How consumer confidence affects price conscious behavior: The roles of financial vulnerability and locus of control.

Despite their ubiquity in academic and commercial research, evidence of the usefulness of consumer confidence indices is mixed. To contribute to this debate, we examine the psychological mechanisms through which consumer confidence does (and does not) affect consumer behavior. We develop a conceptual model, which we test via structural equation modelling and moderated mediation analysis, using data from a sample of US consumers (n = 1,090).