Effects of Temperament Traits and Customer Involvement on Post-Purchase Cognitive Dissonance

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. candidate, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Ph.D., Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant professor, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Personality traits play a crucial role in shaping customer purchasing behavior. Cloninger's theory (1993) of temperament and character is a prominent framework in the field of psychology; yet, its application in marketing research has remained limited. Another significant construct in community psychology and marketing studies is cognitive dissonance, which examines post-purchase behavior. This study aimed to explore the impact of Cloninger's temperament dimensions on post-purchase cognitive dissonance, as well as the influence of customer involvement. The sample comprised 234 retail customers and the data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed using AMOS 23. The findings revealed that the temperament dimensions of harm avoidance and persistence positively affected post-purchase cognitive dissonance, while reward dependence had a significant negative effect. No significant relationship was observed between novelty seeking and cognitive dissonance. Additionally, customer involvement was found to have a positive effect on post-purchase cognitive dissonance.
 
Introduction
Cognitive dissonance as defined by Leon Festinger (1957) refers to the discomfort that arises from conflicts between beliefs, attitudes, or behavior. It encompasses both cognitive and emotional aspects (Sweeney et al., 2000). Previous studies have demonstrated that cognitive dissonance precedes satisfaction (Solomon et al., 2006; Chen, 2011; Sharifi & Esfidani, 2014; Lin et al., 2018). High levels of cognitive dissonance can lead to dissatisfaction (Wilkins et al., 2016, 2018). Moreover, personality traits have been found to influence customer purchase decisions. Cloninger's temperament model (Cloninger et al., 1993) is a recent personality model that has been extensively employed in various psychological studies (Moreira et al., 2022; Balestri et al., 2019). The model consists of 4 temperament dimensions: persistence, novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and reward dependence.
The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of Cloninger's temperament dimensions (Cloninger et al., 1993) on post-purchase cognitive dissonance (Sweeney et al., 2000). Additionally, the authors considered customer involvement as an independent variable, which had been previously linked to cognitive dissonance in several studies (Kim, 2011; Gbadamosi, 2009).
Based on the above, the following hypotheses were proposed:
H1: The temperament dimensions of Cloninger's model have an effect on customer’s post-purchase cognitive dissonance.
H1-1: Novelty seeking affects customer’s post-purchase cognitive dissonance.
H1-2: Harm avoidance affects customer’s post-purchase cognitive dissonance.
H1-3: Reward dependence affects customer’s post-purchase cognitive dissonance.
H1-4: Persistence affects customer’s post-purchase cognitive dissonance.
H2: Customer involvement influences customer’s post-purchase cognitive dissonance.
 
Methodology
The study population for this correlational-applied study consisted of all retail customers in Tehran, Iran. The sample size was determined to be 220 following the sample size criterion of Bentler and Chou (1987) (5 to 10 samples per estimated parameter). A total of 270 questionnaires were distributed to participants, out of which 234 questionnaires were completed, resulting in a response rate of 85%. Table 2 displays the demographic characteristics of the participants.
Data collection was conducted using a 45-item questionnaire. The items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Cognitive dissonance was assessed using a scale proposed by Wilkins et al. (2016) and adapted from the scale employed by Sweeney et al. (2000) (6 items). The temperamental dimensions of Cloninger's model were measured using TCI-56 as outlined by Adan et al. (2009) (each dimension consisting of 8 items). Additionally, customer involvement was assessed using the scale proposed by Zaichkowsky (1994) (7 items). Participants were instructed to complete the questionnaire while envisioning a product they had purchased in the previous year and were dissatisfied with its features.
 
Findings
The conceptual research model was tested in AMOS-23 using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method. The results are presented in Table 5 and Figure 2.
In the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)-based analysis, several indices were commonly used to assess the goodness of fit of models. In this study, the goodness of fit was evaluated using the following indices: χ2/df = 2.466, RMSEA = 0.077, PMR = 0.032, GFI = 0.918, NFI = 0.937, CFI = 0.911, IFI = 0.912. These indices indicated that the data fit the research model well (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988; Browne and Cudeck, 1992).
 
Conclusions
Cloninger's temperament model (Cloninger et al., 1993) is a recent personality model that has been widely employed in numerous psychological studies (Moreira et al., 2022; Marikyan et al., 2020; Zwir et al., 2020), but its application in marketing studies has remained limited (Huang et al., 2017; Liao et al., 2017).
The results of this study confirmed the relationship between the customers' temperament traits and their post-purchase cognitive dissonance. Furthermore, the findings indicated that increased cognitive dissonance led to customer dissatisfaction. Consequently, it is recommended that managers of different companies identify the personality traits of their customers, particularly those with a higher predisposition for cognitive dissonance. They should focus on cultivating relationship marketing and implementing customer-friendly return policies to mitigate cognitive dissonance and enhance customer satisfaction.
Additionally, the results established a positive relationship between customer involvement and cognitive dissonance. In other words, when customers attach greater importance to a purchased item, they are more susceptible to cognitive dissonance upon being satisfied with their purchase. Therefore, appropriate strategies, such as training sales staff (Sweeney et al., 2000) can be implemented to reduce customers' cognitive dissonance when purchasing high-involvement goods. Providing accurate and realistic information to customers also helps manage their expectations and subsequently reduces post-purchase cognitive dissonance.
 
 
 
 

Keywords

Main Subjects


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