Motivated reconstruction: The effect of brand commitment on false memories

Across 5 studies, we examine the effect of prior brand commitment on the creation of false memories about product experience after reading online product reviews. We find that brand commitment and the valence of reviews to which consumers are exposed, interact to affect the incidence of false memori...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of experimental psychology. Applied Vol. 24; no. 2; p. 159
Main Authors Montgomery, Nicole Votolato, Rajagopal, Priyali
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.06.2018
Subjects
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:Across 5 studies, we examine the effect of prior brand commitment on the creation of false memories about product experience after reading online product reviews. We find that brand commitment and the valence of reviews to which consumers are exposed, interact to affect the incidence of false memories. Thus, highly committed consumers are more susceptible to the creation of false experience memories on exposure to positive versus negative reviews, whereas low commitment consumers exhibit similar levels of false memories in response to both positive and negative reviews. Further, these differences across brand commitment are attenuated when respondents are primed with an accuracy motivation, suggesting that the biasing effects of commitment are likely because of the motivation to defend the committed brand. Finally, we find that differences in false memories subsequently lead to differences in intentions to spread word-of-mouth (e.g., recommend the product to friends), suggesting that the consequences of false product experience memories can be significant for marketers and consumers. Our findings contribute to the literatures in false memory and marketing by documenting a motivated bias in false memories because of brand commitment. (PsycINFO Database Record
ISSN:1939-2192
DOI:10.1037/xap0000161