Not Too Much and Not Too Little: Information Processing for a Good Purchase Decision

Abstract

When deciding on an online purchase, consumers often face a plethora of information. Yet, individuals consumers differ greatly in the amount of information they are willing and able to acquire and process before making purchasing decisions. Extensively processing all available information does not necessarily promote good decisions. Instead, the empirical evidence suggests that reviewing too much information or too many choice alternatives can impair decision quality. Using simulated contract conclusion scenarios, we identify distinctive types of information processing styles and find that certain search and selection strategies predict the quality of the final choice. Participants (N = 363) chose a cellular service contract in a web-based environment that closely resembled actual online settings in the country of study. Using information processing data obtained with tracking software, we identify three consumer segments differing along two dimensions – the extent dimension, referring to the overall effort invested in information processing, and the focus dimension, referring to the degree to which someone focuses on the best available options. The three subgroups of respondents can be characterized as follows: (1) consumers with a low-effort and low-focus information processing strategy (n = 137); (2) consumers with a moderate-effort and high-focus information processing strategy (n = 124); and (3) consumers with high-effort and low-focus information processing strategy (n = 102). The three groups differed not only in their information processing but also in the quality of their decisions. In line with the assumption of ecological rationality, most successful search strategies were not exhaustive, but instead involved the focused selection and processing of a medium amount of information. Implications for effective consumer information are provided.

Online communities and offline sales: considerations on visiting behavior dimensions and online community types

“…Information overload has been shown to be an important factor that negatively affects consumer behavior. This is because information overload not only leads to negative emotions such as anxiety, stress and dissatisfaction (Hu and Krishen, 2019) but also prevents consumers from identifying the important information they need from the large amount of information, making it more difficult for consumers to make purchase decisions (Chen et al, 2009a;Vogrincic-Haselbacher et al, 2021). We therefore propose the following hypothesis: H2.…”

Why do consumers leave fast fashion stores? Role of shoppers' confusion

“…Previous studies have found similar effects of product-related confusion and identified the negative consequences (i.e. choice impairment) due to overloaded product selections through consumers' affective and cognitive responses (Tung et al, 2019;Vogrincic-Haselbacher et al, 2021). Also, choice overload has been pointed out as one of the issues in the current digital technology-driven retail environment that can cause confusion in consumer choice (Dholakia et al, 2021).…”

“…To mitigate these negative consequences, fashion practitioners may need to develop strategies to alleviate a store's overloaded product information. For instance, reducing the number of product variations to a moderate level can lead to consumers' positive attitudes toward the store and improve their shopping experiences (the quality of shopping), especially for the consumers who perceive decision difficulty (Broniarczyk, 2018; Vogrincic-Haselbacher et al , 2021). Another practical suggestion includes managing product assortment and displaying efficiently by eliminating slow-moving items and allotting more space for frequently selling merchandise.…”

One independent or many independent? The relationship among self-construal, number of brand endorsers, and brand attitudes

“…Visual complexity can pose challenges for consumers in their decision-making process (Wedel and Pieters, 2015). It can compromise the quality of their decisions when faced with excessive and complex information (Vogrincic-Haselbacher et al, 2021). When overwhelmed with information, consumers tend to adopt simple decision-making strategies (Grether and Wilde, 1983) and prefer single endorser brands which are easy to process information.…”