Construal Level Theory Research Articles

Investigating nostalgia’s influence on brand love

PurposeThe present study aims to deepen the understanding of the relationship between nostalgic brand positioning, nostalgic brand relationship dimensions and brand love.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on the data collected from 401 citizens of Tehran aged over 18 years old. Respondents admitted that they have felt love for at least one Iranian brand in their lives. The data collected from a questionnaire and the hypothesized relationships were analyzed using the partial least squares approach using Smart PLS.FindingsThe results showed that nostalgic brand positioning positively and significantly impacts nostalgic brand relationship dimensions. Also, there was a positive and significant relationship between nostalgic brand relationship dimensions and brand love. Nostalgic brand positioning has a significant effect on brand love through the mediating role of the nostalgic brand relationship.Originality/valueThe major contribution of this research is that, based on the construal level theory and literature review, the authors developed a conceptual model in which nostalgic brand relationship dimensions, i.e. emotional attachment, brand local iconness, and brand authenticity, explain how nostalgic brand positioning results in brand love.

해석수준이론과 계층적 토픽 모델링을 활용한 제주 예멘 난민 사례에 대한 프레임 분석

This study conducted a frame analysis using BERTopic-based hierarchical topic modeling on the 2018 case of Yemeni refugees in Jeju Island to offer insights for frame research and policy. The findings revealed that people's interpretation levels and frames shifted based on their psychological distance. The consistency across the four dimensions of psychological distance was not always maintained. Furthermore, media played a crucial role in mediating psychological distance by conveying both high-level and low-level interpretations. In light of these results, this study underscores that frames can emerge not only from core values but also from immediate psychological mechanisms. Therefore, it suggests that a combination of frame analysis and Construal Level Theory is essential for comprehensively analyzing the multifaceted nature of frames.

Promoting sport organisations inclusivity initiatives: tailored message frames and audience selection to drive change and attitude towards team

ABSTRACT Sporting organisations are increasingly marketing their LGBTQI+ initiatives. However, limited research provides insights and guidance on how to effectively communicate these initiatives to improve attitudes towards a team and support for the cause. To address this gap, the current research uses Construal Level Theory and cognitive appraisal theory as guiding frameworks to explore how different message frames and target audiences can improve perceptions of sporting organisations being value-driven in their inclusivity initiatives and enhance positive emotional responses of individuals. Two experimental studies were conducted (Study 1 – Australian sport followers n = 403, Study 2 – U.S. sport followers n = 455), with results showing that concrete (as opposed to abstract) message frames targeted towards fans (as opposed to individuals or the community) can enhance support for both inclusivity and attitude towards the team. This is explained by appraisals of value-driven motives and affection as a positive emotional response. The findings have important implications for sport management literature and practice relating to inclusivity marketing, LGBTQI+ initiatives, message framing, construal level theory, and cognitive appraisal theory.

Association between abstraction level and time: Are future and past more abstract than the present?

Construal level theory suggests that objects or events are represented differently depending on their psychological distance from ourselves. Specifically, objects and events should be represented more abstractly the farther they are removed from direct experience through distance in the spatial, temporal, social, or hypotheticality domains. Bar-Anan et al. reported a key finding supporting this assumed association of the various distance dimensions and abstraction level. In their study, participants responded faster in an Implicit Association Task when temporally near and concrete concepts, as well as temporally far and abstract concepts, were mapped to the same rather than different response keys. In this study, we conceptually replicated this basic finding when employing temporal adverbs relating to present versus future time, and nouns referring to concrete versus abstract concepts (Experiment 1). Evidence for such an association, however, was largely absent (and significantly weaker than in Experiment 1) when temporal adverbs relating to the past were employed as instances of the large temporal distance category (Experiment 2). We propose that the uncertainty associated with the future, as opposed to the past, might play an important role in this temporal asymmetry by increasing psychological distance.

