Post-purchase Cognitive Dissonance Research Articles

Online product returns: The role of perceived environmental efficacy and post-purchase entrepreneurial cognitive dissonance

Social concern regarding environmental impact is gradually increasing. E-commerce development has led to a large increase in online purchases and, consequently, the number of online returns has also gone up, causing a significant impact on the environment. This study identifies the factors that drive consumers’ intention to return products purchased on the Internet. The existing literature shows post-purchase cognitive dissonance as one of the main factors that explain the intention to return products. We studied the variables that describe online purchases and explained the level of dissonance. Dissonance is shown to be a mediating variable between the online purchase context and the intention to return products. Further, the moderating effect of perceived environmental efficacy is also analyzed. The results demonstrate that there is a mediating effect of post-purchase cognitive dissonance. Additionally, perceived environmental efficacy partly inhibits the intention to return products when there is some level of post-purchase cognitive dissonance.

An investigation of the nexus between online impulsive buying and cognitive dissonance among Gen Z shoppers: Are female shoppers different?

PurposeThough online impulsive buying emerged mostly in Western cultures, it has been widely expanded as a key pattern among online customers in emerging markets. Interestingly, while few studies suggest that engaging in unplanned purchase actions (i.e. impulsive buying) is not always associated with negative emotions among customers (i.e. postpurchase cognitive dissonance), others suggest that impulsive buying is directly associated with cognitive dissonance. This paper aims to investigate and understand the key antecedents of online impulsive buying among Moroccan Gen Z consumers, and how it contributes to postpurchase dissonance. The authors also try to gain deeper insights by investigating the disparities between males and females using mutigroup analysis.Design/methodology/approachBased on data collected from 333 Moroccan Gen Zers, the hypothesized model was empirically tested using a partial least squares estimation.FindingsFirst, the results confirm that impulsive buying is positively associated with postpurchase dissonance. Second, while hedonic shopping motivation, fear of missing out and materialism were found to significantly impact online impulsive buying, price value and online reviews had no significant effect on online impulsive purchases. The importance–performance matrix also suggests that the fear of missing out is the most important factor leading to online impulsive buying, followed by hedonic shopping motivation and materialism. Finally, the results confirm that female shoppers are more likely to engage in impulsive buying behavior, and this was mainly due to higher fear of missing out, hedonic shopping motivation and materialism.Practical implicationsFirst, the study findings can help online merchants to construct well-designed online shopping platforms and effective e-marketing tactics to stimulate purchase intentions among Gen Z shoppers. Online merchants should also attempt to reduce the negative feelings associated with unplanned buying behavior by introducing additional incentives, effective consumer interactivity and flexible return policies. This would help online suppliers in retaining customers and transforming impulse purchases into more recurrent ones. Second, online retailers should take into consideration the differences between male and female consumers by appealing to the role of gender in purchase situations when marketing their products and services. Finally, the findings offer interesting implications to society by allowing online shoppers to make well-informed purchase decisions without being influenced by personal and products’ traits.Originality/valueWhile prior research assessed the investigated constructs in separate models, the study suggests an integrated framework that incorporates different determinants of online impulsive shopping as well as its impact on postpurchase cognitive dissonance. Additionally, the authors explored the moderating effect of gender to gain deeper insights with regard to the disparities between males and females while engaging in online impulsive buying. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to investigate the antecedents of online impulsive buying among Gen Z consumers in Arab countries and Africa.

Linking Emotional Brand Attachment and Sales Promotion to Post-Purchase Cognitive Dissonance: The Mediating Role of Impulse Buying Behavior

Linking Emotional Brand Attachment and Sales Promotion to Post-Purchase Cognitive Dissonance: The Mediating Role of Impulse Buying Behavior

Understanding the influence of impulse buying toward consumers’ post-purchase dissonance and return intention: an empirical investigation of apparel websites

