The concepts :

a) Affect

Affect is a state of mind such as a sensation, a feeling, a mood, an emotion (optimism, depression, fear, …). Any of these states has a positive or negative aspect (translated into judgement in humans mind) and influences us or motivates us as a consequence. The strength of these states can vary on our motivation to act or to react. So there is a difference between the positive and negative states of mind that impact our reaction to it.

b) Information

Information has different meanings and is a concept used and developed in several fields. The most common definition of Information is the resolution of uncertainty. It answers several questions by a set of data providing the description of a situation, an object, a mind, anything. In our case, we have to consider information calls to the notion of perception. “Perception is the organization, identification and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment” (​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception)​ . How can raw data be perceived, analysed and transformed into a judgement by our mind? We are here not talking about the colour of a tree or the taste of a fruit, but how our mind feels and reacts to stimuli, to an exposure to this or this information. This will be explained in the following section.

II. The theory

The affect-as-information hypothesis has been developed by Norbert Schwartz in his academic paper “Feelings-as-Information theory” in 2010, but several researches about the subject have been done earlier (C​ .Gouaux examined in the early 70’s how variation in feelings and beliefs influenced liking, N.Schwartz & G.Clore have developed in a paper in the 80’s the informative and directive functions of affective states​). According to him and previous researches, feelings as information theory conceptualized the role of subjective experiences in judgements. It assumes people attend to their feelings as a source of information to make decisions, act or react to stimuli.

According to several academic articles (view sources), there are two dimensions in this theory. First, the affective valence, which provides information about how good or bad something is, and second comes the affective arousal which signals the importance or urgency of the information.

Nowadays, this concept is mainly used in consumer research (marketing) and still used as a concept for further research in cognitive psychology.

III. Affect as information in persuasion: a model of affect identification and discounting ​(Dolores Albarracı ́n and G. Tarcan Kumkale)

According to Petty & Wegener (1999), people may consider affect when they are unable or unwilling to process more complex information, such as the arguments contained in the persuasive message. Also, people with low motivation and ability may fail to determine that their extraneous affective reactions are irrelevant to the judgment they are about to make, and, consequently, affect may have an influence.

The article tries to understand if there can not be a bias in the theory of affect as information while being exposed to persuasion. People’s attitudes toward the behavior advocated in a persuasive message may be informed by affect from two sources.

For example, the mere mention of the behavior being advocated may spontaneously elicit affect, and this affect may contribute to one’s reported attitude toward the behavior independently of the implications of the message content. In the findings of the experiments conducted in the article, people’s affective reactions have an effect on their evaluation of the behavior advocated, but also on the ultimate actions in the persuasion process.

IV. Affect as Information: the role of affect in consumer online behaviors (​ Lan Xia, Advances in Consumer Research Volume 29, 2002)

The role of emotion/affect has been recognized as an important construct in understanding (traditional) consumer behaviors. The huge amount of time spent on the internet raises a question: how these feelings influence consumer browsing behaviors on the internet?

Consumers have different goals while browsing on the internet. The same affect may have a different impact on consumers’ behaviour depending on their online goals (task related, pure browsing without a specific goal). For example, a positive affect is likely to be interpreted as making progress towards the goal when the online goal is task related (shopping, seeking for information). As a result, people will stop the activity as soon as the goal is achieved or advanced. On the other hand, when the online goal is just browsing for no reason and enjoying, positive affect may be considered as being the goal, and people may continue their online activity for longer because enjoyment is reached.

The first study conducted in the article shows that subjects’ moods influence their online behavior. The influence of affect on behaviors interacted with evaluation criteria (derived from different purposes in the same activity). What is interesting here, is that affect as an information is in online behavior not the only criteria for continuing the online activity. The goal by surfing on the internet also has an effect on the duration of the activity. It is important to mention that the criterias shouldn’t be considered separately, but together.

The influences of mood also depend on consumers’ interpretation of their feelings given different online purposes. The model proposed in the article suggests that the influence of affect on online behaviors is moderated by consumers’ purposes of engaging an activity. They are more likely to spend more time when they are in a positive mood and enjoy themselves. However, if they are very task-oriented, a positive mood will actually have the opposite effect. Understanding how consumers behave provides marketers with insights on how to use the Internet more effectively.

V. Managerial recommendations

Affect-as-information theory shows how people rely on their feelings and how their interpretation is biased by their own understanding/analysis of situations. Companies that are aware of this, especially those who are essentially on the internet should understand which affects are causing enjoyment on people, and also what causes such feelings. As Lan Xia explained and showed in the article on online consumer behavior, understanding people’s goals by surfing on the internet is a first step in the process. Defining which activity relies on which goal will help companies understand how consumers feel, and in what way they will interpret certain stimuli. This is extendable to the real world in real brick-and-mortar shops, companies etc.

Also, companies should try to hide the advocaded persuasion message, because there is too much interpretation behind and so uncontrollable affects in peoples’ mind. To reduce the bias risk, companies should try to formulate their messages as natural as possible, to avoid consumers to understand there is a an advocaded persuasion message and interpret it with their own beliefs.

Sources: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266330418_Feelings-as-Information_The ory/link/54b868100cf2c27adc48b0f6/download

Gasper, K., & Clore, G. L. (2002). Attending to the big picture: Mood and global vs. local processing of visual information. Psychological .Science, 13, 34-40.

Gouaux, C. (1971). Induced affective states and interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 20, 37-43.

Martin, L. L., & Clore, G. L. (Eds.). (2001). Theories of mood and cognition: A user s handbook. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Schwarz, N., & Clore, G. L. (1983). Mood, misattribution, and judgments of well-being: Informative and directive functions of affective states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 513-523.

Clore, G. L., & Storbeck, J. (2006). Affect as information about liking, efficacy, and importance. In J. P. Forgas & J. P. Forgas (Eds.), Affect in social thinking and behavior. (pp. 123-141). New York, NY, US: Psychology Press.

Lan Xia (2002), Advances in Consumer Research (2002). Affect as information: the role of affect in consumer online behaviors.

Associative networks permit one to represent background knowledge.

