Living with restrictions: The duration of restrictions influences construal levels

Despite the ubiquity of multitasking, prior research has ignored potential carryover effects of concurrent task performance on the way individuals interpret subsequent consumption behaviors and decisions. This study evinces that extensive use of updating, an executive function central to multitasking and necessary for construing actions abstractly, reduces the likelihood that it will be used on subsequent tasks. Accordingly, the results of three studies show that extensive employment of updating (via multitasking) reduces an individual's propensity to construe behaviors (consumption or otherwise) in abstract (vs. concrete) terms, influencing consumer choices. Specifically, we show that individuals are less likely to choose healthy food items (i.e., those consistent with long‐term health goals) and favor feasibility over desirability following episodes of multitasking. Further, we rule out general cognitive depletion and mood as alternative explanations for such carryover effects.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does multitasking change how we think? The impact of specialized depletion from concurrent task performance on subsequent behavior

Rubin

Hildebrand

Malloy‐Diniz

2022

“…As mentioned above, CLT can be utilized to explain various phenomena related to consumer behavior (Sarial‐Abi et al, 2021). Prior research suggests that general psychological distance moderates consumer evaluations of different advertising appeals (Septianto & Pratiwi, 2016).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As mentioned above, CLT can be utilized to explain various phenomena related to consumer behavior (Sarial-Abi et al, 2021).…”

Section: Cltmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong versus weak consumer‐brand relationships: Matching psychological sense of brand community and type of advertising appeal

Bauer

2022

Consumer-brand relationships vary with regard to their degree of psychological connection to the brand. Some individuals may have a weak connection to the brand (e.g., general consumers), while others may possess a strong connection to the brand (e.g., brand community members). Marketers have yet to distinguish between the types of advertising appeals that are most effective for these different individuals.Hence, this research utilizes construal level theory to posit that consumers with a stronger [weaker] psychological sense of brand community will think about the brand more concretely [abstractly] and be more persuaded by utilitarian [symbolic] advertising appeals. Three original experiments reveal that a match between the degree of psychological sense of brand community and the type of advertising appeal directly influences favorable consumer attitudes, and subsequently consumer cognitions and behaviors. Furthermore, message elaboration is the process mechanism driving the effect of the match on favorable consumer attitudes, while relationship-oriented cultural values attenuate this effect. This research contributes to both theory and practice by providing new knowledge regarding which advertising appeals are the most effective for consumers with strong versus weak consumer-brand relationships.advertising appeals, brand response, construal level theory, psychological sense of brand community | INTRODUCTIONA brand's consumer segments have unique wants and needs, many of which vary depending on the strength of the relationship between the individual and the brand (Hanson et al., 2019). For example, some individuals may have a weak connection to the brand (e.g., general consumers), while others may possess a strong connection to the brand (e.g., brand community members). It is critical for marketers to speak directly to the needs of these different types of brand users to effectively influence their attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors. However, little is known regarding the unique persuasive effects of advertising appeals on individuals with different relationships to the brand, and marketers have yet to distinguish how their messages are processed by individuals when the strength of the consumer-brand relationship varies. This represents a significant gap in the literature as advertising is a vital tool in building consumer-brand relationships (Kirmani, 2009;Moffett et al., 2021). Since micro-scale factors of an advertisement (i.e., advertising appeals) are capable of impacting consumer attitudes (Bauer et al., 2022), it is necessary to identify if an advertising appeal's effectiveness changes depending on whether it is evaluated by an individual with a strong versus weak connection to the brand.

The impact of infectious disease threat on consumers' pattern‐seeking in sequential choices

Park

Kim

Jhang

et al. 2021

The pandemic outbreak poses one of the most influential threats. When faced with such a threat, consumers engage in adaptive behaviors, and one way to do so may pertain to pattern-seeking in their choices. Across five studies, we show that consumers exhibit patterns in sequential choice under the threat of COVID-19. Specifically, consumers high (vs. low) in the perceived threat increase sequential patterns in repeated choice regardless of whether the levels of the perceived threat are measured or manipulated. The effect emerges even when a patterned choice option is objectively inferior to a nonpatterned option. The underlying mechanism of the effect is that consumers experience a lower sense of control, which motivates them to seek patterned choices to regain control threatened by the infectious disease. We further show that the effect on patterned choice is stronger for consumers with lower childhood socioeconomic status (SES), who are characterized by a lower sense of control, than their higher childhood SES counterparts. Noting that infectious disease threats are unavoidable, we offer theoretical contributions as well as novel insights into marketing practices under unpredictable and threatening situations.