Consumer Evaluation: Describing Construal-Level Theory and a Role of Emotion on Human’s Thinking Processing Style
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Based on emotion and construal level theory, this study examined the influence of emotion on consumer decision-making. Participants were induced into happy or sad moods by describing a past happy or sad life event. Then they were asked to read one of two smartphone advertisements. One advertisement emphasized only central features of smartphone, and the other one emphasized only secondary features. The dependent variables were participants’ attitudes toward the advertisements, purchase intention of the smartphone in the advertisement, and willingness to pay for the smartphone. Based on the connection between emotion and construal level, I predicted that due to their abstract construal happy participants would prefer advertisement emphasizing central features of the smartphone. By contrast, I predicted that due to their more concrete construal sad participants would prefer the advertisement emphasizing secondary features of the smartphone. Results supported the prediction that mood and advertisement emphasis would interactively predict participants’ attitudes toward the smartphones. However, predictions regarding purchase intention, though in the predicted direction, failed to achieve standard levels of statistical significance. Lastly, results of willingness to pay failed to confirm expectations. Implications of this work for consumer decision-making and emotion are discussed.
Author: Junga Lee
Institution: Loyola University Chicago
Language: English
Subfield: General Decision Sciences
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2528535547