Marketers create intensive use of support as associate instrument to make and enhance corporate image, with international support payment exceptional USD50 billion in 2012 (IEG, 2013). This growth in support payment has been paralleled by growth in support analysis. the varied definitions of support area unit centred on the thought that the sponsor pays reciprocally for the chance to be associated with the given event. The transfer of image from the event to the complete is thus central to the productivity of any support arrangement. The existent support analysis has many shortcomings. for instance, it’s typically supported a unidirectional image transfer process, and therefore the underlying mechanism of image transfer is attributed primarily to associative network theories (which, on their own, don’t answer the why and the way of the image transfer process). Associative theories, whose roots dwell psychological feature psychology, concern propositions, cues and outcomes.To identify however complete data exists in memory, several marketers take refuge in the memory models developed by psychologists (Anderson, 1983). Most brand association analysis is frozen in hymenopteran, that area unit primarily involved with the organisation of long-term memory. analysis on hymenopteran initially emerged in psychological feature psychology within the late Nineteen Sixties. Psychological psychologists typically believe that knowledge is kept within the memory and delineated as associative networks (Collins & Loftus, 1975). One among the foremost prestigious hymenopteran, that ordered the foundation for the first development of memory models, is Quillian’s (1969) Teachable Language Comprehender (TLC) model. Quillian explained however associations are unit connected inside the network and posited that they vary in terms of their gradable level within the network. Collins and Loftus (1975) extended the tender loving care model with the thought of “spreading-activation”. They illustrated however a memory search spreads upon the activation of stimuli. once someone receives an input, a node such as that input is activated. This node before long becomes the focal node and spreads the activation to alternative nodes through the links between them. The 26 search in memory between nodes spreads move into parallel with the links from the focal node. The activated nodes then become input nodes, increasing and spreading the activation. The spreading of activation perpetually expands, and the degree of unfold depends on the gap between the to-be-activated node and therefore the first input node. Collins and Loftus (1975) additionally eliminated the strict gradable structure within the tender loving care model, exchange it with the strength of associations. Gwinner(1997) created use of the idea of human associative memory (HAM) to supply the rationale for image transfer. HAM belongs to the hymenopteran family. it’s well established that associations play a vital role within the mind of the patron once he or she is evaluating a product or event. the basic assumption of HAM theory is that consumers use such things as complete names, product attributes and event attributes as retrieval cues for info concerning product performance or event aura.
Another college of thought is that the adjustive network models (ANM) advanced by Osselaer and Janiszewski (2001). The origins of those models is copied to the classical conditioning literature, in step with that ANM strengthen associations, which are updated and evolved as cues act or vie to predict outcomes. Thus, HAM models hold that cues area unit learnt severally, while ANM hold that the change of associations takes place solely to the extent that the educational system isn’t already correctly predicting outcomes (Osselaer & Janiszewski, 2001). Our brains tend to stay our recollections in nodes, that it then connects with associated different recollections. Nodes will be linguistics (with easy meaning) or emotive (with emotional meaning). so we have a tendency to have a node for happiness, with that square measure associated all our happy recollections. Nodes can even inhibit each other (a kind or negative association). so after we square measure happiness it’s troublesome to think about unhappy things, and contrariwise. Network theory is additionally known as Associative Network Theory, the Network Model and Network Theory.One strategy that stems from network theory is influencer selling. you may try and re-invent the wheel and check out to achieve each individual potential client from scratch, otherwise you may reach bent on associate influencer, WHO is already connected to those individuals and is influencing them. this is often relationship-focused selling. as an example, maybe you sell hair care product associated you recognize an cogent blogger, Mark, WHO already tells his network regarding industrious hair care product. you may place an advertisement close to the demographic you’re making an attempt to achieve and hope for the most effective, even with a pleasant saying to require a selected psychographic into consideration, however if you’re employed with Mark to achieve his audience, you’ll have higher luck. A network isn’t forever reached through cogent bloggers, but (and usually|this will be} often the sole example individuals can think about once they think about influencer marketing). Another network might be associate association of economic planners. all of them get along doubly annually for a conference, they grasp one another and their work, and infrequently influence every other’s computer code decisions. you may reach bent on the association lead, or conference planner, and provide to present a presentation of your monetary services computer code.

It’s all regarding connections

https://e360.yale.edu/features/network_theory_a_key_to_unraveling_how_nature_works

1. Hastie, R. (1988). A computer simulation model of person memory. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 24, 423—147.

2. Shiffrin, R. M., & Raaijmakers, J. (1992). The SAM retrieval model: A retrospective and prospective. In A. F. Healy, S. M. Kosslyn, & R. M. Shiffrin (Eds.), Essays in honor of William K. Estes: Vol. 2. From learning processes to cognitive processes (pp. 69-86). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

(content created by Héméra Denni)

1. Theory description: What does it explain or suggest? Who proposed it? When was it proposed? Where is it mainly used?

Construal Level Theory is related to social psychology and describes the relationship between psychological distance and the extent to which people’s thinking (cf Wikipedia). This theory puts forward the idea that the further the psychological distance between a person and an object or an event, the higher the level of abstraction will be. Nevertheless, the contrary is also true. Indeed, the closer the psychological distance is, the more concrete it tends to appear. So, this theory shows that the evaluation of options is influenced by the difference in the construal level. Moreover, this level theory is divided into three different axes which are the temporal, spatial and social distance. Even if in consumer behaviour studies, the temporal distance is more studied, the three of them are important.

Another idea that we need to take into account is that different standards are implicated in the evaluation of a product and moving to the act of selection and purchase. When inspecting a product, regardless of whether the intrinsic aspect has been evaluated highly in terms of quality and function, it does not necessarily mean that product will be purchased. When people go into a shop, a common occurrence is that slight differences in quality and function become irrelevant when the customer likes the design of another product.

To understand the behaviour of consumers in their purchasing process, many theories, concepts, models, etc. have been put forward. From social psychology, marketers have adopted the Construal Level Theory (CLT) to explain how psychological distance influences the thoughts and behaviour of individuals in the evaluation of a product or service.

Construal Level Theory plays an important role in situations where people need to look beyond the information they have. This article aims to briefly explain the CLT framework, its basic theoretical approach and its implications for consumer psychology. The article will find a place of interest among marketing students.

One of the main objectives of studying consumer behaviour is to gain a good understanding of consumer psychology and to better understand how individuals evaluate products or services. Numerous studies on the subject have shown that the quality and desirability of a product or service are not the only factors that influence consumer evaluation; other factors also have an impact on the result.

What might these factors be? How do you determine what other factors or the type of other factors are playing a role at a given time? To identify them, we need to understand that we are living here in the present and experiencing them. It is impossible to experience the future or other places. The same is true of the past; we cannot experience it even if memories linger. As for the future, we have hopes, we make plans and predictions.

All these elements guide our choices and decisions. Construal Level Theory (CLT) explains that individuals plan for the distant future or the point of view of others by forming abstract mental constructs. Our memories, speculations and predictions are all mental constructs. Mental constructs allow us to make predictions, remember the past, or imagine other people’s reactions to an event or object. Mental constructs help to overcome the current scenario and to imagine psychologically distant objects.

The term “construal” is derived from social psychology. It refers to the process by which people perceive, understand and interpret the environment around them. CLT describes the relationship between psychological distance and people’s thinking – in abstract or clear terms. The theory explains that people think more abstractly about objects that are farther away while they think more concretely about those that are closer.

Psychological distance is the perception one has of how close or distant an object is from oneself and when the event is to take place. It is therefore subjective and egocentric. It always starts from the present, the here and the self. An object or an event can be distanced from oneself in different ways – in time, space, social distance and hypothetically. These have different dimensions of psychological distance and are respectively called temporal, spatial, social and hypothetical distances. For example, if you plan to take a vacation in about a year, your thoughts will be abstract: “Where?”, “What to do once you get there?”, “Which type of housing do you want?”, “Going by plane or by car?”, etc.

