The effects of self-awareness on consumer evaluation of experiential creation

Self-awareness is increasingly invoked in consumer contexts. The current studies find that self-awareness heightened during product creation interacts with consumers’ chronic self-focus tendency and the level of autonomy-constraint of the task to influence consumer experience. Prior findings suggest that (a) self-awareness makes individually valued standards salient and (b) consumers who are chronically more (less) self-conscious value conformity (autonomy). In line with these two prior findings, results of six studies show that when experiential creation involves constraints on autonomy (i.e., explicit guidance), self-aware consumers who are chronically more self-conscious evaluate experiential creation more favorably. In contrast, when products impose less constraints on autonomy (i.e., no explicit guidance), the opposite results emerge. The perceived fit between individuals’ esteemed standards and the level of autonomy-constraint inherent to the product interaction mediates these effects. This research advances the understanding of self-awareness theory by considering self-awareness evoked during experiential creation (vs. recalled in retrospect) and shedding new light on the effect of self-awareness on a task with rich experiential value.