What to Buy? Regulatory Focus and the Tradeoff Between Experiential and Material Purchases

摘要

Consumers often have to make tradeoffs between experiential purchases (e.g., a dinner out, gym membership) and material purchases (e.g., a new jacket, gym equipment) (Tully, Hershfield, and Meyvis 2015; Van Boven and Gilovich 2003). In this research, we study the role of regula-tory focus (Higgins 1998) and hypothesize that promotion driven individuals have a higher likelihood of choosing experiential purchases than prevention driven individuals. This is because people with a promotion focus tend to process information through an abstract mindset (Lee, Keller, and Sternthal 2010; Mogilner, Aaker, and Pennington 2008) and such abstract mindset makes it easier to process experiential purchases since which is also construed in abstract terms (Caprariello and Reis 2013; Van Boven and Gilovich 2003). On the other hand, individuals with a prevention focus tend to process information via a concrete mindset (Lee et al. 2010; Mogilner et al. 2008). This makes it easier to think about material purchases because material purchases are often processed in concrete terms (Caprariello and Reis 2013; Van Boven and Gilovich 2003). As such, we argue that processing fluency drives the effect of regulatory focus on purchase choice.