Past research studying the effects of regulatory fit on consumer choice decisions indicate that consumers possess favourable attitude towards products that are compatible with their regulatory orientations. The current research contends that regulatory fit by itself may not be sufficient for attracting consumers to purchase a product. Consumers will show a favourable attitude towards products that match their regulatory orientations only when the information related to the products that match their regulatory focus has a strong argument quality. The effects of regulatory fit will be reversed if the argument quality becomes weak. Findings from a series of experiments support this hypothesis. Regulatory focus was used as a chronic variable and a situational variable (between subjects) in the experiments. Argument strength was used as a between subjects variable. Choice favourability and choice likelihood measures were used as the dependent variables.
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