The Effects of Self-Construal and Commitmenton Persuasion

NIDHI AGRAWALDURAIRAJ MAHESWARAN*

Past research examining the effect of self-construal on persuasion has shown thatadvertising appeals that are consistent with consumers' chronically accessible(chronic) self-construal as well as appeals that are consistent with the temporarilyaccessible (latent) self-construal are both persuasive. In two studies, we identifybrand commitment as a moderating variable that determines the effectiveness ofappeals consistent with the consumers' chronic or latent self-construal. Under highcommitment, appeals consistent with the chronic self-construal were more effec-tive. In contrast, under low commitment, appeals consistent with the primed (in-dependent or interdependent) self-construal were more effective. These findingswere robust across independent and interdependent self-construal contexts.

The effect of self-construal on persuasion is yet to beclearly understood (Han and Shavitt 1994; Hong et al.

2000). Some studies have shown that a specific self-con-strual may be more prevalent in a culture and that advertisingappeals reflecting this chronic self-construal are more per-suasive (Han and Shavitt 1994). Yet others suggest thateither the chronic or the less prevalent latent self-construalmay be temporarily primed and that messages compatiblewith the primed self-construal are more persuasive (Honget al. 2000; Oyserman, Coon, and Kemmelmeier 2002).These findings suggest that whether the chronic or the latentself-construal influences persuasion is likely to be moderatedhy individual and contextual factors. We examine consum-ers' prior commitment to the target brand as a moderatorof these effects.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Self-Construal

Self-construal reflects the extent to which individualsview themselves either as an individuated entity or in re-lation to others. Aspects of self-ktiowledge and of self-con-cept that contribute to viewing oneself as a separate indi-vidual versus as part of a group lead to a particularself-construal. Hence, when self-knowledge that individu-

*Nidhi Agrawal (nagrawal@stern.nyu.edu) is a doctoral student, andDurairaj Maheswaran (dmaheswa@stern.nyu.edu) is the Stern ResearchProfessor of Marketing and International Business, both at the Stern Schoolof Business, New York University, 44 West Fourth Street, New York, NY10012. The authors wish to thank the editor and the three reviewers forproviding invaluable feedback on previous versions of this article. Theauthors also thank Pragya Mathur for her assistance.

ates a person or those aspects of the self that emphasizeindependence are accessible, individuals are more likely toexhibit an independent self-construal. People with indepen-dent self-construals consider themselves as unique and valuecharacteristics that distinguish them from other members ofthe group. In contrast, when aspects of self-knowledge re-lating a person to others or to groups are more accessible,individuals are likely to construe themselves as interde-pendent. People with interdependent self-construals seethemselves as part of a group and define themselves withrespect to other group members. Western cultures tend toreward independence and frequently activate the indepen-dent self, making it chronically accessible. In contrast, Asiancultures frequently promote the interdependent self, makingit chronically accessible.

The chronic self is viewed as a frequently activated con-struct due to social or cultural surroundings, whereas theprimed or contextually activated self can be considered asa recently activated construct (Oyserman et al. 2002). Thus,the two selves (independent and interdependent) may coexistwithin every individual and in any culture (Markus andKitayama 1991). Some research has shown that within agiven culture, messages compatible with the chronic self aremore persuasive (Han and Shavitt 1994). For example, inthe United States, where the chronic self is independent,individualist appeals (i.e., messages emphasizing individualbenefits) were more effective. Alternately, in South Korea,where the chronic self is interdependent, messages empha-sizing group benefits were preferred (Han and Shavitt 1994).However, priming, referencing tasks, and other situationalcontexts can make the latent self temporarily accessible(Hong et al. 2000). This stream of research finds that appealscompatible with the primed self are more persuasive. The

841

© 2005 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH. Inc. • Vol. 31 • March 2005

All rights reserved. 0093-5301/2005/3104-0014$10.00

842 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

use of the independent or interdependent self in evaluatingsubsequent stimuli has been employed as an indicator of theaccessible self-construal (Hong et al. 2000).

The above review on self-construal suggests that indi-viduals can have both independent and interdependent self-construals. While specific cultures may encourage thechronic activation of one self, priming can make the other,latent self temporarily accessible. Appeals compatible witheither the chronic self or the primed latent self can be per-suasive. We examine a relevant variable, brand commitment,that is likely to moderate the effects of self-construal onpersuasion.

Brand Commitment

Commitment has formed the basis of our understandingof such key marketing concepts as brand loyalty, brandswitching, and so on. Commitment has been identified asone of the two key dimensions of attitude strength (Pom-erantz, Chaiken, and Tordesillas 1995). Commitment is seenas an enhanced desire to hold a particular attitude (Pom-erantz et al. 1995), "the pledging or binding of the individualto behavioral acts" (Keisler 1971), and stems from associ-ation between a consumer's attitudes and a public behaviorsupporting their stand (Ahluwalia 2000). Lavine et al. (1998)provide some insights on the processing mechanisms em-ployed by people with strong and weak attitudes in responseto new information. Respondents with strong prior attitudes,regardless of the context, showed minimal attitude change,but people with weak attitudes showed significant differ-ences depending on the context. Lavine and his associatesattributed these findings to the relative accessibility of in-formation relevant to chronic attitude. People with strong(vs. weak) attitudes possess a large amount of chronicallyaccessible knowledge about the attitude object. Under strongattitudes, the easy and reliable accessibility of chronic in-formation dilutes the impact of the contextually activatedinformation. Since chronically accessible beliefs are contextindependent, strong attitudes are less likely than weak at-titudes to succumb to context effects (Tourangeau and Ras-inski 1988). In contrast, people with weak attitudes do nothave an associated set of beliefs that can be readily activated.Hence, they are likely to utilize new information providedin the external context.

