Go beyond just paying: Effects of payment method on level of construal

Does paying by credit card induce consumers to think more abstractly than paying in cash? In a series of five studies, we show that priming people with a concept of a credit card as the payment method could lead them to construe information more abstractly than priming them with a concept of cash as the payment method. We distinguish between two processes that might account for the above effect, examine the factors that moderate this effect, and demonstrate the marketing implications of our findings.