To describe proximate events, individuals use specific low-level constructs, and for events removed in one of the dimensions explained above, abstract and high-level constructs are used. Low-level interpretations are less structured, more contextual, and include subordinate and incidental elements of events. In other words, low-level interpretations are used when individuals think in detail and focus on secondary characteristics of the event or object that are not important to the understanding of the event or object. In contrast, high- level interpretations are represented schematically and constitute the bulk of the information available to the individual. High-level constructs are also made up of superior characteristics of events. People who think at this level look at the whole picture and do not focus on details; they look at the forest and not at the trees. Thus, it can be observed that near-future events are described in clear detail while distant events are described in a summary at the cost of secondary and incidental characteristics. For instance, if you go on vacation next week, your thoughts will be more concrete: “What hotel will I stay in?”, “What are the good restaurants there?”, “What do we during the week?”

Currently, CLT is used to understand consumer decisions, organizational behaviour, government policy development and other areas. We will focus our discussion on aspects that are relevant to marketing. The usefulness of CLT can be understood from the fact that individuals from mental images of things, products, services, etc., based on the information they have and their ability to process it; they then form attitudes and behavioural intentions. To be effective, marketers must ensure that appropriate market information is conveyed to consumers by adopting the right marketing strategy.

Concerning merchandise, the role of CLT is minimal because psychological distances play a small role. However, in the case of essentially intangible services, psychological distances have a greater impact on consumers’ purchasing intentions than in the case of goods. This can be explained by differences in the perception of psychological distances by different consumers. Also, different marketing activities will have a different impact on psychological distance, resulting in different levels of consumer interpretation, leading to different consumer behaviour. Hence the relevance of CLT for marketing.

Based on CLT, different marketing strategies are designed to influence and manage consumer behaviour. Although further research is needed, it can be said that CLT plays a more important role in the marketing of services than goods. However, careful use of the marketing strategy can reduce psychological distance and can influence the final purchasing decision. Besides, CLT in the marketing sphere.

2) Theory application: two scientific articles using this theory have to be described in terms of contribution. How are the article’s findings explained by this theory?
The first article I am going to present is the following one, Seeing the Forest or the Trees: Implications of Construal Level Theory for Consumer Choice by Ravi Dhar and Eunice Y. Kim, Yale University. As many important theories that were originally tested in one field, construal level theory has expanded the notion of temporal distance to include psychological distance and has examined the broad implications of this concept for assessment and behaviour. This commentary seeks to take a step back to admire the “forest” that has been created and suggest further extensions and implications throughout the various stages of consumer decision making: pure purpose, assessment through training and receptivity of considerations, and finally context-influenced choice, comparability of options, and happiness and regret after choice.

The second articles are untitled, Construal Level Theory as an Integrative Framework for Behavioral Decision-Making Research and Consumer Psychology by Klaus Fiedler, University of Heidelberg
If we combine both articles we can highlight different common points and also some disagreements. In the articles, the CLT states that people’s mental representations of stimuli that are psychologically close are low-level and concrete while psychologically distant stimuli are high-level and abstract. CLT and Goal Pursuit, while most consumer research has focused on the timing of choice, recent research has attempted to integrate choices with consideration of their underlying goals. In the presence of several competing goals, individuals can either choose to behave consistently with one goal or behave in a way that disengages from one goal in favour of another. This depends on whether an initial action is interpreted in terms of commitment to an objective or progress toward an objective. In the presence of several competing objectives, individuals can either choose to behave consistently with one objective or to disengage from one objective in favour of another. An interesting question concerns the set of factors that can determine whether a specific action is interpreted in terms of progress towards or commitment to an objective. The fact that the CLT distinguishes between a high-level identification in which an activity is linked to its higher-level objective and a low-level identification in which the activity is linked to its lower-level means suggests that the level of interpretation would determine the interpretation of an action. An interesting implication is whether the objective that initiates the manipulation placed the participants in a higher level of interpretation, leading to an action being perceived in terms of a higher level of interpretation and thus a greater commitment to the objective. Rather than initiating the higher objective, CLT suggests that activity in the distant future will be more likely to be identified in terms of a higher level. Once individuals have determined the goals to be pursued, sets of considerations are ways to narrow down a range of options and move one step closer to the final choice and goal. Research has been conducted on the multi-step selection and decision-making process to determine the relative importance of attributes.

Previous research shows that CLT could explain the types of product attributes considered at each stage. CLT could argue that informing sets of considerations, the consumer’s mindset is at a greater psychological distance from the time of research, and therefore abstract product attributes are crucial. Conversely, at the time of the final purchase decision, it is the low-level, concrete or peripheral characteristics that could be emphasized. Similarly, the choice between two “option menus” can be made using high- level concepts, while the choice in a final purchase menu can be made with low-level concepts in mind. The main author often finds himself in a fast food restaurant that also offers healthier options, a high-level interpretation, but inevitably ends up ordering the least healthy item on the menu once at the restaurant.

The third area of the extension is preferences based on product characteristics and distance. Receptivity can be defined as the conscious and unconscious readiness of consumers to accept, process and respond to brand messages. Responsiveness is stimulated by a consumer’s needs, interests and values and fluctuates over time. An important variable that can moderate consumer receptivity is the temporal or spatial distance between the communication of the message and the actual consumption or purchase decision. This “distance” can be seen as a psychological distance; as this distance increases, the stimulus becomes increasingly abstract. To increase consumer attention to advertisements and product claims, Kim, Dhar et al. (2007) hypothesize that claims in advertisements should be consistent with the distance from which they will be seen by consumers. In other words, advertisements seen at a certain distance should focus on the central characteristics of the product while close-up ads, such as in-store messages, should focus on the secondary peripheral features of the product. As psychological distance increases, ads with higher-level central claims will produce greater responsiveness, while psychological distance decreases, ads with lower-level peripheral claims will produce greater responsiveness.

The effect of the conceptual level on responsiveness has practical implications for advertisers seeking to increase the persuasiveness and credibility of their advertisements and, therefore, increase the market share of their products. Many marketers believe that repeated exposure to the same advertising messages and claims is the best way to influence purchase intent.

The implications of CLT for consumer choice are consistent with the view of Behavioral Decision Theory (BDT), which has moved away from the notion of stable preformed preferences to a now widely accepted notion of constructed preferences leading to choices that are highly dependent on the task or contextual factors.

An interesting question to consider, therefore, is whether the effects of the local context of compromise would be mitigated when respondents are manipulated to adopt a higher, abstract, and distant perspective. In this framework, changing representation, assessment and behaviour based on psychological distance could enrich our understanding of how preferences are constructed, not only in terms of the decision task or context but also in terms of the psychological distance from the decision.

