This thesis examines three research questions under the framework of Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998). These research questions are organized into three essays. The first essay examines the malleability of regulatory construction of goals. I demonstrate that regulatory construction of a goal is subject to goal distance—the perceived discrepancy between current and desired end state. When goal distance is large, the goal is more likely to be construed as a promotion-focused goal; when goal distance is small, the goal is more likely to be construed as a prevention-focused goal. This effect is mediated by the intensity of anticipated affect (pleasure of goal attainment versus pain of goal failure). The second essay examines a fit between sustainability and a prevention focus. I demonstrate that sustainability claims activate prevention concerns in consumers. Consumers make prevention-focused inferences about products of sustainable companies. Finally, regulatory fit between a sustainable product and prevention-focused product claims leads to enhanced product evaluations. The third essay examines the influence of regulatory focus in sequentially presented choice sets. I demonstrate that regulatory focus influences evaluations of equivalent sequentially presented choice alternatives, the amount of search and choice of option form a sequential set. Prevention-focused individuals defer favorable evaluations until choice options presented later in the sequential set. They perform more search compared to promotion-focused individuals and select an option encountered later in the sequence. Theoretical contributions and practical implications of these essays are discussed.

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This research experimentally investigated the interactive effects of regulatory focus and brand personality on persuasion in advertising. Specifically, the study sought to know whether the interplay would increase a positive attitude toward the advertisement, the brand and purchase intention. The results of this present research showed that excitement brand personality was concerned with a promotion focus and when an exciting brand is advertised with a promotion focused message, the effectiveness of the advertisement was increased. In contrast, competence brand personality was concerned with prevention focus and when a competent brand is advertised with a prevention focused message, the effectiveness of the advertisement was increased. / text

A causal theory of spiritual leadership taps into the fundamental needs of both leader (vision, hope/ faith, altruistic love) and follower for spiritual survival (calling/meaning, membership). The definition of spiritual leadership is to comprise the values, attitudes, and behaviors that are necessary to intrinsically motivate one¡¦s self and others so that they have a sense of spiritual survival through calling and membership, and to improve employees¡¦ organization commitment and productivity. In addition, change commitment which is one of the positive attitudes toward organizational change, could promote the success of organizational change. The relationship between spiritual leadership and change commitment will be discussed. Furthermore, employees¡¦ emotional experiences might influence the work attitudes and behaviors. Regulatory focus theory which includes promotion focus and prevention focus, will focus on the one¡¦ emotional content, magnitude and the further effect. It¡¦s helpful to describe the relationship between emotional experiences and work attitudes and behaviors. As a result, the mediating mechanism of regulatory focus between spiritual leadership and commitment will be discussed. Use LISREL to analyze the survey data from 369 employees. Following are the results: 1. There is a positive relationship among spiritual leadership, calling/ meaning and membership, and change commitment. And calling/ meaning and membership are the mediators in the relationship between spiritual leadership and change commitment. 2. There is a positive relationship among spiritual leadership, promotion focus and change commitment. And promotion focus is the mediator in the relationship between spiritual leadership and change commitment. Although spiritual leadership positively affects prevention focus, however, prevention focus will not influence change commitment. 3. The differences of respondents¡¦ profiles will make effects on spiritual leadership, calling/meaning, membership, regulatory focus and change commitment.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Clive J. A. Fullagar / Regulatory focus has emerged as an important construct in the organizational sciences. In the past ten years more than 200 papers have been published applying regulatory focus to a wide variety of contexts ranging from marketing and persuasion to feedback and performance appraisal (Johnson et al., 2015). Despite the ubiquity of RFT’s application, only a few studies have targeted the psychometric properties of measures of regulatory focus; and the findings thus far suggest that improvement is needed. Haws (2010) evaluated five measures of regulatory focus and concluded that they differed substantially with respect to their theoretical content, and that most demonstrated unacceptably low internal consistency. Summerville & Roese (2008) drew similar conclusions in their evaluation of the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ) and the General Regulatory Focus Measure (GRFM) and added that the two scales might actually be measuring different underlying constructs. Given the inconsistencies and problems associated with existing measures of regulatory focus, the purpose of the current research is to extend the critical evaluation of existing measures of regulatory focus and then to propose the development of a new measure based on rigorous scale development practices like those set forth in Hinkin, (1995) and Crocker & Algina, (1986). A new scale of Regulatory Focus was developed designed to measure all aspects of RFT and to test whether a two-factor or a four-factor SEM model fit the data best. The final scale consisted of 14 items. CFAs were used to test whether a two-factor or a four-factor model of regulatory focus fit the data best. Results suggested that both models fit the data equally well. However, for parsimony reasons and given that one of the latent factors of the four-factor model contained only two items (making any estimates of internal consistency difficult) the two factor model of regulatory focus was retained as the preferred model.