In this information-based era, online shopping has become prevalent. A well-designed webpage interface (visual appeal) could promote consumers’ emotions (pleasure and arousal), thus stimulating their impulse buying. However, existing researches regarding online impulse buying are mainly focused on the influence of website attribute stimulation on impulse buying, without probing into consumers’ post-purchase cognitive dissonance (product dissonance and emotional dissonance), and their return intention. Therefore, this study aims to integrate external websites stimuli (visual appeal), emotional responses (pleasure and arousal), and consumers’ impulse buying tendencies, in order to explore the effect on impulse buying and the subsequent effect of post-purchase behavior (post-purchase dissonance and return intention). An online survey was conducted on 428 participants who had purchased apparel products online, in order to empirically examine the proposed research model. Partial Least Squares (PLS) was employed to analyze the research model. The results show that (1) pleasure directly and positively influences consumers’ impulse buying, whereas arousal indirectly influences consumers’ impulse buying through pleasure, (2) impulse buying directly and positively influences consumers’ product dissonance, whereas impulse buying indirectly influences consumers’ emotional dissonance through product dissonance, (3) consumers’ emotional dissonance directly and positively influences consumers’ return intention, whereas product dissonance indirectly influences consumers’ return intention through emotional dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance revisited

PurposeIn revisiting Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, this paper seeks to go beyond traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) research parameters and explore the full extent of its potential application within a New Zealand business-to-business (B2B) purchasing context.Design/methodology/approachThe study's core findings are based on four separate focus group discussions with B2B salespeople. Responses were recorded and analysed according to the manifest content of the discussions. These focus groups were preceded by, and followed up with, two other enquiries that sought the perspectives of B2B buyers.FindingsIntended for use as a learning tool for aspiring B2B salespeople and their instructors, a new typology of four generic potential post-decision ‘cognitive states’ is proposed, which, depending on the scenario at hand, will likely reflect the buyer's mindset.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalisation of findings may be somewhat limited because the focus groups were drawn from a convenience sample totalling just 20 practitioners. Some participants might also have felt slightly constrained, leading to opinions that are subject to bias.Practical implicationsExamples of differing buying scenarios are profiled and explained from the perspective of their implications for salespeople. Suggestions as to how sellers can best accommodate the post-decision cognitive states experienced by their buyers are delineated.Originality/valueConventional wisdom suggests that post-purchase cognitive dissonance is the sole ‘cognitive state’ towards which a B2B salesperson needs to be attuned to for the purpose of taking some form of accommodating action. However, this study indicates that three other states relating to the aftermath of a buyer's decision, whether a purchase is made or not, also merit attention.

Media consumption patterns: A case of upper a2 car segment

Consumer consumption of media content is fragmented across all media platforms at an accelerating rate. While this multi-platform behaviour provides advertisers, promoters and third-party dealers more opportunities to reach consumers facilitating communication with the consumers at a place and time that they prefer, it also creates a pressing need for automobile companies to accurately measure how content is being consumed across platforms. This case examines the Media consumption patterns of prospective buyers and owners of Upper A2 segment, factors leading to importance and influence of Media channels in consumer buying behaviour, criteria to determine feasibility of conditions under which prospective buyers and owners consume Media, outlines the opportunities for Dealers and car Manufacturers in this field and also highlights key success factors and challenges faced by consumers dealers and car Manufacturers in communicating through various Media channels. This case gives an insight about market dynamics of the changes and innovations in the Media consumption patterns and their consequent effect on Purchase decision and post purchase cognitive dissonance as well as it highlights the gaining importance of social media in car purchasing process and sheds light on the Push Your Limits campaign promoting Maruti Suzuki Swift.

Consequences Post-Purchase Cognitive Dissonance among Consumer's of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)

