According to the Bruntland Commission, sustainable development requires consumers in industrialized nations to reduce significantly their consumption of resources. This research brings a new perspective to the reduction of discretionary consumption, using both theoretical and empirical approaches. Demarketing programs have often been unable to achieve sustained reductions in consumption. It is argued here that they have incorrectly treated demand reduction as a variation on the usual marketing problem of building demand, when it is (1) more complex than typical marketing problems, and (2) essentially similar to clinical habit change problems. The dissertation reviews the literature on habits and automated processes, introduces the concept of “habit-like” behavior, and argues that reducing discretionary consumption can often be framed as a habit-change problem. The Prochaska and DiClemente (1984) Revolving Door Model of Behavior Change (RDM) describes how people change habitual behaviors in clinical situations. Study 1, an energy conservation (cold water laundry washing) survey (n=340), using a decisional balance framework, indicated that the RDM generalizes to demarketing situations and that it is consumers’ perceptions of the importance of disadvantages, not advantages, that influence consumption reductions. The research develops new theory to explain habit-like behavior changes. Based on previous theory and findings on automated processes, it is proposed that changing habit-like behavior proceeds in three steps: de-automation, volitional behavior change, and consolidation. Study 2 was a laboratory experiment (n= 117) in which two demarketing approaches (the traditional approach and the habit-change approach) competed in two situations (when the consumption behavior targeted for change was under volitional control, and when it was habit-like). Contrary to expectations, a persuasive message supplemented by limited practice of the new behavior was more effective when the old behavior was volitional than when it was habit-like, suggesting that the disadvantages of changing are more evident to people whose behavior is habit-like. There are two important practical implications: that (1) segmentation based on the RDM stages of change may be more powerful than other approaches; and (2) it is more important to address disadvantages of reducing consumption than to emphasize advantages. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

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Much of consumer behavior research focuses on how consumers process and evaluate information to make current decision. In contrast, many consumer choices ares are underpinned by the need to make choices that incorporate the past or future, other places, other people and other situations that are seemingly hypothetical. The imagination provides the chief means by which consumers are able to traverse this psychological distance. Construal Level Theory (CLT) explains how individuals are able to plan for the future, consider the perspective of another individual and even consider situations that are counter to reality. Construal mindsets are enacted when people form mental representations of distant objects, people, or places. In abstract construal mindsets, individuals think generally, in terms of global features of an object, person, or situation. On the other hand, concrete construal mindsets center around the detailed aspects of an object, person, or situation. These two different construal mindsets serve to help people cope with the uncertainty of the future. This is because abstract cosntruals are more likely than concrete construals to remain unchanged as distance from a future object, person, or place reduces. A number of consumer behavior settings require the use of the imagination. Sticking to a weight loss and or fitness plan, planning a vacation trip, saving for retirement and imagining what birthday gift a friend will enjoy all require imagining a psychologically distant state. Marketers generally seek to stimulate consumption by requiring consumers to imagine a consumption setting. This dissertation uses CLT to guide the hypotheses, as CLT explains how individuals deal with psychological distance by adopting a construal mindset. CLT explains differences in information processing associated with adopting a specific construal mindset and suggests how construal mindsets impact consumer information elaboration processes. This study will contribute to CLT by addressing an understudied be related area: the consumer imagination. Furthermore, this dissertation helps uncover the mechanism that demonstrates the role of psychological distance on construal mindsets. The study will employ three experiments that identify the effect of psychologically distant consumption scenarios on elaborative thought processes in consumption settings.

Three cases of food safety issue occurred in South Korea were chosen to test whether message frames influence on consumers’ purchasing intention. In addition, this study not only investigates the relationships among constructs, but also evaluates the path coefficients of rela-tionships. Empirical Results indicates that consumers’ intention to purchasing was negatively affected by message frames including negative headline, negative information and less amount of information. Also, knowledgeable group was more sensitive to prior-knowledge with respect to their attitude than other group when there are food risks around. Group received negative mes-sage reacted more sensitively to trust than group received relatively positive message.

本研究以计划行为理论、态度情境行为理论、制度理论为基础，从社会心理学出发，对个体基于心理反应过程的低碳消费行为及其情境因素进行了研究。通过实证研究发现，低碳消费态度和低碳消费主观规范对低碳消费行为的影响是通过低碳消费意向实现的。低碳消费意向在低碳消费态度和低碳主观规范与低碳消费行为的关系构建中起到中介效应。结果表明，低碳消费态度和低碳消费主观规范均与低碳行为意向之间显著正相关，低碳行为意向和低碳消费行为之间显著正相关。低碳消费意向是低碳消费态度和低碳消费行为的部分中介，低碳消费意向还是低碳消费主观规范和低碳消费行为的完全中介。同时，本研究也发现便利条件对低碳消费意向和低碳消费行为之间的关系起正向调节作用。Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, Attitude-Context-Behavior Theory and Institutional Theory, this study explores low-carbon consumption behavior based on Psychological reaction process and its context factors from the perspective of social psychology.Empirical research shows that Low Carbon Consumption Attitudes(LCCA) and Low Carbon Consumption Subjective Norms(LCCSN) influence Low Carbon Consumption Behavior(LCCB) through Low Carbon Consumption Intention(LCCI). The results show that both LCCA and LCCSN have significant positive correlations with LCCI, and LCCI has significant positive correlations with LCCB. LCCI is partial mediation between LCCA and LCCB , LCCI is also complete mediation between LCCSN and LCCB. Meanwhile, this article infer that facilitating conditions have moderating effects which strengthen the positive relationship between LCCSN and LCCI.

