Linking Sources of Consumer Confusion to Decision Satisfaction: The Role of Choice Goals

Previous empirical research on the relationship between consumer confusion and customer satisfaction has largely neglected the role of choice goals. In a context of technologically complex products, the authors analyze the effect of selected choice goals on the consumer confusion‐decision satisfaction link. The empirical findings, which are based on a field study of smart phone users, show that different sources of confusion have distinctive effects on choice goals, which in turn influence decision satisfaction. For example, while confusion caused by ambiguous information and choice overload is found to reduce choice confidence, perceived attribute similarity between products or brands increases choice confidence. Among the choice goals, evaluation costs and negative affect are found to increase decision satisfaction. The findings have important implications for marketers and consumer policymakers in terms of marketing communication and customer satisfaction.     

Feel the VIBE: Examining value-in-the-brand-page-experience and its impact on satisfaction and customer engagement behaviours in mobile social media

A critical issue for marketing managers is how best to orchestrate branded social media consumption experiences via mobile applications. This is important because in a mobile first world, these experiences are perceived to be valuable to consumers which in turn facilitate positive consumer behaviour toward the brand. So far, marketing literature offering managerial guidance on this issue remains limited. To this end, this study investigates for the first-time consumer perceptions of ‘Value-In-The-Brand-Page-Experience’ (VIBE), a multidimensional construct, in an emerging market setting of China. China represents an appropriate contextual condition to study given its high mobile penetration and its integration within consumer's lifestyle. This study further examines the impact of VIBE on customer satisfaction and customer engagement behaviours toward the brand via a survey of 714 Chinese consumers. The results substantiate the VIBE framework which contributes to the sparse conceptual development of value perceptions in mobile social media. Furthermore, it confirms the existence of a value–satisfaction–customer engagement behaviour chain. The findings are managerially relevant and focus on leveraging the components of VIBE. These components act as key mechanisms for unlocking customer satisfaction and customer engagement behaviours for brands in the domain of mobile social media.     

The impact of consumer decision‐making styles on consumer confusion in Mauritius: An empirical analysis

This article investigates the effects of consumer decision‐making styles on consumer confusion and harm. While consumer confusion has been well documented in the literature, this investigation attempts to bridge our understanding on its relationship with consumer decision‐making styles. Empirical data was collected from a field survey where 400 consumers selected at 20 supermarkets in Mauritius were asked to respond to a questionnaire measuring three variables under study: consumer confusion, consumer decision‐making styles, and situational factors. Findings from the MANOVA parametric test showed that there is a significant difference between consumer decision‐making styles and consumer confusion. Even when covariate situational factors were controlled through the parametric test MANCOVA, results still showed a significant difference between consumer decision‐making styles and consumer confusion. More specifically, ANCOVA tests showed that the findings were specifically significant for three types of confusion: product confusion, packaging confusion, and product complexity. The study tends to confirm that a consumer's style of decision making does impact on consumer confusion.     

Under the sway of a mobile device during an in‐store shopping experience

Mobile device technology is transforming the retail shopping experience. Today's consumers are mobile dependent, preferring to consult with their phone, instead of using the salesperson, while shopping at the retail store. In the absence of literature investigating how the salesperson might sell to this omni‐channel, mobile‐connected consumer, this paper proposes a conceptual model and tests its proposed linkages. The empirically tested model presents a dyadic view of the omni‐channel consumer and the salesperson. Uniquely contributing to the omni‐channel and marketing literature, samples from an emerging economy (India) and developed (United States) economy represent the contexts. Specifically, the research examines the salesperson's role in selling to a mobile‐dependent consumer who uses mobile technology to search for information during the sales meeting. Findings show that adaptive selling can affect purchase intention and customer predisposition to comply with salesperson input. Results also reveal how perceived control, mobile dependence, and customer predisposition to comply with mobile device input affect purchase intention. Managerial and research implications specifically appropriate for the omni‐consumer retail setting are offered.     

