Future Preference Uncertainty and Diversification: The Role of Temporal Stochastic Inflation

Linda Court Salisbury and Fred M. Feinberg

Journal of Consumer Research: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 2008, vol. 35, issue 2, pages 349-359

Abstract: Consumers' choices tend to display greater variety when made for future versus immediate consumption. Previous accounts of such diversification differences suggested that they are driven primarily by (deterministic) shifts in underlying preference. Through a series of simulation studies, we propose and assess an alternative contributory mechanism: temporal stochastic inflation, the greater uncertainty typifying choices made for the future. We find effect sizes to be strongly influenced by relative brand attractiveness, brand attractiveness uncertainty, and degree of stochastic inflation, although not preference heterogeneity. Moreover, effect sizes are consistent with prior studies that attributed diversification differences to underlying preference shifts alone. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Date: 2008

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/586915 link to full text (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:jconrs:v:35:y:2008:i:2:p:349-359

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JCR/order1.html

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Consumer Research: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly is edited by Dawn Iacobucci

More articles in Journal of Consumer Research: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly from University of Chicago Press
Address: The University of Chicago Press, Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005 Chicago, IL 60637
Series data maintained by Christopher F. Baum ().