The Sequential Choice Effect Adjusting the Effects of Promotions on
Purchases of Hedonic Products
Naoki Akamatsu
Meiji Gakuin University

Cite as:Akamatsu Naoki (2020), The Sequential Choice Effect Adjusting the Effects ofPromotions on Purchases of Hedonic Products. Proceedings of the European
Marketing Academy, 49th, (62912)

The Sequential Choice Effect Adjusting the Effects of Promotions on
Purchases of Hedonic Products

abstract
This study showed that the effect of promotions in the choice of hedonic products is
attenuated by consumers’ consideration of their experience of previous impulsive purchasebehavior.
Two scenario-based experiments were conducted. The results indicated (1) that the effectof promotion in the subsequent choice of hedonic items was more attenuated when consumers
had previously experienced impulse purchases and (2) that this adjustment effect did notoccur in choosing utilitarian items. It was further confirmed (3) that with reference to thepsychological mechanism of (1), even if consumers who had previously experienced impulse
purchases encountered promotions at the time of a subsequent choice, the degree ofjustification for this choosing was reduced.
These findings represent an extension of the existing theory about promotional effects onhedonic items. Especially we confirmed the sequential choice effect as an adjusting factor andindicated the justification based mechanism.

keywords
Promotion; hedonic product; sequential choice effecttrack
Consumer Behavior

1The Sequential Choice Effect Adjusting the Effects of Promotions on
Purchases of Hedonic Products

1. Introduction
Consumers often perceive the justification for purchasing hedonic products by receiving
marketing promotions. Thus, the effects of promotions on purchases of hedonic items areindicated in some existing research (e.g. Khan & Dhar, 2010; Kivetz & Zheng, 2017;
Strahilevitz & Myers, 1998).
This study examines the factors that adjust the effect of promotions in the purchase ofhedonic products. Specific attention is paid to the effect that a certain choice has on themethod and result of subsequent choices (sequential choice effect), clarifying the ways inwhich this effect adjusts the effect of promotions.
Two scenario-based experiments were conducted in Japan. The results indicated (1) thatthe effect of promotion in the subsequent choice of hedonic products was more attenuatedwhen consumers had previously experienced impulse purchases and (2) that this adjustment
effect did not occur when consumers were choosing utilitarian items. It was further confirmed(3) that with reference to the psychological mechanism of (1), even if consumers who had
previously experienced impulse purchases encountered promotional material at the time of asubsequent choice, the degree of justification for the choice of that product was reduced.
These findings represent an extension of the existing theory about promotional effects onhedonic items. Especially we confirmed the sequential choice effect as an adjusting factor andindicated the psychological mechanism using the concept of justification identified in extant
research.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development
In extant studies on the effect of marketing promotions in the choice of hedonic items, thebasic premise is that the choice of hedonic items over utilitarian items is associated with guilt(O’Curry & Strahilevitz 2001; Lascu 1991) because this choice is more difficult to justify(Dhar & Wertenbroch, 2012; Mick & Faure, 1998; Okada, 2005). Thus, in extant research, the2effect of promotions is analyzed as one factor that constructs justification for the choice ofhedonic items.
In particular, Khan and Dhar (2010) demonstrated that if one product was discounted as aresult of buying a utilitarian product and a hedonic product together as a set, the probability ofpurchase was higher under conditions where the hedonic product was discounted than it wasunder conditions where the utilitarian product was discounted. Rewards from loyalty
programs (Kivert & Simonson, 2002; Kivetz & Zheng, 2017) and the provision ofopportunities for charity contributions (Strahilevitz & Myers, 1998) have also been shown topromote the choice of hedonic products.
In existing research, the effect of promotions is analyzed upon hypothesizing a choice
scenario at a certain point in time and decision-making within a specific product category.
However, in actual consumer behavior, there are many scenarios where multiple and varied
choices are made sequentially. In addition, recent studies of consumer decision-making haveconfirmed the impact of certain choices on subsequent choices (e.g. Dhar and Simonson,1999). Using these findings makes it possible to analyze the influence of promotional effect,hypothesizing a more accurate context to the choice that considers the situation in relation to
the consumer sequential choices.
Research on consumer sequential choices has shown that restraining impulse purchases in
pre-purchase scenarios increases the justification for choosing a hedonic product in thesubsequent choice, and as a result, it promotes the choosing hedonic items (Mukhopadhyay &Johar, 2009). Other research has also found that when study participants had previously madean altruistic choice, they perceived that they had license to subsequently choose a hedonicproduct (Khan & Dhar, 2006). These tendencies were reversed when participants had
previously experienced impulse purchases or rejected an altruistic choice, implying that it ismore difficult to perceive the justification for the subsequent choice of hedonic products.
Thus, it can be predicted that if consumers have previously experienced impulse
purchases, the effect of marketing promotion in the choice of hedonic products will notincrease the perceived degree of justification for that choosing, and as a result, an intention topurchase is less likely to be formed.
H1：The effect of sequential choice adjusting promotional effect:
The effect of a promotion on the subsequent choice of hedonic products will decrease if
consumers have previous experience of impulse purchases.
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H2：The psychological mechanism by which promotional effect facilitates the purchase ofhedonic products:(H2.1) When a promotion is implemented in the choice of a hedonic product, the perceived
justification of that choice is increased, and as a result, the intention to purchase is furtherincreased.
(H2.2) Even if a promotion is implemented in the choice of a hedonic product, if theconsumers have previously experienced impulse purchasing, the perceived justification of thatchoice will be negatively affected.