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This study sought to better understand the impact of feedback on performance by examining how regulatory focus and message framing potentially interact to influence recipient's attitudes towards and recall of performance feedback recommendations. Participants were 221 undergraduates. Participant's chronic regulatory focus orientation was measured in phase 1. In phase 2, regulatory focus orientation was manipulated prior having participants complete a puzzle task. After completing the task, they were given performance feedback recommendations that were framed to highlight either promotion or prevention concerns. Their attitudes towards and recall of the recommendations they received were then measured. Though not all of the predictions of the study were supported, results indicated a significant three-way interaction between chronic promotion, the manipulation of regulatory focus, and the framing of the performance feedback recommendations that qualified the relationship between chronic promotion and attitudes. This finding supports the notion that a better understanding of how feedback impacts subsequent performance is possible by studying the interaction between regulatory focus and message framing. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Master of Science

This study examines the eWOM effect, more specifically: how customer reviews effects consumers. The study is based on a modified version of the Regulatory Focus Theory which describes consumer behavior using consumer consumption goals. The purpose of this study was to examine how positive and negative customer review's influence consumers when analyzing products that are equally characterized by two consumption goals: promotion and prevention goals. The authors combined quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (focus groups) research methods with the sample selection for both research methods being based on students of Södertörns University. Results indicate that negative customer reviews have a stronger influence on consumers than positive customer reviews when analyzing products that are equally characterized by the promotion goals and prevention goals. The results contradict the authors hypothesis which predicted an equally strong influence from positive and negative customer reviews.

This study examines the influence of various facets of perceived risk on the attitudes toward really new services (RNS) and adoption intentions. Although there is considerable research examining perceived risk and consumer adoption of innovations, three aspects of the relationship have been neglected. First, much of the research on really new innovations is product-focused with little attention to services. Second, there is limited research examining perceived risk as a multidimensional construct. Third, consumer characteristics that affect the relationship between perceived risks and adoption intentions have not been included in most of the innovation studies. Thus, this study seeks to provide answers to the questions of “which types of perceived risk are more likely to affect adoption intentions of RNS?” and “which consumer characteristics affect the relationship between perceived risks and adoption intentions of RNS?”. The findings of the study show the influence of perceived risk in the service innovations area. We contribute to theory and practice by identifying the specific risks that cause consumers to resist adopting RNS as well as showing the explanatory power of Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT) to understand why consumers react differently when they encounter service innovations. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The present research tested whether and how regulatory focus as a motivational variable influences the ways in which people appraise, process, and react to events in romantic relationships. Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between (1) a prevention focus, which emphasizes the fulfillment of security needs, duties and obligations, and is associated with heightened sensitivity to aversive outcomes, and (2) a promotion focus, which emphasizes the fulfillment of nurturance needs, accomplishments and aspirations, and is associated with heightened sensitivity to rewarding outcomes. Based on regulatory focus theory, it was assumed that promotion and prevention focused people would appraise, react to, and process interpersonal events involving a romantic partner in different ways. In addition, it was expected that the distinct ways of experiencing such events are reflected in differences in relationship quality. Three studies using college student samples were conducted to test these notions. Evidence was found that individual differences in chronic prevention focus affect the ways in which people react to aversive events in relationships. No support was obtained for regulatory focus theory??s predictions regarding prevention focus processes in association with rewarding outcomes, and predictions related to the promotion focus system were also not supported. As expected, chronic promotion focus was related to higher relationship quality, and chronic prevention focus was associated with lower relationship quality. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.