How Goal Activation, Goal Importance and Goal-Product Fit Affect the Importance of Attributes in Product Evaluation Weight

Attribute weighting in product evaluation is closely related to goals. How specific goal-related factors influence attribute weighting in product evaluation, however, is not well understood. The current work provides a framework that attempts to integrate a variety of goal-related features and examine their effect on the role of product attributes on overall evaluation. Specifically, we look at the role of goal activation, goal importance, and goal-product fit. We test the idea that the influence of a particular attribute on overall product evaluation should be greater to the extent that an attribute-relevant goal is activated, that the goal is important, and finally, that the goal possesses a high level of fit with the product (i.e. that the product is considered an appropriate means to fulfill the goal). The results of three experiments provided support for our framework.

Citation:

na xiao and laurence ashworth (2011) ,"How Goal Activation, Goal Importance and Goal-Product Fit Affect the Importance of Attributes in Product Evaluation Weight", in AP - Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Zhihong Yi, Jing Jian Xiao, and June Cotte and Linda Price, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 170-171.