Testing a Process Model of Involvement

Abstract

A process model of involvement based on expectancy-value research is proposed. Two key elements are included. The first is the person's expectation that a given event will be important. The second is the person's discrimination of whether his or her initial expectation was confirmed or disconfirmed. Both expectations and discrimination were manipulated for all subjects. The key dependent variable was each individual's subsequent expectation of the importance of similar events in the future. The implications of expectation of information-seeking intensity are also considered. Students enrolled in a University of Wisconsin advertising class served as subjects (N = 92) for the study. Data were collected at two points in time using booklets containing the experimental manipulations. Multiple regression analysis indicated that for students whose initial expectation of importance was high the experience of having that expectation confirmed or disconfirmed substantially influenced subjects' subsequent importance expectation. Subjects who had their high expectation confirmed exhibited higher subsequent expectations of importance than subjects who had their high initial expectation disconfirmed The effect, however, was limited to subjects who had previously felt such events were relatively unimportant. The results were discussed in terms of their implications for the enhancement of involvement.