Effect of Regulatory Focus on Selective Information Processing

Abstract

Individuals tend to selectively rely on information consistent with their attitudes or decisions. In this research, we examine the possibility that regulatory focus influences selective information processing. We find that individuals selectively rely on information consistent with their regulatory orientation under high (vs. low) information load. Specifically, under high information load, relative reliance on positive (vs. negative) information is greater for promotion-focused (vs. prevention-focused) individuals. Consequently, when information load is high, promotion-focused (vs. prevention-focused) individuals have higher brand evaluations. Under low information load, individuals also rely on information inconsistent with their regulatory orientation. Specifically, under low information load, relative reliance on positive (vs. negative) information is greater for prevention-focused (vs. promotion-focused) individuals. As a result, when information load is low, prevention-focused (vs. promotion-focused) individuals have higher brand evaluations.

The connection and disconnection between e-commerce businesses and their customers: Exploring the role of engagement, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease-of-use

“…In phase 1, we manipulated individuals' situational regulatory focus by using pre-established and validated primes. In line with Higgins et al (1994) and Yoon, Sarial-Abi, and Gürhan-Canli (2012), the participants in the promotion-focus condition (prevention-focus condition) were asked to take a few minutes to think of and list three of their past dreams, hopes, and aspirations (duties, obligations, and responsibilities). Next, they listed three of their present dreams, hopes, and aspiration (duties, obligations, and responsibilities).…”

Considerations and Confusions about the Regulatory Focus Theory and a Future Agenda for Researchers in Marketing

“…For example, consumers selectively attend to product information designed to fit a certain regulatory focus (Wang and Lee, 2006;Yoon et al, 2012) where the regulatory focus of the individual is acting like an information filter that transmits only matching information. Promotion-focused individuals show a greater intention of using self-service technologies compared to prevention-focus due to their low technological anxiety (Jia et al, 2012).…”

The deeper, the better? Effect of online brand community activity on customer purchase frequency

“…Second, although it is widely observed that consumers with different regulatory focuses (i.e., promotion-focused versus prevention-focused consumers) respond differently to the same piece of information [34,70,74], little is known about how consumer regulatory focus influences consumer purchase behavior. By using archival data to test our proposition, this study proposes that, in a natural environment, consumers' different regulatory focuses typically affect their purchase behavior.…”

“…As shown in Figure 2, the nature of the interaction effects between deep participation and regulatory focus on purchase frequency suggests that when participators are promotion-focused, their deep participation would increase purchase frequency; the deep participation of prevention-focused participators, however, cannot significantly influence purchase frequency, but still follows the negative trend. Regulatory focus theory suggests that promotion-focused and prevention-focused participators have different information processing styles [18,74]. Specifically, promotion-focused users are more concerned about positive signals or information, which is more persuasive for them than negative information.…”