Goals as Excuses or Guides: The Liberating Effect of Perceived Goal Progress on Choice

Consumer choices are often driven by multiple goals (e.g., career and family), each of which if viewed in isolation may appear to suggest conflicting choices. This article examines the effect of initial goal pursuit on consumers’ interest in pursuing unrelated or even conflicting goals. Four studies...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of consumer research 2005-12, Vol.32 (3), p.370-377
Main Authors: Fishbach, Ayelet, Dhar, Ravi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Analytical forecasting
Chocolate bars
Consumer behavior
Consumer motivation
Consumers
Field study
Hypotheses
Impact analysis
Inference
Motivation research
Objectives
Progress
Saliency
Social comparison
Studies
Temptation
Universities
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Summary:Consumer choices are often driven by multiple goals (e.g., career and family), each of which if viewed in isolation may appear to suggest conflicting choices. This article examines the effect of initial goal pursuit on consumers’ interest in pursuing unrelated or even conflicting goals. Four studies were conducted to test whether perceived goal progress hinders the pursuit of the focal goal. These studies demonstrate that in the course of self‐regulation progress along one goal liberates people to pursue inconsistent goals. Furthermore, merely planning to make goal progress in the future may facilitate incongruent choice of immediate action.
ISSN:0093-5301
1537-5277
DOI:10.1086/497548