Survey data and Bayesian analysis: a cost-efficient way to estimate customer equity

We present a Bayesian framework for estimating the customer lifetime value (CLV) and the customer equity (CE) based on the purchasing behavior deducible from the market surveys on customer purchasing behavior. The proposed framework systematically addresses the challenges faced when the future value of customers is estimated based on survey data. The scarcity of the survey data and the sampling variance are countered by utilizing the prior information and quantifying the uncertainty of the CE and CLV estimates by posterior distributions. Furthermore, information on the purchase behavior of the customers of competitors available in the survey data is integrated to the framework. The introduced approach is directly applicable in the domains where a customer relationship can be thought to be monogamous. As an example on the use of the framework, we analyze a consumer survey on mobile phones carried out in Finland in February 2013. The survey data contains consumer given information on the current and previous brand of the phone and the times of the last two purchases.     

Why bad feelings predict good behaviours: The role of positive and negative anticipated emotions on consumer ethical decision making

Research suggests that emotions can greatly influence consumer decision making and behaviours. Notwithstanding, our understanding of the role of anticipated emotions in what is an inherently complex deliberation process—that of consumer ethics—is still quite limited. The present study thus aims to address this gap, in two key ways: first, by measuring the influence of positive and negative anticipated emotions at each stage of the consumer ethical decision making process; and second by describing the specific emotions that most affect each component of the consumer ethical deliberation process and assessing their relative weight in predicting decisions involving ethical issues. Through the examination of 603 ethical situations and using multiple regression analysis, the findings indicate that anticipated emotions can account for up to 59% of the variance in consumer decisions involving ethics. Anticipating the experience of negative emotions as a result of carrying out an unethical behaviour was the affective component found to most influence consumer ethical deliberation process; and anticipated guilt was the discrete emotion exerting the greatest effect on consumer decision making in ethical situations. The findings indicate that more than feeling good, consumers avoid feeling bad; such that ethically favourable decisions emerge to prevent experiencing negative emotions in the future.     

Analysis of the moderating role of the gender variable in service recovery processes

In this study, the authors focus on service recovery processes and identify a set of key factors that drive satisfaction with the recovery process, which ultimately leads to customer loyalty. In addition, the authors investigate the role of gender as a potential moderating variable in the recovery process. Using a sample of 202 customers who had experienced a problem with their provider, filed a complaint and received a response from the company, the authors empirically test the proposed framework in the mobile phone market. The findings reveal that men tend to be more demanding when dealing with service providers and less loyal, while women tend to exhibit a more fully-developed sense of justice and greater attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. These results provide valuable insights for the consumer services industry: Companies can use gender information to manage complaints in order to restore customer satisfaction and increase customer loyalty more efficiently.     

Dazing Diversity: Investigating the Determinants and Consequences of Decision Paralysis

This article makes new contributions to the assessment of negative effects on consumer choice behavior due to high product variety by (1) developing a holistic framework to identify the determinants and, for the first time, consequences of decision paralysis; (2) introducing a novel construct, namely, tendencies toward paralysis, that refers to the extent of decision makers’ preference (a) to maintain the status quo, (b) to omit, and/or (c) to delay choice, as well as providing an appropriate measurement model incorporating these three dimensions of decision paralysis that previously have been analyzed only separately; and (3) analyzing potential moderating effects of decision makers’ predisposition toward maximizing on the proposed model. The developed structural equation model as well as the conceptualization and operationalization of the novel construct are verified using data from the German cellular phone market. The model constructs of preference uncertainty and anticipated regret are evidenced to be the fundamental drivers of the formation of tendencies toward paralysis. In this context, the characteristics of variety under consideration—number, alignability, and complexity of alternatives—turn out to be appropriate parameters in avoiding decision paralysis. Moreover, a significant negative relationship between tendencies toward paralysis and subsequent customer satisfaction points out the importance of these findings for future research and business practice.     

