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Heart or brain? An Experimental Study on the Effect of Rational and Emotional Communication on Purchase Intention for Running Shoes

Nyberg, Love and Anderberg, Oscar LU (2026) SKDK11 20261
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract
This study examines the extent to which rational communication influences consumer purchase intention for running shoes compared to emotional communication, and whether gender and need for cognition (NFC) moderate this relationship. Drawing on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) as its theoretical framework, the study employed a between-subjects experimental design with a randomized online survey distributed to active runners via a Swedish Facebook group (n = 323). Participants were randomly assigned to either a rational or emotional infographic advertisement for a fictitious running shoe brand. Purchase intention was operationalized using five items adapted from Dodds et al. (1991), and NFC was measured with a six-item scale from... (More)
This study examines the extent to which rational communication influences consumer purchase intention for running shoes compared to emotional communication, and whether gender and need for cognition (NFC) moderate this relationship. Drawing on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) as its theoretical framework, the study employed a between-subjects experimental design with a randomized online survey distributed to active runners via a Swedish Facebook group (n = 323). Participants were randomly assigned to either a rational or emotional infographic advertisement for a fictitious running shoe brand. Purchase intention was operationalized using five items adapted from Dodds et al. (1991), and NFC was measured with a six-item scale from Coelho et al. (2020). Results from independent samples t-tests, two-way ANOVA, and ANCOVA showed no statistically significant main effect of communication style on purchase intention (t = 1.46, p = .145, d = 0.163), and gender did not moderate this relationship. NFC showed no significant overall moderating effect, though an exploratory subgroup analysis indicated that respondents with low NFC, particularly women, responded more strongly to rational communication (p = .035, d = 0.44). The findings suggest that neither communication style alone is sufficient for a product that activates consumers on both functional and lifestyle dimensions simultaneously, and that NFC may be a more relevant segmentation variable than gender in this context. (Less)
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author
Nyberg, Love and Anderberg, Oscar LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKDK11 20261
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Purchase intention, rational communication, emotional communication, running shoes, Elaboration Likelihood Model, need for cognition, gender, sports marketing
language
Swedish
id
9229285
date added to LUP
2026-06-25 11:04:24
date last changed
2026-06-25 11:04:24
@misc{9229285,
  abstract     = {{This study examines the extent to which rational communication influences consumer purchase intention for running shoes compared to emotional communication, and whether gender and need for cognition (NFC) moderate this relationship. Drawing on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) as its theoretical framework, the study employed a between-subjects experimental design with a randomized online survey distributed to active runners via a Swedish Facebook group (n = 323). Participants were randomly assigned to either a rational or emotional infographic advertisement for a fictitious running shoe brand. Purchase intention was operationalized using five items adapted from Dodds et al. (1991), and NFC was measured with a six-item scale from Coelho et al. (2020). Results from independent samples t-tests, two-way ANOVA, and ANCOVA showed no statistically significant main effect of communication style on purchase intention (t = 1.46, p = .145, d = 0.163), and gender did not moderate this relationship. NFC showed no significant overall moderating effect, though an exploratory subgroup analysis indicated that respondents with low NFC, particularly women, responded more strongly to rational communication (p = .035, d = 0.44). The findings suggest that neither communication style alone is sufficient for a product that activates consumers on both functional and lifestyle dimensions simultaneously, and that NFC may be a more relevant segmentation variable than gender in this context.}},
  author       = {{Nyberg, Love and Anderberg, Oscar}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Heart or brain? An Experimental Study on the Effect of Rational and Emotional Communication on Purchase Intention for Running Shoes}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}