Journal of Consumer Research
August 23, 2011


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Journal of Consumer Research
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Effects of Construal Level on the Price-Quality Relationship

Dengfeng Yan
Jaideep Sengupta

Drawing on construal level theory, this research proposes that consumers reliance on price (vs. feature-specific product attributes) for making quality inferences will be enhanced when the judgment is psychologically distant (vs. close). For example, the impact of price (attributes) on quality inferences should increase (decrease) when these inferences are made with regard to another person rather than oneself. A series of experiments provides support for this thesis. In addition, the authors (a) document a theoretically derived reversal of the core pattern, (b) reconcile the current findings with seemingly opposed results in the construal literature, and (c) rule out several alternative explanations for the obtained effects. The insights obtained in this work enrich our understanding of three different areas of research: the price-quality link, construal level theory, and the self-other distinction. 

 

DOI: 10.1086/659755
Electronically published March 22, 2011 

 


Living U.S. Capitalism: The Normalization of Credit/Debt

Lisa Pe�aloza
Michelle Barnhart

This research develops a theoretical account of cultural meanings as integral mechanisms in the normalization of credit/debt. Analysis derives these meanings from the credit/debt discourses and practices of 27 white middle-class consumers in the United States and tracks their negotiation in patterns and trajectories in social and market domains. Discussion elaborates the ways informants normalize credit/debt in transposing their categories, in improvising meaning combinations, and in suturing the meaning patterns to particular subject positions in constituting themselves as consumers. Theoretical contributions (1) distinguish consumers' collaborative production of cultural meanings with friends, family, and others in the social domain and with financial agents and institutions in the market domain and (2) document the productive capacities of these meanings in patterns and trajectories in configuring people as consuming subjects. Implications situate such cultural reproduction processes in the United States in discussing how the national legacy of abundance informs the normalization of credit/debt.

 

DOI: 10.1086/660116
Electronically published April 05, 2011 

 


The Construal (In)compatibility Effect: The Moderating Role of a Creative Mind-Set

Xiaojing Yang
Torsten Ringberg
Huifang Mao
Laura A. Peracchio

This research examines how consumers with a creative mind-set are persuaded by advertising claims construed at different levels (i.e., abstract vs. concrete ad claims). Across four experiments, the authors show that consumers with a creative mind-set are more persuaded by ad claims construed at a level incompatible with their mental construal, while ad claims construed at a level compatible with consumers' mental construal are more effective for those who possess a less creative mind-set. The authors document that such differences in persuasion are driven by the fact that consumers with a creative (less creative) mind-set prefer information that is more remotely (closely) associated with their mental construal and appears novel (familiar).

 

DOI: 10.1086/660118
Electronically published April 06, 2011

 


The Impact of Product Name on Dieters' and Nondieters' Food Evaluations and Consumption

Caglar Irmak
Beth Vallen
Stefanie Rosen Robinson

This research explores the impact of merely altering the name of a food on dieters' and nondieters' evaluations of the food's healthfulness and taste, as well as consumption. Four studies demonstrate that when a food is identified by a relatively unhealthy name (e.g., pasta), dieters perceive the item to be less healthful and less tasty than do nondieters. When the identical food is assigned a relatively healthy name (e.g., salad), however, dieting tendency has no effect on product evaluations. This effect, which results in differences in actual food consumption, is explained by nondieters' insensitivity to food cues as well as dieters' reliance on cues indicating a lack of healthfulness and tendency to employ heuristic information processing when evaluating foods. These findings contribute to the body of literature that explores both individual and contextual factors that influence food evaluation and consumption.

 

DOI: 10.1086/660044
Electronically published April 12, 2011

 

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