Financial Constraints Influence How Consumers Evaluate Approach-Framed versus Avoidance-Framed Messages

Abstract

Many people experience financial constraints in their lives that affect their well-being and behaviors. This raises the question of whether individuals' financial constraints will affect their responses to positive approach-framed (vs. negative avoidance-framed) messages in ads.We examined the effects of consumers' financial constraints on their responses to ads that had positive approach-framed (vs. negative avoidance-framed) messages. We hypothesized that consumers with financial constraints would have more positive responses to an ad that had a positive approach-framed (vs. a negative avoidance-framed) message and that the depth of information processing would mediate their responses to an ad that had a positive approach-framed message. Across six studies, including field and online experiments, these findings supported the predictions. The findings advance the literature on both message framing in ads and financial constraints, and they generate actionable guidelines for marketing practice and public policy.

How do resource scarcity reminders influence consumers’ CSR engagement?

“…In contrast, loss-framed messages reduce hope and often lead to negative emotions, emphasizing the undesirable outcomes of not helping (Bilandzic et al, 2017). Scarcity perceptions are generally aversive and thus motivate individuals to avoid stimuli potentially evoking negative feelings (Cannon et al, 2019;Sarial-Abi and Ulqinaku, 2020). Thus, both personal and environmental scarcity reminders are likely to activate avoidance motivation, making people less responsive to loss-framed messages and perceiving similar (low) levels of hope.…”

Constraints within the consumer behavior context

“…The most common types of constraints are financial and time constraints. Most consumers will feel financially constrained at some point, making this particular constraint front of mind for many consumers (Sarial-Abi & Ulqinaku, 2020). Consumers at all class levels may feel financially constrained when they cannot afford a particular item.…”