Schematic Processing of Brand Information: the Impact of Causally Central Attributes on the Responses to Brands

ABSTRACT - A product category schema (PCS) may contain complex causal relationships among component attributes. Given this, the present study identifies causally central attributes (CCAs), i.e., attributes that tend to cause other attributes, and causally peripheral attributes (CPAs), i.e., attributes that tend to be caused by other attributes. Results from an experimental study suggest that consumers have more positive responses (i.e., attitudes and purchase intention) to a brand when the brand is positively associated with CCAs as compared to CPAs, primarily because CCAs facilitate consumers’ inferences of a brand’s missing attributes more than CPAs.

Citation:

Joonhyung Jee, Dongyoung Sohn, and Wei-Na Lee (2005) ,"Schematic Processing of Brand Information: the Impact of Causally Central Attributes on the Responses to Brands", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 32, eds. Geeta Menon and Akshay R. Rao, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 155-160.