2014).Ĭonsequently, construal levels are important also in that their activation shifts behavior. Low levels of construal, on the other hand, incorporate concrete, specific, peripheral, contextual, subordinate features, focus on the means used to reach the end state, and facilitate attribute-based and comparative processing (Trope and Liberman 2010 Kardes 2013 Pfeiffer et al. Specifically, high levels of construal capture abstract, schematic, global, superordinate features of an object, focus on the value of an action’s end state, and facilitate attitude-based and selective information processing.

They are powerful mechanisms that drive how people mentally construe objects and events, and they affect how and what individuals evaluate, interpret, and even remember of the surrounding reality (Liberman et al. These mental representations are usually discussed in terms of high and low construal levels. Mental representations of the objects around oneself affect how the surrounding reality is interpreted (Liberman et al. Does construal level influence consumers’ shopping orientation? Symmetrically, does shopping in a hedonic or utilitarian way lead to the adoption of a different level of construal?, and do different construal-induced shopping orientations affect which options consumers choose from the same choice set? We ask, is it possible that the construal that an individual adopts influences a fundamental aspect of the shopping process-the hedonic and utilitarian shopping orientation through which a shopping trip is processed and experienced? The answer to this question holds a wealth of information because a considerable stream of literature has recognized which orientation consumers adopt when shopping as being of key importance (Holbrook and Hirschman 1982 Scarpi 2012). The current research aims to advance a novel understanding of how construal also influences consumers’ shopping orientation. 2014), and music (Hansen and Melzner 2014). 2014), evaluate products (Lamberton and Diehl 2013), react to color (Lee et al. For example, construal can influence which features consumers value in product choice (Trope and Liberman 2010), how they mentally organize (Lee et al. Accordingly, construal-level theory has been shown to account for a variety of differences in behavior exhibited by consumers. 2007b), and remember objects (Liberman et al. Construal levels capture how individuals evaluate and categorize (Liberman et al. Low construal emphasizes psychological closeness and focuses on concreteness and feasibility high construal emphasizes psychological distance and focuses on abstractness and desirability.

Construal-level theory distinguishes between two levels of mental representation that individuals may hold about the surrounding reality: low construal and high construal. To this purpose, we posit that construal-level theory (Trope and Liberman 2010) could provide a possible interpretative key. Their contrast illustrates a heterogeneity in consumers’ subjective way of experiencing a shopping expedition, yet studies have mostly neglected to focus on consumers’ mindsets in studying shopping orientation. These shopping orientations refer to consumers’ general predisposition toward the act of shopping and are usually discussed in terms of “goal-oriented” or “utilitarian” and “recreational” or “hedonic” (see Scarpi 2012, for a review). 1994), and other cases where shopping is instead a joy, alongside a “shopping for fun” theme (Holbrook and Hirschman 1982). Several studies in consumer behavior have focused on how consumers shop, identifying cases where consumers shop for need, alongside a “shopping as work” theme (Babin et al.

Utilitarian vs hedonic