Why, When, and How Personal Control Impacts Information Processing: A Framework

Abstract

The present research investigates why, when, and how feelings of personal control influence the way consumers process product information. Four studies were conducted. The results show that under baseline conditions, consumers who believe they can control the environment (internal locus of control) show greater confidence in their emerging preference in a choice process and demonstrate higher levels of preference-supporting bias than consumers who believe the environment controls their fate (external locus of control). However, the opposite relationship between locus of control and confirmatory information processing occurs when a threat to personal control is encountered. When threatened, consumers with an internal (external) locus of control activate an accuracy (defense) goal that results in lower (higher) levels of confidence in their emerging preference and confirmatory information processing than consumers with an external (internal) locus of control. These findings are integrated within a general framework that accounts for the impact of personal control on information processing. The framework predicts and empirical evidence confirms that the alternative strategies adopted to process information at different levels of personal control affect both product choice and willingness to pay for a new product.