The Mere-Measurement Effect: Why Does Measuring Intentions Change Actual Behavior?

Recent research has demonstrated that merely measuring an individual’s purchase intentions changes his or her subsequent behavior in the market. Several different alternative explanations have been proposed to explain why this “mere-measurement effect” occurs. However, these explanations have not been tested to date. The purpose of this article is to test several competing explanations for why measuring general intentions to purchase (e.g., How likely are you to buy a car?) changes specific brand-level behavior (e.g., which specific brand of car is purchased). The results provide a clearer understanding of the cognitive mechanism through which the mere-measurement effect operates. The results show that when asked to provide general intentions to select a product in a given category, respondents are more likely to choose options toward which they hold positive and accessible attitudes, and are less likely to choose options for which they hold negative and accessible attitudes, compared to a control group of participants who are not asked a general intentions question. These results provide support for the conjecture that asking a general purchase intent question influences behavior by changing the accessibility of attitudes toward specific options in the category.