Regulatory Fit with the Benefit Level of a Goal-Vehicle and Fit with the Goal: Their Combined Influence on Purchase Behavior

One’s regulatory fit with a goal may help explain the zeal or energy with which one will gravitate towards a means or goal-vehicle that may used to achieve that goal (Higgins, 2000). However, the literature pertaining to regulatory fit theory is relatively silent on the distinction between regulatory fit with a level of benefit that will be provided by an attribute of an object that facilitates goal achievement, relative to a base or reference level of benefit, and the regulatory fit that one may have with the goal that the object helps to meet. In other words, even though an individual may have a regulatory fit with a goal that a desired object may help to achieve as well as with the means or goal-vehicle by which the goal will be achieved, it is plausible that if the level of benefit or utility that will be provided by the goal-vehicle is not sufficiently high enough relative to a base reference level, the individual may not select the goal-vehicle even though there may be a strong sense of regulatory fit with the vehicle or means of goal achievement.