The effect of consumers' implicit theory of personality and product feedback in self-directed consumer contexts

Abstract

Self-guided learning products such as online education and language learning apps are pervasive in today's consumer environment. We investigate how the congruence between one's implicit theory of personality and the type of feedback provided to consumers influences evaluations of these products. Relying on converging evidence from one quasi-field and two experimental studies using real-life self-directed consumer contexts, we find that consumers' product satisfaction can be enhanced by providing consumers with well-tailored feedback that aligns with their implicit theory of personality. Our work uniquely suggests that advancement (how much of the task is completed) and proficiency (how well the consumer has done) feedback are not uniformly appealing to all consumers, and that not all feedback leads to more favorable product evaluations for entity and incremental theorists. Our work advances the implicit theory and consumption progress feedback literature and makes substantive recommendations to marketers who increasingly rely on consumers to navigate the learning and consumption of their offerings.