As technology advances, the influence of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) surpasses the influence of traditional face-to-face WOM communication on consumers’ decision making. Since the hospitality and tourism products and services contain more interpersonal interaction that needs to be experienced by consumers, the influence of eWOM in the hospitality industry is more significant than in other industries. The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among source credibility of eWOM, customers’ perceived risk, and their behavior intentions to use consumer generated media. The result provides evidence about the influence of eWOM on overall perceived risk and how consumers use eWOM to manage and reduce the potential risks when making their lodging decisions. Academically, it confirms the significance of eWOM influence and connects the gap in the previous literatures between source credibility of eWOM and perceived risk research. Practically, hoteliers can set their marketing strategies precisely aimed to consumers’ needs and are able to build good reputations through those online travel forums or hotel review sites.

The intent of this thesis is to explore the effects and influencers of skin tone on consumer perception. Firstly we conducted a primary study to test the effects of skin tone on service provider quality. The results showed that while skin tone had little effect, gender and ethnicity were more indicative. Therefore our study seeks to re-test the relationship between skin tone and consumer service perception as well as the effects of ethnicity and tipping behavior, and if a consumer’s cultural identity strength plays a role in consumer perception. We examined the differences across ethnicities i.e. White, Hispanic, and African American. Specifically we were interested in any potential differences across skin tone (light skinned vs. dark skinned) within African American and Hispanic service providers. Firstly we sought out stock images that portrayed easily identifiable ethnicities. We exposed the respondents to those images in which we asked them to identify the ethnicity of the image as a manipulation check for ethnicity. In the actual study, all respondents were given the same service scenario with the image of one of the ten (White, light or dark skinned Hispanic, light or dark skinned African American, male or female) stock photos. Respondents were asked to rate the service quality, satisfaction, and tip amount. The data was analyzed as a 2 way independent-groups design.

Social exclusion has garnered much attention from researchers across the social sciences, especially among social psychologists. However, given the fact that social relationships and consumption are two of the central activities in daily life, there is surprisingly little research on the impact of social connection threats within the realm of consumer behavior. This study examines the effect of social exclusion on proenvironmental behavior and green consumption. More precisely, the objectives of this study are threefold. The first objective is to examine whether the findings in social psychology literature on how excluded individuals respond to exclusion when they are exposed to proenvironmental consumption behavior. The second objective of this research is to find the underlying mechanism and to rule out some of the possible explanations (e.g., mood) for this effect. The final objective of this study is to establish some of the boundary conditions (individual differences and situational factors) for the proposed effect. The hypotheses of this study were developed based on two main theoretical bases borrowed from social psychology literature: empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson 1991) and social reconnection hypothesis (Maner et al. 2007). Overall, it was proposed that while social exclusion decreases individuals’ inclination to engage in proenvironmental activities, socially excluded people are motivated to use green consumption behaviors to establish new social bonds with others. These propositions were tested and supported across four experiments. Across these experiments, the findings demonstrated that social exclusion causes people to express lower tendency to engage in proenvironmental behaviors. The findings also consistently suggest that mood does not explain why social rejection leads to negative environmental outcomes. Additionally, social exclusion appears to cause a temporary absence of empathic concern toward others, which leads to less green behavior with altruistic motivation. Further, the role of emotional empathy as a boundary condition was tested in this study and the findings indicate that experiencing social exclusion does not negatively impact proenvironmental behavior in highly empathetic individuals. Finally, this investigation showed that when a proenvironmental behavior is perceived as an opportunity to reconnect and positive social feedback is expected from peers, socially excluded participants favor products that signal to their peers that they too are concerned about environmental issues. In addition to its contributions to consumer research and marketing, this work provides several practical implications. For instance, as established in this study, green products by default are not perceived by excluded individuals as tools that facilitate social reconnection. However, when such products are positioned properly, such individuals tend to capitalize on the social acceptability of their behavior to help them fulfill their threatened need for affiliation. The implication here is that marketers should attempt to customize their promotional strategies accordingly and direct the consumer’s attention to this covert benefit of green products.

Thesis advisor: Ali Kadivar / The fashion industry has historically used marketing to increase sales. Women are the primary consumers of clothing, and with the growth of social media, trends cycle more frequently. As women observe their peers and influencers on these platforms, they are encouraged to purchase more items even without viewing deliberate advertisements. However, current consumption patterns are not sustainable. The researcher conducted thirteen interviews with college women aged nineteen to twenty-two to understand their motivations for purchasing new clothing and what values informed their decisions. The hypothesis was that access to peers’ and influencers' fashion choices via social media catalyzed overspending. The environmental and social implications of the industry would only deter some individuals' habits. Other studies have used surveys to ask social media users how the platforms inform their consumption. However, this study adds to the literature by offering in-depth anecdotes of why people make purchases and how often they do so. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

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