Seeing the Forest or the Trees: Implications of Construal Level Theory for Consumer Choice

Like many important theories that were originally tested in one domain, construal level theory has broadened the notion of temporal distance to psychological distance and examined the wide ranging implications of this construct on evaluation and behavior. This commentary seeks to take a step back to admire the “forest” that has been created and suggest additional extensions and implications along the different stages of consumer decision making: goal pursuit, evaluation by way of consideration-set formation and receptivity, and finally choice influenced by context, comparability of options, and post-choice happiness and regret.