88 The Urge to Splurge Summary of the main findings In Chapter 2, we examined the effect of phygital cues on impulse urges. More specifically, we studied the effect of interactive screens in stores on impulse buying urges in three field experiments and gained insights about self-agency as an underlying mechanism explaining these effects (Goal 1 of this dissertation). We found, as hypothesized, that highly interactive (compared to less interactive) advertising screens in store windows have a small to medium effect on impulse-buying urges through self-agency. Additionally, we found an indirect effect on impulse visit urges in two out of three experiments. These results were explained in light of Reactance Theory (Brehm, 1966), which argues that people are easier to persuade when feeling free to make their own choices (Hu and Wise, 2021). Based on our findings, we introduced the term self-agency paradox. We herewith refer to the phenomenon that the more people think they are in charge of what happens, the less in charge they actually are, resulting in stronger impulse urges. The fact that we did not find a direct effect of interactivity on impulse visit and buying urges is explained by the likelihood that interactivity simultaneously elicited a positive and negative effect through two different processes that canceled each other out. We determined that self-agency is the self-inference process that explains the positive effect of interactivity. Although we did not study what process could explain the negative effect, a study by Liu and Shrum (2013) suggests that involvement might explain the negative effect of interactivity. High interactivity could inhibit persuasion when users are highly involved with the task (of using the screen) but inexperienced (in operating interactive screens in store windows) (Liu & Shrum, 2013). Future studies should examine whether interactive screens indeed can simultaneously have a positive and negative effect on impulse buying urges, depending on whether self-agency or involvement are evoked. In Chapter 3, we examined the influence of CSR advertising cues on impulse buying urges and behavior. More specifically, we performed one field experiment and two online vignette-based experiments to study the effects of other-benefit (versus self-benefit) advertising frames on consumers’ impulse buying urges and behavior, and examined whether self-justification explains this effect (Goal 2 of this dissertation). Although we did not find a direct effect of advertising cues on impulse buying urges, we did find a small to medium direct effect on impulse buying behavior. Other-benefit advertising frames lead to more impulse purchases than self-benefit frames. This effect is mediated by the self-inference process of moral justification. Deservingness justification did not function as a mediator in the effect of advertising frames on impulse purchases, suggesting that people need to be able to morally justify certain impulsive purchases. Drawing on the vice-virtue conflict, we posit that moral justification can transform an impulse purchase from a conflict between vice and virtue to an inherently virtuous act. After all, an other-benefit frame provides reasons why impulse buying is a virtuous behavior, thereby arguably mitigating potential cognitive dissonance for the consumer. Other-benefit frames thus seem to help consumers morally justify socially responsible impulsive purchases. In Chapter 4, we examined the effects of mediated mindfulness cues on impulse buying urges and behavior. More specifically, we studied, using three surveys and one online experiment, the relationship between mindfulness (trait
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