Common biases and heuristics in nutritional quality judgments: a qualitative exploration

The ways in which consumers make judgments about the nutritional quality of food products are a major concern for public policymakers. Given the focus on nutrition information in public health policies, the information processing paradigm has been widely used in past research. However, there is evidence that nutrition information processing is a difficult task for consumers. We examined 14 interviews from consumers of diverse social background in order to inventory the different kinds of heuristics used for making nutritional quality judgments. Narratives in which consumers elaborate about their strategies to assess nutritional quality of food products were analysed. Our findings show that: (1) consumers tend to use shortcuts to simplify nutrition information processing; (2) heuristics unrelated to nutrition information are commonly utilized; and (3) these heuristics rely on semantic, sensory and visual cues. The implications of our findings are discussed from a public policy standpoint.     

The effect of context attractiveness on product attractiveness and product quality: the moderating role of product familiarity

Prior research has investigated a number of drivers of consumers’ perceived product attractiveness, such as a product’s shape and color. The context, in which a product is presented, has so far been largely neglected in examining consumers’ aesthetic appraisal of products. Drawing on social cognition theory, this research investigates how the attractiveness of the visual context (e.g., websites, advertisements) influences consumers’ perceptions of product attractiveness and product quality for familiar versus unfamiliar products. Results of two experimental studies show that consumers perceive unfamiliar products as more attractive and, consequently, of higher quality when products are placed in an attractive context than when they are placed in an unattractive context. No differences in consumers’ perceived product attractiveness and perceived product quality exist for familiar products. The findings extend our theoretical knowledge of product aesthetics and provide managers with insights into the effective communication of their offerings’ attractiveness.     

The role of positive emotions in experiential decisions

This research examines how consumers experience decision making for experiential products such as vacations. We combine data from 1) ethnographic interviews, 2) online community discussion forums, and 3) an introspective vacation-planning task to explore the experience of emotion in the decision process and to develop a new model of decision making that extends extant decision theories. We find that consumers experience a variety of positive emotions as they plan vacations, from facilitative feelings that guide the plan to fantasy feelings consumed for pleasure. Positive emotions are most evident in reaction to imagery and when the consumer's self identity is salient, and often precede more analytic information processing. Overall, this research offers a richer understanding of the emotional nature of consumer decision making for experiential products and services.     

If all their products seem the same,all the parts within a product seem the same too: How brand homogeneity polarizes product experiences

Many different factors affect brand homogeneity, including the different products associated with a brand, how they are made, and how they are branded. How does the perceived homogeneity of a brand’s offered products, in turn, affect consumers’ experiences with those products? Nine experiments reveal that consumers have more polarized judgments of product experiences when the sampled products are perceived to belong to more homogeneous brands. When a consumption experience is positive, the consumer has an even more positive experience when they think the sampled product came from a homogeneous brand; however, when a consumption experience is negative, the consumer has an even more negative experience when they think the sampled product came from a homogeneous brand. This polarization occurs because the individual product inherits the brand-level quality of perceived internal consistency—when a brand seems homogeneous (i.e., consisting of homogeneous products), consumers also perceive any individual product from the brand as similarly consisting of homogeneous ingredients or parts. We suggest that brand homogeneity leads to selective processing of individual product experiences, which makes products seem more coherent, products rated faster, and ratings of different product ingredients or features more highly correlated. The perception that all of the parts within the individual sampled product are homogeneous in quality polarizes judgments of the product experience.     

Are consumers' perceptions of price–quality relationships well calibrated?

