Date Available
6-2-2014
Year of Publication
2014
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
College
Business and Economics
Department/School/Program
Marketing and Supply Chain
First Advisor
Dr. Blair Kidwell
Second Advisor
Dr. David Hardesty
Abstract
Despite continued polarization along political party lines, it remains unclear how differences in political ideology impact the choices consumers make. The results of seven studies indicate that political ideology profoundly influences the way consumers think and behave. Liberals and conservatives are systematically drawn to distinct choice preferences where liberals prefer hedonic, novel, and desirable options, while conservatives prefer utilitarian, status quo, and feasible options. These findings are robust for multiple measures of political ideology across multiple choice sets. Differences in behavior are explained by the amount of deliberation used for a given decision. Liberals deliberate more than conservatives as they are more open to information while conservatives have a lower tolerance for ambiguous information. Implications for consumers, marketers, and policy makers are provided.
Recommended Citation
Farmer, Adam, "POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND CONSUMER PREFERENCES" (2014). Theses and Dissertations--Marketing and Supply Chain. 2.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/marketing_etds/2
