The theory of cognitive dissonance: A marketing and management perspective

The theory of cognitive dissonance [1] concentrates on creating knowledge about important psychological processes of individuals. Specifically, it focuses on the relationships among cognitions that are elements of knowledge that people have about their behaviors, attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, feelings, or environments. Since human nature is the main subject of all social sciences, the theory has awakened interest and led to significant research in different academic domains. This study makes a thorough analysis of the theory's application in psychology, management, and marketing fields with an aim to assess the contribution of the theory to the development of knowledge in these areas. It is observed that the theory is commonly used by marketers to explain consumer behavior while its adoption in the management field to examine human related issues is considerably underdeveloped. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to extend the literature on cognitive dissonance by discovering the under-investigated areas and pave the way for further theoretical and empirical research. Identification of existing gaps and suggestions for further scholarly inquiries are also believed to contribute to the recent efforts to regenerate interest to topic and to boost its generalizability through its greater utilization in the development of knowledge. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility 7th International Strategic Management Conference