Examining the impact of perceived psychological distances of quitting and continuing tobacco smoking on antismoking intention: a cross-sectional study

To date, little research has been conducted to understand the role of psychological distances on smoking behaviour. Construal Level Theory posits that individuals mentally construe events, objects, or ideas based on their perceived distance in terms of spatial, temporal, social, and hypothetical dimensions, influencing their judgments and decision-making processes. The aim of the current study was (1) to provide a comprehensive exploration of psychological distances of costs and benefits of tobacco smoking and antismoking intention and (2) to examine whether smoking can be attributed to rational behaviour based on the psychological distance weighted balance of perceived costs and benefits of quitting and continuing smoking. Mediation models delineating the relationships among temporal and hypothetical psychological distances, personal relevance and antismoking intention were tested on cross-sectional survey data of 1486 smokers (880 men, Mage = 39.9 years, SD = 13.36). Psychological distances were shown to be important factors in the cognitive evaluation process of smoking behaviour. Perceived temporal distance to smoking continuation/cessation was related to personal importance and hypothetical psychological distances, which were associated with anti-smoking intention. Furthermore, antismoking intention was related to the psychological distance-weighted gain-cost balance of quitting and continuing smoking. The current findings enhance our knowledge of the cognitive evaluation of the outcomes of smoking, indicating that the choice of not quitting smoking may be partially based on a biased rational decision-making process.

The Effects of Message Specificity on Outcomes of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Communication: Testing Perceived Social Distance as a Mediator

Despite growing scholarly attention to what determines effective corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, consumers’ limited awareness of and attention to CSR messages remain critical challenges for organizations. This study aims to examine the effects of message specificity on an organization’s intended outcomes of CSR communication and to explore the mediating role of perceived social distance in these relationships by applying construal level theory (CLT). We conducted an online experiment (n = 293), and the results revealed that message specificity had a positive impact on consumer-company identification, word-of-mouth intention, and CSR participation intention. Moreover, perceived social distance significantly mediated the relationships between message specificity and the outcomes of CSR communication. Applying CLT, this study offers theoretical implications for the psychological mechanism of how message specificity generates desired outcomes in CSR communication. In addition, we tested these mediation effects in the context of the geographic proximity (close vs. remote) of the CSR communication to participants; the practical implication is that reducing perceived social distance through message specificity is even more effective for geographically distant CSR campaigns.

Tourists' willingness to contribute to smart tourism: a construal level theory perspective

PurposeSmart tourism has become an inevitable trend in future tourism development. However, despite significant investment in its technological foundation, little is known about whether and when tourists are willing to be involved in smart tourism. This study explores tourists' willingness to contribute to smart tourism development by empirically examining their intention to share personal information and use smart technology.Design/methodology/approachBased on construal level theory (CLT), a 2 (far/near spatial distance) × 2 (gain/loss persuasive information frame) × 2 (altruistic/egoistic value orientation) laboratory experiment with different contextual features was designed to examine tourists' willingness to contribute to smart tourism.FindingsTourists are most willing to share personal information and use smart technologies when spatial distance aligns with information framing, spatial distance aligns with value orientation and information framing aligns with value orientation.Practical implicationsThis study provides essential insights for destination management organizations (DMOs) about tourists' perceptions of smart tourism, enabling DMOs to develop more precise marketing strategies to encourage tourists to contribute to smart tourism development and enrich tourists' travel experiences.Originality/valueThis study enriches theoretical knowledge of DMOs' boundaries in encouraging tourists to contribute to smart tourism and provides critical insights into future smart tourism development for researchers and practitioners.

Communicating about sustainability in fashion: a construal level theory approach

PurposeCommunication about sustainability in fashion is complex. While fashion businesses have increasingly sought to manage their sustainability practices, their understanding of how to communicate about sustainability persuasively remains limited. The authors argue that a key problem with a firm’s efforts in communicating about sustainability is that it is a psychologically distant issue for both businesses and stakeholders. This paper aims to apply construal level theory to explore managers’ construal level in shaping communication about sustainability.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used a two-phase qualitative methodology. Phase one involved undertaking interviews with ten managers in fashion firms to address communications about sustainability in the UK. In phase two, 16 consumers interpreted and reflected on the persuasiveness of communications about sustainability encompassing both concrete and abstract forms of messaging.FindingsThe authors identify the factors driving different approaches to communication (concrete and abstract) depending on the construal levels of managers, managers’ perceptions of the construal level of target stakeholders and the perceived authenticity of the sustainability claim. The paper highlights the conditions under which the (mis)match with the brands’ sustainable practices works in crafting communication. The authors also highlight three main communication strategies in responding to the complexity of sustainability in fashion ecosystems: amplification, quiet activist and populist coupling.Research limitations/implicationsAs an in-depth qualitative study, the authors seek to expose an under-researched phenomenon, yet generalisations both within the fashion industry and beyond are limited by this focus.Practical implicationsFashion managers need to be flexible and evaluate how their communications about sustainability affect stakeholders’ evaluations of their brands. As sustainability in fashion brands grows, concrete and specific sustainability messaging may be necessary to improve sustainable behaviours.Originality/valueThe prevailing literature encourages symbiosis between sustainability practices and communications; such relationships are rare, and studies outside the consumer perspective are also rare. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this exploratory study is the first to understand how managers’ construal level influences decisions around communications about sustainability in fashion and how these messages are perceived by consumers.

