Self Affirmation Through the Choice of High Design
An implicit assumption in consumer research is that product design, defined in terms of aesthetics, influences product valuation similarly to other attributes of the options. However, we find this not to be the case. In contrast to functional attributes, we propose that design affirms the self. Consequently, decision-makers are relatively price inelastic for products with high design compared to products with high functionality and they vary the importance of other product attributes to justify the choice of high design. We propose that the effects of design are not necessarily conscious and test an explanation based on self-affirmation.
Citation:
Claudia Townsend and Sanjay Sood (2009) ,"Self Affirmation Through the Choice of High Design", in AP - Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Sridhar Samu, Rajiv Vaidyanathan, and Dipankar Chakravarti, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 250-251.
Authors
Claudia Townsend, Anderson School of Business UCLA, USA
Sanjay Sood, Anderson School of Business UCLA, USA
Volume
AP - Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8 | 2009
Share Proceeding
Featured papers
See MoreFeatured
The Impostor Syndrome from Luxury Consumption
Dafna Goor, Harvard Business School, USA
Nailya Ordabayeva, Boston College, USA
Anat Keinan, Harvard Business School, USA
Sandrine Crener, Harvard Business School, USA
Featured
Boomerang Effect: How Sustainable Disposal Options Spur Green Consumers to Overconsume
Sommer Kapitan, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Saerom Lee, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA
Eunjoo Han, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Featured
The Viciousness and Caring of Sharing: Conflicts and Motivations of Online Shamers
Chen Pundak, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Yael Steinhart, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Jacob Goldenberg, IDC