Abstract

Drawing upon prospect theory, we propose that the framings of a message describing the benefits of online shopping will have different impacts on consumers’ attitude toward and intention of online shopping. Particularly, a negatively framed message emphasizing the costs of losing the benefits is likely to be interpreted by an individual as loss and a positively framed message emphasizing the benefits of online shopping is likely to be interpreted as gain. According to prospect theory, the negatively framed message is more likely to increase one’s intention to shop online than the positively framed message. We also propose that such framing effect is moderated by purchase involvement. This research-in-progress paper presents the rationale behind these propositions, experimental designs to test these propositions, and the expected contributions. We contend that the findings will enhance our understanding about consumers’ online shopping and provide prescriptive knowledge regarding how to change their behavior.

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