In the mood to buy? Understanding the interplay of mood regulation and congruence in an international context Erik Maier & Robert Wilken & Helmut Schneider & Gülpınar Kelemci Schneider Published online: 28 July 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 Abstract Literature reports different effects of mood on measures of consumer behavior. Either mood congruence or mood regulation theories serve to explain these effects, though the latter theory is perhaps more sophisticated. This research goes a step further: in a sequence of four studies, the authors consider different products (with and without mood-lifting capabilities) and consumers’ beliefs in the transience of their mood to illuminate the interplay between the two theoretical approaches. Culture (individualism vs. collectivism) emerges as an important driver of mood transience. Mood transience drives the likelihood of mood regulation through the consumption of products with mood-lifting capabilities. Willingness to pay serves as the dependent variable, in contrast with mood research that has focused almost entirely on nonmonetary forms of consumer behavior. Greater willingness to pay variance in bad moods, com- pared with good moods, offers evidence of the opposing effects of mood congruence and regulation. Keywords Mood . Mood regulation theory . Mood congruence theory . Mood transience . Willingness to pay Mark Lett (2012) 23:1005–1018 DOI 10.1007/s11002-012-9200-7 E. Maier : R. Wilken (*) ESCP Europe Business School Berlin, Heubnerweg 8-10, 14059 Berlin, Germany e-mail: rwilken@escpeurope.eu E.Maier emaier@escpeurope.eu H. Schneider Steinbeis University Berlin, Gürtelstraße 29A/30, 10247 Berlin, Germany e-mail: h.schneider@steinbeis-smi.de G. Kelemci Schneider Marmara University Istanbul, Göztepe Kampüsü 34722/Kadıköy, İstanbul, Turkey e-mail: gkelemci@marmara.edu.tr