Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, this study applies social presence theory to explore the influences of public self-awareness on consumers’ choice inconsistency and post-choice satisfaction. Second, the authors investigate how time pressure moderates the effects of self-awareness on choice inconsistency and post-choice satisfaction so that online sellers can better align their marketing strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

This research consists of two studies. Study 1 conducted a 3 (self-awareness: public/private/control) × 2 (time pressure: high/none) experiment, and 311 online participants were recruited to explore the influence of public self-awareness and time pressure. Study 2 used a 3 (self-awareness: public/private/control) × 2 (time pressure: high/no) × 2 (self-consciousness: high/low) quasi-experiments, and the authors used 652 online participants to examine the effect of self-awareness, time pressure and public self-consciousness on choice inconsistency and post-choice satisfaction.

Findings

The results indicate that publicly self-aware consumers under high time pressure show greater inconsistency than those under no time pressure. Also, people with higher public self-consciousness exhibited higher choice inconsistency and post-choice satisfaction in public self-awareness situations than those in private self-awareness and control conditions.

Research limitations/implications

To generalize the results, this study should be replicated using more heterogeneous populations in diverse regions and cultures, as well as other product categories.

Practical implications

This study explores the implications of evoking self-awareness during online consumption and the online purchase process by observing the moderating effect of self-consciousness and time pressure. The findings provide insights to marketing practitioners who seek to increase their companies’ competitive advantage and profits through effective online manipulations of consumers’ self-awareness.

Originality/value

Extant research does not address how time pressure affects the relationships among public self-awareness, choice inconsistency and post-choice satisfaction. In addition, prior research only focused on public self-awareness in customer consumption. This study bridges these gaps and has implications for e-commerce, consumer behavior and relationship marketing research fields.

中文翻译：

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（不）满意你的选择？如何协调网络消费者的自我意识、时间压力和自我意识

目的

本文的目的是双重的。首先，本研究应用社会存在理论来探讨公众自我意识对消费者选择不一致和选择后满意度的影响。其次，作者研究了时间压力如何缓解自我意识对选择不一致和选择后满意度的影响，以便在线卖家可以更好地调整他们的营销策略。

设计/方法/方法

本研究由两项研究组成。研究 1 进行了 3（自我意识：公共/私人/控制）×2（时间压力：高/无）实验，并招募了 311 名在线参与者来探索公众自我意识和时间压力的影响。研究 2 使用 3（自我意识：公共/私人/控制）×2（时间压力：高/无）×2（自我意识：高/低）准实验，作者使用 652 名在线参与者进行检查自我意识、时间压力和公众自我意识对选择不一致和选择后满意度的影响。

发现

结果表明，在高时间压力下，公开自我意识的消费者比没有时间压力的消费者表现出更大的不一致性。此外，与私人自我意识和控制条件下的人相比，公共自我意识较高的人在公共自我意识情境中表现出更高的选择不一致和选择后满意度。

研究限制/影响

为了概括结果，应该使用不同地区和文化中更多异质的人群以及其他产品类别来复制这项研究。

实际影响

本研究通过观察自我意识和时间压力的调节作用，探讨了在线消费和在线购买过程中唤起自我意识的影响。调查结果为营销从业者提供了见解，他们寻求通过有效的在线操纵消费者的自我意识来增加公司的竞争优势和利润。

原创性/价值

现有的研究没有解决时间压力如何影响公众自我意识、选择不一致和选择后满意度之间的关系。此外，先前的研究仅关注客户消费中的公众自我意识。这项研究弥合了这些差距，并对电子商务、消费者行为和关系营销研究领域产生了影响。