The Effect of Survey Participation on Consumer Behavior: The Moderating Role of Marketing Communication

Abstract

Past research has established that just surveying individuals or measuring consumers' intentions can influence their subsequent behaviors. Building on self-generated validity theory and extant studies on the survey participation effect, we examine the behavioral phenomenon in a setting where consumers repeatedly participate in brand-specific surveys of all competing brands in a product category. We also investigate the existence and magnitude of the survey participation effect at the individual decision maker level while accounting for marketing communication efforts of the focal and competing brands. We test our proposed individual-consumer-level model using unique behavioral panel data with survey participation and marketing communication information. Our results suggest that the survey participation effect exists in a competitive marketplace setting where consumers' intentions toward a focal brand and all the competing brands are measured. We find evidence of a backlash effect wherein survey participation and marketing communication work against each other. We also find that consumers' participation in surveys of competing brands does not positively spill over to their choice of the focal brand. Based on our results, we suggest important implications for coordination between marketing communication efforts and marketing research activities.

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