Why or How? the impact of Construal-Level Theory on vaccine message receptivity

We propose that Construal Level Theory (CLT) can be applied to incrementally improve vaccine message receptivity because it impacts a variety of health decisions and complements the constructs of the Health Belief Model. Across three studies, we explore CLT related specifically to the COVID-19 vaccine. First, we analyze Twitter sentiment and find evidence that the vaccine was a high-level construal. Then, we use prospective hindsight to show that higher-level construal dominates the explanations people provide for if they were to get vaccinated in the future. Finally leveraging construal level message congruence, we find a higher-level message is more effective than a lower-level one in increasing willingness to get vaccinated. Taken together, these studies show that a virus vaccine was perceived as a higher-level construal and suggests that future messaging should include both the higher-level ‘Why’ as well as the lower-level ‘How’ to get vaccinated.

Reviewing from a Distance: Uncovering Asymmetric Moderations of Spatial and Temporal Distance between Sentiment Negativity and Rating

Drawing on construal level theory, prior literature has found a positivity bias in online ratings when consumers evaluate an experience from a psychological distance, whether spatial or temporal. Self-distancing theory posits that psychological distance enables individuals to reflect on psychologically distant negative experiences more genuinely, in a less biased way. This raises the question of whether the positivity bias in ratings due to psychological distance persists for negative experiences. To address this question, we collected data from a large review platform that enables the identification of reviewers’ spatial and temporal distance. The negativity of an experience was operationalized via review text sentiment. We introduced spatial and temporal distance as moderators between sentiment negativity and ratings and found a negative moderation by spatial distance and a positive moderation by temporal distance. Our findings indicate that the relationship between sentiment negativity and rating grows stronger under spatial distance and gets weaker under temporal distance. Text mining confirmed self-distancing as the driver behind the spatial moderation and construal levels as the driver behind the temporal moderation. We attribute the asymmetric moderations to differences in the tangibility of spatial distance (more tangible) and temporal distance (less tangible). These results improve our understanding of reviewing behavior and can help platforms de-bias ratings.

Distance Brings About Beauty: When Does the Influence of Positive Travel Online Reviews Grow Stronger Relative to Negative Reviews?

Prior research has demonstrated that negative online reviews have a greater impact than positive online reviews on tourists’ purchase decisions. However, building on the construal level theory, this study proposes a new perspective, suggesting that positive online reviews are more influential in distant-future trips, and negative online reviews are more influential in near-future trips. These effects (i) occur because tourists generate experiences of processing fluency from a construal fit between the construal level of reviews with different valence and the temporal distance of tourists’ trips, and (ii) are significant for tourists who are reading reviews on large screen devices, but not for those using small screen devices. This study demonstrates the importance of temporal distance in eliminating the robust negativity bias, offering novel insight into existing research on persuasion. These findings provide new references for tourism enterprises managing the detrimental effects of negative online reviews in multi-screen times.

I’m a believer! Believability of social media marketing

Many firms use social media marketing and implement different message frames as a strategy to persuade consumers, enhance engagement, and to purchase their products. How firms frame social media content to be more believable, however, is not well understood. The main aim of this paper is to understand how social media content can be framed to enhance believability, and how this ultimately leads to improved social media outcomes. Drawing on Prospect Theory and Construal Level Theory and utilizing data from the field in the form of social media posts (n = 1756), and four experimental studies (n = 1141 total participants), and a critical incident study (n = 263 participants) the current research shows that self-gain frame combinations contribute to significantly higher levels of believability. Furthermore, believability was found to mediate the impact of social media message framing on purchase intentions and social media engagement. The practical implications of these findings and exciting new avenues for research are also discussed.

