Purpose: This study investigates how distinctive versus conventional category naming, in conjunction with psychological distance, mood, and cognitive load, shapes perceived assortment variety, boredom, perceived creativity, and behavioral intentions in distribution and retail contexts.Research design, data, and methodology: The research employs three scenario-- based experiments with Korean consumers. The studies use between-subject 2×2, 2×2×2, and 2×2×2 designs manipulating category-naming type (distinctive vs. conventional), temporal psychological distance (near vs. distant), mood (positive vs. negative), and cognitive load (high vs. low). Key dependent variables are naming preference, perceived variety, satiation (boredom), perceived creativity, and behavioral intention.Results: The findings show that distinctive, meaning-based labels enhance perceived variety, lower boredom, and increase perceived creativity and behavioral intentions when the decision context supports high-level construal (temporally distant consumption, positive mood, and low cognitive load). Perceived variety mediates the interactive effect of naming structure and psychological distance on naming preference. Positive mood partially substitutes for psychological distance by increasing openness to distinctive naming under near-distance conditions, whereas this incremental effect disappears when distance is already high. Under high cognitive load, however, consumers systematically favor conventional, attribute-based naming regardless of distance, indicating a reversion to familiar labels when mental resources are strained.Conclusions: The study concludes that category naming operates as a cognitive device that can enhance perceived assortment value and reduce repetition-induced fatigue without expanding the physical assortment, but its effectiveness is contingent on consumers’ psychological distance, affective state, and cognitive capacity. Distinctive naming is most beneficial in distant, aspirational, or low-load decision contexts, whereas conventional naming is preferable in psychologically near, detail-focused, or high-load situations. Aligning category labels with consumers’ prevailing construal level and processing resources thus offers a cost-efficient lever for assortment and channel management.
Kyung-Jin Kim (Sat,) studied this question.