Social class differences in attribution of stability and purchase intention following a product-harm crisis

Ng, Andy H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0220-0850 2024. Social class differences in attribution of stability and purchase intention following a product-harm crisis. International Journal of Social Psychology: Revista de Psicología Social 39 (1) , pp. 59-84. 10.1177/02134748231218171

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (458kB)

Abstract

Middle-class contexts foster solipsism, a social cognitive tendency that focuses on one’s internal states, goals, and motivations, and favors dispositional attribution. By contrast, working-class contexts foster contextualism, a social cognitive tendency that focuses on uncontrollable situational forces and favors situational attribution. The current research investigates social class differences in attribution of stability and purchase intention following a product-harm crisis. Consistent to previous research on social class differences in social cognitive tendency, four studies (N = 680) demonstrate that middle- (vs. working-) class individuals perceive themselves as having a higher social status in the society (Studies 1A and 3), which leads to a stronger tendency to attribute stability to a product-harm crisis (Studies 1A, 1B, 2, and 3), believing to a greater extent that the problem is typical of the brand’s products and the brand will likely run into similar problems in the future. Moreover, this stability attribution has downstream consequences for purchase intention – middle- (vs. working-) class individuals are less likely to purchase products from the same brand following a product-harm crisis (Study 3).

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Publisher:	Sage
ISSN:	0213-4748
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	24 April 2023
Date of Acceptance:	21 March 2023
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2024 20:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/158995

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item