Chronic Regulatory Focus: Resist impulse consumption or let it happen?
| Autor | da Costa, Marconi Freitas |
1 Introduction
Consumer behavior studies address the different complexities of the individual with regard to purchase decisions and impulse consumption. These studies have been systematized in recent decades, with classic themes such as attitudes, perception, extended self, and references groups, among others (Costa & Farias, 2016). In this article, the interest is on the regulatory focus of individuals and the ego depletion (self-control energy expenditure) in impulse consumption decision processes.
The everyday environment is full of temptations, as can be seen in supermarket aisles, online shopping websites, and coffee shops. These places are full of tempting products (Hur, Koo, & Hofmann, 2015), often resulting in a struggle between impulses and self-control in the minds of consumers. Consumers thus struggle to restrain the desires which drive the consumption of tempting products because it interferes with their long-term goals, often losing in this struggle and failing at self-control (Baumeister, 2002; Yim, 2017).
The failure of self-control has a close relationship with impulse decisions (Vohs & Faber, 2007). Research on impulse decisions has intensified in the last 20 years (Amos, Holmes, & Keneson, 2015; Costa, Paula, Angelo, & Fouto, 2017; Dholakia, 2000; Rook & Fisher, 1995). Impulse consumption happens repeatedly and has negative consequences for consumers (Badgaiyan & Verma, 2015), such as, e.g., the difficulty that individuals face when controlling their weight, when they cannot resist the temptations of impulse consumption (Achtziger, Hubert, Kenning, Raab, & Reisch, 2015).
Due to the difficulties and challenges encountered with impulse decisions, the principles, or the basis that supports the behavior, inherent to the individual's self-control, have aroused the interest of researchers in the field of psychology for some time, especially in understanding the nature of the motivations that drive people in the pursuit of their goals (Higgins, 1997; Kuhl, 1981). Regulatory focus theory has helped in this understanding and has been gaining more space in consumer behavior research (Avnet & Higgins, 2006; Haws, Dholakia, & Bearden, 2010; Rajat, 2017).
Regulatory focus is a specific strategy and motivational guidance that the individual adopts during the pursuit of his or her ideals or duties (Higgins, 1997). Two types of regulatory focus can be distinguished, according to Pham and Chang (2010): a focus on promotion, which emphasizes strategies aimed at achieving desired outcomes, and a focus on prevention, which emphasizes strategies aimed at avoiding unwanted outcomes. In addition, regulatory focus is a state that can be investigated both as a chronic tendency, developed throughout the individual's life, and as a situation-induced (manipulated) focus (Haws, Dholakia, & Bearden, 2010).
Another theory which, by its characteristics, appears to be related to impulse decisions is the theory of ego depletion (Itzchakov, Uziel, & Wood, 2018). This theory is based on the limited resources individuals have to maintain self-control (Sjastad & Baumeister, 2018). On ego depletion, Baumeister (2002) states that the individual's ability to maintain self-control is limited, because by expending energy in an activity that requires self-control, he or she will lack energy to maintain self-control in subsequent activities.
After reviewing the literature on ego depletion, regulatory focus, and impulse consumption, a theoretical gap has been perceived: the effects of ego depletion, and the lack of energy to maintain self-control, could perhaps be attenuated by some chronic characteristic of individuals in impulse consumption situations. Decisions by impulse, whether purchasing or consumption ones, usually happen in situations where people have few self-control resources. Thus, it is believed that there are characteristics of individuals developed throughout their lives that may help in the control of decisions and others that can impair their performance. These characteristics may be related to chronic regulatory focus theory, where individuals are already accustomed to seizing opportunities (focus on promotion), which may lead them to consume further on impulse, or their behavior is rooted in trying to avoid a negative situation (focus on prevention), which may help with resisting the impulsive temptations of consumption.
In view of the above, the following research question was identified: How can the chronic regulatory focus of the individual act as a moderator of the relationships between ego depletion and impulse consumption decisions? The importance of this study lies in its analysis of the moderating role of the two different chronic regulatory focuses, promotion and prevention, in mitigating the effects that individuals suffer from the depletion of self-control energies in impulse consumption decisions. It is believed that the different ways that individuals seek to achieve their ideals and duties, which is a premise of regulatory focus, would increase or decrease (depending on the focus) the effects of ego depletion on impulse consumption decisions.
