The effect of construal level on preference for variety: processing style as a mediator

Abstract

According to construal level theory (CLT), people mentally represent objects or events that are psychologically distant in terms of high-level, abstract, and schematic features, whereas they construe the same objects in terms of low-level, concrete, and detailed features. The present research explores how construal level can influence on variety-seeking behavior, particularly in the context of multiple-unit choice for future consumption. Specifically, based on the previous findings, greater psychological distance leads individuals to engage primarily in global (vs. local) processing. Subsequently, individuals engaging in global processing prefer a high-variety consumption plan to a low-variety one because they perceive the given plan as a whole single assortment and high-variety is crucial for assortment evaluation. In study 1 and 2, I demonstrate that higher construal level increases consumers’ preference for a high-variety travel plan to a low-variety one and that processing style mediates such effects. I further show that global processing increases the importance of perceived variety and local processing does the importance of overall (item) favorability. In addition, the current research also suggests that higher level of construal level can lead individuals to seek more variety at the superordinate level in the hierarchy of an alternative set. Study 3 demonstrates that the subjects with high-level construal seek between-category variety more than those with low-level construal do.