The influence of satisfaction on customer retention in mobile phone market

This study examines the determinants of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the Peruvian mobile phone market. Based in a survey to 1259 customers, Multinomial Logit and GSEM estimations show how determinants of customer satisfaction can be assessed when satisfaction is measured through ordered categorical data. The results confirm that in mobile phone market Customer Satisfaction influences strongly on Customer Loyalty, and in turn Loyalty is an important determinant of Customer Retention. In contrast with previous literature, this study identified the differentiated influence of diverse factors on positive and negative customer satisfaction categories. Indeed while results show that quality of service assessments made by customers had a significant impact on both negative and positive customer satisfaction categories; assessments of other service attributes like customer care, information on tariffs and plans and billing clarity, only showed a significant statistical influence on positive categories of customer satisfaction. Similar asymmetrical results were found with regard to other economic, socioeconomic and geographical determinants of customer decisions. As well, an analog effect is also observed in the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty, where only positive satisfaction assessments helps to explain the loyalty of users. Finally, results show that while satisfaction can be identified as a powerful cause of CR, switching barriers did not deter more demanding customers to switch to alternative carriers, suggesting that recent pro-competition regulatory reforms implemented in Peru contributed to reduce these barriers to competition in mobile markets.     

How information processing and mobile channel choice influence product returns: An empirical analysis

The mobile internet is starting to overtake the desktop device‐based internet as a purchase channel. Its impact on consumer behavior is therefore increasingly important to understand. This study seeks to understand and measure, if usage of mobile devices for online purchases leads to a lower decision quality and, in effect, to more product returns. In doing so, the impact of information environments on the end‐to‐end consumer purchase decision‐making process is better understood and it is investigated, if the information environment of mobile devices leads consumers to take more error‐prone purchase decisions. An exclusive data set spanning more than 140 million transactions of a European online retailer is used to empirically analyze changes in product return behavior after mobile channel adoption. The results show that mobile channel usage is positively related to product returns, overall and for both, purchases made with mobile devices and purchases made with desktop devices, although prior literature predicts that returns from desktop purchases should not increase. These findings suggest that through new channels, consumers’ information environment is altered sufficiently to affect their decision accuracy. Moreover, the results indicate that previous research may be overestimating the positive effect of mobile channel adoption on sales by disregarding changes in product return behavior.     

Consumer strategic decision making and choice process: prefabricated house purchase

This study examines the consumer choice process in case of strategic purchases, such as house buying. In view of the existing literature exploring consumer decision making and choice for strategically important products, the purpose of this research is twofold: (a) to develop a conceptual model of strategic decision making; and (b) to empirically explore this model with regard to prefabricated house purchases. The results of our qualitative research suggest that in addition to the idiosyncratic characteristics of the customer, his or her personal situation, environmental factors, the role of feelings, experience, subconscious factors, needs, and goals should to be taken into account to better understand strategic consumer decision making and their choice process when buying a house.     

PERCEIVED RISK AND CONSUMER DECISION MAKING

The home economist has long been interested in effective family and consumer decision making and has tended to take a holistic or macro approach to decision theory. Recently, some applications of normative decision theory to consumer decision making—including the creation of rules for dealing with risk and uncertainty—have been advanced in home management textbooks. Since the early 1960s, consumer behaviour researchers in other disciplines have been developing a behavioural, micro-decision perspective centring upon the presence of perceived risk in the purchase decision of any customer. The empirical literature in home economics does not appear to have dealt with either of these perspectives. This paper identifies perceived risk as a useful analytical variable in the study of consumer product and store decisions and presents empirical data depicting the dual components of perceived risk and its four dimensions. The relationship of the normative and behavioural approaches to decision risk is discussed and implications for future research and application in home economics are identified.     

