Associations of Protective and Acquisitive Self-monitoring with Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors
- Authors
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2020
- Source
- University of North Florida
- Keywords
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- Unknown
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Abstract
Acquisitive self-monitors are motivated by gaining social standing (getting ahead, standing out), whereas protective self-monitors are driven by avoiding social disapproval (getting along, blending in; Wolfe et al., 1986). Extending prior research on these orientations and their associations with consumer attitudes and behaviors, participants in Studies 1a (MTurk; N = 156) and 1b (undergraduates; N = 143) completed the Self-Monitoring Scale (Snyder, 1974) and various consumer scales. In these two studies, regression results revealed support for the hypotheses that protective self-monitoring was related to communal consumerism, socially-conscious consumerism, frugality, and conspicuous consumption, whereas agentic consumerism and self-interested values were related to acquisitive self-monitoring. Study 2 (MTurk; N = 275) used experimental manipulation of advertisements to examine differential ad appeals tailored to protective, acquisitive, and low self-monitoring (bivariate model). Moderation analyses showed protective self-monitoring to be a significant predictor of protective ad preference, whereas no specific ad preferences were found with acquisitive self-monitoring. Overall, results suggest that associations of self-monitoring and consumer behaviors are driven by protective self-monitoring rather than acquisitive self-monitoring. Implications (e.g., market research), limitations (e.g., ad strength, convenience samples), and future directions (e.g., examining multivariate appeals for low self-monitoring) are discussed.
