【公开学术报告】I need to get better at this: The Impact of Political Ideology on The Preference for Self-Improvement Products

I need to get better at this: The Impact of Political Ideology on The Preference for Self-Improvement Products

Guest Speaker: Xianyu (Bonnie) Hao(University of Minnesota)

Date & Time:    14:00-15:30 (Beijing Time), Tue. 5th, Nov. 2024

Classroom:     Room 2101, Tongji Building A

ABSTRACT

While political ideology has been found to impact consumers’ product preferences, little is known about its impact on self-improvement products. These products are options that can help consumers improve an important aspect of the self. In six studies (including one study in the Web Appendix, N = 1367), we demonstrate that consumers’ preference for self-improvement products are contingent on their political ideology. Conservatives favor self-improvement products more than liberals across different domains (physical health, sociability, and intelligence). This occurs because 1) conservatives’ social dominance orientation motivates them to improve themselves so they might socially dominate others, and 2) conservatives have a relatively high belief in their ability to improve, as a consequence of which they believe they can achieve their goal of improving themselves so as to socially dominate others. We further show that when liberals are boosted with a social dominance orientation, and when they are primed to believe that they can indeed improve, liberals’ preferences for self-improvement products also increase. These findings contribute to the literatures on political ideology, self-improvement products, and social dominance orientation, and provide implications for practitioners.

Keywords: political ideology, self-improvement products, social dominance orientation, locus of control