Profiling the Australian Google Consumer: Implications of Search Engine Practices for Consumer Law and Policy

Against the legal backdrop of proceedings against Google in various jurisdictions regarding the layout of its search result page, this article presents the results of a survey of a representative sample of 1014 Australian consumers, investigating their use of the Internet and specifically Google’s search engine, and the implications of these findings for consumer law and policy concerning the operation of search engines. The study is the first of its kind in Australia, despite litigation against Google in this jurisdiction for alleged misleading and deceptive conduct. The survey findings indicate that consumers have a lack of understanding about the operation and origin of the different elements of the Google search engine. In particular, the findings show particular confusion in relation to the operation and origin of Google’s related vertical services. Such confusion seems to be more pronounced among older respondents and those without higher education qualifications, although the survey revealed some more surprising and unexpected results in terms of the demographics of confusion. These findings are important for several reasons. Firstly, they identify and point to a gap in consumer knowledge about Google search that should be addressed, presenting an opportunity for consumer education in this area. Secondly, this research challenges the widely held assumption that the average (Australian) Internet user has a basic understanding about the operation and function of the Google search engine. Thirdly, the results leave open the possibility for further proceedings against Google in Australia on the basis of consumer law, the decision in Google v ACCC notwithstanding. This points to the potential for a more active role for consumer law in the digital ecosystem to address problems emanating from large and powerful platform providers such as Google than it previously has occupied.     

The role of human interaction in complaint handling

While it is widely accepted that managing customer complaints is crucial for companies, the question of how best to manage these complaints is still a matter of debate. A growing number of studies highlight the effectiveness of digital complaint channels on customer behaviour and satisfaction, suggesting that direct human interaction is no longer necessary in the recovery process. Building on this observation, our research questions the interest of maintaining or not direct human interactions in the management of customer complaints. We carry a quantitative study on 427 respondents, which shows that when the recovery process involves human interaction, customers have a better perception of justice and of the company's relational efforts and are more satisfied with the resolution process. Customers are responsive to human interaction in the service recovery process. Thus, from a managerial point of view, complaint management should be part of a consumer centric approach that includes verbal exchanges (face to face or by phone). As tempting as it may seem to companies to completely digitize complaint management, we believe that maintaining direct human interactions is beneficial to customer relationships.     

Consumer decision making and variety of offerings: The effect of attribute alignability

In recent years, many companies have considerably increased their number of offering varieties. The underlying rationale for such product strategies is substantiated by the belief that assortment proliferation would better satisfy customers' diverse preferences. However, empirical evidence exists suggesting that if there are too many varieties to choose from, customers sometimes either refrain from making a purchase at all, or else resort to simple selection heuristics. This article approaches the issue of assortment variety from a decision‐theoretical perspective, by positing circumstances under which expanding the number of varieties will positively or negatively affect consumer behavior. Herein, the concept of attribute alignability provides explanatory potential. Two experimental studies are presented which analyze the effect of the number of product varieties on customers' decision‐making behavior by means of manipulating the choice settings in a virtual car configurator. It can be shown that whether the product attributes in question are alignable or nonalignable is the decisive factor in explaining customer decision making under variety. Furthermore, “pseudo‐alignability”is achieved easily via the relabeling of product options. These findings yield concrete managerial insights for the customer‐oriented design of product lines consisting of a basic product and several varieties derived from it. ©2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Unintended Consequences of Health Supplement Information Regulations: The Importance of Recognizing Consumer Motivations

Information regulation is intended to enhance consumer decision making. However, past studies raise concerns about the effects of such remedies. Using qualitative methods, this research provides a contextualized, in‐depth view of consumer responses to information regulation. The dietary supplement industry provides an informative case for studying the unintended consequences of reducing market restraints. Our findings provide insight into the potential maladaptive behaviors that may accompany information remedies and highlight the importance of considering consumer motivations in regulation design. Real consumer protection can only be forged with an understanding of consumer biases and the unintended impacts likely from such policy intervention.     

