Do the sunk cost effect and cognitive dissonance increase risk perception? An empirical study in the context of city smog

City smog is an increasingly severe environmental hazard in China. People are eager for ways to protect themselves from city smog. By utilizing two laboratory experiments based on real context of city smog, this paper investigates the impacts of sunk cost and cognitive dissonance on individuals’ ris...

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Main Authors: Qi, W., Guo, Xiumei, Wu, X., Marinova, Dora, Fan, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59515
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author Qi, W.
Guo, Xiumei
Wu, X.
Marinova, Dora
Fan, J.
author_facet Qi, W.
Guo, Xiumei
Wu, X.
Marinova, Dora
Fan, J.
author_sort Qi, W.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description City smog is an increasingly severe environmental hazard in China. People are eager for ways to protect themselves from city smog. By utilizing two laboratory experiments based on real context of city smog, this paper investigates the impacts of sunk cost and cognitive dissonance on individuals’ risk perception of city smog. In Experiment 1, the results show that the risk perception of individuals with a sunk cost is significantly higher than those without. Moreover, cognitive dissonance has a significant influence on risk perception. In Experiment 2, the results suggest that: (1) the risk perception of a consumer with a prevention focus is significantly greater than that of those with a promotion focus; (2) the risk perception of a prevention-oriented consumer with no sunk cost is similar to that of a promotion-oriented consumer with sunk cost. The study concludes with policy implications.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:16:46Z
publishDate 2017
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-595152018-08-13T23:44:41Z Do the sunk cost effect and cognitive dissonance increase risk perception? An empirical study in the context of city smog Qi, W. Guo, Xiumei Wu, X. Marinova, Dora Fan, J. City smog is an increasingly severe environmental hazard in China. People are eager for ways to protect themselves from city smog. By utilizing two laboratory experiments based on real context of city smog, this paper investigates the impacts of sunk cost and cognitive dissonance on individuals’ risk perception of city smog. In Experiment 1, the results show that the risk perception of individuals with a sunk cost is significantly higher than those without. Moreover, cognitive dissonance has a significant influence on risk perception. In Experiment 2, the results suggest that: (1) the risk perception of a consumer with a prevention focus is significantly greater than that of those with a promotion focus; (2) the risk perception of a prevention-oriented consumer with no sunk cost is similar to that of a promotion-oriented consumer with sunk cost. The study concludes with policy implications. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59515 10.1007/s11135-017-0662-9 Springer restricted
spellingShingle Qi, W.
Guo, Xiumei
Wu, X.
Marinova, Dora
Fan, J.
Do the sunk cost effect and cognitive dissonance increase risk perception? An empirical study in the context of city smog
title Do the sunk cost effect and cognitive dissonance increase risk perception? An empirical study in the context of city smog
title_full Do the sunk cost effect and cognitive dissonance increase risk perception? An empirical study in the context of city smog
title_fullStr Do the sunk cost effect and cognitive dissonance increase risk perception? An empirical study in the context of city smog
title_full_unstemmed Do the sunk cost effect and cognitive dissonance increase risk perception? An empirical study in the context of city smog
title_short Do the sunk cost effect and cognitive dissonance increase risk perception? An empirical study in the context of city smog
title_sort do the sunk cost effect and cognitive dissonance increase risk perception? an empirical study in the context of city smog
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/59515