Egocentric Improvement Evaluations: Change in the Self as an Anchor for Brand Improvement Judgments
Egocentric Improvement Evaluations: Change in the Self as an Anchor for Brand Improvement Judgments
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DOI：
10.1177/0022243718810801
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发表时间：
2018-06
影响因子：
6.1
通讯作者：
Sokiente W. Dagogo‐Jack;M. Forehand
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Sokiente W. Dagogo‐Jack;M. Forehand
先前的研究已经确定产品改进感知对消费者的产品升级决策（例如，升级到新的iPhone）至关重要，但很少有工作研究影响这些改进感知的因素。本研究表明，当自我品牌连接度较高时，引起消费者对其整体自我完善的关注可以增加产品改进判断和升级意愿，作者将这种现象称为自我中心改进评价。根据自我中心分类理论，该理论认为自我是产品判断的主要参考类别，作者论证了这种效应的认知驱动因素。具体而言，自我中心改善评价受自我关注的调节，自我关注决定了自我是否为可及的参考范畴。此外，作者提出以自我为中心的改进评价也有动机驱动因素：消费者将自我改进投射到自我连接的品牌上，以满足自我增强动机。自我肯定和自我威胁对核心效应有调节作用，前者抑制了自我提升的需求，后者增强了自我提升的需求。作者在五项研究中探讨了这种效应，并讨论了理论和实践意义。
Prior research has identified product improvement perceptions as critical to consumers’ product upgrade decisions (e.g., upgrading to a new iPhone), but little work has examined factors influencing these improvement perceptions. This research shows that drawing consumers’ attention to their global self-improvement can increase product improvement judgments and upgrade intentions when self–brand connection is high, a phenomenon the authors refer to as egocentric improvement evaluation. In line with egocentric categorization theory, which identifies the self as a dominant reference category in product judgment, the authors demonstrate cognitive drivers of the effect. Specifically, egocentric improvement evaluations are moderated by self-focus, which determines whether the self is an accessible reference category. Furthermore, the authors propose that egocentric improvement evaluations also have a motivational driver: consumers project their self-improvement onto self-connected brands to satisfy self-enhancement motives. The core effect is moderated by self-affirmation, which quells the need for self-enhancement, and by self-threat, which heightens the need for self-enhancement. The authors investigate this effect in five studies and discuss the theoretical and practical implications.