Construal Level Theory Research Articles

Nostalgia and Forestalgia: Insights, Evaluation, and Implications for Advertising and Product Typology

While the focus for many advertising academics and practitioners has been on nostalgia, there is a dearth of research on future-focused appeals. We introduce a new concept, forestalgia, or a consumer’s yearning for an idealized future. To understand the impact of nostalgia and forestalgia, qualitative background interviews were conducted with creative directors and other advertising creatives from numerous nationally recognized advertising agencies. Building on the insights from the interviews and using construal level theory as our foundation, we explore consumer response to hedonic and utilitarian products when appeals employ far-past, near-past, near-future, and far-future framing. Thus, we examine whether nostalgia or forestalgia is better suited for certain products. We find utilitarian products are better received with a temporal distance that is far from the present with hedonic products better suited for appeals framed in the far past and near future. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed, along with future research considerations.

Greening Professional Sport: How Communicating the Fit, Proximity, and Impact of Sustainability Efforts Affects Fan Perceptions and Supportive Intentions

Grounded in multidisciplinary literature from public relations, sport communication, and marketing, this study examined consumer reactions to sustainability initiatives launched by major sports leagues. Through an online survey (N = 254), the results showed that sports league-cause fit resulted in more positive organization–public relationships (OPRs) such as through trust, commitment, satisfaction, and control mutuality. Further, the findings revealed that a closer geographic proximity of the sustainability initiative and an increased perceived impact (donation amount and number of beneficiaries affected) triggered higher perceptions of trust, organizational authenticity, and fandom toward the sponsoring sports league. Interestingly, a significant two-way interaction between spatial proximity and impact suggested that lower perceptions of the impact of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) program evoked more positive attitudes when involving local beneficiaries, whereas higher perceptions of impact improved organizational attitudes when the beneficiaries were located faraway. Lastly, the findings indicated that the OPR variables, especially trust, as well as fandom, and organizational authenticity elicited higher supportive intentions (e.g., support CSR cause, donate, volunteer, share on social media) toward the sports league. Theoretical implications for fit, construal level theory, and CSR impact as well as implications for sport communication practitioners are discussed.

Let the sports endorser speak: Combination of endorser type, color, and copy

In sports advertising, selecting a sports star and a typical person as an endorser is an important issue. Based on construal level theory, this study intended to determine the appropriate combination of endorser type, ad colors, and copy style to increase audiences’ positive attitudes toward sports ads. Several experiments were performed to examine these research arguments. Experiment 1 demonstrated that people perceive distant and proximate social distances to sports stars and typical persons, respectively. Experiment 2 found that the participants perceived a positive attitude toward the ad through high process fluency when a sports star (a typical person) as the endorser used black-and-white imagery (color imagery) and an outcome simulation copy (a process simulation copy). Experiment 3 showed that using process simulation copies increased the effect of a typical person endorser who was perceived as similar to the participants on sports ads. Finally, the contributions and implications of the research findings are discussed.

Financial priming, psychological distance, and recognizing financial misreporting as an ethical issue: The role of financial reporting responsibility

Prior research finds that financial priming (thinking about money) results in leniency toward unethical activities. This research suggests that accountants, because of frequent financial priming, may be prone to overlooking unethical acts. Construal level theory research further suggests that psychologically distant events (also common in accounting) may exacerbate financial priming's effects. Across three experiments, we explore the interactive effect of financial priming, psychological distance, and financial reporting responsibility on recognition of financial misreporting as an ethical issue. Consistent with past research, we find that financially (versus neutrally) primed businesspeople without prior financial reporting responsibility are less likely to recognize psychologically distant financial misreporting as an ethical issue. Importantly, however, we find that financially (versus neutrally) primed accountants and other business professionals with financial reporting responsibility consider psychologically distant financial misreporting to be more unethical. Preliminary process evidence suggests that, when exposed to psychologically distant financial misreporting, financially (versus neutrally) primed businesspeople with financial reporting responsibility focus more on protecting those who rely on accurate financial reports than on protecting the company committing the financial misreporting.