Moreover, impulse decisions present an important characteristic based on two processes (or components): the affective process, which is based on the emotions and mood states of individuals, and the cognitive process, which, in turn, has as its foundation the mental structures and processes involved in thinking, understanding, and interpreting (Youn, 2000). Thus, the research also sought to analyze the adjustment of chronic regulatory focus with the affective and cognitive processes of impulse decisions, considering that the focus on promotion is more linked to the affective process and the focus on prevention relates more to the cognitive process.
2 Literature Review
2.1 Chronic Regulatory Focus and the Impulse Decision Components
Psychologists have long been interested in the principles of self-regulation, especially in the nature of the movements that have been stimulated in relation to the representation of individuals' end states (Akhtar & Lee, 2014; Carver & Scheier, 1990; Higgins, Roney, Crowe, & Hymes, 1994; Kuhl, 1984). The studies have progressed and, according to Higgins et al. (1994), two basic distinctions regarding self-control have been established in the literature. One relates to the valence of the end state that functions as the reference value for the movement (positive versus negative) and one involves the direction of the movement that has been stimulated (approach versus avoidance). It is worth mentioning that the concept of valence, as used in psychology, is the intrinsic attractiveness (positive valence) or averseness (negative valence) of an event, object, or situation (Galbraith & Cummings, 1967).
On valence, according to Malaviya and Brendl (2014), the self-regulatory system may have a desired end state (i.e., positive reference value) or an unwanted end state (i.e., negative reference value) functioning as a standard. Also, in relation to the direction of the movement that has been stimulated, the literature distinguishes approach as being a positive state of the person and avoidance as being a negative state (Higgins et al., 1994; Lai, Hsu, & Li, 2018).
Certain modes of interaction between parents and children increase the likelihood that children will achieve a strong desired end state (Manian, Papadakis, Strauman, & Essex, 2006). This desired end state, according to Pham and Chang (2010), represents the hopes, desires, and aspirations of individuals (strong ideals) or obligations and responsibilities (strong duties). These different ways of representing the desired end state are the basis of regulatory focus theory, which is subdivided into regulatory focus on promotion and regulatory focus on prevention (Bullard & Man chan da, 2017). Self-regulation based on ideals involves regulatory focus on promotion; whereas self-regulation based on duties involves regulatory focus on prevention (Chan & Ho, 2017).
Regulatory focus can be manipulated or it can be chronic (Haws, Dholakia, & Bearden, 2010). The latter is developed throughout the years in the routines of individuals and is part of the socialization process (Coley & Burgess, 2003). The different socializations encompassed in parents-children relationships allow us to understand how chronic regulatory focus distinguishes between different types of self-regulation in relation to the desired end state (Higgins, 1997; Haws, Dholakia, & Bearden, 2010). Children learn from these interactions to self-regulate in relation to the ideals of the promotion focus or the duties of the prevention focus (Manian et ah, 2006). In general, two forms of desired end states are identified: (a) aspirations and accomplishments (regulatory focus on promotion) and (b) responsibilities and safety (regulatory focus on prevention) (Graham, Ziegert, & Capitano, 2015).
Within the general approach to the desired end state, chronic regulatory focus may induce strategic inclinations of approach or avoidance (Akhtar & Lee, 2014; Hong & Lee, 2008). According to Higgins (1997), as a focus on promotion involves sensitivity to positive outcomes (their presence and absence), a bias towards approach that matches the desired end state is the natural strategy for self-regulation with a focus on promotion. In turn, because a focus on prevention involves sensitivity to negative outcomes (their absence and presence), a bias towards avoidance that does not match the desired end state is the natural strategy for self-regulation focused on prevention (Dholakia et al. ah, 2006).
From the theory of chronic regulatory focus, another concept has gained strength among researchers (Avnet & Higgins, 2003; Katsikeas, Auh, Spyropoulou, & Mengue, 2018; Pham & Chang, 2010): regulatory adjustment. The advances in the theory of regulatory focus try to explain the correctness of types of objectives (Cesario, Higgins, & Scholer...
Para continuar a ler
PEÇA SUA AVALIAÇÃOCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
