Abstract

Taking the perspective of brand priming theory, this study proposes that brands associated with an audacious personality trait may influence consumers to be take more risks in making subsequent decisions. Two experiments, run in sport brands contexts, showed that individuals exposed to brands with high (vs. low) audacity traits demonstrated a higher rate of risk taking in financial decisions. The studies also showed that this effect is moderated by individuals’ experience with the financial market. This moderation suggests that there was an activation of a goal not just semantic activation, but through the brand priming. This research provides insights into how today’s consumers deal with brand priming effects in risky choice settings. From a managerial perspective, it can help managers to understand the likely effects of brand priming on behavior and better predict the probability of risk aversion or risk seeking outcomes.

Introduction

Many everyday actions occur spontaneous or automatically, and without any regardfor who is affected by them. Bargh and Chartrand (1999) argue that most of a person’s day is not determined by consciousintentions, but bymental processestriggered by environment characterisctics and the operation of nonconscious behavior.

Sela and Shiv (2009) explain these automatic processes and priming effects. Automatic processes are characterized by actions without the need of a conscious monitoring. Basically, this concept is about internalized knowledge and acquired experiences that will be used whenever needed, but without any conscious effort on the part of the individul. The current research extends the study of nonconscious behavior by focusing on the influence of brand priming on consumers’ risk taking behavior in the context of financial decision making.

Priming is defined as the way experiences create future actions, without individuals’ conscious knowledge (Bargh & Chartrand, 2000). Priming is an incidental activation of knowledge structures process, involving qualities such as personality and stereotypes traits. This activation of mental structures will be responsible for subsequent behavior beyond consciousness. The priming effect works as a manipulation of future actions, meaning that it powerfully triggers subsequent actions and is capable of influencing consumption atitudes, behaviors and decisions in a nonconscious way (Aarts, Custer, & Veltkamp, 2008; Brasel & Gips, 2011; Chartrand, Huber, Shiv, & Tanner, 2008; Friedman & Elliot, 2008; Fitzsimons, Chartrand, & Fitzsimons, 2008; Pickering, McLean, & Krayeva, 2015; Sela & Shiv, 2009).