Psychological Barriers to Sustainable Dietary Patterns: Findings from Meat Intake Behaviour

Sustainable diets are patterns that change consumer behaviour towards more balanced and plant-based habits. This study investigates the effect of individuals’ predisposition to adopt sustainable diets while reducing meat intake by measuring their psychological proximity to meat. Using an online consumer-based platform, a cross-sectional survey collected responses from 497 individuals. Questionnaire items included 43 questions prospected from the literature, coded as practical and essential barriers and measured on a modified 7-point Likert scale. The results showed some paradoxes, as a high predisposition to adopt a sustainable diet coexists with a high predisposition to consume animal-based proteins. The main perceived barrier to adopting a plant-based diet was the enjoyment of eating meat, followed by the lack of information about plant-based diets. Barriers related to meat alternatives remained the highest above all the others. It confirms that, for local consumers, meat remains a usual option and is easier to prepare. When investigating the moderating effect of barriers on the predisposition to behaviours towards meat intake reduction, no effect was confirmed. However, we found a U-shaped moderating effect for plant-based meal increase, confirming the psychological proximity of the meat consumption effects under the lens of the Construal Level Theory and Transtheoretical Model. These findings call for further research on the effectiveness of measuring psychological barriers related to sustainable diet adoption.

Comparisons of Dementia Knowledge and Attitudes among the Youth and Older Adults: Insights from the Construal Level Theory Perspective.

Based on Construal Level Theory (CLT), the youth and older adults have different psychological distances towards dementia that may lead to different dementia knowledge and attitudes. A cross-sectional survey among 239 youth and 62 older adults using a two-step sampling approach in Macao aimed to examine the hypothesis. Results showed older adults had a higher score of dementia knowledge (F(1,299) = 45.692, p <0.001) but a lower score of dementia attitudes (F(1,299) = 161.887, p <0.001) compared to the youth. Age group explained the majority of the variances in the hierarchical multiple regressions for dementia knowledge (R2 = 0.178, F = 9.059, p < 0.001) and for dementia attitudes (R2 = 0.399, F = 24.233, p < 0.001), which are β = 0.47 and −0.56, respectively. Thus, the hypothesis was supported and revealed an interesting pattern of dementia knowledge and attitudes among the youth and older adults. From the CLT perspective, the study implies that reducing and bridging the psychological distance of dementia would probably be an effective strategy to increase dementia awareness among young people, and intergenerational programs may be a good option to increase community acceptance and support for people with dementia.

Citizen Environmental Behavior From the Perspective of Psychological Distance Based on a Visual Analysis of Bibliometrics and Scientific Knowledge Mapping

Global warming and other climate issues seriously threaten global sustainable development. As citizen environmental behavior can have a positive impact on the environment, it is of great theoretical significance and practical reference value to study the impact of psychological distance theory on citizen environmental behavior. This study obtained 2,633 related studies from 1980 to 2020 from the Web of Science as research objects, and used CiteSpace, VOSviewer, Netdraw, and other software programs to perform a bibliometric analysis, which can show the complex relationship implied in the citation, intuitively grasp the development context and hot frontier in this field, and help scholars better study citizen environmental behavior. The results and conclusions are as follows. (1) The related research covered three periods: infancy, growth, and outbreak. (2) Chronologically, the relevant research evolved from building models to analyze the impact of environmental enrichment on human environmental behavior, to studying the motivation behind citizen environmental behavior, and finally to paying attention to sustainable development. (3) A cluster analysis of high-frequency keywords identified three research hotspots: “drivers of psychological distance of environmental change perception on citizen environmental behavior,” “impact of social distance on adolescents’ behavior,” and “construal level theory and citizen green behavior.” Based on these findings, possible future research directions were identified, including changing from a single theory to a combination of multiple theories to comprehensively study citizen environmental protection behavior; analyzing the motivation of citizen environmental behavior and summarizing the general motivation of environmental behavior according to its internal relationship; and determining how to narrow the global psychological distance, strengthen the awareness of the community of human destiny, and explore the establishment of an efficient global climate cooperation mechanism.

