TEMPORAL INSTABILITY IN THE SALIENCE OF BEHAVIORAL INTENTION PREDICTORS

Behavioral intentions are sometimes formed immediately after learning about the unique characteristics of an object (or person). In other instances, the need to form a decision is invoked only after a delay interval. In the present article it is hypothesized that differential modes of information processing underlie intention formation and resultant behavioral decisions as the time gap between initial exposure to the information and intention formation widens. In immediate intention measurement, specific object attribute beliefs exert a strong impact while the impact of beliefs about related knowledge is weak. This relative impact changes as a function of the time gap between exposure and intention formation. A theoretical discussion and application in product purchase decisions accompanied by two studies testing the underlying mechanism are provided. © 1990.