The impact of autobiographical memory on brand retrieval and purchase intention

Abstract

Autobiographical memory involves mentally reliving past episodes that are personally relevant. Psychology research shows that it has remarkable bearing on one's life, including the accomplishment of tasks, self‐enhancement, self‐preservation and attaining goals. Yet, the understanding of autobiographical memory in consumer behaviour research is much more limited. Accordingly, the present study evaluates the impact of two cognitive mechanisms resulting from personal past‐usage experiences linked to the product category, which are likely to underpin consumers' retrieval of brands from memory and purchase intention. The two cognitive aspects are: the cued recollection of specific autobiographical memories; and the accessibility (in memory) of autobiographical episodes of consumption that form product category knowledge. The empirical results obtained across three online experiments suggest product category knowledge accessible in consumer memory has a greater effect on brand retrieval and purchase intention than the direct recollection of specific autobiographical memories cued by the product category. Perceived importance of choice moderates this effect, which primarily concerns purchase intention. In particular, consistent with prior research on activation confusion, product category knowledge reduces purchase intention, especially for highly familiar (or prototypical) brands. Accordingly, we outline implications for branded communications, and advertising pre‐ and post‐testing.

More than meets the eye: hidden messages in the attribution of human-like values to product categories

“…Park and Hastak, 1994) and even purchase intentions (Stocchi et al, 2021). For example, Stocchi et al (2021) found that accessible product category knowledge reduced brand retrieval and intention to purchase brands in that category. They argued that activation that spreads across large memory networks dissipates to make it less likely that any one node reaches activation.…”

“…I like fast cars]) memories to construct mental representations of common features and characteristics of products within that category (e.g. Cowley and Mitchell, 2003;Stocchi et al, 2021). Understanding the attribution of human-like values to product categories may enable researchers to not only examine differences between product categories, but also to examine the impact of fit with product and consumer values on consumer decisions.…”

“…Product and product category knowledge in memory Product category knowledge is primarily thought to be based on accumulated autobiographical memories of episodes of consumption, in addition to any acquired objective information about products in the category (Cowley and Mitchell, 2003;Stocchi et al, 2021).…”

“…Studies have shown that different levels of product category knowledge, expertise or involvement can impact memory retrieval (e.g. Park and Hastak, 1994) and even purchase intentions (Stocchi et al, 2021). For example, Stocchi et al (2021) found that accessible product category knowledge reduced brand retrieval and intention to purchase brands in that category.…”

“…I like fast cars]) memories to construct mental representations of common features and characteristics of products within that category (e.g. Cowley and Mitchell, 2003; Stocchi et al. , 2021).…”