Effect of online review comment recency on information processing: interaction between overall and recently posted individual ratings

ABSTRACT This study aimed to examine the context-specific effect of online review recency on the processing of a review by tourists. It compared how tourists process the rating of a recently posted review, which is in conflict with the average rating of a group of online reviews, for evaluating a restaurant in two different contexts: when searching for a restaurant to visit in the near future (local search) and in the far future (pre-trip search). Based on the construal level theory, this study hypothesized that a recent rating affects tourists’ perceptions of reviewed restaurants in the local search context more than it does in the pre-trip search context. Two experiments were conducted, and the results supported the hypotheses. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Digital Entrepreneurship and growth-oriented performance: commercialisation narrative of SMEs in the ICT sector in China

ABSTRACT This article addresses the dynamics of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) during the commercialization process in high-tech sectors, particularly in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) field. Except for early-stage entrepreneurial activities in technology firms, SMEs in the commercialization stage have received limited attention. Employing the Construal-Level Theory (CLT) and a concrete-abstract dimensional narrative approach, the study explores the relationship between narrative construal levels and SMEs’ success in Chinese cities. Encompassing ICT firms with 6 to 1000 employees, the study utilizes a Multilevel Mixed Method approach. Findings reveal that concrete narratives play a moderating role in the relationship between specific business technology and firm performance, emphasizing the importance of aligning a firm's business with its target audience during commercialization. However, the competition level (ICT firms’ population) in the city reduces the firm’s success. The study extends our understanding of entrepreneurial activity in the ICT sector, CLT, and potential policy guidelines.

Social presence and psychological distance: A construal level account for online distance learning

Online distance learning presents unique psychosocial characteristics due to the inherent distance between learners. Social presence –the sense of being with others– is key to mitigating this distance. However, our understanding of social presence remains limited, despite its potential to reduce social isolation and cultivate a conducive social space in online education. A gap in our understanding relates to how social presence aligns with more general accounts of interpersonal representations under conditions of psychological distance, as presented in Construal Level Theory. We conducted a vignette-based experiment (N = 194) to examine how psychological distance in online learning affects the mental construal level of a hypothetical partner and, thus, social presence perceptions. Findings suggest that increased psychological distance leads to higher-level construals, resulting in a perception of conversation partners as non-descript and homogenous. Importantly, this affects social presence perceptions, with certain nuances. These findings can inform novel approaches to enhance social presence in online learning.

Wearing different hats enriches "outside the box" thinking: Examining the relationship between personal life activity breadth and creativity at work.

People wear many salient hats across the different parts of their lives and recent advances in the work-life literature have called attention to the necessary addition of personal life activities to be studied as a unique facet of nonwork to better understand interrole relationships. We therefore draw on enrichment theory to examine why and when employees' participation in personal life activities can positively influence creativity at work through nonwork cognitive developmental resources. Moreover, by integrating insights from construal level theory, this research sheds new light on the ways people think about their personal life activities as playing a discernible role in how people can generate and/or apply resources from their activities. Results of two multiwave studies revealed that people who tend to engage in a greater breadth of personal life activities can gain nonwork cognitive developmental resources (i.e., skills, knowledge, and perspectives) that, in turn, enhance their creativity at work. Personal life construal level also moderated the resource generation stage of enrichment, but not resource application to work; people who adopted lower construal level (i.e., more concretely: how they do activities) were more likely to generate cognitive developmental resources from their participation in personal life activities versus those with higher construal level (i.e., more abstractly: why they do activities). This research meets at the convergence of real-world trends on parallel "work" and "nonwork" sides of the interface as well as offers novel and nuanced theoretical insights into instrumental personal life-to-work enrichment processes which can benefit employees and organizations alike. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Role of behavioural abstraction (vs concrete) levels in accepting health technologies

