Explaining the use of attribute cut-off values in decision making by means of involvement

Anne O. Peschel, Carola Grebitus, Gregory Colson and Wuyang Hu

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2016, vol. 65, issue C, 58-66

Abstract: In order to lower the cognitive burden of decision making, consumers may apply attribute cut-off values to simplify decision strategies. Products with attributes that do not pass the cut-off values are either not being considered by the individual or are greatly discounted. This study provides new evidence on consumers’ heterogeneous use of attribute cut-offs with a unique focus on the relationship with consumer involvement, a key component in consumer choice theory. Behavioral data from an online choice experiment on beef steak employing shelf simulations are combined with questions defining respondents’ attribute cut-off values and their validated Personal Involvement Inventory (PII). Evidence from the analysis indicates that consumers who are highly involved are more likely to exhibit attribute cut-off values and are less likely to violate their cut-off values. Further investigation using a latent class model identifies several key consumer segments (e.g., a price sensitive group) based on their choice behavior and reveals that the relationship between involvement, cut-off use and cut-off violations is not uniform across consumer segments.

Keywords: Beef; Choice experiment; Consumer segmentation; Cut-off value violation; Decision strategy; Latent class analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Working Paper: Meeting European consumers' demand for imported beef (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:65:y:2016:i:c:p:58-66

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2016.08.007

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