This article presents two studies that explore the mod-erating role of commitment in determining the effectivenessof appeals that are compatible with the chronic self or withthe latent self. Study 1 was conducted in Nepal, where theinhabitants' chronically accessible self-construal is usuallyinterdependent. Study 2 was conducted in the United States,whose citizens mostly have an independent chronic self-construal. In both studies, respondents first received infor-mation that created either high or low commitment towarda new product. Then a prime was administered to make anindependent or interdependent self-construal temporarily ac-cessible. Subsequently, participants were asked to evaluatean advertisement that presented either an individualist or acollectivist appeal.

Hypotheses

Under high commitment, we predict that appeals consis-tent with the chronic (vs. latent) self will be more persuasive.Committed consumers hold strong attitudes, and strong at-titudes lead to increased reliance on beliefs that are chron-ically associated with the attitude object and to the dis-counting of contextual cues such as primes (Lavine et al.1998). These consumers engage in selective processing andfavorably evaluate new information that is compatible withchronically accessible information (Jain and Maheswaran2000). While research on attitude strength or commitmenthas not examined the accessibility of self-related beliefs,some evidence in the marketing context suggests that beliefsrelated to the chronic self rather than to the product couldbe salient when evaluating brands.

Consumers' attitudes are correlated with self-image andproduct-image congruity (Grubb and Hupp 1968; Sirgy1982). Consumers have more extreme attitudes towardbrands that help to express their selves (Aaker 1999). Theycommit to issues that help them express and achieve theirgoals (Shavitt 1990; Wicklund and Gollwitzer 1981). In-dividuals with a chronic independent self are likely to preferbrands that help them be unique in their group. Thus, whenconsumers form a preference to a target brand, they expectit to satisfy their chronic self-based goals. Consumers withstrong preferences for a brand are likely to associate theirchronic self with that brand. Hence, beliefs about why aconsumer commits to the target brand (e.g., "I love thisproduct because it makes me unique" or "I love it becauseit helps me fit in with my friends and family") should bemore accessible under high (vs. low) commitment. Whensubsequently evaluating the committed brand, consumersshould rely on their chronic self. Even if the latent self isprimed, the chronic self, triggered by the exposure to thetarget brand, should override the primed latent self. Hence,we expect high commitment consumers to access and relyon information related to the chronic self in evaluating thecommitted brand. Since committed consumers possessstrong attitudes, the effect of the prime should be minimizedin processing the target brand appeal.

HI : Under high commitment, the appeal consistent(vs. inconsistent) with the chronic self will leadto higher brand evaluations regardless of theprimed self-construal.

Under low commitment, in accord with past research,appeals consistent with the primed self are expected to bemore persuasive (Oyserman et al. 2002). These consumershold weak attitudes and do not possess reliable and chronicbeliefs about the target brand. Hence, contextually primedself-construal may be considered relevant and guide sub-sequent evaluations.

H2: When the brand commitment is low, the appealconsistent (vs. inconsistent) with the primed selfwill lead to more favorable brand evaluations.

SELF-CONSTRUAL AND COMMITMENT 843

STUDY 1

Study 1 was conducted in Nepal, where the chronicallyaccessible self-construal is interdependent. Nepal is a small,homogeneous Hindu kingdom. It is a coUectivist societysimilar to neighboring countries such as India but moretraditional and less westernized. One hundred and sixty-seven students at a large university in Nepal participated inthe study individually for partial course credit and wererandomly assigned to a 2 (commitment; high/low) x 2(prime: independent/interdependent) x 2 (appeal type: in-dividualist/collectivist) between-subjects design.

Procedure. High or low commitment was inducedfirst, followed by an unrelated filler task. Next, the respon-dents completed a proofreading task that primed either anindependent or an interdependent self-construal. The TwentyStatement Test (TST) followed next as a prime manipulationcheck. Then the respondents evaluated either an individualistor a coUectivist appeal followed by a set of dependent mea-sures and manipulation checks. Finally, the Singelis (1994)self-construal scale was completed following a second fillertask to neutralize the effects of the prime and the appeal.After the study, respondents were thoroughly debriefed us-ing a respondent impression form and funnel debriefing pro-cedure to examine potential demand effects. Experimentalmaterials were first developed in English, translated to Ne-pali, and were then retranslated into English using indepen-dent translators (Brislin 1986).

Independent Variables

Commitment. Conmiitment was manipulated by induc-ing public attachment to the brand (Ahluwalia 2000). Par-ticipants learned that a professor, along with a market re-search firm, was conducting a consumer survey for twoproducts: the target brand of personal digital assistants(PDAs) and the filler brand of cameras. They received twoseparate folders containing infonnation on product perfor-mance, newspaper endorsements, and some research find-ings. Participants read the material and then recorded theirname and thoughts on an audiotape. They were asked totalk specifically about the positive qualities and to suggesta slogan for both the products. The key manipulation forcommitment followed the recording. To induce high com-mitment, participants were asked if the company that madethe PDA could use their thoughts and their photograph inthe company's advertising campaign. All participantsagreed, signed a release form, and were photographed. Lowcommitment participants followed identical procedures butfor the filler brand. The brand to which participants publiclyattached was varied to manipulate commitment.

