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Keywords Motivation, Consumer's risk, Perception, Consumer behaviour, Involvement
Abstract Within consumer psychology, both product involvement and perceived risk are viewed to be motivational constructs, influencing subsequent consumer behaviors such as information search and dissemination, as well as extensiveness of the decision-making process. While these constructs are closely related, extant research reveals considerable ambiguity regarding the psychological mechanisms by which components of these two constructs influence one another. This article presents a conceptual motivational process model, explicating the processes by which involvement and consumer risk perceptions are caused, and influence one another, as well as subsequent behavioral responses of consumers. An empirical study, carried out to test the motivational process model and the hypothesized causal relationships finds overall support. Implications of this research for marketers and consumer psychologists are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.
Received January 2000
Revised May 2000
Introduction
A considerable amount of research has examined the relationship between product involvement and consumer risk perception (see for example, Richins et al., 1992; Venkatraman, 1989). This interest stems from the important role played by these motivational constructs as explanatory as well as moderating variables with regard to various facets of consumer behavior, as well as from interesting similarities in their conceptualization (Laaksonen, 1994; Laurent and Kapferer, 1985). The heightening interest in studying motivational aspects of consumer behavior provides additional impetus to this research stream.
Consumer researchers have focused on untangling the relationship between risk and involvement for several reasons. First, examining the relationship allows a better understanding of the specific roles played by each construct in influencing different consumer behaviors. Second, an understanding of the causal linkages between the various dimensions of involvement and risk is likely to provide rich insight into the psychological mechanisms by which these motivational states occur and influence subsequent cognitive and behavioral responses as well as volitional processes that activate persistence in the case of difficult behaviors. Finally, this knowledge is also of much practical value, guiding strategic initiatives to benefit from these motivational states of consumers. The current state of research in this area provides an incomplete and sometimes contradictory view of the relationship between these motivational constructs. Moreover, researchers have not addressed issues of discriminant validity adequately.
The objective of the research...