While CLT researchers have already identified interesting effects on choice, they have not extended to the choice of the underpaying consumer between non-comparable options. Most of the literature on consumer decision making focuses on the choice between two or more options that belong to the same product category and are therefore comparable to several product attributes.

One of the main findings in this area of decision making is that consumers employ some difficult strategies when choosing between non-comparable options; consumers tend to be interested in the abstract rather than concrete characteristics of colour, number of microwave cooking options, and number of cups of coffee that can be brewed.

The way options are interpreted by the consumer can play an important role in the difficulty of non-comparable choices. The difficulty of the choice task can be decreased or increased by manipulating consumers into an abstract or concrete state of mind.
The constructive thus has an impact on the difficulty of deciding on non-comparable options.

An interesting extension would be to explore the potential consequences of the difficulty of non-comparable choices. In the real world, when individuals have difficulty making a decision, they almost always have the option of not choosing and not purchasing either option or postponing the decision to a later date.

The prediction regarding the non-choice or postponement option is that consumers who are either in abstract mindsets or in choice situations presented in psychologically distant terms will experience fewer choice difficulties and therefore be less likely to choose the non-choice option than consumers in concrete mindsets and psychologically proximal scenarios.

Another potential consequence of the difficulty in making non-comparable choices is the level of satisfaction with decisions. Interpretive manipulation should be able to affect perceived ease and the ability to process abstractly or concretely, and in turn, affect decision satisfaction.

An interesting question to consider from a CLT perspective is what happens once individuals have made their decisions. But over time, or when the decision is revisited, individuals can naturally take a more distant perspective by looking at quality, core product characteristics, and other general preferences. To the extent that choice is currently focused on low-level products, individuals may feel less happy if they give up options that were superior to high-level characteristics and are therefore more likely to reconsider their decision. Unhappiness or lack of happiness in turn inevitably leads to regret. It would be interesting to explore the idea that regret of choice is moderated by the perspective, near or far, that individuals adopt when re-evaluating a past decision or selection. It is interesting to note that a testable hypothesis based on CLT is that people rely more on general beliefs even when episodic memory is available but the assessment is psychologically distant.

In conclusion, we can say that the strength of CLT theory lies in its ability to provide a parsimonious understanding of how assessments change with psychological distance. The theory’s emphasis is on differences in assessment based on changing cognitive representation, but assessments of psychologically distant objects may also differ due to motivational factors. Although the CLT offers a cognitive representation of many such phenomena, we believe that an integration of emotional and motivational considerations within the CLT framework will help us understand a greater variety of choices that are motivated by multiple considerations. For example, motivational biases such as optimism are likely to reinforce the importance of central aspects of goals that will be pursued in the distant future as opposed to resource constraints. This is particularly true for goals that are difficult to regulate and whose pursuit improves one’s self-perception. An interesting area for future consideration would be how these motivational considerations would affect assessments when more than one dimension of psychological distance is manipulated simultaneously. For example, when assessments involve both social and temporal distance, motivational considerations suggest that temporally distant choices for oneself could be considered different from temporally distant choices for others.

As noted in both articles, few recent theories have had the impact that CLT has had in the field in explaining and understanding a wide range of assessments and behaviours. For the reasons outlined here, we believe that the CLT will continue to contribute to the expansion of research on social cognition and behavioural decision theory. And from time to time, it is important and beneficial to step back and take stock of the ripple effects each tree has on the vast beauty of the CLT forest (if we take the example of the first article).

3) Managerial recommendations: how can this theory be used in companies? Give concrete examples.
CLT can be very useful managerially speaking and can be very often used to anticipate consumer behaviour. This theory can be used more in some areas than others since it works on temporal and spatial variants that are not necessarily present or salient in all areas. This reminds me of the field of tourism, for example. Indeed, the world of tourism is vast and full of variants. For example, a hotel chain could more easily need CLT than a bank or a company working in the agri-food industry.

If we refer to the article, Application of Construal-Level Theory to Promotional Strategies in the Hotel Industry, written by Jungkeun Kim, Peter B Kim and Jae-Eun Kim, in 2014, we can highlight few implications of CLT in the Hotel Industry. The results of the studies made during this research complement the previous CLT articles presented in this work, which has rarely examined influence in a tourism context, by providing evidence of CLT’s applicability in the design of hotel promotional information for travellers. This research contributes to the current knowledge by examining the impact of the conceptual level on the selection or evaluation of hotels or accommodations, as well as the impact of the conceptual level on different levels of abstraction in information descriptions.

In this paper, we found a significant impact of temporal and spatial interpretations on evaluations involving different descriptions of hotel information. Specifically, when participants were asked to imagine a trip in the distant future or to a relatively distant destination, their evaluations of a hotel described abstractly were more favourable than a hotel described credibly. On the other hand, when participants were asked to imagine a trip soon or to a relatively near destination, their evaluations of a hotel described concretely were more favourable than a hotel described abstractly.

We also found that the medium of information had a significant influence on the impact of psychological distance, which can be temporal as well as spatial, on travellers’ preferred promotional information. When participants rated a hotel based on illustrated information, their attitudes were more positive when the logical distance level was a relatively distant destination rather than a relatively close one. In contrast, when participants rated a hotel based on verbal information, their attitude was the opposite. Finally, we found that advertisements in the travel industry do not always provide effective CLT-based information when analyzing travel magazine ads. The results of an analysis of illustrated information support our hypotheses; however, the overall information, including textual information, was not carefully created to reflect CLT.
This research raises several difficult questions for industry practitioners. Given the fierce competition in the hospitality and travel sectors, where alternatives are always available, it is particularly important to maintain the attention of potential consumers at the pre- purchase stage. The findings of this study encourage marketers to consider the temporal and spatial distance of the reservists when customizing promotional information. For example, this personalization can be demonstrated on their websites. Appropriate information content or images could be displayed when website visitors check the availability of rooms for the period of their planned stay, based on their IP address. For instance, hoteliers should continue to look for creative ways to make full use of their website with effective positioning and the development of promotional information. Moreover, this research also suggests that hotel employees, or other employees for different sectors and domains, may need the training to prioritize promotional information in their interactions with potential consumers based on their distance in time and space. Given the volume of customer calls for each booking staff member, it is useful to understand the types of information (abstract or concrete) that potential customers receive in advance to initiate and process desirable sales calls that result in closing sales. Therefore, more flexible pricing options should be offered to early bookers, and sales staff should be trained to provide potential customers with product and pricing information, gradually moving from the abstract to the concrete, to complete a reservation.
In some cases, the benefits of implementing the above suggestions in the area of reservations may not outweigh the training costs. However, it is prudent to note that advertising for many hotels is designed and executed at the company or brand’s headquarters. In such cases, it would be entirely possible to train marketing managers to adapt advertisements based on the results of this research. For example, print ads published during the winter months with a summer appeal could be designed differently than print ads published in the spring with a sum call.

