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Do life events always lead to change in purchase? The mediating role of change in consumer innovativeness, the variety seeking tendency, and price consciousness

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Abstract

Consumers can experience major life events (e.g., the birth of a child or retirement) that have key strategic managerial implications for firms in terms of creating new market segments as well as preventing defection from existing brands. Therefore, in the context of a consumer-based strategy, this study investigates whether life events change actual purchase behavior as well as how three important and managerially actionable consumer difference variables (consumer innovativeness, the variety seeking tendency, and price consciousness) mediate this link. Purchase records of an individual-level consumer panel, combined with demographic and survey data over a three-year period, indicate that there is a direct link between life events and changes in share of wallet (SOW) and share of units (SOU) for the preferred brand in a product category. Further, experiencing a life event leads to an increase in consumer innovativeness that, in turn, decreases SOW/SOU for the preferred brand for some purchases, while at the same time leading to a decrease in consumers’ variety seeking tendency and price consciousness for others that, in turn, lead to an increase in SOW/SOU. These findings suggest a paradox of change that can both enhance and inhibit purchasing new brands. Finally, the effects of first-time life events (i.e., significant markers in the course of life that occur for the first time) are stronger than the effects of repeated life events, and life events with a positive economic impact have a strong negative effect on change in price consciousness.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank GfK, especially Wolfgang Twardawa, Raimund Wildner, and Thomas Bachl, for providing support in acquiring the data. They also thank JB Steenkamp, S. Ratneshwar, and the JAMS review team for helpful comments on previous drafts of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GfK-Chair of Marketing Intelligence, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Lange Gasse 20, 90403, Nuremberg, Germany

    Nicole Koschate-Fischer & Jan Engling

  2. James L. Bayless/William S. Farish Fund Chair for Free Enterprise, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station B6000, Austin, TX, 78712-0201, USA

    Wayne D. Hoyer

  3. Department of Strategic Management, Marketing, and Tourism, University of Innsbruck, Universitaetsstr. 15, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Nicola E. Stokburger-Sauer

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  1. Nicole Koschate-Fischer
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  2. Wayne D. Hoyer
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Correspondence to Nicole Koschate-Fischer.

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John Hulland served as Area Editor for this article.

Appendix

Appendix

Measures for consumer difference variables

Unless otherwise noted, we assessed the measures on five-point Likert scales, where 1 = “completely disagree” and 5 = “completely agree.” The relevant literature for scale items appears in parentheses.

Consumer Innovativeness (adapted from Ailawadi et al. 2001 ; Roehrich 2004 ); α = .86, CR = .88, AVE = .72

  1. 1.

    I like to try new products.

  2. 2.

    I buy products that others do not even know of.

  3. 3.

    I often buy new products before other people do.

Variety Seeking Tendency (adapted from Ailawadi et al. 2001 ; Baumgartner and Steenkamp 1996 ); α = .77, CR = .82, AVE = .61

  1. 1.

    Even if I am satisfied with things, I switch to different brands, products, or types just to try something different.

  2. 2.

    If I like a brand, I stick with it. (reverse coded)

Price Consciousness (adapted from Ailawadi et al. 2001 ; Sinha and Batra 1999 ); α = .84, CR = .78, AVE = .72

  1. 1.

    I specifically search for brands on sale.

  2. 2.

    I compare prices of at least a few brands before I choose one.

  3. 3.

    I usually buy the brand that is on sale.

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Koschate-Fischer, N., Hoyer, W.D., Stokburger-Sauer, N.E. et al. Do life events always lead to change in purchase? The mediating role of change in consumer innovativeness, the variety seeking tendency, and price consciousness. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 46, 516–536 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-017-0548-3

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