Past research has shown that, to varying degrees, consumers tend to believe price is an indicator of quality, even though there is in fact often very little correlation between objective measures of price and quality (PQ). Moreover, consumers have been observed to be poorly calibrated in their knowledge of precisely which categories exhibit the strongest association between PQ for products. Given the profound changes that have occurred in consumer markets, such as the rise of the Internet and the flood of product quality information now readily available online, the present work seeks to update this line of research. Specifically, it seeks to determine if changes in the marketplace have affected (1) consumers' perceptions of the PQ relationship; and (2) consumers' PQ calibration. Data from two sources were collected and compared: (1) Subjective ratings of the PQ relation for various common products, collected using a questionnaire format in a survey of 313 US consumers; and (2) Objective estimates of the actual PQ association of the same products, gathered from independent third‐party information providers who report both prices and rank‐ordered quality measures for each. Results indicate that consumers today (1) continue to perceive a modest positive relationship between PQ (more so for durables, less for non‐durables); and (2) are modestly calibrated for durable products. But they are much less well calibrated in the realm of non‐durables, where consumers expect a positive link between price and quality in precisely those product categories in which the relationship is actually negative. Relative to past research, the calibration of consumers has apparently ‘flipped’ from non‐durables to durables today. Potential explanations for this result include (1) the rise of the Internet as an information source for quality ratings of durables; (2) a higher level of perceived risk for durable goods purchases; (3) a greater tendency for durables to exhibit a positive correlation between actual quality and price; and (4) the rising quality level of private label brands, which may render prior price–quality perceptions for non‐durables outdated or obsolete.     

The Moderating Influence of Country of Origin Information Seeking on Homophily and Product Satisfaction

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the research was to investigate when consumers concurrently select a range of retail products online, what percentage of products need country of origin (COO) identification. Moreover, will COO information seeking positively moderate the relationship between homophily and product satisfaction. Participants were recruited through an online survey platform (MTurk). The results appear to be the first to quantify the number of retail products within a basket that need some form of country of origin (COO) identification. Electronic word of mouth (eWOM, e-reviews) has become an important factor in the purchasing process for consumers. When COO information is unavailable, consumers will search online reviews to determine the COO of products. When reading the e-reviews, consumers will also evaluate the reviewer and the similarities they share. If they are not similar (low in homophily) their satisfaction with the product is low. By contrast, when homophily is high, product satisfaction is high. Specifically, as homophily increases, an individuals' need for COO information seeking has a positive moderating effect on their perceived product satisfaction. Online retailers promoting their products could benefit from sales increases due to their ability to provide COO information at a low cost, which in turn, provides ease, peace of mind and purchase satisfaction for consumers.     

The effect of a no-pain, no-gain lay theory on product efficacy perceptions

We document the existence of an inference strategy based on a no-pain, no-gain lay theory, showing that consumers infer pharmaceutical products to be more efficacious when they are associated with a detrimental side effect or attribute. Study 1 finds that consumers high in need for cognition infer a bad-tasting cough syrup to be more effective than a good-tasting one. However, taste does not impact efficacy beliefs of consumers low in need for cognition. A second study conceptually replicates these results, showing that consumers who take allergy medications (i.e., those high in issue involvement) infer an allergy medication with common side effects to be more effective than one with rare side effects. Our final study builds on these findings by demonstrating that consumers high in need for cognition believe a pain killer with common side effects to be more effective than one with rare side effects. Demonstrating a boundary condition of this inference strategy, the effect is observed only when the pain killer has been on the market for a relatively long period of time.     

Love at first sight: The effect of presentation order on evaluation of experiential options in luxury tour packages

This study examined how serial order and information format jointly determine consumers' preferences of tour packages. The results showed that the option viewed first in a sequence was preferred (vs. not preferred) when the information format facilitated (vs. inhibited) narrative processing. Preference shifts to the first viewed option due to narrative processing was prominent among consumers with defensive attitudes to self-threats and in circumstances where the first option was challenged by an attractive alternative. Three experiments were conducted and showed that narrative processing enhanced attachments to the first option if consumers simulated the experience, which in turn motivated them to be consistent in subsequent evaluations. Managerially, these findings suggest that in addition to emphasizing the importance of occupying the first position in a series of advertisements and products, marketers should also facilitate experience simulations rather than focusing solely on the attributes of luxury tours.     

