How Choosing for Others Affects Consumption for the Self: The Consequences of Preference Imposition and Accommodation

• Author / Creator

  Akkoc, Ali Utku

• Consumers make choices not only for themselves but for others. For example, parents make a variety of consumption decisions in a typical day for themselves as well as for their family. Yet, little is known about how decisions made for others influence the decision maker’s subsequent consumption. Identifying two approaches—imposition and accommodation—that are available to decision makers, this dissertation provides insights into how choosing for another person affects the healthiness of one’s own subsequent consumption preferences and tests a power-based framework which explains the psychological process underlying this phenomenon. Looking at consumption choices adults make for children, four experiments and one field study demonstrate that imposing a consumption choice on others makes individuals feel more powerful relative to accommodating the target’s preferences, and subsequently leads decision makers to make more indulgent choices for themselves. Moreover, findings show that the social context of consumption moderates the effects of imposition and accommodation on the decision maker’s own choices. Finally, the results rule out licensing and guilt as alternative explanations. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Self-other Decision Making
  • Sequential Decision Making
  • Imposition and Accommodation
  • Power and Indulgence

• Graduation date

  Fall 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3Q52FJ7S

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.