Regulatory framing in online hotel reviews: The moderating roles of temporal distance and temporal orientation

Online reviews have gained momentum and continue to be the most influential source of information in consumers' hotel booking decisions in the tourism industry. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, construal level theory, and consideration of future consequences (CFC), this study contributes to the topic by claiming that consumers evaluate hotel reviews differently based upon their regulatory focus (i.e., promotion vs. prevention) and that this evaluation can vary according to contextual (i.e., temporal distance in booking time) and personal factors (i.e., temporal orientation). We found that temporal distance moderated the effect of regulatory-focused reviews on review attitudes when a booking was temporally distant; however, no moderating effect was found when a booking was about to be made. In addition, reviews' perceived relevance fully mediated regulatory-focused reviews' effect on review attitudes for the distant-future condition, but not the near-future condition. Finally, it was revealed that future-oriented consumers showed more positive attitudes when they read promotion-focused reviews (vs. prevention-focused reviews), but no significant differences were found among present-oriented consumers. This study's findings can help travel practitioners better understand consumers' hotel review evaluations and improve their marketing strategies.

Attracting Generation Z talents to the hospitality industry through COVID CSR practices

PurposeThis study aims to examine how COVID-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities affect future Generation Z employees’ intention to join the hotel industry through experimental designs.Design/methodology/approachBased on signaling theory, construal level theory and value theory, this study established an integrated research framework to explain the mechanism of CSR communication. The proposed study conducted three online experiments on a total of 463 participants. ANCOVA test and PROCESS macro were performed to analyze the data for main, mediation and moderation effects.FindingsThe results of this study indicate that in-kind donation is more efficacious in improving Generation Z’s job pursuit intention, as compared to cause-related marketing (CRM). CSR messages framed in a “how” mindset are favored by Generation Z members who are either unemployed or eager to change their current job. The findings also confirm the effect of brand warmth as a mediator and other-regarding personal value as a moderator.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study contributes to the limited knowledge on CSR initiatives by addressing the research gap of future employees and examining CSR as a response to COVID-19. The findings also provide hotel executives actionable implications to plan and communicate future CSR programs, especially during times of crisis.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first studies to address Generation Z employees and to investigate the role of CSR initiatives on future hotel workers.

Food delivery now or later: The match-up effect of purchase timeframe and review recency

This research investigates the effects of information obtained from online reviews on purchase decisions made on online food delivery platforms. Drawing on construal level theory, this research examines the interplay of review recency and review valance on perceived review helpfulness and order intention, varying across purchase timeframes. Using an experiment with 311 participants, this research showed that review recency was positively associated with perceived review helpfulness only when the review valence was negative. This positive recency effect was more prominent in near- versus distant-future decisions. Review recency was also found to influence consumers’ intention to accept negative reviews, but not positive reviews. After reading a recent negative review (versus outdated one), order intention significantly decreased, and more so, for the near rather than distant-future purchase conditions.

Ad eroticism from a psychological distance perspective: Investigating its effects in light of consumers’ sex, ethical judgments, and moral attentiveness

Building on construal level theory and psychological distance, this paper considers the impact of erotic appeal ads in terms of consumer reactions; the demographic and ethically related psychographic factors of sex and moral attentiveness are also examined. Two experiments delve into different psychological distance types, evoking variant construal levels while promoting a different product category across different levels of erotic intensity in the ad. Findings indicate that as the psychological distance or construal level decreases, reactions become more unfavorable, regardless of the ad’s level of erotic intensity. Furthermore, reactions vary depending on sex and moral attentiveness; women and individuals with high moral attentiveness levels (MALs) express stronger objections. Finally, across the levels of erotic intensity, ethical judgments systematically mediate the ads’ effects on attitudes and behaviors, and this mediation effect is intensified when viewers act under a low construal or psychological distance level and when erotic intensity level increases.

