A Model of Consumer Self-Regulation Failure

Self-regulation is fundamental to consumers’ ability to achieve their goals. Most existing self-regulation models focus on the psychological processes that promote goal-consistent behavior. These models often assume that when individuals are motivated and have the ability to regulate their behavior, they are more likely to act consistently with their goals (Shiv and Fedorikhin 1999). However, there is abundant evidence that external factors can lead to self-regulation failures, even when consumers are sufficiently motivated and have the ability to self-regulate. Thus, a more complete model of consumer self-regulation is needed to account for how consumers respond to external factors. The current research introduces a model of consumer self-regulation failure that explains how external factors shape consumers’ ability to act consistent with their goals and when these factors are more likely to undermine self-regulation. The model proposes that many self-regulation failures occur because two processes involved in self-regulation (performance monitoring and the inhibition of behavior) make consumers more like to rely on external cues. A key process involved in self-regulation is performance monitoring, which involves a comparison of behavior (past or current) with a desired end state (Carver and Scheier 1990). During this process, however, consumers may disengage from the goal, if they perceive that the goal has been achieved or violated in some way. While consumers often determine goal achievement or failure by explicitly tracking their goal performance, consumers also rely on external cues associated with goal achievement and failure. Thus, when these cues are present, people who are more engaged in performance monitoring during efforts at self-regulation should act more inconsistently with their goals.