The Influence of Anticipating Regret and Responsibility on Purchase Decisions

Itamar Simonson

Journal of Consumer Research, 1992, vol. 19, issue 1, 105-18

Abstract: It is suggested that consumers' choices between alternatives can be systematically influenced by asking them to an anticipate the regret and responsibility they would feel if they made the wrong decision. Specifically, on the basis of the notion that choices of conventional or default options are associated with lower regret and responsibility, it is proposed that consumers who anticipate how they would feel if they made the wrong decision would be more likely to purchase a currently available item on sale rather than wait for a better sale and more likely to prefer a higher-priced, well-known brand over a less expensive, lesser-known brand. These propositions were supported in three studies. The findings also suggest that an error caused by selection of a lesser-known, lower-priced brand is associated with greater responsibility but less regret than an error caused by a choice of a well-known, higher-priced brand. Copyright 1992 by the University of Chicago.

Date: 1992
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (127)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/209290 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:19:y:1992:i:1:p:105-18

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Consumer Research is currently edited by Bernd Schmitt, June Cotte, Markus Giesler, Andrew Stephen and Stacy Wood

More articles in Journal of Consumer Research from Journal of Consumer Research Inc.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().