Einkaufen als Erlebnis und Einkauf als Qual: Eine Revision des Involvementkonstruktes

Products differ significantly regarding the cognitive effort the customer is prepared to expend during a purchase decision. In literature it is well established to call products highinvolvement-products, if the customer undergoes an extensive search-, comparison, and – evaluation process and low-involvement-products, if he shows little cognitive engagement and correspondingly cuts down and simplifies the respective decision. Due to an increasing discussion about topics such as consumer confusion, information overload, or the role of emotions in the decision process, the question arises as to whether the involvement construct needs revision. The contribution offers a critical review of the construct. A new conceptualization is proposed to overcome weaknesses and contradictions and to bring the construct up to recent developments in marketing.