3. Study 1: Test of the sequential choice effect to adjust the effect of promotions on
hedonic and utilitarian products
3.1 Method
Using a market research company focus group, a scenario-based experiment wasconducted with Japanese participants (n: 532). The experiment employed a between-subjects
design with three conditions relating to choice context (promotion with previous experienceof purchase; promotion without previous experience of purchase; no promotion and noprevious experience of purchase), and two conditions relating to the content of the choice task
(hedonic product; utilitarian product).
For previous purchase experience, a scenario was presented in which an impulse purchase(a sweater) had been made one week previously. In other conditions, previous purchasescenarios were not presented. For the content of the choice task, the same product (earphones)
was set and manipulated to represent a hedonic product or utilitarian product, according to its
purpose of use (Kivetz & Zheng, 2017): either as earphones for the enjoyment of music or as
earphones for studying English conversation.
For the promotion conditions, participants were told that a price of 2000 yen(approximately $18) had been discounted to 1400 yen (approximately $12.5), and for thenon-promotion conditions, participants were offered only the price of 1400 yen, without being
told that the product had been discounted. After presenting these scenarios to participants, wemeasured the justification and purchase intent in relation to the earphones being selected.
43.2 Results and discussion
The measurement variables are shown in Table 1, and a manipulation check is shown inTable 2. Consequent to an analysis of variance with the purchase intention as a dependent
variable (Figure 1), the interaction effect between the choice context conditions and thecontent of the choice task was shown to be significant. Significant differences were confirmed
only between the different choice contexts for hedonic products. In particular, the conditions
with promotion and with previous purchase experience (M = 3.12, t = 3.67, p < .01) and theconditions without promotion (M = 3.10, t = 3.98, p < .01) showed a significantly lower
intention to purchase when compared with the conditions with promotion (M=3.99).

On the basis of these results, it was confirmed that the effect of promotion was exhibited
only when participants were choosing hedonic products, which is in line with existing
research. In addition, even when participants encountered promotion, H1 was confirmed
because it was shown that when an impulse purchase had been previously made, purchaseintention was reduced to the same extent as that it was under the condition with no promotion.
In other words, it became clear that the effect of promotion was adjusted by the sequential
choice effect.

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Table1: Measurement scale and manipulation checkmeasurement scale
Purchase
Intention
Study1
Justification

Study2

Purchase
IntentionM

I want to buy this item.

3.51

I want to choose this item.

3.51

In this case, I think that buying this item is very right.

3.58

In this case, I think that buying this item is very smart.

3.55

In this case, I think that buying this item is not wrong.

3.9

I want to buy this item.

4.63

Cronbach's α.97.93※ 7-point scale: 1 = strongly disagree, 7= strongly agree.

Table2 Manipulation Check :earphones for fun or study
Study1

I think that these earphones are hedonic items.

Mfun= 4.03, M study = 3.63, t =-3.30, p < .01

I think that these earphones are utilitarian items.

Mfun= 4.13, Mstudy = 4.43, t =2.48, p < .05

I think that these earphones are attractive items.

Mfun= 3.93, Mstudy =3.87 , t =-.54, p = .59※ 7-point scale: 1 = strongly disagree, 7= strongly agree.

Subsequently, a mediation analysis was performed on a sample of participants who hadprovided answers regarding their choice of hedonic products (Figure 2). The presence orabsence of promotion was set as an independent variable; purchase intention was set as adependent variable; and the degree of perceived justification was set as a mediator variable(Figure 2, left). The results indicated that promotion increased the justification for the choiceof hedonic products, and thus, it increased the purchase intention, which was in accordancewith trends shown in extant research (H2.1).
However, these results also indicated that even with promotion, the effect on justificationdiffered, depending on whether participants had previous purchase experience (Figure 2,right). It became clear that if participants had previous purchase experience, there was anegative impact on justification even if they encountered promotion (H2.2). Thus, we canconclude that the degree of perceived justification is one of the mechanisms by which
promotion effect is adjusted by the sequential choice effect.

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4. Study 2: The Replication of Study 1 with a Different Experiment Design
4.1 Method
The scenario-based experiment was conducted with Japanese participants (n: 302). The
experiment employed a between-subjects design with two conditions relating to participants’purchase experience (with or without previous purchase experience), and two conditions
relating to promotion (with or without promotion). In Study 2, only hedonic products (books
related to participants’ interests) were set as choice tasks, and purchase intention wasmeasured. The conditions with the previous purchase experience scenario were thatparticipants had purchased a jacket a week previously. For promotion conditions, participants
were told that a price of 2000 yen had been discounted to 1400 yen, while for non-promotion
conditions, participants were offered only the price of 1400 yen, without being told that theproduct had been discounted.
4.2 Results and discussion
From the results of an analysis of variance (Figure 3) with purchase intention as adependent variable, it was shown that there was a significant interaction effect in relation towhether participants had previous purchase experience and whether promotion was used; amultiple comparison was therefore carried out. The results showed that with promotion,7

purchase intention was significantly lower when participants had previous purchaseexperience than it was otherwise. This shows the same result as Study 1. In addition, without
promotion, the difference in purchasing intention was more pronounced, depending on thepresence or absence of previous purchase experience.
Furthermore, even if participants did have previous choice experience, there was adifference in purchasing intention with and without promotion (M promotion = 4.72, M
no-promotion = 3.77, F (1, 298) = 16.75, p < .01). The foregoing discussion indicates that evenif participants had previous purchase experience, exposure to promotion in subsequent choice
scenarios tended to reduce the sense of guilt and create an intention to purchase.

5. Conclusion and Implications
This study showed that the effect of marketing promotions in the choice of hedonic
products is attenuated by consumers’ consideration of their experience of previous impulsive
purchase behavior. That is to say, this study contributes to the extension of the existing theory
by presenting a new adjustment factor for promotional effect. By focusing on the concept ofjustification, this study was able to make an additional contribution to the theoreticalconfirmation of the psychological mechanism that adjusts promotional effect.

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