The effect of construal level theory: utilitarian and hedonic utility context

This study is one of the first to systematically examine the relationship between individuals' ways of representing events and objects at abstract or concrete levels within the Construal Level Theory and their hedonistic and utilitarian products attributes. While the effect of construal level on consumer preferences has been examined to a limited extent in the literature, this thesis offers a two-pronged assessment, covering both persistent tendencies at the personal trait level and temporary cognitive orientations manipulated at the situational state level. The first study tested the relationship between personal construal levels and product feature preferences; it was found that individuals with low construal levels consistently gravitated toward utilitarian product features, with no significant difference in terms of hedonistic preferences. In the second study, the state-level of interpretation was manipulated using a why/how framing, and it was shown that individuals directed toward a high level preferred hedonic product features, while those directed toward a low level preferred utilitarian product features. These findings contribute to the consumer behavior literature by revealing that hedonic and utilitarian evaluations are influenced not only by the product's structure but also by the individual's current level of interpretation. Thus, the study demonstrates that the level of construal provides a robust framework for explaining product feature preferences, both theoretically and empirically.