12 The Urge to Splurge of choice (Barlas and Obhi, 2013). We will introduce the term self-agency paradox which entails that individuals who feel they are in charge may actually be more vulnerable to persuasion (Kang and Sundar, 2016) and, consequently, could be more susceptible to impulse buying. In other words, increased perceptions of being in charge may actually foster less deliberative, more impulsive purchasing. The first goal of this dissertation is, therefore, the following: Goal 1: To examine the effect of interactive screens on consumers’ impulse buying urges and gain insight into the role of self-agency in this effect. CSR advertising cues A second contemporary societal development, which is potentially relevant to consumers’ impulse buying behavior, is the increasing number of companies that have started corporate social responsibility initiatives. Likewise, consumers also increasingly expect companies to act socially responsible. Consequently, the number of advertisements promoting a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities has grown (Coleman, Royne, & Pounders, 2019). It is unclear whether such advertising cues can foster impulsive sustainable purchases. Therefore, it is interesting to study the effect of two types of advertising cues on impulse purchases from socially responsible companies: 1) self-benefit frames, emphasizing the benefits for the consumer (e.g., “These chocolates will make you happier”) or 2) other-benefit frames, emphasizing the benefits for the social or environmental cause that the company supports (e.g., “These chocolates empower cacao farmers”). There is a growing body of literature that acknowledges that these two types of advertising cues prompt different responses (e.g., Ryoo, Sung, & Chechelnytska, 2020). However, it is unclear which advertising cue elicit more impulse purchases (e.g., Yadav, 2016; Jäger & Weber, 2020). Therefore, we will study the effect of self-benefit versus other benefit advertising frames on impulse buying urges and behavior. The literature suggests that impulse buying behavior often clashes with personal goals, such as eating healthy or saving. When feeling an impulsive urge to buy, people may experience a conflict between desire (vice – to buy) and reflection on long-term consequences (virtue – pursuing personal goals) (e.g., Hoch & Loewenstein, 1991; Lades, 2014; Fenton-O’Creevy, Dibb, & Furnham, 2018). This conflict can result in feelings of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957), which refers to the uncomfortable feeling that one experiences when attitudes, believes, and behavior do not align. Self-justification potentially alleviates cognitive dissonance and, therefore, helps consumers to feel good about their impulse buying (Okada, 2005). Self-justification is the search for reasons or excuses for one’s own actions (Park & Hill, 2018). We will argue that the self-inference process of self-justification possibly functions as a mediator in the suggested influence of CSR advertising frames on impulse buying, meaning that we expect that advertising cues affect self-justification, which in turn, affect impulse buying. Therefore, the second goal of this dissertation is the following: Goal 2: To examine the effect of advertising frames from socially responsible companies on consumers’ impulse buying urges and behavior and gain insight into the role of self-justification in this effect.
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