@article{2025:burri:improving_,
title = {Improving or Enhancing the Self? Beliefs About Body Shape Malleability Influence Consumer Product Evaluation and Preference},
year = {2025},
note = {Body shape is perceived as stable by entity theorists but malleable by
incremental theorists. It remains unclear whether these lay theories
about body shape malleability affect product evaluation and
preference. We hypothesize that entity theorists, as compared with
incremental theorists, will more favorably evaluate self-enhancement
products that make body shape more visually appealing without
objectively improving it, whereas incremental theorists, as compared
with entity theorists, will more strongly prefer self-improvement
products that help develop body shape to products without this
characteristic. After excluding a link between malleability beliefs
and body shape satisfaction in initial exploratory Study 1, we test
the hypotheses in two experiments. Study 2 demonstrates that entity
(vs. incremental) theorists evaluate self-enhancement apparel goods
more favorably, then Study 3 indicates that incremental (vs. entity)
theorists more strongly prefer selfimprovement food items to regular
alternatives. The results provide insights on marketing strategies for
self-improvement and selfenhancement products.},
journal = {Marketing ZFP},
pages = {3--14},
author = {Burri, Silvan and Steinmann, Sascha and Morschett, and Dirk},
volume = {47},
number = {3}
}