Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was twofold. First, we examined the influence of cognitive feelings and content information on evaluations of sports brands coming from sports goods manufacturing. Second, we examined if the hypothesized mediation effect of cognitive feelings was moderated by experiential thinking style.
Methodology: We randomly assigned sport consumers from Mexico to two experimental conditions: recalling two versus six brand attributes of their favorite brand and completed a set of questionnaires assessing brand quality, ease of recall, demographic questions, and thinking style (study 2).
Findings: Results from study 1 and study 2, a conceptual replication, showed the hypothesized mediation effect of cognitive feelings on recalling fewer brand attributes and brand evaluations. This mediated effect was replicated in study 2; hence it was not conditioned by experiential thinking style.
Practical implications: Our findings have implications for sport market research and brand managers.
Research contribution: Our findings served to illustrate the importance of conducting experiments to understand some aspects of sport consumer behavior and to shade light on how brand evaluations were informed by cognitive feelings.