TY - JOUR
T1 - The chameleon in consumers
T2 - Development and validation of a scale to measure Consumers' Cognitive Flexibility
AU - Benninger, Nadine
AU - Roosen, Jutta
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Psychology & Marketing published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2024/10
Y1 - 2024/10
N2 - This paper introduces a new scale, the Consumers' Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CCF-Scale). Consumers' Cognitive Flexibility (CCF) is conceptualized as the adaptation to changes in the environment and to product options by exhibiting flexible thoughts, feelings, and actions. This scale is a new measure of consumers' mental capabilities to understand and evaluate unknown products. Especially, really new products (RNPs) are highly innovative and different from well-known products in the market. A flexible mindset can help integrate RNPs into existing knowledge structures. The CCF-Scale was developed and tested with four prestudies and four representative studies with 1057, 696, 494 German, and 506 US consumers. The prestudies were used to ensure face and content validity and to select products for criterion validity. The findings demonstrate a reliable and valid scale in both countries consisting of 14 items with three CCF-facets: Coping (with consumption problems), Perspective (change for product/information evaluation), and Alignment (to changes in the environment). Results show that the CCF-facets help explain RNP-acceptance across different categories (e.g., food, furniture, and digital services). One limitation is the article's focus on RNPs. Still, marketers can use these findings to adjust instructions on how to use RNPs and to communicate more effectively, for example by using analogies.
AB - This paper introduces a new scale, the Consumers' Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CCF-Scale). Consumers' Cognitive Flexibility (CCF) is conceptualized as the adaptation to changes in the environment and to product options by exhibiting flexible thoughts, feelings, and actions. This scale is a new measure of consumers' mental capabilities to understand and evaluate unknown products. Especially, really new products (RNPs) are highly innovative and different from well-known products in the market. A flexible mindset can help integrate RNPs into existing knowledge structures. The CCF-Scale was developed and tested with four prestudies and four representative studies with 1057, 696, 494 German, and 506 US consumers. The prestudies were used to ensure face and content validity and to select products for criterion validity. The findings demonstrate a reliable and valid scale in both countries consisting of 14 items with three CCF-facets: Coping (with consumption problems), Perspective (change for product/information evaluation), and Alignment (to changes in the environment). Results show that the CCF-facets help explain RNP-acceptance across different categories (e.g., food, furniture, and digital services). One limitation is the article's focus on RNPs. Still, marketers can use these findings to adjust instructions on how to use RNPs and to communicate more effectively, for example by using analogies.
KW - RNPs
KW - cognitive flexibility
KW - consumer innovativeness
KW - innovation acceptance
KW - measurement
KW - really new products
KW - scale development
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85196673577&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/mar.22064
DO - 10.1002/mar.22064
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85196673577
SN - 0742-6046
VL - 41
SP - 2448
EP - 2462
JO - Psychology and Marketing
JF - Psychology and Marketing
IS - 10
ER -