• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.1-20
• /
• 2019

The present study investigates how consumers' construal level affects their variety seeking behavior when choosing multiple items simultaneously. Especially the authors focus on the perceptual level at which variety seeking takes place and propose that variety seeking can take place not only at brand level but also at category or subcategory level. Categorical variety seeking refers to diversification of one's choices over multiple brands not within the same category but across multiple categories. Building on construal level theory, the authors expected that people engaging in higher-level construals tend to subcategorize the choice set and distribute their choices across more subcategories and designed four experiments to test the related hypotheses. The experimental results showed that consumers' construal level can affect the level at which variety seeking takes place and those with higher construal level tend to choose options seemingly more dissimilar to each other.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.31-51
• /
• 2019

Construal level theory (CLT) have been researched in wide range of disciplines such as marketing, organizational study, psychology, or education. Current study asserts that CLT would explain the effect of different devices of PC and smartphone on interaction between human-computer interfaces and information systems use. In CLT, those who are far from an object in terms of physical, temporal, social or psychological distance, they construe their understanding as abstract (high level) and vice versa. We hypothesized different size of digital device will increase psychological distance and result in behaviors that correspond to present construal level. The analysis result shows that users of PC recognized that they are socially distant from the device and those of smartphone felt that they are socially close to the device. However, the device did not have significant effect on attention to essential information, advertisement preference, and immediacy. The implication to academia, practice and future research and limitations are also discussed.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.695-718
• /
• 2020

Based on the Construal Level Theory, we aim to study a most favorable fit among the advertising model, media type, and message construals, which are important factors in an advertisement. A two (social distance of the ad model in an ad: distal (low similarity) vs proximal (high similarity) by two (social distance of a media type: distal (portal) vs. proximal (SNS)) by two (message construal: abstract vs concrete) laboratory experiment was conducted to examine attitude changes on ad messages. The results show that abstract messages were more effective in attitude toward advertisement and purchase intention under the distal social distance (i.e. advertising model in low-similarity and portal media type) while concrete messages were so under the proximal social distance and SNS media type.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.11-20
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the construal level and temporal distance of a message and consumer's Social Network Service (SNS) self-efficacy on consumers' attitudes toward SNS fashion advertising. This study employed a 2 (message configuration: high construal level/low construal level) ${\times}$ 2 (temporal distance: distant future/near future) ${\times}$ 2 (SNS self-efficacy: high/low) between-subject factorial design. The survey was conducted on Facebook users in their twenties (N=216). The results are as follows: First, attitude toward SNS fashion advertising and purchase intention was higher when the message construal level was lower and when the temporal distance was closer. Second, no interactions between temporal distance and message construal level for attitude toward SNS advertising and purchase intention were found in this study. However, interactions between temporal distance and SNS self-efficacy for attitude toward SNS advertising and purchase intention were found. When the SNS self-efficacy was high, message with the low construal level reacted significantly positive in terms of attitude toward the ad as well as purchase intention. It is expected that this study will provide insight for apparel makers or retailers to use SNS as a new advertising media for fashion marketing. Practical implications and limitations are discussed.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2014

The goal-gradient hypothesis states that the tendency to approach a goal increases with the increasing proximity of the goal (Hull 1932). It was initially supported with an evidence of animal experiments and since then, several papers have investigated the goal-gradient hypothesis in humans. Although there are some evidences related to the goal-gradient hypothesis in human behaviors, none of previous studies can properly explain its underlying mechanism, and what's more, they were not able to suggest useful managerial applications in human behaviors. From these perspectives, this work points out that there are some theoretical weaknesses to apply the goal-gradient hypothesis into the complicated human decision-making behaviors and proposes an alternative theoretical mechanismthat underlies the goal-gradient hypothesis in human. Finally, it offers insights into managerial implications of the goal-gradient hypothesis in the marketing field. This study focuses on the changes in motivations for achieving goals, in terms of how approaches to goals vary according to temporal distance from those goals. Specifically, the temporal construal theory (Liberman and Trope 1998) is considered as the underlying mechanism of the goal-gradient in that the temporal construal theory argues how the temporal distance from a goal makes people change their associated values regarding to that goal. According to the temporal construal theory, the value of distant future outcomes (near future outcomes) is construed on the basis of abstract and central features (concrete and peripheral features), and it argues that distant future situations are construed on a higher level than near future situations. This means that the value associated with the high-level construal is enhanced over delay, whereas the value associated with the low-level construal is discounted over delay. Our propositions suggest that the goal-gradient behavior in human can be motivated by the different aspects or characteristics of the goal as time changes based on the temporal construal theory. Thus, the following propositions are proposed. P 1-1: If the goal is far away, consumers put more value on the central features that are more associated with the desirability of the goal. P 1-2: If the goal is far away, consumers put more effort into accomplishing the goal that has more central features, regardless of its peripheral features. P 2-1: If a goal is near, consumers put more value on the peripheral features that are more associated with the feasibility of the goal. P 2-2: If a goal is near, consumers put more effort into accomplishing the goal that has more peripheral features, regardless of its central features. We hope to provide sufficient managerial implications for the companies as our research aims to show how consumers react differently as they progress toward the goal. Proposed propositions may provide guidance for companies developing a loyalty program, enabling them to understand what kinds of benefits or services they should provide or emphasize to consumers in loyalty programs on the basis of the time-dependent changes in outcome values (such as gifts, reward coupons). The effects of temporal distance from a goal should inform companies' marketing activities and help themto determine where emphasis should be placed in designing the benefits of their loyalty program.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.760-777
• /
• 2023

