The effect of Involvement and Self Referencing on Consumer Behaviour
Self-referencing (SR) is defined as a cognitive processing strategy where a consumer relates message information to his or her self structure (Burnkrant and Unnava 1995). From this perspective, the self represents a frequently-used construct in memory that aids the elaboration of encoded information. Hence, self-referenced information is more easily associated with previously stored information. A general definition of consumer involvement refers to the level of perceived personal importance, interest or relevance evoked by a stimulus or stimuli, which are linked by the consumer to enduring or situation-specific goals. Such stimuli can be products, services, product categories, brands, purchase decisions or advertisements (Beharrell & Dennison, 1995; Juhl & Poulsen, 2000; Mitchell, 1979; Zaichkowsky, 1985). In the present paper the effect of SR and involvement on consumer behavior is investigated. It is hypothesized that both SR and involvement have a great role to play in consumer behavior and are tools that can be used to improve marketing strategies. The following literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support this hypothesis.
In a research article by Sujan,Bettman, Baumgartner, the affective nature of autobiographical memories and the various mechanisms and conditions progressing to the transfer of this affect to brand and ad judgments are investigated. They have found that a greater level of SR is felt when the consumer is shown an ad that encourages the retrieval of autobiographic memories and this positive effect is readily transferred to the ad and enhances its evaluations. But, this is based on the link that is foraged in the ad between the brand and the consumer’s personal memory. This is the result of study 1. Another study put forth by the researchers shows that when autobiographical memories are encouraged in an ad, the brand evaluation is not very different given strong versus weak product arguments. This shows further evidence that these
In a research article by Sujan,Bettman, Baumgartner, the affective nature of autobiographical memories and the various mechanisms and conditions progressing to the transfer of this affect to brand and ad judgments are investigated. They have found that a greater level of SR is felt when the consumer is shown an ad that encourages the retrieval of autobiographic memories and this positive effect is readily transferred to the ad and enhances its evaluations. But, this is based on the link that is foraged in the ad between the brand and the consumer’s personal memory. This is the result of study 1. Another study put forth by the researchers shows that when autobiographical memories are encouraged in an ad, the brand evaluation is not very different given strong versus weak product arguments. This shows further evidence that these