Work

Power and Need-for-Justification: Asymmetrical Effects on Senders and Receivers in Marketing Communications

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: This research reveals how a fundamental and pervasive psychological state, feeling powerful, asymmetrically impacts consumers’ construction of and response to communications. For senders, power reduces consumers’ need-for-justification and lowers the degree of support they seek and use to construct their communications. This lowered degree of support is evidenced by reduced information search, the use of fewer rational-based arguments, and a greater reliance on more concise language. In contrast, for receivers, power increases consumers’ expectations for others to justify their positions. As a result, high-power receivers require a greater degree of support in communications from others. Based on a need-for-justification mechanism, the current work derives and demonstrates theoretically driven boundary conditions (e.g., attenuation when a heightened need-for-justification or support already exists) of this relationship. Together, these results provide new insights into how power influences consumers’ need-for-justification and how this need affects the ways that consumers construct and respond to communications.

Source: Journal of Consumer Research

DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucac052

Authors: Linying (Sophie) Fan, Derek D Rucker, Yuwei Jiang

Institutions: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Language: English

Topic: Marketing and Advertising Strategies

Subfield: Marketing

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Hong Kong Polytechnic University

OpenAlex ID: W4308481952