Variety Perceptions in the Presence of Goals

My dissertation explores how variety-seeking tendencies differ when consumers are in pursuit of a self-regulatory goal. Specifically, I show that consumers primed with a health goal seek less variety when the options are goal-inconsistent (vice conditions), and these choice patterns lead to lower anticipated guilt. On the other hand, consumers primed with a health goal seek more variety when the choices are goal-consistent (virtue conditions), which leads to higher anticipated progress. These effects emerge because a varied consumption set is perceived to contain more items than a non-varied one. The effects are stronger when consumers think about the choice prospectively than when they reflect on a past choice retrospectively.

Many Thanks To Hoori’s Dissertation Committee: Chair: Dr. Daniel Korschun, Marketing, LeBow College of Business Co-chair: Dr. Yanliu Huang, Marketing, LeBow College of Business Rolph Anderson, Marketing, LeBow College of Business Chen Wang, Marketing, LeBow College of Business Barbara Kahn, Marketing, Wharton School