The efficacy of the commitment manipulation was as-sessed in a separate pretest using procedures identical tothose used in the experimental group to avoid potential de-mand effects. A brand commitment index and a brand eval-uation index were measured in the pretest. The commitmentindex included three seven-point scales anchored by disa-

gree/agree (o; = .87) to assess the extent of indifference tochoosing another brand if the target brand were not availableat the store, the extent to which the participants consideredthemselves loyal to the target brand, and finally the likeli-hood of their purchasing another brand that was on salerather than the target brand (Ahluwalia 2000; Beatty, Kahle,and Homer 1988). High (vs. low) commitment participantsreported a significantly higher level of commitment to thetarget brand (M = 5.02 vs. 3.82; F(l, 29) = 5.39, p < .05)but had equivalent brand evaluations of the target brand(f"< 1, o; = .77).

Self-Construal Prime. The independent or interde-pendent self-construal was primed using a purportedly un-related study that required the participants to identify pro-nouns (Brewer and Gardner 1996). Participants read a shortdescription about "a trip to the city" with instructions tocircle all the pronouns in the text as part of a proofreadingstudy. The text contained 26 pronouns. The same text waspresented with almost all of the pronouns (and other gram-matical references in Nepali) being either self-oriented (I,me, myself) or other-oriented (we, us, our) to prime the twoselves. The participants then completed the TST as the ma-nipulation check for the prime. Additionally, a separate pre-test was used to test the effectiveness of the prime. A sep-arate group of respondents were administered the primemanipulation and then shown two unrelated advertisementsthat did not have any self-related content. The participantsanswered four items anchored by not at all/a lot that mea-sured the extent to which they focused on and thought aboutthemselves (r = .82) and the extent to which they focusedon others and thought about their social circle (r = .71)while reading the two ads. Confirming the efficacy of theprime, respondents in the independent (vs. interdependent)prime condition focused more on themselves (A/in<jep —5.59, Mi„,,, = 4.14; F(l, 20) = 10.85, p < .01) and less onothers (M,„,,p = 3.54, M,„,„ = 5.68; F(l, 20) = 17.39, p <.001).

Advertisement Appeal. The two advertisements fea-tured individualist or collectivist appeals (Han and Shavitt1994). The headlines read, "Stay in touch with yourself (vs.friends and family)." The appeals featured five product at-tributes framed as either individualist or collectivist benefits(e.g., the attribute "anytime access to e-mail" was framedas either an individualist ("be more informed and organizedthan others") or a collectivist benefit ("keep in touch withyour friends and family"). The appeals did not vary in ar-gument strength (M = 6.02 vs. 5.85; F< 1).

Dependent Variables

All dependent variables were assessed using seven-pointscales. The brand evaluations were measured first, followedby the manipulation and confound checks.

Brand Evaluations (AJ. Participants evaluated thebrand on seven items anchored by would definitely notconsider buying it/would definitely consider buying it, not

844 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

at all useful/very useful, negative/positive, very bad/verygood, very unfavorable/very favorable, undesirable/desir-able, and inferior to competing brands/superior to competingbrands. These seven items were averaged to form a brandevaluation index (a — .93).

Manipulation Checks. The experimental groups com-pleted several checks. After the prime manipulation, the TSTwas administered as a prime manipulation check. The TSTasks participants to complete 20 statements starting with "Iam" (Gardner, Gabriel, and Lee 1999; Kuhn and McPartland1954). Two independent coders rated the items (82% agree-ment) as reflecting an independent or interdependent self.Independent items described a personal attribute, such as anattitude or an ability (e.g., "I am beautiful"). Interdependentitems described a relationship or social role (e.g., "I am agood daughter") or membership in a group (e.g., "I am fromthe Newari community"). Utirelated items (e.g., "I am goingto class after completing the survey") were excluded fromanalyses. The efficacy of the appeals was measured usingfour items that assessed the extent to which the appeal fea-tured individual benefits and portrayed the brand as beinguseful in individual work situations (r = .87) or featuredgroup benefits and group work situations (r = .81). Involve-ment was measured using three items (involved, interested,and motivated) anchored by not at all/a lot. The Singelis(1994) scale was administered to measure the independenceand interdependence of the chronic self-construal.

Results and Discussion

The hypotheses were tested based on 2 (commitment: highvs. low) X 2 (prime: independent and interdependent) x2 (appeal: individualist and collectivist) ANOVA. In bothexperiments, there were no systematic effects of gender,involvement, or prior knowledge.

