Wei Wei Cheryl Leo

Ambivalence reflects the coexistence of positive and negative evaluations of an attitude object, and there is mixed evidence about its impact on consumer decision-making and behavior, with some studies showing ambivalent attitudes as weak and less predictive of behavior, whereas others find them to be more predictive of behavioral intentions. Prior research also does not empirically examine the relationships among ambivalence, indifference, and dissonance despite their similarities and differences with each other. We address these gaps with a conceptual framework based on an extensive review of consumer ambivalence literature and two experimental studies that explore the role of consumer ambivalence in consumer choice. Overall, our findings show that attitudinal and situational ambivalence do vary in their effects on consumer choice between hedonic and utilitarian options. We also show that consumer dissonance and indifference play important roles in this process. These findings extend current research on consumer ambivalence as well as on consumer choice by distinguishing between the roles of the two types of ambivalence and the roles of consumer dissonance and indifference on the choice between hedonic and utilitarian options. Besides these conceptual contributions, our findings also have important managerial implications for marketers of hedonic versus utilitarian products and services.

The majority of alcohol education programs in school settings follow a one-size-fits-all approach meaning that they are using the identical program (universal programs) for all participants (Botvin and Griffin 2007; Foxcroft and Tsertsvadze 2012). However, a one-size-fits-all approach may limit program effectiveness as large numbers of the audience may be left dissatisfied, uninterested, or unchallenged (Snyder et al. 2004). This study is part of a larger cluster randomised control design research project that is implementing and evaluating an alcohol social marketing education program named Game On: Know Alcohol (GOKA) that is currently in field. TwoStep cluster analysis was conducted to segment 2114 Year 10 high school students using data from three segmentation bases; demographic, behaviour and psychographic. Three segments were identified: (1) Abstainers, (2) Bingers and (3) Moderate Drinkers. Next differential effects post-GOKA delivery were analysed using a (2) × 2 × 3 repeated measures ANCOVA design. Changes in knowledge, attitudes, behavioural intentions, social norms, expectancies and self-efficacy were investigated post-program delivery. Strongest change effects for GOKA were achieved for the Bingers segment while the Moderate Drinkers and Abstainers had mixed results across the outcome measures. These findings warrant future development of more targeted and differentially delivered programs that meet the needs and wants of each of the identified segments.