Purpose While attempting to persuade surgeons to accept their health technology, sales representatives for medical devices face daily challenges in the operating room. Surgeons exhibit cognitive complexity (abstractness vs. concreteness) when accepting any form of health technology. Surgeons choose technologies on behalf of their patients, taking patient priorities and expectations into account. Prior research has focused on cognitive complexity in the context of health technology adoption, but the issue of technology acceptance has not been addressed. The purpose of this study to use the construal level (CL) theory to determine the role of behavioural abstraction levels in the acceptance of surgical health technology. Design/methodology/approach On the basis of 556 min of seminar-based data and semi-directive interviews, the surgeons’ experiences regarding the acceptance of health technology were analysed. A non-directive observational method was used to permit the spontaneous emergence of CL dimensions in a natural environment. A categorization model was used for data coding, and MAXQDA, in addition to traditional multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis, was used to generate results with joint displays. Findings Effort expectancy, learning curve, performance risk, habit, patient clinical condition, clinical outcome expectancy, technology setting and social influence were construed at a low construal level (LCL). On the other hand, patient paying capacity, technology cost, price value, financial risk and patient performance expectation were construed at a high construal level (HCL). The study also reveals duality-based factors which showed proximity to HCL but intersected at LCL, and vice versa. Duality-based factors such as effort expectancy, surgical technique, trust and perceived risk intersected at HCL, whereas performance expectancy, relative advantage, time expectancy, perceived value, physical risk and peer group influence intersected at LCL. Originality/value This is one of the early studies that presented the impact of behavioural abstraction on behavioural intention to accept health technology for surgeries.

블로그 코퍼스 기반 여행지 다차원 이미지 자동 측정 연구

The aim of this study is to propose an exploratory methodology for automatically estimating multi-dimensional images of travel destinations based on unsupervised learning using a large-scale travel blog corpus so that it can be used for longitudinal and cross-sectional studies. First literature reviews on the construal level theory conducted to clarify the relationship between the travel experiencer's level of travel destination interpretation and potential travelers' travel destination selection decision-making and instead of surveys, the value of travel blogs as message information on the travel experiencer's travel destination interpretation are useful data resource for automatically estimating multi-dimensional images was discussed. Next, by applying web crawling, natural language processing technology and the unsupervised learning-based machine learning algorithm principal component analysis, the frequency of co-occurrence of the travel destination named entity-subjective adjective pair is vectorized to estimate the multi-dimensional images of travel destinations, and visualize the image property structure of individual travel destinations through network centrality analysis by referring to the destination image attributes of Echtner and Ritchier (2003). Finally, the validity of this methodology was demonstrated by applying to the case of Changwon. The results of this study can contribute to gaining insight in making demand-oriented regional tourism vitalization policy decision-making and can be used for large-scale travel blogs corpus-based convergence follow-up studies.

GPT and CLT: The impact of ChatGPT's level of abstraction on consumer recommendations

This study explores how ChatGPT interprets information through the lens of Construal Level Theory (CLT). The findings show that ChatGPT exhibits an abstraction bias, generating responses consistent with a high-level construal. This abstraction bias results in ChatGPT prioritising high-level construal features (e.g., desirability) over low-level construal features (e.g., feasibility) in consumer evaluation scenarios. Thus, ChatGPT recommendations differ significantly from traditional results based on human decision-making. Applying CLT concepts to large language models provides essential insights into how consumer behaviour may evolve with the increasing prevalence and capability of AI and offers many promising avenues for future research.

Effects of Affect and Message Framing on Responses to Charity Advertising: A Construal Level and Regulatory Focus Perspective

ABSTRACT Charitable donation appeals can be framed to highlight the attainment of desirable outcomes (promotion framing) or the avoidance of undesirable situations (prevention framing). Drawing from regulatory focus theory, construal level theory, and the linguistic categorization model, this study reveals how the impact of the two messages frames can be influenced by the emotional state of the message recipient. Participants had more favorable attitudes toward charity advertisements, were more likely to donate to a food bank, and placed more value on donating when charity ads highlighted desirable end-states, but only if they were in a positive mood. In a negative mood, participants responded better to charity ads that described how donations could be used to avoid undesirable situations. Analysis showed these effects might occur because people process information differently under the two mood conditions and the two message frames trigger different motivational mind-sets.