Price Promotions Are Inherently More Arousing for Interdependents

The ubiquity of promotions and price discounts has prompted much research to understand how consumers respond to deals. In this research, we present an affective perspective for why some consumers may be more deal prone than others. Specifically, we propose that for interdependents (vs. independents), chancing upon a deal leads to heightened arousal and greater purchase intention for the discounted product. We further propose that this effect arises because interdependents (vs. independents) are more likely to possess a comparative mindset. Findings from five studies provide converging evidence to support our propositions. Across the studies, we adopt different operationalizations of self-construal (via country, cultural prime, self-construal scale and prime), measures of arousal (skin conductance and self-report measures) and use different product categories. We further show that when a comparative mindset is made salient for independents and interdependents, the observed effect dissipates.