Effects of personal nostalgic response intensity on cognitions, attitudes, and intentions

Purpose – The paper aims to examine the effect of varying intensities of personal nostalgia on cognition, attitudes, and purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using convenience sampling via a self‐administered questionnaire in a large Australian university. Respondents were exposed to nostalgic cue laden advertising stimulus. A total of 514 responses were analysed. The questionnaire includes a thought collection exercise and scales to measure personal nostalgia, attitudes, and intention. Analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyse the data. Findings – A number of cognitive reactions are significantly affected when moving from a low to moderate or high level of personal nostalgia. However, no significant benefit in the cognitive responses tested is achieved by moving from moderate to high levels. In contrast, attitudes and intentions improve significantly with each increase of personal nostalgia. Research limitations/implications – The paper focuses only on personal nostalgia and one product category. Respondent characteristics are also limited. These issues should be examined with future research. Comparisons of responses under types of nostalgic reactions are also needed. Practical implications – The paper provides practitioners with a vastly improved understanding of consumer responses when varying levels of personal nostalgia are experienced. Practitioners should note the significant change in advert‐execution related thoughts between intensity levels could be beneficial or harmful, depending on the desired response. The research indicates it is worthwhile to encourage high levels of personal nostalgia in comparison to settling for a low or moderate level as although cognitive responses do not significantly change, attitudes and intention to purchase significantly improve. Originality/value – The vast majority of previous studies focus on nostalgia as a unified concept. Although personal nostalgia is distinct from other nostalgic reactions, no empirical research examines how consumer reactions are affected by varying levels of this specific nostalgic response.