Purchaser's self-concept and decision frames.

Abstract

In this study, a new self-concept is developed and tested which relates specifically to the consumer's behavior in a purchasing setting. This new construct is called the purchaser's self-concept, which is the working self-concept in a purchasing setting, and it provides additional insight into the consumer's choice process when purchasing a product. Two dimensions of purchaser's self-concept are proposed: the possible self or envisioning dimension, which represents the tendency of people to envision their potential self in relation to products; and the purchasing style dimension, which represents the images consumers have of how they tend to act in a purchasing situation. A scale to measure purchaser's self-concept is developed and tested. A conceptual framework is developed to illustrate the hypothesized relationships between purchaser's self-concept and prospect theory's reference point. Each of the two dimensions is hypothesized to influence reference point formations and subsequently, the consumer's desire for the product. These hypothesized relationships are tested in a two factor experiment in which three types of envisioning instructions (positive, negative, none) are tested across two types of products (expensive and inexpensive). The results of this study show that a sales seeking consumer will tend to set a lower reference point than a consumer who is not sales seeking. Second, this study shows that the positive envisioning of the purchase or use of a product will tend to increase the desire for the product. Third, this study shows that interventions to enhance envisioning can increase the effect of envisioning on the formation of possible selves and the desire for the product.