برخی مطالعات تجربی و بررسی رفتارهای انسانی، به نوعی ناهمسانی بین نگرش و رفتار اشاره کرده­اند، علیرغم این موضوع؛ مطالعه حاضر درصدد بررسی تأملی بر پیشایندها و پسایندهای ناهمسانی­شناختی پس از خرید در بین مصرف­کنندگان کالاهای تند مصرف است. تحقیق حاضر، جهت جمع­آوری داده­ها از روش پیمایشی و جهت تحلیل داده­ها از روش همبستگی استفاده نموده است. جامعۀ آماری پژوهش 432 نفر از مصرف‌کنندگان کالاهای تند مصرف در شهر سمنان می­باشند که به روش نمونه‌گیری کوکران انتخاب شدند. به منظور گردآوری داده­های میدانی از پرسشنامه و برای تجزیه و تحلیل داده­ها از مدل‌سازی معادلات ساختاری بر اساس نرم­افزار Smart­-­Pls­ استفاده شد. یافته­های پژوهش نشان می­دهد؛ انتظارات مصرف­کننده از محصول، نگرش مصرف­کنندگان نسبت به بازاریابی شرکت و اضطراب صفتی مصرف­کننده بر ناهمسانی­شناختی پس از خرید تأثیر مثبت و معناداری داشته و بین اعتماد به نفس مصرف­کننده با ناهمسانی­شناختی تأثیر مثبت و معناداری یافت نشد. همچنین این ناهمسانی­شناختی؛ بر ارزش مصرف و رفتارهای منفی پس از خرید تأثیر مثبت و معناداری دارد.

Factors affecting shopping cart abandonment: pre-decisional conflict as a mediator

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the relationship between research purpose, entertainment purpose, perceived cost, perceived risk, transaction inconvenience and shopping cart abandonment, and test whether it is mediated by pre-decisional conflict or not. Methodology – Data of 275 respondents were collected through an online self-administered questionnaire. The respondents consisted of consumers who abandoned a shopping cart at least once in their lives. Simple linear regression analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were applied following mediation paths to test the hypothesis. Findings- The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between research purpose, entertainment purpose, perceived cost, perceived risk, transaction inconvenience and shopping cart abandonment. This relationship is partially mediated with pre-decisional conflict. Conclusion- The findings offer scholars a recognition of consumer motivations for shopping cart abandonment. For retailers, they provide an understanding to prevent shopping cart abandonment which means the loss of potential gain. In consumer behavior research field, this paper fills the gap by testing pre-decisional conflict which is served as a counterpart of post-purchase cognitive dissonance.

Why do online tourists need sellers' ratings? Exploration of the factors affecting regretful tourist e-satisfaction

Due to increasing online sales of Asian tourism, discussion of the factors influencing Asian online tourist e-satisfaction is an issue of critical importance. The major purpose of the study was to enhance regretful (e.g. high tendency-to-regret) tourist e-satisfaction by providing post-purchase information (sellers' ratings) to reduce post-purchase cognitive dissonance in the high uncertainty avoidance context (e.g. Taiwan). Results obtained from 2 × 2 experimental designs indicated that, the influence of regretful personality on e-satisfaction was fully mediated via post-purchase cognitive dissonance. The effect of valid sellers' ratings on raising regretful tourist e-satisfaction was also confirmed. The current study focused on Taiwanese online tourists, it provided a precise explanation of the relationships among variables and may expand understanding of Asian online regretful tourist post-purchase behaviors in a high uncertainty avoidance context. The current study could provide practitioners with post-purchase e-marketing implications and applications in such a context.

Factors affecting donations in U.S. retail stores: A conceptual framework

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that influence consumer donations in U.S. retail stores. The study provides a conceptual framework of factors derived from the cause-related marketing, consumer behavior and psychology literatures. These factors are categorized as consumer-related factors, retailer-related factors and context-related factors. Consumer-related factors include consumer-retailer identification, consumer-cause affinity, impure altruism, civic engagement and post-purchase cognitive dissonance. Retailer-related factors consist of retailer-cause fit, retailer's commitment to the cause, retailer image as being altruistic, and retailer credibility. Context-related factors include time pressure, social pressure, shopping amount, and perceived savings during the shopping trip. This conceptual framework serves as a foundation for future empirical studies.

Realizing the Impact of Cognitive Dissonance in Predicting Consumer Behaviour

Consumer psychology has always been the centre of concern for the marketers from the old time and understanding the underlying aspects leads to effective decision making. The present study elicits the concept of post purchase cognitive dissonance in the consumers and embraces its implications in studying the consumer behaviour. A survey was conducted and well framed questionnaire was constructed covering various dimensions of variables studied. Some of the underlying dimensions of cognitive dissonance have been rigorously discussed and statistically tested in this study. Specifically, the impact of product involvement, time taken to make a purchase decision and level of information search on the cognitive dissonance have been analysed that provides really significant benefits to the marketers.

