The moderation of ambivalence on attitude-intention relations as mediated by attitude importance

Attitudinal ambivalence has been found to moderate attitude-intention relations. However, no prior work has investigated the mechanisms by which this moderation effect occurs. The present research attempted to address this issue. Across two studies, there was evidence that an Ambivalence x Attitude interaction was mediated through judgements about attitude importance. Additionally, the present research ruled out the possibility that attitude certainty, a factor that is often found to be positively related to attitude importance, was not responsible for the observed mediating effects of this latter variable. While replicating previous evidence supporting the moderating properties of ambivalence on attitude-intention relations, the current research sheds light on the critical role that attitude importance plays in this relationship. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.