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Besting the status quo: the effect of abstract versus concrete mindsets on emotional trade-off difficulty and avoidant coping behavior

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Abstract

Building on past emotional trade-off difficulty and construal level research, we investigate the conditions under which consumers engage in avoidant coping behavior to reduce negative emotions that arise from trading off valued attributes (e.g., quality and price). Results from three studies offer evidence that an abstract (vs. concrete) mindset systematically decreases avoidant coping behavior (e.g., the selection of a status quo option) by reducing the intensity of the negative emotion consumers experience. This effect replicates across construal level manipulations and product categories. Thus, in addition to the harmful effects of negative emotions and coping behavior on consumer choice identified in past research, we find that an abstract (vs. concrete) mindset can help consumers make better (i.e., more normative) choices. Together, these findings have implications for marketers of new or unfamiliar products as well as products that are not incumbents or category leaders (i.e., status quo options) when consumers face difficult trade-offs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Opus College of Business, Department of Marketing, University of St. Thomas, Mail # TMH 443, 1000 LaSalle Ave., Minneapolis, MN, 55403, USA

    David L. Alexander

  2. Opus College of Business, Department of Marketing, University of St. Thomas, Mail # MCH 316, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul, MN, 55105, USA

    Ashley Stadler Blank

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  1. David L. Alexander
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  2. Ashley Stadler Blank
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Correspondence to David L. Alexander.

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Alexander, D.L., Stadler Blank, A. Besting the status quo: the effect of abstract versus concrete mindsets on emotional trade-off difficulty and avoidant coping behavior. Mark Lett 29, 351–362 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-018-9463-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-018-9463-8

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