Self-perception theory perspective. Another explanation for the effect of the size of the reward, as initially suggested by Ryu and Feick (2007), is based on self-perception theory and leads to a contrary conclusion. According to self perception theory, receiving a greater monetary sum prevents attitudinal inference from behavior (Fazio, Herr and Olney, 1984). In other words, the greater the inducement offered for performing an act that is consistent with a customer's beliefs, the less committed he or she is to that act (Kiesler and Sakumara 1966). Behavior induced by or associated with a large extrinsic incentive may also weaken the impact of recipients' attitudes due to the influence of overjustification (Bem 1972). Although it is expected that recommendations occur because the recommender has a positive attitude toward the firm (Chew 2006; Westbrook 1987), a large reward paid to CRP participants might override this norm (Ryu and Feick 2007). The attitudinal discounting principle may come into play (Kelley 1973) because several possible causes exist for the behavior. Having made a recommendation, the recommender could discount the intemal cue (i.e., liking the firm) and instead attribute his or her behavior to the extemal cue (i.e., the large reward). Then the recommender would feel less committed to his or her advocated position, resulting in a weaker recommendation-loyalty link.
A larger reward offers a possible extemal causal attribution or justification that provides an altemative reason for attitude-discrepant behavior and also should serve as a highly salient external cue (Burger 1999; Chaiken and Baldwin 1981; Fazio, Zanna, and Cooper 1977). A smaller reward is less likely to do so such that the attributional discounting principle might not come into play when the referral rewards are smaller (Kelley 1973). From this discussionwe derive the following hypothesis: