The causal relationship between need for cognition and advertising recall

Using a factorial experiment design, we investigated the causal relationship between personality factors and cognitive responses, as well as the relationship between cognitive responses and purchasing intentions. We found that participants with high need for cognition (NFC) had better advertising recall than those with low NFC and that advertising recall was related to purchasing intention in that those who had good recall of the advertisement had a higher purchase intention than those who had poor recall. The results contribute to personality literature by extending findings relating to the antecedent effects of NFC on cognitive responses. In addition, a contribution was made to attitude research by identifying advertising recall as a viable explanatory variable. Managerial implications are suggested.