The interplay of regulatory fit and construal level in influencing behavioral intention

Keywords:
regulatory fit, construal level, intention, processing fluency
Abstract

People experience regulatory fit when their strategy of how to achieve a goal accords with their regulatory orientation. It has been widely documented that regulatory fit could create value enhancement. We conducted 2 studies and our results showed that this was not the case when people were functioning at a high construal level (HCL) rather than a low construal level (LCL). Specifically, we found that for the HCL group of participants the effects of regulatory fit on both consumption intention (Study 1) and environmental intention (Study 2) were mitigated. Depending on construal level, the effect of fit versus nonfit on intention was mediated by processing fluency (Study 2). These results provided support for the proposal that an HCL helps people to distinguish objective information from subjective feelings, whereas an LCL is not implicated in making such a distinction.

Author Biographies
  1. Huajiao Chen, Zhejiang University
    Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
  2. Quanquan Zheng, Zhejiang University
    Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
  3. Jin Zhang, Zhejiang University
    Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
  4. Xiaomei Wang, Zhejiang University
    Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
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Published
2014-12-02
Section
Articles
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