Material Distortion of Economic Behaviour and Everyday Decision Quality

Misleading information and unfair commercial practices have to be viewed against the background of what consumers otherwise do, i.e., what their purchase decisions look like when no misleading information or no unfair commercial practices are in place. This article provides some of this background by studying how consumers sample information when making an in-store purchase decision. This was done by an eye-tracking study which reveals to what extent consumers succeed in purchasing the products that best meet their purchase intentions when only a representative amount of misleading information is present. The study shows that decisions were suboptimal in relation to what the consumers claimed they wanted to purchase. Only in one product category did consumers in this study actually look at products that were slightly better than average, and as a result, they mainly selected products that were just as often poor as good. If the proportion of bad purchase decisions based on misleading information is small enough, perhaps it might be better to direct the authors’ attention to other ways of improving the decision environments that consumers encounter. In addition, the eye-tracking study provides some insight into how consumers sample information when making an in-store purchase decision. The present data show that consumers invested on average of less than 1 s to look at products.     

Consumers’ everyday food choice strategies in Finland

In developed countries, choosing and purchasing food is today perhaps more complex than ever. In recent years, European consumers have experienced several food crises. We face a rapidly expanding range of novel food products, the food chain has become longer, and the origin of food more anonymous. At the same time, consumers confront increasing amounts of information on food every day. Consumers build their conceptions of modern food‐related risks on the basis of their everyday knowledge and coping strategies. Hence, the focus of this paper is on consumers’ food choices and everyday practices in relation to food safety and quality as well as food‐related risks. The paper is based on a Finnish study 1 examining consumers’ food choices. The data for the study were collected in September 2004 using an Internet‐based food diary accompanied by open‐ended questions on food‐related views and strategies. Altogether, 92 consumers completed the diary. The method combining the tradition of dietary intake and food consumption surveys with open‐ended questions was developed in order to gain an insight both on the types of foods purchased and on consumers’ conceptions of food‐related issues. In this paper, we focus on the key findings of the study as regards to consumers’ notions on food quality and safety issues and the practices they use in their everyday lives. We found eight everyday strategies consumers use. We suggest, first, that the strategies are important in simplifying food choice and making daily life easier, and second, that consumers use food‐related information flexibly in creating these strategies.     

Quality disclosure in the presence of strategic consumers

Consider a market for short-life products, such as smartphones, where a firm and consumers have asymmetric quality information, the firm sells products in two periods, and consumers make purchase decisions strategically. We investigate when a firm should disclose quality and the interaction between consumers' strategic behavior and the firm's disclosure behavior. We obtain several findings. First, regardless of whether consumers have low or high patience, the firm should disclose quality information if product quality is high and conceal it if product quality is low. However, for products with moderate quality levels, the firm will disclose more quality information to consumers with relatively high or low patience levels than when consumer patience is moderate. Second, firms will disclose less information when consumers behave strategically than when they are myopic. Third, when concealing quality information is an equilibrium, product prices are affected only by disclosure costs and independent of true product quality. Finally, the firm can benefit from consumers' strategic behavior and a higher disclosure cost, but greater patience might be detrimental to consumer surplus and social welfare.     

Food retailers' perceptions of older consumers in Northern Ireland

Demographic changes' occurring in developed countries has meant that older consumers are becoming an increasingly important consumer segment that retailers need to pay particular attention to. It is essential that their specific needs within the food and other service sectors are met, as food plays an important role in their social well‐being. Very little research has focused upon the extent to which retailers meet their demands and particular needs. The aim of this study, as part of a wider study on older consumers, is to address this lack of information by examining the level of awareness held by food retail management as to the needs of older consumers (60+ years old) and the problems that they encounter while shopping. Qualitative data were collected using face‐to‐face interviews with retail managers (n = 5) from food retailers in Northern Ireland. These were analysed according to Gillham's content analysis guide. Food retailers stated they were aware of the issues older consumers face and recognize their importance as a growing consumer segment; however, there would appear to be relatively little actual consideration/evidence of them meeting their needs. All interviewees expressed an interest in improving the food shopping experiences of older consumers, and were keen to make an increased effort towards this segment of the population, but these were often not put into practice. In order to overcome the problems faced by older consumers and strengthen the food shopping experience for this age group, it is suggested that retail management make practical changes to improve in‐store facilities, increase affordability of food products and home delivery services, and enhance customer communication.     

