Abstract

The consumer behavior literature extensively studied the impact of goal setting on behavior and performance. However, much less is known about the antecedents of goal-level setting—consumers’ decision of whether to work out twice or three times per week. Consumers can decide how many goal-consistent activities to undertake (“goal-consistent decision frame”; such as exercising two days per week) or to forego (“goal-inconsistent decision frame”; such as not exercising five days per week). While objectively the same decision, we argue that these different frames impact consumers’ ambition. Making a decision to forego goal-consistent activities triggers negative, self-evaluative emotions and to compensate for these unfavorable self-evaluations, consumers set more ambitious goal levels. Across a variety of contexts, consumers are more ambitious when their focal decision is inconsistent with goal achievement. For instance, they decide to work out more often when they decide how many work-out sessions they would skip (vs. attend). The impact of goal-inconsistent decision framing is mitigated when the activity is less instrumental toward goal achievement, and when negative self-evaluative emotions are alleviated through self-affirmation.

中文翻译：

---

做与不做：框架对目标水平设定的影响

摘要

消费者行为文献广泛研究了目标设定对行为和绩效的影响。但是，对于目标级别的前提条件知之甚少设置-消费者决定每周锻炼两次还是三遍。消费者可以决定要进行多少个目标一致的活动（“目标一致的决策框架”；例如每周执行两天）或放弃（“目标不一致的决策框架”；例如不每周执行五天）。尽管客观上是相同的决定，但我们认为这些不同的框架会影响消费者的野心。做出放弃目标一致的活动的决定会引发负面的自我评价情绪，并为弥补这些不利的自我评价，消费者设定了更高的目标水平。在各种情况下，当消费者的重点决策与目标达成不一致时，他们会更具野心。举例来说，当他们决定要跳过多少次健身课程时，他们决定增加锻炼频率。参加）。当活动对实现目标的帮助较小，并且通过自我肯定减轻了负面的自我评价情绪时，目标不一致的决策框架的影响就会减轻。