From Washington to New York to London: the Effect of Subgoal Accomplishment on Satisfaction

In this research, we implicate an important individual difference variable, consumers’ implicit theory orientation, which impacts how consumers’ perceptions of progress during consumption experiences affect their evaluations. In study 1, we examine whether a person’s implicit theory orientation impacts perceptions of progress through a spontaneous self-generated breakdown of tasks into subgoals. In study 2, we use actual behavioral information to assess whether task enjoyment is impacted when the end-goal is broken down into subgoals. We show that entity theorists are more likely to generate spontaneous subgoals and prefer tasks with greater subgoal accomplishment than incremental theorists.

Citation:

Ozge Yucel, Pragya Mathur, and Lauren Block (2011) ,"From Washington to New York to London: the Effect of Subgoal Accomplishment on Satisfaction", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 471.