Political Conservatism and Variety-Seeking
Journal of Consumer Psychology (2013, Forthcoming)
8 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2013 Last revised: 4 Sep 2013
Date Written: June 21, 2013
Abstract
In this research, we document and explain a counterintuitive effect of political ideology on variety-seeking. Although political conservatives have a higher desire for control, which exerts a negative effect on variety-seeking, they also have a stronger motivation to follow social norms, which exerts a positive effect on variety-seeking. Three studies demonstrate that conservatism is positively related to variety-seeking due to social normative concerns and rule out an alternative explanation of heightened self-expressive motives among conservatives. This research provides preliminary evidence of how political ideology may explain differences in product choices.
Keywords: Political ideology, Competitive mediation, Conservatism, Variety-seeking
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
How Peer Influence Affects Attribute Preferences: A Bayesian Updating Mechanism
By Vishal Narayan, Vithala R. Rao, ...
-
Identifiable but Not Identical: Combining Social Identity and Uniqueness Motives in Choice
By Cindy Chan, Jonah A. Berger, ...
-
Variety as a Preference-Strength Signal
By Aner Sela and Michal Maimaran