Not all advertisements are created equal: The role of construal level on hedonic and utilitarian attributes
Open Access
- Author:
- Han, Ju Yeon
- Graduate Program:
- Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- July 23, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Anna S Mattila, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Hubert Van Hoof, Committee Member
Seoki Lee, Committee Member
Lisa Elizabeth Bolton, Committee Member - Keywords:
- hedonic attributes
utilitarian attributes
construal level theory - Abstract:
- The current dissertation examines the ways in which utilitarian and hedonic attributes of a product/service in an advertisement can be effectively presented. Specifically, this dissertation identifies the effect of consumers’ construal level (abstract versus concrete), framing (gain-framing versus loss-framing), and type of attribute (hedonic versus utilitarian) on their evaluation of products or services. The four research questions are: 1) Under what conditions, would emphasizing hedonic versus utilitarian attributes be more effective in an advertisement? 2) Would an individual’s construal level influence his/her evaluation of the product that emphasizes hedonic versus utilitarian attributes? 3) Would it matter whether the message was gained-framed or loss-framed? 4) What is the underlying psychological mechanism of this effect? The results of the two pre-studies and two main studies demonstrated that consumer’s construal level significantly influences how he/she evaluates a product/service with hedonic and utilitarian attributes. In detail, consumers with an abstract mindset focused more on hedonic attributes (versus utilitarian attributes), and thus they perceived the product/service more positively when hedonic attributes were emphasized. However, this result was only significant when the hedonic attributes were framed as a gain. When the attributes were framed as a loss, consumers with an abstract mindset did not favor the product/service that emphasized hedonic attributes (versus utilitarian attributes). On the other hand, consumers with a concrete mindset favored more product/service that emphasized utilitarian attributes (versus hedonic attributes) framed as a loss. However, when utilitarian attributes were framed as a gain, consumers with a concrete mindset did not favor more product/service that emphasized utilitarian attributes (versus hedonic attributes). Additionally, the results indicated that process fluency underlies this effect. The findings of this dissertation have important theoretical contributions and managerial implications for marketing practitioners. Additionally, limitations are acknowledged and avenues for future research are discussed.