The Effect of Geographic Distance on Earnings Management Decisions

ABSTRACTPrior research has found evidence that country factors and management styles influence earnings management decisions in various geographic locations. Extending this research, we utilize an experimental setting to isolate the effect of geographic distance on the willingness to manage earnings in a near/distant location. In an initial experiment, we find less acceptable earnings management methods generate greater concerns about the method (ethicality and riskiness) leading to less willingness to manage earnings. Yet, greater geographic distance between the decision-maker and reporting location attenuates these concerns, resulting in increased willingness to use a less acceptable method. In contrast, individuals are willing to use a more acceptable method to manage earnings regardless of geographic distance. These findings are consistent with construal level theory (CLT) and are corroborated in a second experiment where we find that greater geographic distance reduces managers' focus on the means of earnings management, thereby reducing concerns about the method.Data Availability: Available upon request from the authors.

Обзор теории конструктов разного уровня: история формирования, основные положения и исследовательский потенциал

This paper provides an overview of Construal Level Theory (CLT), which was founded by Nira Liberman and Yakov Trope. CLT describes the relationship between psychological distance (subjective experience of remoteness of a phenomenon) and the level of its construal (representation) in consciousness. According to this theory, phenomena perceived more distant, will be presented in a more abstract way in the mind of the subject. At the moment CLT is one of the most actively developing interdisciplinary psychological theories. At the same time, it remains virtually unknown within the Russian-speaking psychological community. The main purpose of the article is to help the reader get an idea of the history of CLT development, its main assumptions, and to demonstrate its high research potential. The first part presents the most significant works, which determined the direction of the theory’s development. The second part summarizes its key points. The last part considers the possibilities of CLT in building a deeper understanding of the nature of prediction, evaluation, choice, self-regulation, and a number of other processes.

A Comprehensive Literature Review on Psychological Distance and Online Purchasing Intention Towards Big Ticket Electronics: A Mediating Effect of Online Trust and Moderating Effect of Perceived Risk

E-commerce provides the opportunity for retailers to attract and nurture a wider consumer base in big ticket consumer electronics trade sans the traditional high investment intensive pre-requisites such as extravagant physical presence, wide distribution networks etc. However, distrust in the mindset of the consumer in turn impede such opportunities. By using the construal level theory such reluctance could be partially explained via psychological distance; and by deploying certain tactics and manipulating the underlying dimensions of psychological distance, whether retailers have the ability to offset such reluctance in the mindset of consumers without the need for heavy investment on complicated operating structures. This research marks a unique milestone in Sri Lanka where it is the first of its’ nature to explore a heavily under-researched frontier of psychological distance in the context of e-commerce, and calls for more systematic research attention towards such. This paper offers practitioners an overview of variables such as psychological distance, online trust, perceived risk and online purchasing intention in view of expanding the local e-commerce market for big ticket electronics.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE IN THE DIASPORA MARKETING OF NOSTALGIC PRODUCTS: A VENEZUELAN CASE

ABSTRACT With this first systematic review of specific literature about diaspora marketing, it was found that this emerging literature focuses mainly on opportunities related to trade, tourism, and the acculturation between countries with different languages in only one host country. This research contributes toward a greater understanding of diaspora buying behavior using the construal level theory, specifically regarding the purchase of nostalgic products and services, examining the case of Venezuelan diaspora in the broader international context of five host countries: Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Panama Another contribution is the use of e-WOM metrics derived from advertising posts on Instagram. The results show that diaspora consumers in host countries that have higher levels of individualism, less masculinity, and are further geographically from their homeland seek to consume greater amounts of nostalgic products.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE IN THE DIASPORA MARKETING OF NOSTALGIC PRODUCTS: A VENEZUELAN CASE

ABSTRACT With this first systematic review of specific literature about diaspora marketing, it was found that this emerging literature focuses mainly on opportunities related to trade, tourism, and the acculturation between countries with different languages in only one host country. This research contributes toward a greater understanding of diaspora buying behavior using the construal level theory, specifically regarding the purchase of nostalgic products and services, examining the case of Venezuelan diaspora in the broader international context of five host countries: Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Panama Another contribution is the use of e-WOM metrics derived from advertising posts on Instagram. The results show that diaspora consumers in host countries that have higher levels of individualism, less masculinity, and are further geographically from their homeland seek to consume greater amounts of nostalgic products.