Manipulation Checks. The TST data showed that par-ticipants in the independent (vs. interdependent) prime con-dition wrote more self-focused sentences {M,^^^^ = 5.11,M, ,,, = 3.71; F(l, 159) - 14.82, p<.00\) and fewerother-focused sentences (M-^^^^^ — 3.91, Mi ^ — 5.75;F(l, 159) = 24.12, p < .001). Ratings of the extent to whichthe ads featured individual or group benefits showed thatparticipants perceived more individual {M,^^^ = 4.78,M, ,, = 3.73;F(1, 159) = 16.25, p < .001) and fewer groupbenefits {M,„a, = 3.94, M,,,,, = 5.48; F(l, 159) = 44.14,p < .001) in the individualist (vs. collectivist) appeal. TheSingelis scale confirmed that Nepali participants were chron-ically more interdependent {a — .73) than independent{a = .70; M,,,,, = 5.13, M,^,,^ = 4.55; r(l, 159) = 7.91,

Brand Evaluations (A/,). The ANOVA on A,, revealeda significant main effect of commitment (F(l, 159) =16.87, p< .001) and a marginally significant effect of adappeal (F(l, 159) = 3.18, p = .08). The two-way interac-tion of prime X appeal (F(l, 159) = 7.38, p< .01) wassignificant, and the commitment x appeal (F(l, 159) =

3.39, p = .07) interaction was marginally significant. Cen-tral to our hypotheses, the predicted three-way interactionof commitment x prime x appeal was significant(F(\, 159) = 6.28, p<.05). Hypothesis 1 predicted thatunder high commitment, the collectivist appeal would beevaluated more favorably since the chronically accessibleself is interdependent in Nepal. In accord, under high com-mitment, only the simple main effect of ad appeal wassignificant such that the collectivist (vs. individualist) ap-peal led to higher evaluations (M^^fi — 5.88, M^^^, — 5.12;F(l, 159) = 6.77, p< .05). Under high commitment, theprime did not have an effect on brand evaluations ( F < 1).Under low commitment, the predicted simple interaction ofprime X appeal was significant (F(l, 159) = 13.25, p<.001). The independent prime induced higher evaluationstoward an individualist (vs. collectivist) appeal (M,„a, =5.02, M,,,,, = 3.91; F(l, 159) = 6.68, p < .05). In contrast,in the interdependent prime condition, higher evaluationswere obtained in response to a collectivist (vs. individualist)appeal (M^,, = 5.36, M,„„ = 4.27; F{\, 159) = 6.57, p <.05). These findings support hypothesis 2, such that underlow commitment, the primed self influenced evaluations.(See table 1 for means of brand evaluations and cognitiveresponses for study 1 and for study 2.)

In general, the findings of study 1 supported our hypoth-eses. Under low commitment, we replicated past researchsuch that evaluations were influenced by the primed self-construal. But under high commitment the collectivist (vs.individualist) appeal consistent with chronic (interdepend-ent) self-construal was evaluated more favorably regardlessof the prime. Participants might have accessed informationrelated to their chronic (interdependent) self-construal andevaluated collectivist appeals more favorably. Two issuesthat emerged from this study need further attention. One ofthe major assumptions of this study is that committed con-sumers use information related to chronic self-construalwhen evaluating the target brand. The pattern of means onevaluations supported this inference. However, study 1 pro-vided no evidence for the underlying process. The secondissue relates to the robustness of the findings in an inde-pendent culture.

STUDY 2

Study 2 was conducted in the United States, where thechronic self is independent. Our hypotheses based on eval-uations were similar to those of study 1. Cognitive responseswere also measured to provide additional insights on theprocess mechanism underlying these effects.

Cognitive Responses

Under high commitment, participants were assumed toaccess and rely on information related to the chronic self.In contrast, under low commitment, they relied on theprimed self. This observation was based on two key findingsfrom past research. First, attitude-strength research suggeststhat people with strong attitudes possess and access chronic

SELF-CONSTRUAL AND COMMITMENT 845

TABLE 1

STUDIES 1 AND 2 MEANS OF BRAND EVALUATIONS AND COGNITIVE RESPONSES

Study 1 (Nepal):Brand evaluations (A )

Study 2 (United States):Brand evaluations (A )Thoughts related to

chronic selfThoughts related to

latent self

High commitment

Independent prime

Individual-ist appeal

4.98

6.01

3.76

.24

Collectiv-ist appeal

5.71

4.87

3.16

.76

Interdependent prime

Individual- Collectiv-ist appeal ist

5.26

5.78

3.72

.32

appeal

6.07

5.06

3.24

.88

Low commitment

Independent prime

Individual-ist appeal

5.02

4.91

3.48

.36

Collectiv-ist appeal

3.91

3.77

1.87

.95

Interdependent prime

Individual- Collectiv-ist appeal ist

4.27

3.72

.84

2.28

appeal

5.36

4.66

.63

3.92

NOTE.—Cell sizes ranged from 21 to 22 in study 1 and from 24 to 25 in study 2.

information related to the attitude object in subsequent re-sponses to the same object (Lavine et al. 1998). Second,people tend to prefer products that are compatible with theirself-image (Aaker 1999). In study 2, a thought-listing taskassessed whether high commitment individuals usedthoughts related to the chronic (independent) self when eval-uating an advertising appeal for the committed brand. Thethoughts were collected after exposure to the appeal, andthe type of cognitive responses were expected to provideinsights on the process issues (Chaiken and Maheswaran1994).

Thoughts Related to the Chronic Self

In this study, commitment was induced first, followed bya filler task to neutralize the effects of the commitmentmanipulation. The prime and then the TST followed. TheTST was used as a manipulation check to establish that theprimed self-construal was activated. The target appeal wasthen presented, and after the respondents had read it at theirown pace, thought listings followed. We expected that whenhigh commitment consumers were subsequently exposed tostimuli relating to the committed brand, their associationsto the brand related to their chronic selves would be acti-vated. The effect of contextual information such as the primewould be minimized. Even if the latent self may have beenactivated by priming or the appeal, exposure to the com-mitted brand is expected to make the associations related tothe chronic self more dominant. Hence, only the chronic(independent) self was expected to influence message-related thinking. If this process inference were true, thenmore thoughts related to the chronic self and a minimalnumber of thoughts related to the latent self would be ev-idenced. However, under low commitment, respondentswould not have a significant amount of chronic self-relatedassociations about the brand. Hence, the primed self-con-strual would be more likely to guide their thinking. De-pending on the nature of the prime, they were likely toelaborate on infonnation either related to the chronic selfor related to the latent self. This premise should be reflected

in the nature of cognitive responses. So, under low com-mitment, only when the chronic self was primed would itlead to more chronic-self thoughts.