Fashion brands seek guidelines for effective green advertising messages, considering benefit appeals, brand types, and construal level. However, few studies have explored their simultaneous interplay. Thus, the present study conducted an experiment with a 2X2X2 between-subjects design to investigate how brand type and construal level moderate the mediating role of ad-brand congruency between benefit appeals and purchase intention. A total of 245 Millennials and Generation Z participants completed an online survey, and the data were analyzed using SPSS. A significant three-way interaction was revealed. Low-construal-level messages with concrete content showed disparities between aspirational and accessible brands concerning other-benefit appeals: Accessible brands utilizing other-benefit appeals demonstrated higher ad-brand congruency, while aspirational brands had lower ad-brand congruency. Furthermore, within aspirational brands, self-benefit appeals resulted in higher ad-brand congruency than other-benefit appeals. Finally, a moderated mediating effect was discovered, indicating that brand types and construal level moderated the mediating effect of ad-brand congruency between benefit appeals and purchase intention. The mediating effect was prominent in the context of self-benefit appeals, aspirational brands, and low-construal-level messages. This study highlights the intricate dynamics of the three factors in green advertising, providing valuable insights for crafting more targeted green advertisements.

• Knowledge Management Research
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.49-65
• /
• 2017

Financial products entail either gains or losses, and customers' psychological reaction to these gains and losses affect the selection of the financial products. This study explains the financial customers' behavior by introducing consumers' psychological variables such as loss aversion and construal levels. According to the construal level theory, people use more abstract and higher levels of construal to represent objects that are more distant on psychological distance. Based on extant research about loss aversion and construal levels, this study proposes two hypotheses and test the hypotheses. The experimental study examines how loss aversion affects the choice between deposit products and fund products in short-term and long-term investment situations. In the long-term condition the respondents prefer fund products to deposit products, whereas in the short-term condition the respondents have showed the opposite result. Also, the effects of loss aversion on preferences for financial products have interacted with the time horizon of investments. Implications and limitations are discussed to establish more effective marketing strategies based on the results of this study.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
• /
• v.9 no.5
• /
• pp.73-81
• /
• 2018

Purpose - When indulging in hedonic items is construed as wasteful and evokes anticipated regret or guilt, consumers are more likely to seek reasons to justify their indulgence. Justification requirement for spending on indulgences over necessities could lead to the places of their finding the ways that mitigate the anticipated regret and guilt. However the previous research focusing on consumers' own great effort leading to positive outcomes has not given much attention to other's outcomes induced from his or her little or no efforts, by which consumers could feel envy. The guilt associated with consumers' indulgence could vary according to envy type felt according to their evaluation about other's outcomes and their self construal level. Current research explored the envy type's effects on consumers' spending on hedonic products, and moderation effects of self construal level on the envy type's effects. Research design, data, and methodology - 2(envy type: benign versus malicious) × 2(self construal level: high versus low) between-subjects design was employed. Data for empirical analysis were from 173 undergraduate participants. ANOVA was used to verify hypotheses. Results - The tendency of choosing utilitarian product versus hedonic product was moderated by the envy type. The participants who felt benign envy were more likely to choose utilitarian product versus hedonic product than those who felt malicious envy were. And the tendency of benign envy-felt participants' choosing hedonic versus utilitarian product was more weakened to those with lower-level self construal than to those with higher-level self construal. However the tendency of malicious envy-felt participants' choosing hedonic versus utilitarian product was not moderated by the self construal level. Conclusions - This research could advance the theory related to indulgent hedonic consumption by exploring the effects of self construal level and envy type on hedonic indulgence. In view of the results from current study, marketers should make efforts of communicating and selling utilitarian products to persuade consumers with lower-level construal when they feel benign envy to others. And they should conduct marketing acts for hedonic products to persuade consumers when they feel malicious envy to others.

• International Journal of Contents
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 2014

Although many studies have considered the outcomes and impacts of serious games, little is known about the factors which affect a user's perception or interpretation in games during the process of decision making from theoretical perspectives. This study aimed to explore the process of user perception from the perspective of construal level theory, and to suggest a theoretical design approach for the development of effective serious games. In the current study, cognitive and affective learning outcomes were articulated through literature review and synthesized into a series of assumptions with persuasive and educational aspects in serious games. Serious games reflect the potential of the game mechanism for changing players' perception, and helping with knowledge acquisition of the users. The potential to use construal level theory for effective serious games interventions was suggested, and a Serious Games Design Framework was proposed via potential outcomes from recent advanced research. Finally, implications of the application of the suggested model with various-related purposes and directions for future research were discussed. The model could be useful not only for game researchers and designers, but also for game marketers in attracting potential consumers.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.216-232
• /
• 2017

This study's objective is to use the construal-level theory (CLT) to explore the effect of the utility of online travel reviews on tourists' perception. To accomplish this goal, online travel reviews are divided into two different categories based on concreteness, and the usefulness of each review is compared with the temporal dimension of psychological distance. The results show that close future tourists are more influenced by concrete reviews than abstract reviews; however, the far future tourists are more influenced by abstract reviews than concrete reviews. Based on these results, theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research.