The Influence of Cognitive Dissonance on Retail Product Returns

Abstract

Given the significant costs and customer service ramifications associated with the return of retail merchandise it is important to understand the underlying reasons for product returns. One such underlying reason is cognitive dissonance. Customers who experience cognitive dissonance may seek to undo the effects of a regretted choice by returning the product in question. This research examines the influence of two forms of cognitive dissonance (emotional dissonance and product dissonance) on the frequency of product returns. Three antecedents (consideration of liberal return policies, customer opportunism, and switching barriers) are examined in terms of their influence on cognitive dissonance and product returns. In addition, the moderating role of gender and store brand is reported. The research is based on a survey of Wal‐Mart and Target customers who engaged in product returns. Structural equation modeling is used to verify and test these relationships. Emotional dissonance and product dissonance were found to be positively related to product returns frequency. It was found that consideration of liberal return policies reduces both emotional and product dissonance, while customer opportunism and switching barriers increase both dimensions of cognitive dissonance. Both gender and store brand were found to be significant moderators of the relationships between cognitive dissonance and two antecedents (consideration of liberal return policies and customer opportunism). In addition, gender and store brand moderated the linkage between product dissonance and emotional dissonance, and the linkage between emotional dissonance and return frequency.

Taking stock of consumer returns: A review and classification of the literature

“…Experimental and survey‐based studies show that overall leniency of a return policy can influence various constructs associated with CR and BI classifiers. In particular, these studies demonstrate that lenient return policies are associated with greater trust to a retailer (Hsieh, ; Oghazi et al, ), purchase and loyalty intention (Bonifield et al, ; Hsieh, ; Jeng, ; Oghazi et al, ), and that return policy leniency can reduce dissonance and return intention (Powers & Jack, ). Two studies look at the relationship between overall leniency and various behavioral actions that relate to retailer performance.…”

“…Section 5.2 focuses on the literature that resides at the intersection of RP and CB domains, in which the vast majority of the literature is concentrated. Section 5.3 is dedicated to the research in the intersection of return policy with PE and RM (2008), Bonifield et al (2010), Pei, Paswan, and Yan (2014), Rao, Lee, Connelly, and Iyengar (2018), Zhang, Li, Yan, and Johnston (2017), and Oghazi, Karlsson, Hellström, and Hjort (2018) Prospect (including endowment effect) Kahneman and Tversky (1979) Wood (2001), Wang (2009), andHeiman, Just, McWilliams, andZilberman (2015) Distributive (equity) and procedural justice Adams and Freedman (1976), Lind and Tyler (1988) Suwelack, Hogreve, and Hoyer (2011), Bower and Maxham III (2012), and Pei et al (2014) Attribution Kelley (1967) Bower and Maxham III (2012) Construal level Liberman and Trope (1998) Janakiraman and Ordóñez (2012) Norm Kahneman and Miller (1986) Kim and Wansink (2012) Cognitive dissonance Festinger (1957) Powers andJack (2013) domains. The complete classification of the empirical literature appears in Table A3.…”

Examining Drivers of Consumer Returns in E-Tailing with Real Shop Data

“…However, this addresses only part of the problem. There is also a psychological dimension to returns, which can be explained using the post-purchase dissonance (PPD) theory [8,9]. Festinger (1957) describes cognitive dissonance as an uncomfortable state of mind that one experiences after choosing among a set of alternatives, each of which has both positive and negative attributes [10].…”

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

“…In another study, Cummings and Venkatesan (1975) concluded that pre-decisional determinants and post-decisional determinants support the dissonance-based predictions while information seeking behavior does not. Powers and Jack (2013) examined the influence of two forms of cognitive dissonance (emotional dissonance and product dissonance) on the frequency of product returns. The third part of our research, to assess dissonance reducing behavior, emerged from such literature.…”