New products are often incongruent with consumer expectations. Researchers have shown that consumers prefer moderately incongruent products, while being adverse to extremely incongruent products. Evidence from three studies suggests that this phenomenon is highly influenced by a consumer's state...

This article examines how consumers' preferences are affected by the interplay between their level of arousal and the valence of their current affective state. Building on prior research examining the regulation of mood valence, the authors propose that consumers are also motivated to manage...

This article examines how consumers’ preferences are affected by the interplay between their level of arousal and the valence of their current affective state. Building on prior research examining the regulation of mood valence, the authors propose that consumers are also motivated to manage...

There has been a great deal of anecdotal evidence to suggest that weather affects consumer decision making. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence to explain how the weather affects consumer spending and we detail the psychological mechanism that underlies this phenomenon. Specifically, we...

"The American economy is profoundly dependent on the success of its retailers and the strength of its consumer spending. Yet, how do leading retailers create value for their customers? To a large extent this has been accomplished by streamlining operations and a decades-long focus on cost...

In this paper we examine the role of skill acquisition in the development of interface loyalty from a human capital perspective. It has long been recognized that humans are able to improve task performance as a result of repeated experience with a particular task, and that this type of learning...

While pet ownership has increased +5% between 2019 and 2022, total spending on pets has grown five times more. With 70% of U.S. households owning a pet, understanding what drives increases in pet spending is paramount for managers in the $171 billion pet care industry. We advance the hypothesis...

We propose and demonstrate that although depletion of self-regulatory strength is common, it is not inevitable. Four experiments show that under certain conditions, consumers can amplify their self-regulatory strength and, as a result, increase their ability to control their behavior....

In this paper, the authors present an information processing model of self-regulation. The model predicts that consumers with an active self-regulatory goal will tend to focus on the cost (rather than the pleasure) of consumption and, as a result, they are better able to control their behavior....

This paper examines the effect of regulatory focus on consumer satisfaction. In contrast to the disconfirmation of expectations model of satisfaction, we find that, although regulatory focus does affect consumers' expectations, the effect on satisfaction cannot be explained by differences in...