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Consumer Reactions to a Provider's Position on Social Issues: The Effect of Varying Frames of Reference
Author(s) -
Sen Sankar,
Morwitz Vicki G.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1207/s15327663jcp0501_02
Subject(s) - affect (linguistics) , status quo , position (finance) , psychology , social psychology , perception , public opinion , consumption (sociology) , advertising , law , business , political science , sociology , politics , social science , communication , finance , neuroscience
How do consumers’ perceptions of a provider's stance on a social issue affect their intentions to patronize that provider? Drawing on research on public opinion and consumer decision making, we examined how the reference frames implicit in alternate issue wordings and a provider's status‐quo position on that issue interact to affect consumers’ willingness to engage in a range of consumption behaviors. Results of two experiments indicate that subjects perceived a minority rights law as being more justifiable and were more willing to patronize a provider that supported such a law when it was framed as “protection from discrimination” than as “special rights.” Moreover, subjects were less willing to patronize a provider that had withdrawn its prior support of a minority rights law than if it had never supported such a law only when the issue was framed as “protection from discrimination” and not as “special rights.” This difference is partially explained by subjects’ justifiability perceptions and is moderated by their sex and familiarity with the minority group.