Recent research reveals cultural differences in consumers&apos; tendency to engage in socially desirable responding. Specifically, individualist consumers are shown to be prone to self-deceptive enhancement (SDE), the tendency to hold exaggerated views of one&apos;s skills and abilities, whereas collectivist consumers are shown to be prone to impression management (IM), the tendency to distort responses to appear normatively appropriate. We examine the divergent moderating effects of cognitive and motivational factors on these relationships. Across six studies, we find that depleting collectivists&apos; cognitive resources impairs their ability to engage in IM but does not influence individualists&apos; tendency to engage in SDE. In contrast, collectivists&apos; tendency to engage in IM and individualists&apos; tendency to engage in SDE are both seen to increase with high (vs. low) need for cognitive closure (NFC). Implications of these findings on theoretical and methodological research on SDR are highlighted

Ashok K Lalwani

Chi-Yue Chiu

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Cognitive Load, Need For Closure, and Socially Desirable Responding: Cognitively Constrained Versus Motivated Response
Biases in Cross-Cultural Consumer Research
Ashok K.  Lalwani, University of Texas, San Antonio 
Chi-Yue  Chiu, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 
 
Recent research reveals cultural differences in consumers’ tendency to engage in socially desirable responding. Specifically,
individualist consumers are shown to be prone to self-deceptive enhancement (SDE), the tendency to hold exaggerated views of one’s
skills and abilities, whereas collectivist consumers are shown to be prone to impression management (IM), the tendency to distort
responses to appear normatively appropriate. We examine the divergent moderating effects of cognitive and motivational factors on
these relationships. Across six studies, we find that depleting collectivists’ cognitive resources impairs their ability to engage in IM
but does not influence individualists’ tendency to engage in SDE. In contrast, collectivists’ tendency to engage in IM and
individualists’ tendency to engage in SDE are both seen to increase with high (vs. low) need for cognitive closure (NFC). Implications
of these findings on theoretical and methodological research on SDR are highlighted.
 
 
[to cite]:
Ashok K. Lalwani and Chi-Yue Chiu (2008) ,"Cognitive Load, Need For Closure, and Socially Desirable Responding:
Cognitively Constrained Versus Motivated Response Biases in Cross-Cultural Consumer Research", in NA - Advances in
Consumer Research Volume 35, eds. Angela Y. Lee and Dilip Soman, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages:
759-760.
 
[url]:
http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/13636/volumes/v35/NA-35
 
