مقاله سال ۲۰۱۷

Understanding and predicting consumer behavior continues to be at the forefront of consumer research (MSI, 2014). The key to a better understanding of consumption may be found in the underlying motives that drive it. Like most behaviors, consumption is purposeful and goaldriven (Bagozzi, 1993), performed as a means towards some end (Moskowitz & Grant, 2009). A goal is a cognitive representation of a desired end state. When a goal is activated, tension arises based on the discrepancy between the current and the desired state (Carver & Scheier, 1981). To reduce this discrepancy, cognitive resources – attention, information processing and knowledge structures – become available and accessible, helping us identify feasible means (Janiszewski, 2008), determine their value (Kruglanski et al., 2002), and energize our actions (Gollwitzer & Bargh, 1996). This process constructs and reconstructs the perceived value of alternatives based on whether they are conducive or detrimental to our goals (Förster, Liberman, & Friedman, 2007), independently of pre-existing preferences (Custer & Aarts, 2005).

Goals are thought to be organized in hierarchical goal systems, in which higher-order goals are vertically linked to sub-goals, which are in turn connected to lower-order means and behaviors (Kruglanski et al., 2002). The past decades, it has become increasingly clear that we not only strive to maximize utility, but also to achieve hedonic (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982), as well as normative goals (Lindenberg & Steg, 2007). More recently, the authors of the present research found that higher-order utilitarian, hedonic, and normative goals are themselves multi-dimensional, each represented by multiple distinct sub-goals (Barbopoulos & Johansson, 2016). Yet, consumer models rarely integrate multiple goals into a single framework, as most scales are uni- or bi-dimensional (Sánchez-Fernández & Iniesta-Bonillo, 2007), or focus on specific determinants (e.g. Batra, Homer, & Kahle, 2001), while normative determinants are often ignored altogether (SánchezFernández & Iniesta-Bonillo, 2007).

Goals, like all cognitive constructs, are susceptible to environmental cues, thereby connecting evaluations and preferences to the situation at hand (Moskowitz & Grant, 2009). Situations are often perceived in light of the opportunities and obstacles they present in the pursuit of our goals (Morse, Neel, Todd, & Funder, 2015). For instance, situations may be construed as relating to interpersonal or status goals (Bond, 2013), or pleasure, adversity, conflict, or social demand (Ten Berge & De Raad, 2002). Consequently, goal activation may vary from one situation to another, with effects on how consumers evaluate the means under consideration (Barbopoulos & Johansson, 2017a), as consumers often learn to associate situations with the means and actions that can achieve the salient goals (Gutman, 1982). Knowing which goals are active in a situation, and how activation varies across situations, therefore provides valuable knowledge about what information consumers may attend to, what products they prefer, and what pricing strategies may be most effective. To date, the situational variability of goals is often overlooked in models of consumer behavior, as scales generally consist of situation-independent constructs, such as consumer values (Kahle, Beatty, & Homer, 1986), or personality traits (Aluja, Kuhlman, & Zuckerman, 2010). Furthermore, scales are often designed for specific settings or products, such as sports or tobacco (Sheth, Newman, & Gross, 1991), or travel (Bello & Etzel, 1985), making it hard to assess changes across situations.