Framing Goals to Influence Personal Savings: The Role of Specificity and Construal Level
作者通过四项实验发现，改变消费者对储蓄目标的思考方式，就能影响其实际储蓄金额。具体而言，消费者可以（1）设定或不设定精确的储蓄金额（目标具体性），以及（2）关注如何储蓄或为何储蓄（解释水平）。结果显示，当储蓄目标处于高解释水平（关注为何储蓄）时，具体目标能促使人们存更多钱；而当目标处于低解释水平（关注如何储蓄）时，非具体目标反而更有效。这一模式在预期储蓄成功率和实际储蓄中均成立。中介分析表明，对于高解释水平者，具体目标因被视为更重要而促进储蓄；但对于低解释水平者，具体目标因被视为更困难而产生挫败感，从而降低储蓄效果。
In four studies, the authors show that consumers’ savings can be increased or decreased merely by changing the way consumers think about their saving goals. Consumers can (1) either specify or not specify an exact amount to save (goal specificity) and (2) focus on either how to save or why to save (construal level). The results illustrate that specific goals help consumers save more when the saving goal is construed at a high level but that nonspecific goals help consumers save more when the saving goal is construed at a low level. The same pattern of results occurs with anticipated saving success and actual savings. Mediation analyses reveal that for high-level construers, specific (vs. nonspecific) goals lead to success because they are perceived as more important. However, specific (vs. nonspecific) goals are also perceived as more difficult, which is more discouraging for low-level construers.