演讲题目：Do Costly Options Lead to Better Outcomes? How the Protestant Work Ethic Influences the Cost-Benefit Heuristic in Goal Pursuit

演讲嘉宾： Yimin Cheng, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

演讲时间：10月14日（周五）上午9:00-11:00

演讲地点：嘉庚一（保欣丽英楼）408室

主持人：叶军教授

摘要:

People often assume that costlier means lead to better outcomes, even in the absence of an objective relationship in the specific context. Such cost-benefit heuristics in goal pursuit have been observed across several domains but their antecedents have not been fully explored. In this research, we propose that a person’s tendency to use cost-benefit heuristics depends on the extent to which that person subscribes to the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE), an influential concept originally introduced to explain the rise of capitalism. The Protestant Work Ethic is a core value predicated on the work-specific belief that hard work leads to success, but people who subscribe strongly to it tend to over-generalize and align other work-unrelated cognitions to be consistent. Across ten studies (N=1,917) measuring and manipulating PWE, we robustly find that people who are high (vs. low) in PWE are more likely to use cost-benefit heuristics, and are more likely to choose costlier means in pursuit of superior outcomes. We suggest how marketers may identify consumers high versus low in PWE and tailor their offerings accordingly.

嘉宾简介:

 Yimin Cheng is a doctoral candidate in Marketing, at the School of Business and Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.He studies :Consumer Judgment and Decision-Making (with special interest in socially relevant topics),Consumer Beliefs,Emotion-Motivation Interface,Moral Psychology in Marketing,Social Inferences.