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The Wisdom of Some: Do We Always Need High Consensus to Shape Consumer Behavior?

Authors :
Cait Lamberton
Rebecca Walker Reczek
Michael R. Sciandra
Source :
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. 36:15-35
Publication Year :
2017
Publisher :
SAGE Publications, 2017.

Abstract

From the Food and Drug Administration's efforts to prompt healthier eating to the Environmental Protection Agency's desire to prompt people to engage in environmentally friendly behaviors, a wide range of policy makers aim to persuade consumers. To do so, they must decide how and whether to use information about the behavior of other consumers as part of their persuasive message. In four experimental studies, the authors demonstrate that the persuasive advantage of high- versus low-consensus information depends on the target consumer's trait level of susceptibility to interpersonal influence (SII). Low-SII consumers differentiate between low- and high-consensus information, such that they are more persuaded by high-consensus information. In contrast, high-SII consumers find any cue about the behavior of others persuasive, regardless of whether it is high or low consensus. Importantly, this finding suggests that policy makers may find success motivating behavioral change even in low-consensus situations. The authors close by reporting data from two broadscale correlational surveys that identify behavioral, psychographic, and demographic characteristics related to consumer SII as well as domains in which low consensus currently exists, so that policy makers can identify and target these individuals and related issues.

Details

ISSN :
15477207 and 07439156
Volume :
36
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........ffa28373d853e488e6b795e68a27f8a3
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.14.123