TY - JOUR
T1 - How Does Ambivalence Affect Young Consumers’ Response to Risky Products?
AU - Hamby, Anne
AU - Russell, Cristel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Academy of Marketing Science.
PY - 2022/7
Y1 - 2022/7
N2 - Although ambivalence (the coexistence of positive and negative components of an attitudinal target) is common in consumers’ lives, prior research is mixed in terms of when and how it influences consumers’ behavior. We theorize that ambivalence-evoked arousal causes people to focus on the immediate consequences of a consumption choice. Thus, ambivalence enhances approach behavior when immediate outcomes associated with consuming the focal product are positive, as is often the case with risky products. In six studies across multiple product categories, we show that adolescents’ and young adults’ (from the U.S. and France) ambivalence toward a risky product enhances willingness to pay for, intention to use, and interest in positive information about risky products. We also show that the heuristic cue of information about salient social norms moderates the relationship between ambivalence and approach behavior toward a risky product: the effect of ambivalence on approach behavior is enhanced when descriptive norms are higher and attenuated when lower.
AB - Although ambivalence (the coexistence of positive and negative components of an attitudinal target) is common in consumers’ lives, prior research is mixed in terms of when and how it influences consumers’ behavior. We theorize that ambivalence-evoked arousal causes people to focus on the immediate consequences of a consumption choice. Thus, ambivalence enhances approach behavior when immediate outcomes associated with consuming the focal product are positive, as is often the case with risky products. In six studies across multiple product categories, we show that adolescents’ and young adults’ (from the U.S. and France) ambivalence toward a risky product enhances willingness to pay for, intention to use, and interest in positive information about risky products. We also show that the heuristic cue of information about salient social norms moderates the relationship between ambivalence and approach behavior toward a risky product: the effect of ambivalence on approach behavior is enhanced when descriptive norms are higher and attenuated when lower.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Ambivalence
KW - Biometric measures
KW - Physiological arousal
KW - Risky consumption
KW - Social norms
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126249267&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/marketing_facpubs/65
U2 - 10.1007/s11747-021-00834-7
DO - 10.1007/s11747-021-00834-7
M3 - Article
SN - 0092-0703
VL - 50
SP - 841
EP - 863
JO - Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
JF - Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
IS - 4
ER -