Understanding consumers’ decisions to adopt technology-enabled transformative services

This study extends understanding of consumers' decisions to adopt transformative services delivered via technology. It incorporates competitive effects into the model of goal-directed behavior which, in keeping with the majority of consumer decision making models, neglects to explicitly account for competition. A goal-level operationalization of competition, incorporating both direct and indirect competition, is proposed. A national web-based survey collected data from 431 respondents about their decisions to adopt mental health services delivered via mobile phone. The findings show that the extent to which consumers perceived using these transformative services to be more instrumental to achieving their goals than competition had the greatest impact on their adoption decisions. This finding builds on the limited empirical evidence for the inclusion of competitive effects to more fully explain consumers' decisions to adopt technology-based and other services. It also provides support for a broader operationalization of competition with respect to consumers' personal goals.     

Segmenting multichannel consumers across search,purchase and after-sales

While bricks-and-mortar stores and the Internet are dominant retailing channels, mobile and social media have rapidly emerged and challenge traditional retail models and consumer behavior. However, researchers have yet to account for how consumers integrate mobile and social channels throughout the various stages of the buying process. Using Latent-Class Cluster Analysis segmentation, we examine consumer behavior in store, Internet, mobile, and social media channels across the search, purchase and after-sales buying stages in the aggregate and specific to the clothing, holiday travel and consumer electronics categories. We find five multichannel consumer segments on the basis of perceived channel importance across the buying process, as well as psychographic and demographic characteristics. Interestingly, we find a polarization in perceived importance of mobile and social media channels, with two consumer segments rating mobile and social media channels as unimportant in the buying process. Furthermore, and compared to prior segmentations of multichannel consumer behavior, we do not find an aggregate store-focused segment. However, a store-focused segment exists in the context of buying clothing and represents 28.6 per cent of consumers. The findings show multichannel consumer preferences and behavior continues to evolve in line with new and emerging retailing channels. Further, this study confirms that there is no ‘one-size fits all’ approach to multichannel retailing.     

A latent structure factor analytic approach for customer satisfaction measurement

The linkage of customer satisfaction, customer retention, and firm profitability has been well established in the marketing literature, and provides ample justification as to why customer satisfaction measurement (CSM) has been a focal point in marketing decision making. Although aggregate market level research on understanding the determinants of customer satisfaction is abundant, CSM decisions at segment level are possible only if the individual or market segment differences in the formation of overall satisfaction judgments and subsequent heterogeneity in the role these various determinants play are understood. Based on expectancy-disconfirmation theory in customer satisfaction, we propose a maximum likelihood based latent structure factor analytic methodology which visually depicts customer heterogeneity regarding the various major determinants of customer satisfaction judgments involving multiple attributes, and provides directions for segment-specific CSM decisions. We first describe the proposed model framework including the technical aspects of the model structure and subsequent maximum likelihood estimation. In an application to a consumer trade show, we then demonstrate how our proposed methodology can be gainfully employed to uncover the nature of such heterogeneity. We also empirically demonstrate the superiority of the proposed model over a number of different model specifications in this application. Finally, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

Profiling consumers in home ware stores according to their decision‐making process: an exploratory study

Despite the growing interest of South African consumers regarding home ware, insufficient research is available regarding their decision making of this product category. The objectives of this exploratory study were to evaluate consumers' decision‐making process regarding home ware, and to suggest consumer profiles of the home ware based on the decision‐making process. A qualitative research strategy was used to purposively recruit both male and female participants walking around a home ware store. Semi‐structured interviews were used to collect data from 33 participants at which point data saturation was reached. Each step of the decision‐making process was investigated during the interviews, using questions relevant to the purchasing of home ware. The results indicated clear differences as well as similarities in home ware consumers' decision‐making process. It was evident that the decision‐making process was a result of their specific need for a home ware product. Consumers evaluated home ware based on their needs, values and personal style, while making their final product choice based on product quality, appearance and price. It was also possible to identify home ware consumer profiles based on an evaluation of their decision‐making process. Four profiles were identified, namely, the quality‐conscious, the fashion‐conscious, the lifestyle‐orientated and the impulsive home ware consumer. The characteristics associated with each profile should provide the growing home ware market with insight regarding the specific needs and preferences of the consumer. Seeing that this study was only exploratory in nature, it is recommended that further research regarding the purchasing of home ware should be done.