[copyright notice]:
This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in
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759 Advances in Consumer Research
Volume 35, © 2008
Cognitive Load, Need for Closure, and Socially Desirable Responding: Cognitively
Constrained versus Motivated Response Biases in Cross-Cultural Consumer Research
Ashok K. Lalwani, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA
Chi-Yue Chiu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
With globalization, survey researchers have increasingly
studied cross-cultural differences in various consumer behaviors,
including determinants of decisions under uncertainty (Fong and
Wyer 2003), effects of emotional appeals on persuasion (Aaker and
Williams 1998), country of origin effects on product perception
(Gürhan-Canli and Maheswaran 2000), and salespeople’s ethical
sensitivity to stakeholder interests (Blodgett, Lu, Rose, and Vitell
2001). Given the plethora of cross-cultural studies conducted in
recent years, it is important to understand how socially desirable
responding (SDR) differentially influences participant responses
across cultures. Prior research distinguishes between two types of
socially desirable responding–self-deceptive enhancement (SDE)
and impression management (IM). SDE is a spontaneous tendency
to present an internalized, unrealistically positive view of the self,
whereas IM is the deliberate, strategic presentation of a socially
approved image of the self (Paulhus 1991).
Recent research suggests that consumers with an individualist
cultural orientation differ from those with a collectivist orientation
not only in the degree of SDR, but also in the relative prevalence of
different SDR styles. Specifically, because individualists are
especially motivated to view themselves as independent, self-
reliant, and unique, they have a propensity to engage in SDE (Heine
and Lehman 1999; Lalwani et al. 2006). Such responses help to
establish a view of oneself as capable of being successfully self-
reliant, skillful, and competent. Conversely, because collectivists
are driven to seek social approval and avoid social disapproval, they
are especially likely to provide normatively desirable and socially
appropriate responses and, hence, to engage in IM (Heine and
Lehman 1999). Consistent with these ideas, considerable evidence
supports a positive association between individualism and SDE and
between collectivism and IM. In contrast, no relationship has been
observed between individualism and IM and between collectivism
and SDE (Lalwani et al. 2006). The presence of culture-specific
SDR styles renders direct comparison of cross-cultural survey data
difficult and less meaningful.
An understanding of how motivational and cognitive factors
in the survey context influence cultural differences in SDR styles is
important for survey researchers. In a survey setting, participants
are expected to give responses that reflect their true perceptions and
beliefs. However, some cognitive and motivational demands in the
survey setting may increase the respondents’ reliance on culture-
specific SDR styles as a way to cope with the demands. Therefore,
one major research challenge is to identify the cognitive and
motivational demands that accentuate cultural differences in SDR
styles, so that with knowledge gained from addressing this issue,
survey researchers can anticipate how the survey settings could
elicit different levels of culture-specific SDR styles. Two such
demands examined in the current investigation are cognitive
busyness and need for closure.
Because SDE is a spontaneous and automatic process, we
hypothesized that cognitive load would not influence individualists’
tendency to engage in SDE. In contrast, depletion of cognitive
resources would interfere with the execution of an effortful process
(Gilbert and Osborne 1989) like IM. Hence, the tendency to engage
in IM will be significantly reduced when the introduction of
additional cognitive load renders collectivists cognitively busy.
Since individualists do not engage in IM to begin with (see Lalwani
et al. 2006), a cognitive load manipulation would not have a
discernible effect on individualists’ tendency to engage in IM. In
short, cognitive load is expected to reduce IM (but not SDE) among
collectivists only: cultural differences in IM are hypothesized to be
less pronounced when consumers are cognitively busy (vs. non-
busy). Thus, making consumers cognitively busy would reduce the
influence of cultural orientation on IM.
Need for closure (NFC) is a personal desire for firm answers
that provide epistemic closure (Kruglanski and Webster 1996). An
important source of epistemic closure is cultural consensus;
individuals feel epistemically secure when their beliefs are widely
accepted in their reference groups or cultural groups (Fu et al. 2007;
Kruglanski et al. 2006). Considerable evidence suggests that high
(vs. low) NFC individuals have a greater tendency to follow cultural
norms (Chiu et al. 2000; Fu et al. 2007). Since NFC increases
adherence to normative cultural practices, we hypothesized that
cultural differences in SDR styles would be more pronounced
among high versus low NFC consumers. Specifically, the association
between individualism and SDE and that between collectivism and
IM should be stronger among high (vs. low) NFC consumers. Six
studies supported these hypotheses.
The findings have important theoretical and methodological
implications. By examining the moderating role of cognitive load
and NFC in the culture-SDR relationship, the paper sheds light on
the cognitive and motivational processes that underlie culture-
characteristic SDR styles. The studies also advance our
understanding of the distinct impact of cognitive load and NFC—
two variables that have been believed to act similarly by several
researchers (e.g., De Dreu, Koole, & Oldersma 1999; Kardes,
Cronley, Kellaris, & Posavac 2004; Webster & Kruglanski 1994).
Methodologically, the findings may aid researchers in modifying
the cognitive and motivational environment in survey settings to
reduce cultural responses biased by distinct SDR styles.
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Cognitive Load, Need For Closure, and Socially Desirable Responding: Cognitively Constrained Versus Motivated Response Biases in Cross-Cultural Consumer Research

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Cognitive Load, Need For Closure, and Socially Desirable Responding: Cognitively Constrained Versus Motivated Response Biases in Cross-Cultural Consumer Research

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