The Effects of Psychological Distance on Sport Consumers’ Purchase Intentions

Geumchan Hwang

doi:10.7176/jmcr/80-03

Abstract

Sport consumers purchase products or services online based on several factors. In particular, psychological distance is a significant factor that affects decision making, and it is important to understand how multiple dimensions of psychological distance influence sport consumers’ purchase intentions. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the different impact of social, temporal, and spatial distance on sport consumers’ purchase intentions online. An online experimental survey was employed and 103 samples were collected from college students in Midwest area. Analysis of variance was conducted and the findings showed different effects of psychological distance on sport consumers’ purchase intentions online between social distance and temporal distance, and social distance and spatial distance. This study provides sport marketer with practical information about online marketing strategies. Keywords: social, temporal, spatial, psychological distance, sport consumers, purchase intentions DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/80-03 Publication date: July 31 st 2021

Highlights

With the growth of the e-commerce market, purchasing a product via online websites has become popular nowadays (Albinsson, Burman, Das, 2010)
A one-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to test the mean difference of online purchase intentions among three dimensions of psychological distance
Previous Construal Level Theory (CLT) studies showed www.iiste.org people interpret an event depending on the psychological distance and it influence consumers’ purchasing decisions (Ahuja et al, 2003; Albinsson et al, 2010; Nan, 2007; Williams & Bargh, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

With the growth of the e-commerce market, purchasing a product via online websites has become popular nowadays (Albinsson, Burman, Das, 2010). According to Construal Level Theory (CLT), people tend to interpret an event in a more abstract, goal oriented and general way when they are psychologically distant, whereas they interpret an event more concretely when the psychological distance is close (Humphreys, Isaac, & Wang, 2020; Liberman & Fo rster, 2009; Liberman & Trope, 2008; Liberman, Trope, & Stephan, 2007; Liu, Zhang, Huang, Zhang, & Zhao, 2020; Trope & Liberman, 2003). Previous CLT studies examined the impact of psychological distance on people’s thoughts and behaviors (Liu et al, 2020; Trope, Liberman, & Wakslak, 2007) focusing on temporal distance (Liberman, Sagristano, & Trope, 2002), spatial distance (Fujita, Henderson, Eng, Trope, & Liberman, 2006), and social distance (Stephan, Liberman, & Trope, 2010). Sport consumers make purchasing decisions online based on diverse impact of psychological distance, such as social distance (e.g., close friends/customer reviews), temporal distance (e.g., previous experience/current experience), and spatial distance (e.g., domestic manufacturing product/outsource manufacturing product)

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Conclusion