Cognitive dissonance

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to conduct an exploratory analysis of low‐income women consumers' consumption of low‐involvement grocery products, and to explore the relevance of cognitive dissonance in this consumption.Design/methodology/approachOne focus group discussion and 30 in‐depth interviews are conducted with low‐income women consumer at Salford area of the north‐west of England to explore their salient beliefs, motivations, attitudes and behaviours in respect of their consumption of low‐involvement grocery products.FindingsFindings suggest that low‐income women consumers engage in habitual purchasing and are not loyal to brands of grocery products. However, they often buy stores' own value‐range brands as they believe that these products are similar to manufacturers' brands. They do not perceive price to be an indication of quality, rather they attribute basic differences between the stores' own value‐range and manufacturers' brands as “expensive packaging” and the popularity of the brand name. Value for money is revealed as a key motivation underlying their purchasing of grocery products. Consequently, they are very sensitive to sales promotions and actively engage in making comparisons between the promotions in different stores within their locality. These confirm the incidence of cognitive dissonance in their consumption of these products.Originality/valueThis paper shows that generalisation in consumer behaviour without due reference to the contextual factors identified among low‐income women consumers provides a limited understanding of their decision making and purchase behaviour. It also supplements the limited empirical information on low‐income consumers, and consequently will be of interest to marketing practitioners, as it will reveal potential directions for low‐involvement product strategies in respect of the low‐income consumer.

An Investigation of the Relationship between Unplanned Buying and Post-purchase Regret

“…It is believed that high-income consumers are better able to tolerate financial losses (Bauer, 1960). As regards post-purchase regret, cognitive dissonance has been confirmed at low-income consumers of grocery products because they are more sensitive to sales promotion than consumers with higher incomes (Gbadamosi, 2009). Therefore, the current study investigates the association of family income as a moderator of the relationship between unplanned buying and post-purchase regret.…”

Realizing the Impact of Cognitive Dissonance in Predicting Consumer Behaviour

“…Previous research reveals that dissonance is a kind of cognitive tension state that arises whenever the expected performance is not delivered by the product (Festinger, 1957). The low involvement products have been found to induce strong post purchase dissonance than high involvement products (Gbadamosi, 2009): H 0 1: More the involvement of the product, more the dissonance will be experienced.…”

“…The resulting discomfort motivates the individual to reduce the tension already developed by some means. This refers to the one of the social psychology's greatest theories known as the Theory of Cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957). Dissonance is mainly experienced by three main means:…”

Cognitive Dissonance and Buyers’ Coping Mechanisms: A Comparative Study of US and Indian Consumers

“…Later on, researchers started looking at cognitive dissonance through the prism of the involvement of the consumer in the purchase: high or low. Gbadamosi (2009) suggests that three main conditions exist for arousal of dissonance in purchases: the decision involved in the purchase must be important, such as, involvement of a lot of money or psychological cost and be personally relevant to the consumer; the consumer has a freedom in selecting among the alternatives, finally; the decision involvement must be irreversible. For a typical purchase, the degree of cognitive dissonance felt by more involved purchasers is less than that felt by less involved purchasers.…”