H3a: When brand cotnmitment is high (vs. low), morethoughts related to the chronic self (independentin the United States) will be generated.

H3b: When brand commitment is low, the prime con-sistent with the chronic (vs. latent) self (inde-pendent in the United States) will lead to morethoughts related to the chronic self.

Thoughts Related to the Latent Self

Under high commitment, information related to thechronic self is expected to dominate, and hence the primerelated to the latent self is not anticipated to have any impacton the nature of cognitive responses. However, under lowcommitment, consumers are influenced by the primed self-construal. Depending on the nature of the primed (chronicor latent) self-construal, more prime-consistent thoughts willbe generated. So, high (vs. low) commitment should leadto fewer thoughts related to the latent self. Under low com-mitment, since the prime is expected to influence the natureof the thoughts, the prime consistent with the latent selfshould lead to more thoughts related to the latent self.

H4a: When brand commdtment is high (vs. low), fewerthoughts related to the latent self (interdependentin the United States) will be generated.

H4b: When brand commitment is low, the prime con-sistent with the latent (vs. chronic) self (inter-dependent in the United States) will lead to morethoughts related to the latent self.

846 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

Method

One hundred and ninety-eight undergraduates at a largeuniversity in the United States participated in the study forpartial course credit and were randomly assigned to con-ditions in a 2 (commitment: high or low) x 2 (prime: in-dependent or interdependent) x 2 (appeal: individualist orcollectivist) between-subjects design. Commitment, self-construal prime, and advertising appeal manipulations wereidentical to those used in study 1.

Dependent Measures and Manipulation Checks.The key dependent measures were cognitive responses andbrand evaluations (a — .90). In addition to the TST datacollected before ad exposure (as in study 1), we also col-lected sepai'ate cognitive responses using thought listingsafter exposure to the appeal and before evaluations. Re-spondents were given 3 min. to list all the thoughts thatcame to their mind while reading the advertisement (Ma-heswaran and Chaiken 1991). These cognitive responseswere coded as being related to the chronic (i.e., independentin the United States) or latent (interdependent) self or asother thoughts. Independent thoughts related to the self asa distinct individual (e.g., "This PDA will help me keep upwith my schedule"). Interdependent thoughts highlighted re-lationships to others such as friends or family members (e.g.,"I should get it for my Dad"). Finally, thoughts that did notimplicate the self, including attribute-related thoughts (e.g.,"This product has wireless networking"), advertising-relatedthoughts (e.g., "The ad had a cool picture of the PDA"),and irrelevant thoughts (e.g., "Tomorrow is a holiday"), werecoded as other thoughts. Two independent coders coded thethoughts (89% agreement). No effects were significant ontotal thoughts and other thoughts ip>.\5). Manipulationchecks for appeal, prime, and involvement were collectedwith the experimental group as in study 1. The manipulationchecks for commitment and additional checks for the primewere collected in separate pretests.

Results and Discussion

A 2 (commitment: high vs. low) x 2 (prime: independentvs. interdependent) x 2 (appeal: individualist vs. collectiv-ist) ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses.

Manipulation Checks. An ANOVA on the brand com-mitment index (a — .87) in pretest groups confirmed theefficacy of the commitment manipulations (M|,|g|, = 5.23.M, ^ = 3.72; F( 1,25) = 8.06,/;'< .01). Also, brand attitude(a; = .83) did not differ across the two commitment con-ditions {p > .20). In the prime pretest, participants' ratingsof the extent to which the prime made them focus eitheron themselves (r = .77) or on others (r = .79) indicatedthat participants with the independent (vs. interdependent)prime focused more on themselves (M|,,j p — 5.65,M. , ^ = 4.18; F(l, 20) = 5.79, p < .05) and less on others(Min,ep = 3.24, M,,,, = 5.27;F(l,20) = 8.76, p < .01). Inthe experimental group TST, as expected, participants inthe independent (vs. interdependent) prime condition wrote

more sentences that were self-focused (M,„^^p = 5.25,M,„,„ = 3.51; F(l, 190) = 17.35, p < .001) and fewer sen-tences that focused on others {M-^^^cp = 3.28, M,„^^, =5.53; F(l, 190) = 20.09, p < .001). The participants ex-posed to the individualist (vs. collectivist) appeal thoughtthat it featured more individual (M^^^; — 5.09, M . ,, =3.06; F(l, 190) = 83.83, p < .001, r = .86) and fewergroup benefits (M,„,j = 4.02, M, ,, = 5.31; Fil, 190) =31.87, p < .001, r = .79). A separate pretest confirmed thatthe appeals did not vary in argument strength (M, jj =5.96, M. ii = 5.43; F < 1). The ANOVA on involvement(a = .82) yielded no significant effects (F< 1). The Sin-gelis scale indicated that the American participants had achronically more accessible independent (a = .69) than in-terdependent self-construal (a = .83; Mj j p = 5.23,M;„„, = 4.76; r(l, 190) = 4.95, p < .001).

