Abstract:     Paid knowledge products have become a choice for more and more consumers to achieve self-improvement and solve practical problems. However, subscription-based paid knowledge products, as a special trust product, have significant uncertainty before consumers making decisions, so the strategy of reasonable information is particularly important. This study, based on the construal level theory and experimental studies, intends to explore the boundary conditions and internal mechanism of the goal framework on consumers′ willingness to subscription-based knowledge payment. The results of this study showed that for consumers with high future self-continuity, the abstract framework, together with the outcome simulation, can better promote their willingness to pay, and that for consumers with low future self-continuity, the concrete framework, together with the process simulation, is more effective. This study aims to provide important insights into improving the attractiveness and willingness of subscription-based paid knowledge products from the perspectives of product information and consumer psychological cognition, and it will further expand the theoretical research in this field.

Key words: goal framework, future self-continuity, mental simulation, subscription-based paid knowledge product