IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/custns/v8y2021i1d10.1007_s40547-021-00114-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

More or Less? Consumer Goal Orientation and Product Choice

Author

Listed:
  • Haipeng (Allan) Chen

    (University of Kentucky)

  • Woojin Choi

    (University of Seoul)

  • Yan (Lucy) Liu

    (Texas A&M University)

  • Haoying Sun

    (University of Kentucky)

  • Fu Liu

    (Jinan University)

Abstract

We study the impact of consumers’ goal orientation on their preference between high-quality and low-priced products. Consistent with our theorizing, we find that US (Korean) consumers, who are more promotion (prevention) oriented, prefer high-quality (vs. low-priced) products because they assign more weight to quality in their choice. In addition, we identify a boundary condition of the effect by showing that it is mitigated for products for which safety is a salient feature. We also rule out price/quality perceptions, regret, and price-quality association as rival explanations of our results. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and managerial implications of the current research.

Suggested Citation

  • Haipeng (Allan) Chen & Woojin Choi & Yan (Lucy) Liu & Haoying Sun & Fu Liu, 2021. "More or Less? Consumer Goal Orientation and Product Choice," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 8(1), pages 16-26, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:custns:v:8:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s40547-021-00114-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s40547-021-00114-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40547-021-00114-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40547-021-00114-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leonard Lee & Dan Ariely, 2006. "Shopping Goals, Goal Concreteness, and Conditional Promotions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(1), pages 60-70, June.
    2. Cassie Mogilner & Jennifer L. Aaker & Ginger L. Pennington, 2008. "Time Will Tell: The Distant Appeal of Promotion and Imminent Appeal of Prevention," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(5), pages 670-681, August.
    3. Lee, Angela Y. & Aaker, Jennifer L. & Gardner, Wendi L., 2000. "The Pleasures and Pains of Distinct Self-Construals: The Role of Interdependence in Regulatory Focus," Research Papers 1577r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    4. Itamar Simonson & Stephen Nowlis & Katherine Lemon, 1993. "The Effect of Local Consideration Sets on Global Choice Between Lower Price and Higher Quality," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 357-377.
    5. Luce, Mary Frances, 1998. "Choosing to Avoid: Coping with Negatively Emotion-Laden Consumer Decisions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 409-433, March.
    6. Torsten Bornemann & Christian Homburg, 2011. "Psychological Distance and the Dual Role of Price," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(3), pages 490-504.
    7. Wang, Jessie J. & Torelli, Carlos J. & Lalwani, Ashok K., 2020. "The interactive effect of power distance belief and consumers’ status on preference for national (vs. private-label) brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Bruce G. S. Hardie & Eric J. Johnson & Peter S. Fader, 1993. "Modeling Loss Aversion and Reference Dependence Effects on Brand Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 378-394.
    9. Ashok K. Lalwani & Sharon Shavitt, 2013. "You Get What You Pay For? Self-Construal Influences Price-Quality Judgments," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(2), pages 255-267.
    10. Arnold, Mark J. & Reynolds, Kristy E., 2009. "Affect and Retail Shopping Behavior: Understanding the Role of Mood Regulation and Regulatory Focus," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 308-320.
    11. David R. Bell & James M. Lattin, 2000. "Looking for Loss Aversion in Scanner Panel Data: The Confounding Effect of Price Response Heterogeneity," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(2), pages 185-200, May.
    12. Timothy B. Heath & Subimal Chatterjee, 1995. "Asymmetric Decoy Effects on Lower-Quality Versus Higher-Quality Brands: Meta-Analytic and Experimental Evidence," Post-Print hal-00670480, HAL.
    13. Tanya L. Chartrand & Joel Huber & Baba Shiv & Robin J. Tanner, 2008. "Nonconscious Goals and Consumer Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(2), pages 189-201, April.
    14. Bettman, James R & Luce, Mary Frances & Payne, John W, 1998. "Constructive Consumer Choice Processes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 25(3), pages 187-217, December.
    15. Angela Y. Lee & Punam Anand Keller & Brian Sternthal, 2010. "Value from Regulatory Construal Fit: The Persuasive Impact of Fit between Consumer Goals and Message Concreteness," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(5), pages 735-747, February.
    16. Dengfeng Yan & Jaideep Sengupta, 2011. "Effects of Construal Level on the Price-Quality Relationship," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(2), pages 376-389.
    17. Echo Wen Wan & Jiewen Hong & Brian Sternthal, 2009. "The Effect of Regulatory Orientation and Decision Strategy on Brand Judgments," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(6), pages 1026-1038, April.
    18. Heath, Timothy B & Chatterjee, Subimal, 1995. "Asymmetric Decoy Effects on Lower-Quality versus Higher-Quality Brands: Meta-analytic and Experimental Evidence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 22(3), pages 268-284, December.