Green decisions: demographics and consumer understanding of environmental labels

This research examined the demographic profiles of Australian green consumers in relation to their satisfaction of environmental labelling. It examined consumers’ understanding of labelling and empirically investigated the association of demographic profile of consumers with their attitudes towards such labels. The results indicated that some of the demographic variables were significant, which is largely consistent with earlier findings by other researchers in this area. Label dissatisfaction was higher in the older and middle age respondents. However, some respondents disagreed that labels were accurate while commenting that labels were easy to understand. The key issue arising from the findings is that in order to provide perception of accuracy in labels, it is an option to use Type I or Type III labelling on products. These labels are, arguably, more credible because they are endorsed by third party labelling experts. This would come at a cost and for green products that use third party labelling, they will also have to bear in mind to keep the prices competitive.     

Perceived assortment and consideration of customized products

Customization in the marketplace has become much more commonplace as information technology and flexible manufacturing systems continue to evolve. Consumer research into customization decisions has subsequently examined the implications of customization as compared to traditional assortment product offerings, finding that customization yields both positive implications for consumer preference matching as well as higher evaluations of retailers, chosen products, and even the process itself. The present research examines the implications that customization of products has on consumers’ decision processes, and on their perceptions of assortment and how they consider products. Two experimental studies suggest that customization decisions may negatively affect consumers’ perceptions of assortment, while also reducing the number of alternatives they consider, and that this in turn may have implications for their evaluation of, and willingness-to-pay for, customized products.     

Is bigger better? How the scale effect influences green purchase intention: The case of washing machine

To stimulate purchase of green products, retailers and marketers need to know how to effectively present benefits of green products, specifically by numerical information. Accordingly, the current study provides useful insights on how to use numerical scale to influence consumer perceptions and green purchase intention. Data from a survey of 302 consumers show that green benefits expressed with an expanded scale (versus a contracted scale) increase perceived value of green products, producing in turn an increase in green purchase intention. Furthermore, low skepticism consumers perceive more value from benefits expressed in an expanded scale, but high skepticism consumers are less likely to be influenced by framing of the numerical scale due to heightened involvement. Significant moderation of consumer skepticism reveals its tempering effect on numerosity heuristic thinking in favor of the central processing route. These findings advance knowledge in the fields of numerosity heuristic, consumer decision and green consumption and provide managerial implications for retailers to formulate effective market segmentation strategies and enhance persuasiveness of numerical information to promote green purchase behavior.     

Retailers’ Merchandise Organization and Price Perceptions

Retailers’ presentation of merchandise to consumers is often organized by brand or by price to facilitate comparison and processing of competitive information. While such organization of product information is presumed to assist consumer decision-making, we suggest that sorting of alternatives on brand names strain cognitive resources more than a price sort, leading to differences in sensitivity to prices for a target product accompanying these two sorts. We conduct three studies to examine this issue and find that sorting of alternatives interacts with consumers’ motivation and influences price perceptions. Our results add nuance to the findings from previous studies examining how assortment affects consumers’ price sensitivity, and suggest that retailers whose appeal is not primarily price-based could benefit by presenting merchandise information sorted by brand name so as to increase perceptions of quality and value.     

A cross‐cultural exploration of attitudes toward product expiration dates

This is an exploratory study examining consumer attitudes toward product expiration dates in three different countries, the United States, Canada, and Turkey. In addition, the study investigates the differences in the importance of product expiration dates for three products, yogurt, over‐the‐counter medicine, and camera film, in the three cultures. A total of 687 surveys were gathered in the three countries. The results show that there are, indeed, differences among the consumers in three countries. American and Canadian consumers check product expiration dates before purchasing and before using products more often than Turkish consumers. Although most of the differences observed are between the respondents in Turkey versus the respondents in the United States and Canada, some differences between the U.S. and Canadian respondents are also found, indicating that culture plays an important role in consumer uncertainty avoidance. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.