Self-Other Connectedness in Consumer Affect, Judgments, and Action

This dissertation consists of three essays that examine the effects of consumers' identities and connections to others on their behaviors. In the first essay I examine the notion that consumers have multiple identities that interact to influence charitable judgments and behaviors. In the first study, I examine the effect of internal moral identity and gender on adult volunteers' donation allocations to terrorist victims in London or Afghanistan. In studies 2 and 3, I explore the effect of these identities on judgments of relief efforts and donation intentions for terrorist victims in London and Iraq. The pattern in these studies indicate that males give more to ingroups (i.e., London) than to outgroups (i.e., Afghanistan or Iraq) when they have high internal moral identity whereas females with high internal moral identity give equally to both the ingroup and outgroup. Study 4 examines how self-construal moderates the effect of these identities on donation likelihood to victims of natural disasters. I show that consumers have multiple identities that interact to influence judgments, rather than a single salient identity that influences behavior. In my second essay I explore the role of closeness to others and domain relevance, using the self-evaluation maintenance model, on consumer regret. In the first study, I show that closeness to others moderates the effect of performance on regret in entrée choice. In two additional studies, I show that relevance moderates the effect of closeness and performance on regret such that consumers experience more regret when they compare to a friend than to a stranger for high relevance domains with the reverse effect occurring for low relevance domains. Jealousy mediates this interactive effect on regret. Finally, in my third essay I explore the effect of special promotions on purchase intentions. I consider when special promotions such as extended employee discounts or birthday discounts increase consumers' intentions to purchase. Self-construal, or one's view of him or herself as connected to or distinct from others, moderates the effect of these inclusively- and exclusively-framed promotions on purchase intentions. Furthermore, I explore the role of feelings of brand connectedness in the effect of self-construal and promotion type on purchase intentions