ABSTRACT
From deciding which dessert to order to choosing which airline to fly so that one can accrue more “frequent flyer” points, consumer behavior is largely goal driven. Goals can be broadly dichotomized into attainment and maintenance goals: Whereas in attainment goals, the actual state differs from the desired state (e.g., decrease one’s weight from 165 pounds to 164 pounds), in maintenance goals the actual and the desired states match and need to remain matched (e.g., keep one’s weight at 165 pounds or less). Although extant research examined how valuation of one’s labor (Brodscholl, Kober, and Higgins, 2007), satisfaction (Koo and Fishbach, 2010), and perceived difficulty (Stamatogiannakis, Chattopadhyay, and Chakravarti, 2010) differ between the two goal types, it is unclear under what circumstances consumers are more likely and more motivated to pursue each type of goal. It is also unknown whether and how consumers from different segments of the population and different cultures will behave differently toward the two goal types—an issue that affects firms’ market segmentation and internationalization endeavors. The current research seeks to fill these gaps in the literature.
