The direct and indirect influences of human values on product ownership

The present study proposes a conceptual model of how consumers' choice of p roducts may be influenced by the human values that they endorse, The model suggests that values can influence product choice directly or indirectly de pending on the meaning of the product and the kind of judgement used to eva luate that meaning, Specifically, values would have a direct influence on p roduct choice when consumers attend to a product's symbolic meaning and mak e an affective judgement, and have an indirect influence (via tangible attr ibute importance) when consumers attend to a product's utilitarian meaning and make a piecemeal judgement. To test the hypothesis, we developed scales to measure preferences for the two broad types of meanings and judgements, and then tested the associations between these scales and the direct and i ndirect influences of human values on product ownership. Results based on t he ownership of smaller or larger family cars and of sunglasses all confirm ed the hypothesis. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Psyc INFO classification: 3900; 3920; 2229; 3000 JEL classification. D11; D12.