Feeling Right Versus Feeling Wrong: The Reliance on Stereotypes in Consumer Judgments
27 Pages Posted: 19 Feb 2011
Date Written: February 17, 2011
Abstract
This paper demonstrates that the effect of feeling right versus feeling wrong does not need to be limited to external cues only. Extending current research on the effect of regulatory fit on evaluations, this paper examines whether people’s fit experiences can also be applied to and affect the perceived "correctness" of internal cues, specifically stereotypes. Using previous findings of people’s stereotypical beliefs about the honesty of a for-profit and a not-for-profit organization, this paper demonstrates that regulatory fit can increase people’s reliance on stereotypes making evaluations stereotype-consistent while regulatory non-fit can decrease people’s reliance on stereotypes making evaluations stereotype-inconsistent. Therefore a for-profit organization is perceived to be more honest under fit but less honest under non-fit (as compared to a not-for-profit). Implications for companies in a PR crisis are discussed.
Keywords: Regulatory fit, feeling right, non-profit organizations, stereotypes, consumer judgment
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