Besides, in many markets around the world, hotel guests pay an additional fee on their hotel bill that funds a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) or Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) designed to market the area. Therefore, those responsible for designing ads in these DMOs and CVBs would also be well advised to design ads that are consistent with the results presented here. In cases where a hotel is not affiliated with a brand, chain, management company, DMO or CVB, it is interesting to note that many hotels are now using social media programming tools and email marketing programming tools that allow for efficient planning of multiple ad placements and delivery with very little effort. The hotel representative simply tells this tool when and where to send the ads. Whether through social media or email, these tools have been used to effectively manage multiple, simultaneous ad streams.

Besides, today’s computer technology makes it very easy and inexpensive for webmasters to provide personalized or tailored information based on specific cues (such as IP address). Therefore, the manager of websites would benefit from providing appropriate information based on the results of this document.

Sources: https://phys.org/news/2011-02-construal-theory-consumer-behavior-approach.html

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/n/x/nxy906/COMPS/CLT/other/ LibermanTropeWakslak20071.pdf

https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Construal+Level+Theory+ %28CLT%29

http://www.marketexpress.in/2016/12/understanding-consumer-psychology-construal-level- theory.htmlhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/284351190_Application_of_Construal- Level_Theory_to_Promotional_Strategies_in_the_Hotel_Industry

Contagion Theory

(content created by Tristan Cornet)

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the anthropologists Frazer, Mauss and Tylor developed the laws of sympathetic magic. These laws provide a general theory of how the world works and influence the way people think and interpret information. One of the central laws of sympathetic magic is the law of contagion. This law suggests that a source (a person/object) can influence a recipient (another person/object) simply by touching them directly or indirectly. Upon contact, the source transmits some or even all of its properties to the recipient through a contagious entity or “essence”, which then remains part of the recipient even after he no longer touches himself. Anthropologists originally used this law to interpret customs and rituals in primitive cultures, but it has been shown, notably by Paul Rozin and Carl Nemeroff in the 80-90s, that it also influences behavior in Western culture. This theory is mainly used in the retail trade.

What does it explain or suggest?

Answer: Diffusion of Innovation Theory explains that valuable change model of technological innovation which changes itself to adapt to the needs of all types of the customers. It mainly focuses on the importance of the communication and the network between the customers and the company. In other words, it means the process in which people are ready to adapt.

to the new innovations, ideas, products, etc. In the beginning this process is mainly stressed on the few people known as early innovators (early innovators are those people who like to try new product or technology which is not highly common in the market or in simple words people who purchases a new product which is different from the product normally used or is common in the market). These early innovators first use the product then when they like the product they refer it to others and due to this product is diffused to all types of customers and reaches its maximum point of saturation. There are mainly five types of customers category which are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards and these categories are shown in the bell curved diagram below.

1. Innovators: These are the people who appreciate new technologies and take very less time to try new products for their own personal uses.

2. EarlyAdopters: Thesearethepeoplewhoareeagertotrynewproducts and are the first people to use it and tell others to buy it if they like it.

3. Early Majority: These are the people who avoid risks and only buy the product when they get to know about it from a reliable source or the people they trust. They only buy the product when they are sure about it.

4. Late Majority: These are the people who buy the product very late or often under the pressure of other people that everyone is buying so they must buy it too. They are very sensitive to price.

5. Laggards: These are the people who do not want to adapt new things and like to do the things the way they used to and do not want to try something new. They are happy in the way things are going and they want it to be the same in that way.

Information processing theory is a cognitive theory that uses computer processing as a metaphor to help explain how the human mind functioned. During the first half of the 20th century, the field of psychology was dominated by behaviorism, while mental processes which are not directly observable were not a concern among behaviorists. Later around the 1950s, when computers came into existence, it gave some American psychologists the inspiration to explain the different processes the brain engages in, including attention and perception, which could be compared to inputting information into a computer, and memory, which could be compared to a computer’s storage space.

In 1956 George A. Miller was among the first to apply a step-by-step theory to information processing by relating it to the way that high-speed computers processed information. He proposed that, similar to a computer, the human mind takes in information, performs operations on it to change its form and content, stores and locates the information, and then generates output of some type. According to Miller’s theory, information processing in humans involves gathering and representing information (encoding), holding information (retention), and getting at the information when necessary (retrieval). In addition to comparing information processing of humans to that of computers, Miller made a significant contribution to the understanding of information processing with his concept of chunking as related to short-term memory. In his article “The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information”, he proposed that individuals could only store five to nine chunks, or meaningful units, of information in their short-term memory. Anything from digits to words to people’s faces were considered to be chunks of information. The concept of chunking was one of Miller’s major contributions, because it became a basic element of later theories of memory. In 1968, John William Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin associated with the Cognitive Information Processing Theory, proposing a multi-stage theory of memory. They explained that from the time information is received by the processing system, it goes through different stages to be fully stored. They broke this down to sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory, which is the Atkinson- Shiffrin model.

Optimal Stimulation Level Framework

(created by Huixin Jiang)

1.Theory description:

Who proposed it? When was it proposed? The optimal stimulus level (OSL), as an individual attribute characteristic reflecting the general response of an individual to stimuli, was originally proposed by Hebb and Leuba in 1955 at the same time.

The basic view of OSLT is that there is an inverted U-shaped functional relationship between the stimulus that the individual obtains from the external environment or through internal means (such as conception, cognition) and the individual’s emotional response to the stimulus. The stimulus at the intermediate level causes the individual to feel the most Comfortable and pleasant, this stimulation level is called the optimal stimulation level.

What does it explain or suggest? 1）the individual has an optimal stimulus at an intermediate level. Any deviation from the optimal stimulus level will cause the individual to reduce or increase the stimulus input to maintain the stimulus level at the optimal state.2） At the same time, OSLT proposes that each stimulus has its own arousal potential. The arousal potential is not fixed, but decreases as the individual’s familiarity with the stimulus increases.3）OSL varies among different individuals. From the perspective of arousal potential, for repeated stimuli, the degree of arousal potential deviates from individual OSL in different individuals. Individuals with high OSL perceive the degree of boredom more strongly, and their attitude towards the stimulus is also more negative.

Where (field [e.g. marketing] or subfield [e.g. branding, international marketing]) Is it mainly used? 1）In the film industry，OSL affects individuals’ perception of violent elements. After watching violent movie trailers, individuals with high OSL have a significantly higher level of expected enjoyment of movies than individuals with low OSL. 2）in the marketing field, Individuals with high OSL are more interested in products, services and activities that may cause risks, curiosity, novel experiences and physical activity, and as consumers are more sensitive to the surrounding environment, design and layout of shopping malls , The tolerance for crowded shopping malls is higher, the perception of large-scale merchandise is more attractive, and the hedonic and practical value perceived from the shopping process is greater, and more time and money spent in the mall.

