When categorization ambiguity exists, category inferences about hybrid innovations can be induced across a single or multiple categories by taking not only a "stimulus-driven" category activation (g., utilizing some salient cues) but also a “goal-driven” category activation (e.g., goal activation). In the situation where consumers are exposed to the ad for a hybrid innovation while either being committed or not being committed to the goal related to the product category constituting the hybrid innovation, thus, this research focuses on key factors contributing to category inferences and subsequent evaluations of multifinal hybrid innovations: the nature of the category cue (perceptual vs. conceptual), category familiarity, and goal commitment. That is, this research examines how the inferences and subsequent evaluations of multifinal hybrid products change depending on the relative weights that consumers give to the nature of the category cue and whether these weights vary according to category familiarity and goal commitment relevant to each constituent product category.
In the situation where consumers are exposed to the print ad for a hybrid innovation while either being committed or not being committed to the goal related to the product category constituting the hybrid innovation, three experimental studies were conducted to examine how the presence or absence of consumers’ salient goals influence category inferences and subsequent evaluations of multifinal hybrid products as a function of stimulus-driven category activation through the nature of the category cue and category familiarity as a moderator. In addition, we identified the conditions under which multifinal hybrid products seen to serve multiple goals are evaluated more favorably in the presence or absence of a salient goal.
Concerning inferences of hybrid innovations, results from three experiments indicate that when a hybrid product (HF-HF', HF-LF, LF-LF') is described in terms of conflicting conceptual and perceptual category cues, (a) category inferences are largely based on the perceptually cued high-familiarity category (i.e., single category inference strategy) when a high-familiarity category of the hybrid product is perceptually cued in the ad, even in the presence of the active conflicting (i.e., conceptually cued category-relevant) goal (hypotheses 1-1 and 3); (b) when a low-familiarity category included in the hybrid product is perceptually cued in the ad, multiple category inference strategy is employed where inferences are based on both the perceptually and conceptually cued categories (hypotheses 1-2); (c) when a hybrid product is represented perceptually by one low-familiarity category and conceptually by the other high-familiarity category in the presence of (perceptually/LF or conceptually/HF' cued category-relevant) goal activation, category inference strategy changes depending on the familiarity of the goal-relevant category (hypothesis 4)-more specifically, when the conceptually cued HF category-relevant goal is active, a single category inference strategy is employed where inferences are based mainly on the goal-relevant conceptually cued category, whereas a multiple category inference strategy is employed where inferences are based on both the perceptually and conceptually cued categories when the perceptually cued LF category-relevant goal is active (hypotheses 4-1 and 4-2); (d) when two low-familiarity categories included in the hybrid product is described in terms of conflicting conceptual and perceptual category cues in the presence of goal activation (i.e., when the perceptually or conceptually cued category-relevant goal is active), single category inference strategy is employed where inferences are based on the goal-relevant category (hypothesis 5).
Moreover, results with regard to evaluations of hybrid innovations show that when a hybrid product (HF-H', HF-LF, LF-LF') is described in terms of conflicting conceptual and perceptual category cues, (a) the hybrid product in which a multiple category inference strategy is used is evaluated more favorably than the hybrid product in which a single category inference strategy is used (hypothesis 2); (b) valuation effect for a hybrid product occurs when the compatible (i.e., perceptually cued category-relevant) goal is active, whereas devaluation effect for it does when the conflicting (i.e., conceptually cued category-relevant) goal is active (hypothesis 6); and (c) goal activation leads to more favorable evaluations when there is compatibility between a salient goal-relevant category from top-down goal activation and the activated category from a stimulus-driven approach through the nature of category cues (i.e., the perceptually cued category) than when there is conflict between them (hypothesis 7). Taken together, these results indicate that multifinal hybrid product evaluations are a function not simply of goal activation but also-and more importantly-of the compatibility between a salient (active) goal and the specific activated category through stimulus-driven category activation. They also indicate that, contrary to conventional belief, the preference for a multifinal hybrid product may not always rise with the number of goals attached to the hybrid product. Although the preference for the hybrid product may increase in situations in which all such goals are simultaneously active, it is likely to suffer when only one of the several goals associated with it is active.