Brand Evaluations (A/,). An ANOVA on A,, revealedmain effects of commitment (F(l, 190) = 49.98, p < .001)and appeal (F(l, 190) = 9.60, p < .01). In addition, wefound two significant two-way interactions of prime x ap-peal {F(l, 190) = 14.34, p < .001) and commitment x ap-peal (Fil, 190) = 6.29,p < .05). Most importantly, the pre-dicted three-way interaction was significant (Fil, 190) =6.38, p < .05). Under high commitment, only a significantsimple main effect of ad appeal was observed such that theindividualist (vs. collectivist) appeal consistent with thechronic (independent) self led to higher evaluations(Mi„ i = 5.89, M^,, = 4.97; F(l, 190) = 15.88, p < .001),in support of hypothesis 1. No other effects were significant.Under low commitment, the predicted simple interactionof prime x appeal was significant (F(l, 190) — 19.73,p < .001). Participants in the independent prime conditionhad higher evaluations when exposed to an individualist(vs. collectivist) appeal (M^^^, = 4.91, M, ,, - 3.77;F(l, 190) = 11.79, p < .001). However, participants in theinterdependent prime condition had higher brand evaluationswhen exposed to a collectivist appeal rather than an indi-vidualist appeal (M,„,i = 3.72, M, ,, = 4.66; F(l, 190) =8.11, /j>< .01). These findings support hypothesis 2 that theprimed self influences evaluations only under low commit-ment. Thus, the findings with the chronic independent selfin the United States converged with the pattern of responsesobserved in the interdependent Nepal.

Thoughts Related to the Chronic (Independent) Self.As per hypothesis 3a, a significant main effect of commit-ment indicated that high (vs. low) commitment respondentshad more thoughts related to the chronic self (M,, ^ =3.47, M,^, = 1.71; F(L 190) = 125.51, p < .001). The'twomain effects of prime (F(l, 190) = 37.32, p< .001) andappeal (F(l, 190) = 21.18, p < .001) were significant. Theinteractions of commitment x prime (F(l, 190) = 38.89,p < .001) and prime x appeal (F(l, 190) = 5.74, p < .05)were also significant. More important, the three-way inter-action was significant (F(l, 190) = 4.06, p < .05).

Under high commitment, the individualist (vs. collectiv-ist) appeal led to more thoughts consistent with the chronic

SELF-CONSTRUAL AND COMMITMENT 847

self (M,„,. = 3.74, M^,, = 3.20; F(l, 190) = 5,94, p<.05). When the appeal was compatible with the chronic (in-dependent) self, it led to more thoughts related to the chronicself. Under low commitment, as per hypothesis 3b, the sim-ple main effect of prime confirmed that independent (vs,interdependent) prime induced more thoughts related to thechronic self {M,^,^^ = 2,68, M^ ,,, = ,73; F(l, 190) =75.43, p<.001) . In addition, a significant interaction ofprime and appeal (F(l, 190) = 9.63, p < ,01) was also ob-served. Follow-up analyses showed an additivity effect suchthat under the independent prime, the individualist (vs, col-lectivist) appeal led to more thoughts related to the chronicself (Mi„<Ji = 3,48, M, ,, = 1.87; F(l, 190) = 25,68, p<,001).

Thoughts Related to the Latent (Interdependent) Self.In accord with hypothesis 4a, the main effect of commitmentconfirmed that high (vs. low) commitment induced fewerthoughts related to the latent (interdependent) self(M,i,, = .55, M,,^ = 1.88; F(l, 190) = 47,32, p<,001).The main effects of prime (F(l, 190) = 43,2, p < ,001) andappeal (F(l, 190) = 18.41, p < .001) were also significantsuch that the prime or appeal consistent with the latent (in-terdependent) self led to more thoughts related to the latentself. Finally, the commitment x prime interaction was sig-nificant (F(l, 190) = 36,66, p < ,001) such that prime hadan impact only under low commitment (hypothesis 4b), In-terdependent (vs, independent) prime generated morethoughts related to the latent (interdependent) self(Mi„,,p = ,66, Mi„,, = 3,10; F(l, 190) = 78,92, p < ,001),Although the three-way interaction did not achieve signif-icance (p = ,19), the lower order findings provide overallsupport for our hypotheses.

Study 2 replicated and extended the findings from study1 in a chronic independent self context. Under high com-mitment, individualist (vs. collectivist) appeals based on thechronic (independent) self were more persuasive. Under lowcommitment, appeals consistent with the primed self weremore persuasive. More important, the cognitive responsesprovided support that high commitment led to enhancedelaboration on information related to the chronic self

GENERAL DISCUSSION

The findings identify brand commitment as a moderatorof the effect of chronic versus primed self-construal on per-suasion. Under high commitment, appeals consistent withthe chronic self led to more favorable evaluations. But lesscommitted consumers rely on contextual cues such as prim-ing, and hence prime-consistent appeals were more effective.The findings were robust across an interdependent (Nepal)and an independent culture (United States),

Our findings contribute to research on self-construal,priming, and brand commitment. In the area of self-con-strual we identified brand commitment as a moderating fac-tor that influences when the culturally endorsed or tempo-rarilv primed self-construal would influence persuasion,Whle past research has not explicitly measured commit-

ment, the pattern of the findings and the operationalizationslend support to the moderating role of commitment. Forexample, the Aaker and Lee (2001) study used a fictitiousbrand and no specific attitude to the target brand was in-duced. This condition was similar to our low commitmentcondition. This study reported that the appeals compatiblewith primed self were more effective. Similarly, in the Hanand Shavitt (1994) study, where the appeal compatible withthe chronic self was more persuasive, high commitmentmight have been induced. In this study, the compatibilityeffect was observed only for shared products. Since theshared product is in a public domain, evaluating the productcharacteristics might have induced public attachment similarto our high commitment manipulation.