2.Theory application:

1. In the first article《Customer Stimulation Needs and Innovative Shopping Behavior: The Case of Recycled Urban Places》, written by Grossbart, S. L., Mittelstaedt, R. A., and DeVere, S. P. The relationship between OSL and the adoption of innovative shopping malls by individuals was examined, and it was found that individuals with high OSL were aware of and considered shopping in innovative shopping malls, symbolic acceptance (rely on subjective judgment rather than acceptance after trial), trial experience, and The proportion of shopping in innovative shopping malls is significantly higher than that of individuals with low OSL. Moreover, in the entire decision-making process of individual innovation adoption from awareness-consideration and evaluation-symbolic acceptance-trial-adoption, for each decision stage, the probability of individuals with high OSL transferring to the next stage is significantly higher than that of individuals with low OSL.

So in this article, It is confirmed once again that the theory of OSL varies among different individuals, and that different degrees of OSL can respond to stimuli to different degrees.

2. In the second article《Individual Differences, Motivations, and Willingness to Use a Mass Customization Option for Fashion Products》,written by Fiore, A.M., Lee, S.E., and Kunz, G. Individuals with high OSL are more willing to use collaborative design services, while for body scanning services, there is no significant difference in the willingness of individuals among different OSLs. When using collaborative design and body scanning services as a stimulating experience to satisfy curiosity and the need for innovation, individuals with high OSL are significantly more willing to use it than individuals with low OSL. In addition, individuals with high OSL have stronger commitments to using collaborative design services, including willingness to spend more time and money, while there is no significant difference in personal use commitments for body scanning services with different OSLs. In addition, individuals with high OSL are significantly more interested in customized experiential products than individuals with low OSL, while there is no significant difference in the interest of individuals with different OSLs in customized practical products.

So in this article, the theory has been confirmed and supplemented again. OSL varies among different individuals, and that different degrees of OSL can respond to stimuli to different degrees. Individuals with higher OSL are more interested in fitting and showing personality in terms of clothing interests

3.Managerial recommendations:

The theory of the Optimal Stimulation Level which explains that OSL varies among different individuals, and that different degrees of OSL can respond to stimuli to different degrees. Therefore, in companies, the theory can be applied diversified, for example, in product design or marketing departments, diversity and brand switching can be sought. Because consumers’ pursuit of diversity is, on the one hand, caused by the diversification of needs and the changes and problems encountered in the product selection process, on the other hand, it is also the result of the individual’s internal seeking to stimulate changes, so the company can extend its industrial chain or the extension of the brand diversity, which can attract more customers of different nature and consolidate old customers.

Persuasive-Arguments Theory

(content created by Hanchen Li)

Power Dependence Theory

(created by Mingtao Li)

Description

• Power-dependence theory treats power as a characteristic of a relationship and thus focuses on the relationship rather than on the individuals involved in the relationship.
• Power‐dependence theory is the name commonly given to the social exchange theory originally formulated by Richard Emerson (1962).
• The dynamics of the theory revolve around power, power use, and power balancing operations, and rest on the central concept of dependence.
• Power‐dependence theory can be applied to management.

Two articles

1. “Status Threat and Ethical Leadership: A Power-Dependence Perspective”

Guangxi Zhang¹  Jianan Zhong²  Muammer Ozer³  7 July 2018

Drawing on power dependence theory, the writer theorizes that experiencing status threat augments leaders’ dependence on subordinates who can provide them with status relevant resources (e.g., performance, loyalty and trust).

Emerson’s power dependence theory provides the theoretical framework for the model. This theory suggests that one party’s power over another party is the reverse of dyadic dependence. Also, the power dependence theory is an appropriate framework to explain the mechanism for how status threat gives rise to ethical leadership in two aspects.

They found that leaders who experienced more status threat were perceived to be more ethical by their subordinates, which was mediated by leaders’ perceptions of dependence on subordinates. The mediated effect was stronger (weaker) for leaders who were less (more) skilled in networking. Implications for theory on the contextual factors of ethical leadership, dependence, and status threat are discussed.

2. “Extensions of Power-Dependence Theory: The Concept of Resistance

DOUGLAS D. HECKATHORN Jun. 1983

Power-dependence theory is critically examined and found to possess several deficiencies, in particular a reliance on invalid interpersonal utility comparisons.

A means is proposed for overcoming these deficiencies by reformulating power-dependence theory using concepts derived from a formal model of negotiation based on mathematical decision theory.

An aim of this paper is to explore the conceptual problems arising when strict rational decision models are employed in accounts of social interaction. In particular the focus will be on the indeterminacy of the terms of exchange in bilateral monopoly systems for classical microeconomics and on the closely related but more general problem of indeterminacy of outcome in nonzero-sum cooperative games for classical game theory. In addition, a critique of the resolution of this problem proposed by Emerson and Cook is given.

Managerial implications

As found in the first paper, leaders who experienced more status threats in the workplace were perceived as more ethical by their subordinates, which mediated the leader’s perception of dependency. The mediating effect was stronger for leaders who were not good at networking, and weaker for leaders who were better at networking.

Prospect Theory

Protection Motivation Theory

(content created by Yuyao Liang)

Reference-Dependent Theory

Regulatory Fit Theory

(created by Yueying Liu)

Regulatory Focus Theory

Relational Exchange Theory

(content created by Medan Thomas)

Resource-based View

(content created by Wail Menouni)

Resource Exchange Theory

(content created by Paul Nemet)

1. Theory Description 

The theory of resource exchange is based on marketing, which is described as an exchange between two or more social units. This psychological exchange theory was developed by U. G. Foa and E. B. Foa in 1980 and is used to examine these two units:

A: The structure underlying 6 different categories of resources including: love, status, information, money and goods and services.

B: The functional relationships between these 6 resource categories (the exchange model). Particularism versus universalism and the concrete versus symbolic nature of the resource.

Firstly, Foa and Foa (1980) assert that the value of the resources exchanged depends on its source or, if one prefers, on the person who provides it. Thus, in the workplace, the impact of a resource such as recognition depends on who provides it. More specifically, recognition will be much more valuable to an employee if it comes from his or her superior rather than from a little-known, newly-hired colleague. In this way, the high value of recognition in this context is directly associated with the person who provides it, making it a resource of a special nature. In contrast, money is universal in nature because its value remains relatively constant, regardless of the source from which it is obtained. (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). Secondly, this theory argues that a concrete resource has an objective meaning and is usually involved in specific transactions of goods or services. On the other hand, the message conveyed by a symbolic resource is more subjective in the sense that its impact depends on the interpretation of its beneficiary. Thus, feelings of affection exchanged in a relationship are considered symbolic resources as opposed to money, which is a more concrete resource generally involved in transactions of an economic nature. From these conceptualisations, it can then be deduced that the organisational contributions and positive attitudes and behaviours of employees exchanged in the social exchange relationship correspond to gifts of a moral nature (Mauss, 1924), non-material goods (Homans, 1958) and symbolic resources with a particular character (Foa & Foa, 1980).

