Message assertiveness and price discounts: differences between hedonic and utilitarian consumption

Abstract

Marketers often use assertive messages to advocate for prosocial causes. Paradoxically, however, assertive messages often provoke reactance. The authors conduct two laboratory experiments to examine whether consumers’ reactions to assertive (vs. non-assertive) messages will vary when they receive price discounts (vs. no discount) at the time they make purchases, with hedonic versus utilitarian purchase intentions as moderators. The results show that discounts alleviate the guilt associated with hedonic consumption, resulting in gratitude and willingness to reciprocate by complying with assertive (vs. non-assertive) prosocial messages. Nonassertive and assertive messages are equally persuasive for utilitarian consumption, regardless of price discount.

Keywords:

• Prosocial behavior
• message assertiveness
• price discount
• hedonic/utilitarian consumption

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data sets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available.