anomalies"--the empirical regularities that are inconsistent with its theoretical predictions. We then summarize the alternate theoretical formulations that have been advanced to address these anomalies. We also review three decades of empirical research on intertemporal choice, and discuss reasons for the spectacular variation in implicit discount rates across studies. Throughout the paper, we stress the importance of distinguishing time preference, per se, from many other considerations that also influence intertemporal choices.
This paper presents a model of intertemporal choice that incorporates "savoring" and "dread"-i.e., utility from anticipat ion of delayed consumption. The model explains why an individual with positive time preference may delay desirable outcomes or get unpleas ant outcomes over with quickly, contrary to the prediction of convent ional formulations of intertemporal choice. Implications of savoring and dread for savings behavior, empirical estimation of discount rate s, and public policy efforts to combat myopic behavior are explored. The model provides an explanation for common violations of the indepe ndence axiom as applied to intertemporal choice. Copyright 1987 by Royal Economic Society.
Managers′ reports of their own reactions to risk suggest that decision makers may feel they can control both the likelihood and the magnitude of future potential losses (March & Shapira, 1987). As a consequence, delayed losses appear much less intimidating than immediate losses because delayed losses are heavily discounted. However, if decision makers discount losses more heavily than gains, or if future loss seems less credible than gain, decision makers will make more risky choices when outcomes are delayed than when they are immediate. These are the ideas explored in this study. The questions addressed are: (1) Do decision makers discount gain and loss asymmetrically, with higher loss than gain rates, and (2) is the uncertainty (implicit risk) associated with future loss outcomes greater than that associated with gain outcomes? Lottery ratings were used to fit three intertemporal choice models, each of which represents a particular time-discounting or implicit-risk hypothesis. The resulting time and implicit risk parameter estimates were used to test hypotheses about discounting asymmetries. A significant number of subjects discount loss faster than gain. Both implicit risk and time discount rates were higher for loss than gain. Thus, the asymmetry detected in this study is in the direction that would induce greater risk tolerance with delay as predicted in Miller′s (1959) conflict theory. The results also reflect managers′ optimistic view of the future and their belief in their eventual mastery of it.
Analysis of decision making under risk has been dominated by expected utility theory, which generally accounts for people's actions. Presents a critique of expected utility theory as a descriptive model of decision making under risk, and argues that common forms of utility theory are not adequate, and proposes an alternative theory of choice under risk called prospect theory. In expected utility theory, utilities of outcomes are weighted by their probabilities. Considers results of responses to various hypothetical decision situations under risk and shows results that violate the tenets of expected utility theory. People overweight outcomes considered certain, relative to outcomes that are merely probable, a situation called the "certainty effect." This effect contributes to risk aversion in choices involving sure gains, and to risk seeking in choices involving sure losses. In choices where gains are replaced by losses, the pattern is called the "reflection effect." People discard components shared by all prospects under consideration, a tendency called the "isolation effect." Also shows that in choice situations, preferences may be altered by different representations of probabilities. Develops an alternative theory of individual decision making under risk, called prospect theory, developed for simple prospects with monetary outcomes and stated probabilities, in which value is given to gains and losses (i.e., changes in wealth or welfare) rather than to final assets, and probabilities are replaced by decision weights. The theory has two phases. The editing phase organizes and reformulates the options to simplify later evaluation and choice. The edited prospects are evaluated and the highest value prospect chosen. Discusses and models this theory, and offers directions for extending prospect theory are offered. (TNM)
Self-Discrepancy: A Theory Relating Self and AffectBeyond Pleasure and Pain,” American Psychol-ogistMaking a Good Decision: Value from Fit
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Resource Slack and Discounting of Future Time versus Money
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Value from Regulatory Construal Fit,” working paper, Marketing Department
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"Value from Regulatory Construal Fit," working paper, Marketing Department, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208.
Spending Time versus Money: When Consumption Is Costly,” working paper, Marketing Department
- Cassie Theriault
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Theriault, Cassie Mogilner and Jennifer Aaker (2007), "Spending
Time versus Money: When Consumption Is Costly," working
paper, Marketing Department, Stanford Graduate School of
Business, Stanford, CA 94305.