Gergana Y. Nenkov

Pre-versus postdecisional deliberation and goal commitment : The positive effects of defensiveness

Building on Gollwitzer’s (1990) mindset theory of action phases, it is proposed that the effects of deliberation on subsequent goal commitment are moderated by people’s pre- versus post-decisional status. A balanced deliberation and impartial assessment of pros and cons is expected to reduce goal commitment in pre-decisional individuals, whereas a partial, defensive deliberation and a focus on the pros should strengthen goal commitment in post-decisional individuals. Indeed, in Study 1, deliberation on the pros and cons of pursuing a focal goal promoted stronger reported goal commitment in participants who had decided to pursue this goal, but reduced goal commitment for people who had not yet made such a decision. In Study 2, the same pattern of results emerged when goal commitment was assessed in terms of planning to act on the goal rather than by mere self-report. Study 3 replicated findings using a different decision status manipulation and an objective measure of commitment. Moreover, it explored the underlying process and provided evidence that it is the defensive focus on the pros of goal pursuit that drives post-decisional deliberation’s strengthening effects on goal commitment. Finally, results of Studies 4 and 5 suggested that the increase in commitment produced by defensive post-decisional deliberation is consequential. It was found to differentially strengthen conflicting behavioral intentions (Study 4), and to drive real-life behavior by promoting goal-directed action (Study 5). Implications for mindset theory, goal commitment theory, and decision making are discussed.

It’s all in the Mindset: Effects of Varying Psychological Distance in Persuasive Messages

The current research shows that the persuasive impact of messages can be maximized if their framing is matched to where target consumers are in their decision making process at the time they evaluate the message. Results from two experimental studies show that consumers who are in the predecisional phase of decision making are more likely to be persuaded by messages framed using psychologically distant orientation (i.e., focusing on the future or targeting a distant other), whereas consumers who are in the postdecisional phase are more likely to be persuaded by messages using psychologically close orientation (i.e., focusing on the present or targeting a close other). Evidence of the process through which these effects occur is provided by showing that consumers in a pre- versus postdecisional mindset identify their actions in terms of the actions’ high- versus low-level identities, respectively.

Save Like the Joneses: How Service Firms Can Utilize Deliberation and Informational Influence to Enhance Consumer Well-Being

This research demonstrates how service firms can encourage decisions that enhance consumers’ well-being through informational social influence. Specifically, we propose that social information regarding the beneficial behaviors of others is enhanced under a deliberative mind-set. Given the financial insecurity of consumers, as well as the potential for financial services firms to positively affect consumers’ savings decisions, we test this theorizing in the context of savings. Four studies demonstrate that the open-mindedness associated with the deliberative mind-set increases the effectiveness of providing high savings social information (i.e., information about the high savings rates of others). This effect does not occur for consumers with chronically high susceptibility to interpersonal influence, who are open-minded to social information regardless of mind-set, but is stronger for myopically focused consumers who otherwise may be most likely to discount high savings information. Results suggest that financial services firms may improve consumers’ financial well-being by providing high savings social information and eliciting a deliberative mind-set in financial brochures, educational programs, and interactions with financial advisors. Implications for how service firms can utilize a deliberative mind-set and informational influence to enhance consumer well-being by encouraging beneficial behaviors like saving, exercising, or energy conservation, which conflict with existing desires, are discussed.

The Case for Moral Consumption: Examining and Expanding the Domain of Moral Behavior to Promote Individual and Collective Well-Being

This research delineates and critically examines extant empirical research on marketplace morality within the context of transformative consumer research. The authors identify how public policy can be leveraged to promote moral consumption in the marketplace in line with the transformative consumer research objectives of personal and collective well-being. They conduct a systematic review of the last decade of marketing literature and find that the definition of what is considered “marketplace morality” has been rather narrow. Subsequently, the authors propose a broader definition and develop a typology of moral consumption behaviors based on the valence of moral judgment/behavior (moral or immoral) and moral content (harm, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity). The authors find that most research has focused on understanding one-time (im)moral behaviors in narrow domains, which have local implications and short-term impact. This research proposes that there is untapped potential in investigating repeated (im)moral behaviors associated with lifestyle choices and habits and that these have wider, long-term moral implications (e.g., wastefulness, overindulgence, pollution, authenticity, discrimination). Finally, the authors consider the underlying motivations for (im)moral behaviors and offer recommendations for policy development and research.

Fluency in Future Focus Optimizing Outcome Elaboration Strategies for Effective Self-Control

The current research sheds new light on how individuals can best use the consideration of future outcomes as a self-control strategy to enhance their likelihood of goal attainment. Across three studies, the authors find that the effectiveness of positively versus negatively valenced outcome elaboration is dependent upon the construal level at which the potential outcomes are considered. This research demonstrates that positive outcome elaboration is more effective when it is abstract, whereas negative outcome elaboration is more effective when it is concrete. Moreover, the authors explore the process underlying these effects and demonstrate that the increased effectiveness of matching the outcomes’ valence and construal level is due to outcome elaboration fluency, as increased ease of generating outcomes that are positive and abstract or negative and concrete promotes more effective self-control.

Elaboration on potential outcomes (EPO) and the consultative salesperson: investigating effects on attributions and performance

Past work has found that salespeople make very different attributions when describing successful versus unsuccessful sales. In this article, we explore the influence of elaboration on potential outcomes (EPO), a relatively new individual-specific personality construct that has not been previously examined in the sales context. We show that salespeoples predisposition to engage in predecision elaboration on the potential outcomes of their sales activities across the sales cycle has an important impact on their selling attributions and on their performance, even after accounting for the effects of self-efficacy and trait competitiveness, two other person-specific variables that have been heavily examined in past research. Juxtaposing survey responses with objective sales performance data from 301 salespeople drawn from two sales organizations, the results show that EPO and the more heavily examined variables help to systematically explain salespeoples attributions for success but are only weakly linked to attributions for failure. Moreover, the results show that EPO itself explains a modest, but nevertheless promising, portion of variance in sales performance.