    19. Rao, Akshay R & Monroe, Kent B, 1988. "The Moderating Effect of Prior Knowledge on Cue Utilization in Product Evaluations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 253-264, September.
    20. Aaker, Jennifer L & Lee, Angela Y, 2001. ""I" Seek Pleasures and "We" Avoid Pains: The Role of Self-Regulatory Goals in Information Processing and Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 33-49, June.
    21. Minha Hwang & Raphael Thomadsen, 2016. "How Point-of-Sale Marketing Mix Impacts National-Brand Purchase Shares," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(2), pages 571-590, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nigam, Achint & Dewani, Prem & Behl, Abhishek & Pereira, Vijay, 2022. "Consumer’s response to conditional promotions in retailing: An empirical inquiry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 751-763.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Khajehzadeh, Saman & Oppewal, Harmen & Tojib, Dewi, 2014. "Consumer responses to mobile coupons: The roles of shopping motivation and regulatory fit," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 2447-2455.
    2. Ashok K. Lalwani & Lura Forcum, 2016. "Does a Dollar Get You a Dollar’s Worth of Merchandise? The Impact of Power Distance Belief on Price-Quality Judgments," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 43(2), pages 317-333.
    3. Sun, Jin & Keh, Hean Tat & Lee, Angela Y., 2019. "Shaping consumer preference using alignable attributes: The roles of regulatory orientation and construal level," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 151-168.
    4. Cheng, Yin-Hui & Yen, HsiuJu Rebecca & Chuang, Shih-Chieh & Chang, Chia-Jung, 2013. "Product option framing under the influence of a promotion versus prevention focus," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 402-413.
    5. Ji Wu & Haichuan Zhao & Haipeng (Allan) Chen, 2021. "Coupons or Free Shipping? Effects of Price Promotion Strategies on Online Review Ratings," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 633-652, June.
    6. Das, Gopal & Mukherjee, Amaradri & Smith, Ronn J., 2018. "The Perfect Fit: The Moderating Role of Selling Cues on Hedonic and Utilitarian Product Types," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 203-216.
    7. Ghiassaleh, Arezou & Kocher, Bruno & Czellar, Sandor, 2020. "Best seller!? Unintended negative consequences of popularity signs on consumer choice behavior," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 805-820.
    8. Chunhua Wu & Koray Cosguner, 2020. "Profiting from the Decoy Effect: A Case Study of an Online Diamond Retailer," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(5), pages 974-995, September.
    9. Mooweon Rhee & Pamela R. Haunschild, 2006. "The Liability of Good Reputation: A Study of Product Recalls in the U.S. Automobile Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 101-117, February.
    10. Xin Liu, 2019. "The Role of Enterprise Risk Management in Sustainable Decision-Making: A Cross-Cultural Comparison," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, May.
    11. Nicole Koschate-Fischer & Katharina Wüllner, 2017. "New developments in behavioral pricing research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(6), pages 809-875, August.
    12. Volker Kuppelwieser & Fouad Ben Abdelaziz & Olfa Meddeb, 2020. "Unstable interactions in customers’ decision making: an experimental proof," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 294(1), pages 479-499, November.
    13. Suri, Rajneesh & Cai, Jane Zhen & Monroe, Kent B. & Thakor, Mrugank V., 2012. "Retailers’ Merchandise Organization and Price Perceptions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 168-179.
    14. Tangari, Andrea Heintz & Burton, Scot & Smith, Ronn J., 2015. "Now that's a Bright Idea: The Influence of Consumer Elaboration and Distance Perceptions on Sustainable Choices," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 410-421.
    15. Luce, Mary Frances & Payne, John W. & Bettman, James R., 2000. "Coping with Unfavorable Attribute Values in Choice," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 274-299, March.
    16. Shavitt, Sharon & Barnes, Aaron J., 2020. "Culture and the Consumer Journey," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 40-54.
    17. Mehran Spitmaan & Oihane Horno & Emily Chu & Alireza Soltani, 2019. "Combinations of low-level and high-level neural processes account for distinct patterns of context-dependent choice," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-31, October.
    18. repec:cup:judgdm:v:1:y:2006:i::p:23-32 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Huang, Yunhui & Zhang, Y. Charles, 2016. "The Out-of-Stock (OOS) Effect on Choice Shares of Available Options," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 13-24.
    20. Wang, Jessie J. & Lalwani, Ashok K. & DelVecchio, Devon, 2022. "The Impact of Power Distance Belief on Consumers' Brand Preferences," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 804-823.
    21. Müller, Holger & Benjamin Kroll, Eike & Vogt, Bodo, 2010. "“Fact or artifact? Empirical evidence on the robustness of compromise effects in binding and non-binding choice contextsâ€," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 441-448.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:custns:v:8:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s40547-021-00114-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.