What this publication covers
Frames goal-directed behavior as a hierarchy connecting action plans, more abstract goals, values, and motives. The article also shows how to study these relationships empirically through exploratory research on consumers' goals during weight loss.
How this reference can help
Use as a theoretical foundation for discussing methodological choices and research quality.
Curated by Ricardo Martins
View the original abstract 🇺🇸 🇬🇧
This paper presents a conceptualization of goal-directed consumer behavior in terms of a hierarchical st~ure oi increasingly more abstract goals which are connected to one another through means-end relat/onships. The g~| structure incorporates both the relatively concrete level of specific action plans, which is concerned with the how of behavior, and the more abstract level of values and motives, which provide the ultimate reasons for t~Jrsuing a course of action and thus constitute the why of behavior. We also discuss how goal structures can he assessed empirically, and we illustrate the procedure through an exploratory study of the higher-level goals under~mg consumers' weight loss behaviors. To demonstrate the value of taking a structural perspective on goals, we provkte evidence that knowledge of the means-end connections between goals yields important information ~ con- sumers' involvement with weight loss, and that this i_n_fo..rm..at~n_ can_.rm_t ~ gained from a k._n~.:w!ed~e of the ~oa.~ alone.