Categorical Distinctiveness, Category Spanning, & Attention Endurance : A Configurational Perspective

The categories literature generally assumed that categories are quick decision toolkits to simplify evaluation when audiences utilize cognitive resources sparingly. However, from both theoretical and practical perspectives, categories are present to inform decision-making even when audiences engage in effortful evaluation. Under such evaluation, categories would undergo systematic processing rather than serving as mental shortcuts. As effortful evaluations are likely to occur when audiences make important decisions, not knowing how categories play a role in such a situation limits our understanding of how categories and their associating properties affect attention. We propose that audiences are likely to engage in effortful evaluation when they examine older products for a critical decision. Products that continuously attract audiences’ attention are termed as having high “attention endurance.” Drawing from the category-spanning literature, we identified three conceptual fragments that could determine attention endurance: categorical distinctiveness, capability signals, and ambiguity signals. We differentiate between within-category distinctiveness (i.e., contrast) and between-category-combination distinctive (i.e., category-combination uniqueness) and theorize their effects, respectively. By adopting a configurational approach, we study the context of online US feature film reviews using fuzzy-set qualitative analysis (fsQCA). We propose multiple context-dependent paths that link categorical distinctiveness to attention endurance. © 2023 Academy of Management