The vulnerability of defensiveness: The impact of persuasion attempts and processing motivations on trust

Abstract

People are generally defense motivated during interactions with salesclerks. In this research, we demonstrate that defense motivation can make consumers vulnerable to a less stereotypical persuasion attempt as compared to a more stereotypical one. The consequence is that consumers are willing to pay a higher price and exhibit greater trust in a salesclerk who uses a less stereotypical persuasion attempt. Thus, the stereotypicality of a persuasion attempt is identified as one key factor that impacts perceptions of trustworthiness. In addition, we show that accuracy motivations can attenuate the positive effect of a less stereotypical persuasion attempt. In other words, accuracy motivations can protect consumers from being susceptible to less stereotypical persuasion attempts.