The After Effects of Choice: How Choice Influences Consumers' Self-Perceptions and Subsequent Behavior

Previous consumer research illuminates the cyclical nature of the self-concept in consumers’ decision-making process. People are motivated to understand and develop an accurate view of themselves, and rely on perceptions of their own choices as important information to do so. In this dissertation, I examine two situations linking choice with the formation of critical self-perceptions. Specifically, I identify two contexts where consumers view choice as indicative of the self-importance of the characteristics and identities they possess. Consequently, these choices serve as drivers of consumers’ subsequent behavior in seemingly unrelated yet important decision contexts. I explore these effects within two avenues of research that hold substantive importance but in which the role of consumer identity has yet to be fully understood. These two areas of research are (1) the influence of defaults and (2) brand scope (i.e., local vs. national) characteristics on consumer choice, respectively. This research extends our knowledge of consumer identity to new contexts and provides a more robust understanding of the dynamic nature between consumer identity and choice.