In general, we add to the growing view that both inde-pendent and interdependent self-construal can coexist withinthe individual and in any given culture (Hong et al. 2000),However, we also suggest that priming an alternate self-construal may not always be effective. The current researchshows that individual difference variables, such as com-mitment, could make priming less effective by making thechronic construct more accessible. Under high commitment,we also showed that the prime was most effective whencontextual information was processed, such as under lowcommitment. Another noteworthy contribution of our find-ings stems from the TST data indicating that the primed selfwas activated under high commitment. However, as evi-denced by brand evaluations and cognitive responses, theprimed self did not influence subsequent judgments. Thisfinding provides compelling evidence that commitment toa brand enhances the use of chronic constructs and decreasesthe reliance on primed constructs. Future research couldexamine chronic versus primed constructs other than self-construal to understand the accessibility effects of brandcommitment.

Recent research in marketing has examined the effects ofcommitment on the processing of counter- (vs, pro-) atti-tudinal information (Ahluwalia 2000), We extend this re-search by examining how proattitudinal and self-related (vs,attribute) information is processed under high levels of com-mitment. The current research takes a different perspectiveby investigating how different types of proattitudinal infor-mation are evaluated as a function of commitment. As notedearlier, our appeals were favorable overall but differed intheir consistency with the chronic self. Our findings showthat favorable brand information may be selectively pro-cessed depending on its compatibility with the chronic self.For committed consumers, brand information should becompatible with product-attribute expectations as well aswith self-perceptions.

Although past research has attributed the attenuation ofcontext effects under strong attitudes to the enhanced ac-cessibility of chronic information (Lavine et al, 1998), theydid not provide any evidence for this interpretation. Also,their discussion focused on issue- (vs, self-) relevant chronicinformation. Our findings provide insights on the potentialinvolvement of the chronic self when committed consumers

848 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

process information. We extend past research on product-self congruity by showing that appeals related to either thechronic or the latent self could be persuasive depending onthe level of commitment to the brand.

Several limitations from the current research warrant fur-ther investigation. First, we conceptualized self-construal asa binary construct. However, recent research has identifiedthree self-construals: the personal self, the relational self,and the collective self. While the personal self parallels anindependent self, the relational self and the collective selfreflect an interdependent self (Brewer and Gardner 1996).This article extends the existing findings based on a binaryview of self-construal by identifying the moderating role ofcommitment. It will be useful to examine the chronic versustemporary accessibility issues in a multifaceted view of self-construal. Second, the nature of the latent self conceptual-ized in the current research is in line with the dynamic viewof culture as a frequently activated construct (Hong et al.2000). The frequently activated and culturally endorsed selfcorresponds to the chronic self, whereas the primed andrecently activated self is the latent self. The latent self iscontext dependent and hence likely to be multidimensional.Future research could examine the context-sensitive natureof the latent self.

Our studies suggest that when highly committed consum-ers are subsequently exposed to the committed brand, theirbrand-related chronic self associations become accessible.This inference is derived from past research on attitudestrength and product-self congruity. In addition, recent re-search has found that the effects of the chronic self on eval-uations are driven by accessibility (Hong et al. 2000). Inboth studies, the evaluations under high commitment supportthis view. Cognitive responses were used to provide insightson the process mechanism. While our findings based on thecognitive responses are informative, it should be noted thatthese cognitive responses were collected after exposure tothe prime and the appeal. To that extent, it is not possibleto distinguish whether the thoughts related to the chronicself were due to the enhanced chronic accessibility or dueto the prime and the appeal. Measuring the association be-tween the chronic self and the target brand when forminga commitment will bolster our claims. Also, in our studies,the culturally compatible appeals were both attitudinallycongruent as well as self-relevant. Under high commitment,both attitudinal congruence and self-relevance could lead topersuasion. Future research could examine self-relevanceindependent of attitudinal congruence.

The current research is limited to the extent that it is basedon one independent culture and one interdependent culture.Nepal and the United States might differ on various factors,including income and language. Also, we operationalizedindependent and interdependent chronic selves across stud-ies. The robustness of these findings would be greatly im-proved by replication in multiple cultures that are represen-tative of the two chronic selves or in the same country withindividuals differing in chronic selves (e.g., Asian Ameri-cans vs. European Americans).

This article examined the selective processing by com-mitted consumers of information related to the chronic self.We manipulated commitment using the public attachmentparadigm (Ahluwalia 2000) that might elicit a focus on theself. Other manipulations of commitment that minimize sucha self-focus are warranted. Finally, inferences from our stud-ies are limited to one dimension of attitude strength, com-mitment. However, research on other dimensions of attitudestrength suggests that dimensions such as embeddednessmight lead to interesting effects. For example, Pomerantzet al. (1995) found that embeddedness resulted in objectiveinformation seeking. When attitudes are highly embedded,because of open-minded processing, information related tothe latent self may be seen as relevant and may influencesubsequent evaluations. Alternately, embeddedness of atti-tudes might activate constructs to which the attitude is re-lated and make the chronic self highly accessible, leadingto similar effects as presented in the current research. Moregenerally, research could address other components of at-titude strength that may provide additional and novel in-sights on the effect of self-construal on persuasion.

