Ideology and brand consumption
Type :
Article
Publication Status :
published
Access :
restrictedAccess
Abstract
Do mundane daily choices, such as what brands people buy in a supermarket, reflect aspects of values and ideologies? This article presents a large-scale field study performed to determine whether traits associated with a conservative ideology, as measured by voting behavior and religiosity, are manifested in consumers’ routine, seemingly inconsequential product choices. Our analysis of market shares for a variety of frequently purchased products shows that both of these measures of conservatism are associated with a systematic preference for established national brands (as opposed to their generic substitutes) and with a lower propensity to buy newly launched products. These tendencies correspond with other psychological traits associated with a conservative ideology, such as preference for tradition and the status quo, avoidance of ambiguity and uncertainty, and skepticism about new experiences.
Source :
Psychological Science
Date :
2013-03
Volume :
24
Issue :
3
Publisher :
Sage
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10679/459http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/02/04/0956797612457379.abstract
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