The post-purchase communication strategies for supporting online impulse buying

As online impulse buying and the consequent cognitive dissonance can be a critical determinant of consumer e-satisfaction, effective post-purchase communication (arguments) to reduce post-purchase cognitive dissonance of impulsive buyers hence warrants further exploration. The current research focuses on the determinants of perceived persuasion of the post-purchase arguments and impulsive buyer e-satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to investigate the persuasion of post-purchase arguments on online impulsive buyer satisfaction. A 2 (number of arguments)×2 (argument strength) experimental design was employed in order to examine whether the persuasion of arguments (e.g. the number and strength of arguments) would vary upon consumers’ tendency to regret. The results indicated that an increased number of arguments provided after the purchase had a stronger positive effect on e-satisfaction when arguments were strong than when arguments were weak. Such an impact would be less pronounced for low tendency-to-regret consumers than for high tendency-to-regret consumers.

Post-purchase cognitive dissonance – evidence from the mobile phone market

This article investigates whether cognitive dissonance exists in the post-purchase phase in the mobile phone industry. It asks if mobile phone users are fully satisfied since they are usually overloaded with information during the purchasing period. Three dimensions of dissonance were measured in 283 university students. The results provide interesting insights. The major differences between the high and low dissonance groups are being influenced by other people’s opinions, difficulty in finding information, product involvement, and satisfaction with mobile phones/operators. These findings reveal that consumers are ‘not unhappy’ with their mobile phones/operators, but not extremely happy either. However, there is ample room for improvements in the level of consumer satisfaction. Marketers should give consumers’ perceptions of communicated messages high priority. The messages need to be straightforward and clear in the consumers’ interpretation as this will reduce negative feelings after purchase.

Word-of-Mouth Referrals in the Domain of Relationship Marketing

This article presents the results of an exploratory study which aimed to develop a new framework for understanding post-purchase word-of-mouth in a relationship context. New insights into word-of-mouth communication in the relationship context were also attempted by applying the concept of post-decisional cognitive dissonance to this framework. The empirical focus of the research was on high-involvement hospitality service processes in North America as it is argued that these services are influenced by word-of-mouth communication and cognitive dissonance. The dual objectives of this study were developing a new framework for studying word-of-mouth communication of loyal customers, and to find out if post-purchase cognitive dissonance is reflected in the word-of-mouth communication once the relationship with the service provider is established. The results of this research are presented in a holistic framework we call the relationship communications globe, in which all the related concepts are connected theoretically and empirically.

Oxygen absorber

As online impulse buying and the consequent cognitive dissonance can be a critical determinant of consumer e-satisfaction, effective post-purchase communication (arguments) to reduce post-purchase cognitive dissonance of impulsive buyers hence warrants further exploration. The current research focuses on the determinants of perceived persuasion of the post-purchase arguments and impulsive buyer e-satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to investigate the persuasion of post-purchase arguments on online impulsive buyer satisfaction. A 2 (number of arguments) × 2 (argument strength) experimental design was employed in order to examine whether the persuasion of arguments (e.g. the number and strength of arguments) would vary upon consumers’ tendency to regret. The results indicated that an increased number of arguments provided after the purchase had a stronger positive effect on e-satisfaction when arguments were strong than when arguments were weak. Such an impact would be less pronounced for low tendency-to-regret consumers than for high tendency-to-regret consumers.

Low-sodium brine

As online impulse buying and the consequent cognitive dissonance can be a critical determinant of consumer e-satisfaction, effective post-purchase communication (arguments) to reduce post-purchase cognitive dissonance of impulsive buyers hence warrants further exploration. The current research focuses on the determinants of perceived persuasion of the post-purchase arguments and impulsive buyer e-satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to investigate the persuasion of post-purchase arguments on online impulsive buyer satisfaction. A 2 (number of arguments) × 2 (argument strength) experimental design was employed in order to examine whether the persuasion of arguments (e.g. the number and strength of arguments) would vary upon consumers’ tendency to regret. The results indicated that an increased number of arguments provided after the purchase had a stronger positive effect on e-satisfaction when arguments were strong than when arguments were weak. Such an impact would be less pronounced for low tendency-to-regret consumers than for high tendency-to-regret consumers.