The economic concept of resource constraint (scarcity) is also integrated into the exchange process. The results are fundamentally consistent with the structural and functional relationships derived from Foa’s theory. Finally, it was found that resource scarcity affects the types of resources an individual is likely to give in an exchange.

This theory is mainly used in the field of exchange between companies but also works in an exchange between individuals.

2. Theory Application

Social Exchange Theory, Exchange Resources, and Interpersonal Relationship: A Modest Resolution of Theoretical Differences (Marie Mitchell, Russel Cropanzano, David M. Quisenberry, 2012)

This article proposes a conceptual examination of the role of interpersonal relationships in patterns of social exchange. There are at least three perspectives. First, the relationship formation paradigm emphasizes that beneficial exchanges can lead to the formation of close relationships. Second, the relationship attribute paradigm emphasizes the qualities of the relationship that could become resources for exchange. Third, the relational-context paradigm emphasises that interpersonal proximity can moderate the way goods are exchanged and the way people respond to these transactions. Throughout this paper, the paper emphasises that these are three distinct but certainly not contradictory views on social exchange. Based on previous conceptual and empirical work, it examines how these different paradigms can reinforce each other by being combined into specific theoretical positions (e.g. Blau 1964; Foa and Foa 1974, 1980; Lawler and Yoon 1993, 1996, 1997; Molm 1994, 2003). From this perspective, we can begin to understand how and why some relationships evolve into committed and trusting engagements in which relational attributes, as well as concrete benefits, are exchanged, and why others simply focus on economic, tangible and negotiated interactions. An integrative relational perspective provides a better understanding of why social exchange relationships develop out of economic exchanges, why economic exchanges may never develop, and why certain tarnished social exchange relationships can be reinvigorated. In particular, it is important to consider dissecting and assessing resources in the “context” of the relationship. This will help to anchor the meaning of exchange transactions and ultimately influence the nature of the exchange relationship.

Resources and Relationships in Entrepreneurship: An Exchange Theory of the Development and Effects of the Entrepreneur-Investor Relationship (Laura Huang, Andrew Knight, 2017)

In a review of resource needs in the entrepreneurial process, Burggraaf, Floren, and Kunst wrote, “The entrepreneur and investor are bound to each other . . . the ‘click factor’ is essential: the right type of chemistry is needed between entrepreneur and investor” (2008: 69). The theoretical model, grounded in exchange theory, explains the dual dimensions that characterize the entrepreneur-investor relationship, the different kinds of resource exchange that these dimensions motivate, and the process through which reciprocal exchange can—when expectations are met—contribute to relationship development over time. By considering resources and relationships, as well as processes of exchange, the theory can help guide future research and provide a better understanding of the entrepreneurial process.

3. Managerial recommandations

Love can refer to an employee’s affection for his or her company. In terms of exchange, it can vary by the establishment of good working conditions or a good salary.

The status can allow the evolution of an employee after good results within the company.

The information will enable people to better prepare their actions. An example of this is the introduction of a new product on the market. Knowledge of the market enables companies to successfully establish themselves in the market.

Money has a universal character because its value remains relatively constant, regardless of the source from which it comes. Every company needs money to take action.

Goods and services are the basis of exchange because every existing business offers one or the other. Most of the time this exchange is completed with money.

Resource-matching Theory

(content created by Tiphaine Pereira)

Role Theory

(content created by Antoine Petit)

Sales Call Anxiety Model

(content created by Corentin Picot)

Schema-Congruity Theory

Self-Perception Theory

(content created by Samuel Renaud)

Signaling Theory

(content created by Margaux Renault)

Social Comparison Theory

(content created by Juliette Roth)

1. Theory description: What does it explain or suggest? Who proposed it? When was it proposed? Where (field [e.g. marketing] or subfield [e.g. branding, international marketing]) Is it mainly used?

The social comparison theory was first proposed in 1954 by Leon Festinger, an American psychologist. He noted that individuals have an intuitive drive to evaluate themselves, derived from the desire and the need of self-evaluation. Most of the time, this comparison happens between oneself and others : analyzing oneself, ones attitudes, abilities or traits in relation to others. In other words, it is the idea that people define their social and personal worth according to their position to others.

The social comparison is based on two categories according to Festinger : firstly social norms and opinions of others and secondly abilities and performance. There is two way of application of socially comparing oneself : upward or downward. Upward comparison is the fact that one is comparing itself to someone who he perceives as being better or as performing better than him. On the contrary, downward comparison is comparing oneself to someone perceived as worse than himself.

It is mostly used in psychology but can also be used in marketing, in neuromarketing for example. In companies, it could also be used by HR departments and managers, to understand and determine how to enhance productivity.

2. Theory application: two scientific articles using this theory have to be described in terms of contribution. How are the article’s findings explained by this theory?

The first article I chose is called “Social comparison orientation and frequency: A study on international travel bloggers” (M.M. Mariani, M. Ek Styven & R. Nataraajan, 2020). Travel and tourism industry highly impacted by the use of social media (used for information source, sharing experiences…). Travel influencers are the most important social media influencers (SMIs) in that industry. Competition between those influencers is rising and causing them to compare to each other a lot. So in this article, the authors used the social comparison theory to understand the driver of frequency in comparison between those SMIs. For the first hypothesis, they considered that two variables are in social comparison orientation : ability and opinions and that those positively influence the frequency of comparison on social media. The second hypothesis is that opinion leadership also positively influences the frequency of comparison on social media.

The results show that the ability is the only aspect of SCO that tends to drive comparison behavior in social media, the opinion aspect does not. In addition, the second hypothesis (opinion leadership) is confirmed because it has a strong effect on the frequency of comparison.

The second article I chose is called “Invoking social comparison to improve performance by ranking employees: The moderating effects of public ranking, rank pay, and individual risk attitude” (C.B. Cadsbya, F. Song, J. Engle-Warnickc & T. Fang, 2019). Their goal is to understand if relative performance ranking could lead to an increase in productivity. So, in other words, does knowing that a colleague is ranked higher than you going to increase your productivity? And does this motivation depend on what is linked to the ranking (financial rewards, public or private recognition)?

The moderators, as cited in the title, are public/private ranking, rank pay and individual risk attitude. The result of the study states that two out of four of their hypothesis were confirmed, H1 and H4. The first ones confirms that private ranking with no direct financial implications has a positive effect on performance and the fourth ones confirms that risk aversion has a negative moderating effect, which means that a risk-averse individual’s performance will not increase when ranked.

3. Managerial recommendations: how can this theory be used in companies? Give concrete examples.

First, it is important to note that the outcome of social comparison can be both good or bad. As stated above, individuals can compare themselves upward or downward and the results can really differ. Upward comparison can lead to motivation, while looking up to someone that is doing better than him, one may want to reach its level. But at the same time, it can also discourage, dissatisfaction… The table below shows the different effects that both types of comparisons can lead to.

