The role of congruence between construal-level and psychological distance on the effect of hotel ads on purchase intention

In this dissertation, willingess to pay for hotel is examined from the perspective of the interaction between construal level of the decision maker and the hotel ad. Based on Construal Level Theory, the construal level of the hotel ad is manipulated and operationalized through temporal, social and spatial distance. Six studies were performed to accomplish the aim of the current dissertation. In Study-1, three hundred and fifty MTurk participants, who currently reside in the USA, were recruited for 2 X 2 between-subjects experiment. We also recruited MTurk participants for Study-2 (n = 404), Study-3 (n = 376), Study-4 (n = 426), Study-5 (n = 376), and Study-6 (n = 408). These studies were also adopted 2 X 2 between-subjects experimental design. The construal level of the hotel ad was manipulated and operationalized through temporal distance (Study-3), social distance (Study-4) and spatial distance (Study-5). In the Study-6, the construal level of the hotel ad was operationalized through the extent to which the ad is textual or pictural. Across six studies, we demonstrated that participants, who were assigned to a congruence condition in which the construal level of the participant and the hotel ad were consistent, had a higher willingness to pay for hotel than those participants, who were assigned to an incongruence condition in which the construal level of the participant and the hotel ad were not consistent.