THE EFFECTS OF THE REGULATORY FOCUS OF A MENTAL SIMULATION ON PREFERENCE OF HEDONIC AND UTILITARIAN REALLY NEW PRODUCTS

In this empirical study, we attempt to study the effects of regulatory focused (promotion vs. prevention) mental simulation on evaluation and purchase intention of really new products, when its hedonic benefits are highlighted, and when its utilitarian benefits highlighted. We expose the participants to a regulatory focused mental simulation 2 (promotion vs. prevention) x then present them with a product description of an RNP 2 (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and study the differences in their evaluation of the product as well as their purchase intention. Our findings suggest that brief regulatory focused mental simulations, that can be reproduced in real-life environment, are not effective enough to impact the evaluation of hedonic and utilitarian RNPs.