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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