Psychological closeness and concrete construal may underlie high-fidelity social emulation.

We compare bifocal stance theory's (BST) approach to social learning to construal level theory's (CLT) - a social-cognitive theory positing that psychological closeness to a model influences action-representation and thus modulates how concretely or abstractly observers emulate models. Whereas BST argues that social motives produce higher fidelity emulation, CLT argues that psychological closeness impacts cognitive construal and produces more concrete emulation across diverse motivations for emulation.

Regulatory focus and construal level theory on low-income consumer indebtedness: Evidence from an emerging market

PurposeThis study aims to further analyse the decision-making process of low-income consumer from an emerging market by verifying the influence of regulatory focus and construal level theory on indebtedness.Design/methodology/approachAn experimental study was carried out with a design 2 (regulatory focus: promotion vs prevention) × 2 (psychological distance: high vs low) between subjects, with 140 low-income consumers.FindingsOur study points out that the propensity towards indebtedness of low-income consumer is higher in a distal psychological distance. We found that promotion and prevention groups have the same propensity to indebtedness. Moreover, we highlight that low-income consumers are prone to propensity to indebtedness due to taking decisions focused on the present with an abstract mindset.Social implicationsFinancial awareness advertisements should focus on providing more concrete strategies in order to reduce decision-making complexity and provide ways to reduce competing situations that could deplete self-regulation resources. Also, public policy should organize educational programs to increase the low-income consumer's ability to deal with personal finances and reduce this task complexity. Finally, educational financial programs should also incorporate psychology professionals to teach mindfulness techniques applied to financial planning.Originality/valueThis study is the first to consider regulatory focus and construal level to explain low-income indebtedness. This paper provides a deeper analysis of the low-income consumers' decision process. Also, it supports and guides future academic and decision-making efforts.

Don't send us your waste gases: Public attitudes toward international carbon dioxide transportation and storage in Europe

Large-scale deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is part of the pathways for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C and yet, negative public perceptions of CCS have challenged the realization of several projects in Europe over the last decade. This study is the first to look at the effect of exporting or importing CO2 on public perceptions. We conducted a fractional factorial survey experiment in Germany and Norway varying the nationality of the CO2 source and of the storage site of a hypothetical CCS project. We find that respondents from both countries do not evaluate offshore and onshore storage differently but otherwise we find substantial differences between countries. Norwegian respondents react to the experimental manipulation: despite an overall more positive attitude toward CCS, they evaluate a project where foreign sourced CO2 is stored in Norway substantially more negatively compared to a project where domestically sourced CO2 is stored in Norway. By contrast, German respondents are not affected by the variation of the nationality of emissions or the storage site. We connect this finding to construal level theory, arguing that Germans are more psychologically distanced from CCS than Norwegians due to differences in general familiarity with CCS and the political support for CCS; this makes them less sensitive to our experimental manipulation. The uncovered decrease in public support for CCS when CO2 is exported from Germany to Norway challenges the feasibility of the current plans of Northern European states for a CO2 transport and storage infrastructure.

Understanding the role of construal level in time-restriction

Understanding how time restriction impacts consumers has been an important long-term topic for both scholars and practitioners. Applying a Construal Level Theory framework, two experiments were designed to propose a new theoretical perspective regarding the mechanism of time restriction. Testing moderators of advertising appeals and message quality, the study aimed to identify the conditions under which time restriction is more effective in influencing consumers’ response. In study 1, a factorial 2 × 2 design (time restriction: yes vs. no x advertising appeal: collectivistic vs. individualistic) between subjects was employed using a student sample and a high-involvement product. In study 2, another factorial 2 × 2 design (time restriction: yes vs. no x advertising appeal: guilt vs. shame) between subjects was employed using a general population and a low-involvement product. The findings of the two studies confirmed the mediating role of construal level in explaining consumers’ purchase intention and the moderating role of message quality. Specifically, the effects found for study 1 appeared to be more pronounced for subjects exposed to the collectivistic appeal. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed for researchers and practitioners.