Causes and Remedies of Consumer Dissonance: A Review

This paper explored the causes and remedies of cognitive dissonance. “Cognitive dissonance”, a term used to describe the feeling of discomfort that result from holding two conflicting beliefs or discrepancy occurring after a post purchase evaluation. in many areas of life . When there is a discrepancy between beliefs and behaviours, something must change in order to eliminate or reduce the dissonance. To reduce or minimize cognitive dissonance three major steps are considered; focusing on more supportive beliefs that outweigh the dissonant belief or behaviour (selective exposure); reducing the importance of the conflicting belief; and changing the conflicting belief so that it is consistent with other beliefs or behaviours. The paper established that both consumers and marketers play major roles in remedying cognitive dissonance. Empirical studies were reviewed to show the existence of cognitive dissonance in politics, international marketing, retail businesses and product development, just to mention a few. The paper concluded that cognitive dissonance when viewed positively gives marketers insight into product improvement and customer retention strategies.