[Dawn Iacobucci served as editor for this article.]

REFERENCES

Aaker, Jennifer L. (1999), "The Malleable Self: The Role of Self-Expression in Persuasion," Journal of Marketing Research,36 (February), 45-57.

Aaker, Jennifer L. and Angela Y Lee (2001), " T Seek Pleasuresand 'We' Avoid Pains: The Role of Self-Regulatory Goals inInformation Processing and Persuasion," Journal of Con-sumer Research, 28 (June), 3 3 ^ 9 .

Ahluwalia, Rohini (2000), "Examination of Psychological Pro-cesses Underlying Resistance to Persuasion," Journal of Con-sumer Research, 27 (September), 217-32.

Beatty, Sharon E., Lynn R. Kahle, and Pamela Homer (1988), "TheInvolvement-Commitment Model: Theory and Implications,"Journal of Business Research, 16 (March). 159-67.

Brewer, Marilynn and Wendi Gardner (1996), "Who Is This 'We'?Levels of Collective Identity and Self Representations," Jour-nal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71 (July), 83-93.

Brislin. Richard W. (1986), "The Wording and Translation of Re-search Instruments," in Field Methods in Cross-Cultural Re-search, ed. Walter J. Lonner and John W. Berry, Beverly Hills,CA: Sage, 137-64.

Chaiken, Shelly and Durairaj Maheswaran (1994), "Heuristic Pro-cessing Can Bias Systematic Processing: Effects of SourceCredibility. Argument Ambiguity, and Task Importance onAttitude Judgment," Journal of Personality and Social Psy-chology, 66 (March), 460-73.

Gardner, Wendi, Shira Gabriel, and Angela Y. Lee (1999), " TValue Freedom, but 'We' Value Relationships: Self-ConstrualPriming Mirrors Cultural Differences in Judgment," Psycho-logical Science, 10 (July), 321-26.

Grubb, Edward L. and Gregg Hupp (1968). "Perception of Self,Generalized Stereotypes, and Brand Selection," Journal ofMarketing Research, 5 (February), 58-63.

Han, Sang-pil and Sharon Shavitt (1994), "Persuasion and Culture:Advertising Appeals in Individualistic and CoUectivistic So-

SELF-CONSTRUAL AND COMMITMENT 849

cieties," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 30(July), 326-50,

Hong, Ying-yi, Michael Morris, Chi-yue Chiu, and Veronica Benet-Martinez (2000), "Multicultural Minds: A Dynamic Construc-tivist Approach to Culture and Cognition," American Psy-chologist, 55 (July), 709-20,

Jain, Shailendra P, and Durairaj Maheswaran (2000), "MotivatedReasoning: A Depth-of-Processing Perspective," Journal ofConsumer Research, 26 (March), 358-78,

Keisler, Charles A, (1971), The Psychology of Commitment: Ex-periments Linking Behavior to Belief, San Diego, CA:Academic,

Kuhn, Manford, H, and Thomas S, McPartland (1954), "An Em-pirical Investigation of Self-Attitudes," American Sociologi-cal Review, 19 (February), 68-76,

Lavine, Howard, Joseph, W, Huff, Stephen H, Wagner, and DonnaSweeney (1998), "The Moderating Influence of AttitudeStrength on the Susceptibility to Context Effects in AttitudeSurveys," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(August), 359-73,

Maheswaran, Durairaj and Shelly Chaiken (1991), "PromotingSystematic Processing in Low-Motivation Settings: Effect ofIncongruent Information on Processing and Judgment," Jour-nal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61 (January),13-25,

Markus, Hazel R, and Shinobu Kitayama (1991), "Culture and the

Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation,"Psychological Review, 98 (April), 224-53,

Oyserman, Daphna, Heather Coon, and Markus Kemmelmeier(2002), "Rethinking Individualism and Collectivism: Evalu-ation of Theoretical Assumptions and Meta-analyses," Psy-chological Bulletin, 128 (January), 3-72,

Pomerantz, Eva M,, Shelly Chaiken, and Rosalind S, Tordesillas(1995), "Attitude Strength and Resistance Processes," yowma/of Personality and Social Psychology, 69 (September),408-19,

Shavitt, Sharon (1990), "The Role of Attitude Objects in AttitudeFunctions," Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 26(March), 124-48,

Singelis, Theodore M, (1994), "The Measurement of Independentand Interdependent Self-Constnials," Personality and SocialPsychology Bulletin, 20 (October), 580-91,

Sirgy, M, Joseph (1982), "Self-Concept in Consumer-Behavior—aCritical Review," Journal of Consumer Research, 9 (Decem-ber), 287-300,

Tourangeau, Roger and Kenneth A, Rasinski (1988), "CognitiveProcesses Underlying Context Effects in Attitude Measure-ment," Psychological Bulletin, 103 (May), 299-14,

Wicklund, Robert A, and Peter M, Gollwitzer (1981), "SymbolicSelf-Completion, Attempted Influence, and Self-Depreca-tion," Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 2 (June), 89-114,