This table is applicable for individuals in general but more so in companies where the environment is competitive in the first place, during the hiring process or even after. As the second article shows, it could be interesting for managers to communicate private ranking to their employees and not affect their pay with the rank. This allows people not to compare themselves to others because it is not public, with no risk of humiliating people.

In another field, it could be interesting to trigger social comparison when a company wants to organize a contest where it includes people, like the brand Fanta often does. The contest invites people to participate in a process of co-creation and will select the best projects proposed by customers. In doing so, there is a competitive atmosphere that allows people to stimulate their creativity.

As the second article shows, it is common that companies set up things that drive social comparison between their employees, like ranking. If a company wants to use this theory to strive for better productivity from its employees, the most important things would be to master a real balance. It is important that this is done with the people bests’ interests in mind, because the line between positive and negative effects is really thin. It is important to note that all individuals are different and don’t react the same way, some are more though and others are more risk-adverse (like mentioned in the second article chosen) and that could greatly influence the way the react to comparisons.

Social Exchange Theory

(created by Maurane Rozenblat)

Social Penetration Theory

(content created by Leila Souaf)

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

(content created by Maelle Thuriere)

S-O-R Paradigm

(content created by Lucas Van Uye)

Theory description:

The stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model is a model used in environmental psychology that explains that environmental factors can have the role of a stimulus (S) that can act on an individual’s internal state (O) and generate a behavioral response from the individual (R). This model is used to explain how the stimuli of the external environment can reinforce and consolidate the internal states of individuals (Eroglu, Machleit, & Davis, 2001).

The SOR model is generally used in research on the behaviours of individuals or service users. The SOR model paradigm highlights the fact that social stimuli have an impact on individual behaviours. They are induced by people’s internal state (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974), and also influence their actions when they are victims of one or more environmental stimuli, particularly technological ones.

Theory application:

As we can see in the two selected articles, SOR paradigm is particularly link with the SNS, which are online services that aim to create social relationships between people who share interests and activities, sharing information with its contacts, whether public or private, is the main function of SNS (Krasnova, Spiekermann, Koroleva, & Hildebrand, 2010). Nowadays, these are mainly social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or others.

This paradigm makes it possible to work in depth on social networks, in particular on the dependency of users, as we can see with the article about “Computers in Human Behavior”. Using the SOR model allows us to explore the problems caused by excessive use of social networks. It allows to highlight the negative effects of SNS such as the stress caused by them, as we can see in this schema.

Theory of Anthropomorphism

Theory of Attitude toward the Ad Formation

Theory of Reasoned Action

(content created by Daphne Druelle)

• Theory description

This theory was developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen in 1967. It was following the research of the theory of attitude.

The theory of reasoned action is a relevant theoretical framework to explain the formation of purchasing intentions according to attitudes and social environment. The two psychologists show that purchasing intention is a function of two factors.

The theory has the goal to explain the relationship between the attitude and the behavior within human action. It is used to see and Predict how individuals will behave, based on their pre-existing attitudes and behavioral intentions. Indeed, when an individual decides to engage in a specific behavior, it is based on the outcomes that the individual hopes to achieve after performing the behavior. It is therefore an explanatory theory of behavior through behavioral intentions.

The model was based on two criteria as a group of variables. The first contains attitudes that are defined as either positive or negative feelings with the achievement of an objective. 

The second group of variables contains the subjective norms, meaning the representation of how is perceived by people representation in the relationship to the ability of reaching those goals with the product.

However, after discovering some imperfections in the structure of the theory, Ajzen and Fishbein in 1988 modified the Theory of Reasoned Action by adding a third element. This is perceived behavioral control.

This new theory admits that individuals are unlikely to develop a strong intention to act and behave in a certain way if they believe they lack the resources or opportunities to do so, even if they have favorable attitudes towards the behavior in question and if they believe that those around them would approve of the behavior.

• Theory application

The first article is “An Empirical Study of Instant Messaging (IM) Behavior Using Theory of Reasoned Action” written by Alan Peslak, Wendy Ceccucci  and Patricia Sendall. The authors want to understand how influence works on instant messaging behavior.

The four factors which are attitude, subjective norm, intention and behavior are interesting in the model to understand these behaviors.

The theory of reasoned action suggests a significant relationship between attitude and subjective standard and intent.  The attitude towards instant messaging is positively associated with intend to use instant messaging ant it have had an impact on intend to use instant messaging. The first hypothesis that proposes a positive association between attitude and intent to use has been supported.

The theory of reasoned action can serve as a model for Instant messaging behavior; indeed, messaging is positively associated with the intention to use instant messaging and so is the subjective standard. These findings on the study do well show the role that the theory of reasoned action can play in a variety of settings.

The authors say that studies can be undertaken to confirm these results but that preliminary results suggest that instant messaging respects the theory of reasoned action and is therefore subject to efforts to improve behavior paying attention to the important influencing factors of attitude, subjective norm, and intention.

The second article is “Application of the Theory of Reasoned Action to On-line Shopping” by Supanat Chuchinprakarn. Here the experience is in the field of online shopping.

The purpose of these experiments explained in the article is to study the behavior of Internet users and the effects key factors about the intention to shop online. The Theory of Reasoned Action has been used to develop the conceptual framework. The population of interest was limited to full-time employees in the Thailand with frequent use of the Internet. The results hypotheses tests have shown that the four key concepts, which are trust, trust in the use of a credit card, subjective norm, and past behavior, had effects on online shopping intentions.

This study attempts to capture the growth of e-commerce by applying the theory of reasoning action on online transactions between online sellers and consumers in Thailand. The results indicate this confidence and past behavior are key factors that affect intention to buy. It is to be hoped by the author that this study will be able to stimulate future research interests in the field e-commerce.

• Managerial recommendation

This theory can be used in a variety of situations. In a managerial situation I will recommend it to understand the consumer’s behavior in his loyalty to the company.

For example, it can be interesting to understand his behavior on a website, to understand the funnel of the sales process. From the moment the customer arrives on the website and what he does on it, if he leaves immediately or if he stays until a purchase. This theory can be used to understand his attitude as well as the subjective norm of social interactions. The subjective standard is an anticipation of the consumer as to how his desires will be perceived by his entourage (encouragement, misunderstanding, mockery…), a standard to which he is inclined to conform. It is a norm because it will influencer behavior (to do or not to do). It is social because it comes from the environment (family, friends, social pressure). It is subjective, because it is not emitted by the environment, but perceived by the consumer.

Marketers can learn several lessons from the theory of reasoned action. when marketing a product to consumers, marketers must associate a purchase with a positive result, and that result must be specific.  The theory shows the importance of passing consumers through the sales circuit. Marketers need to understand that the long delays between the original intent and the completion of the action give consumers plenty of time to dissuade themselves from buying or to question the outcome of the purchase.