Augmenting the reality of decision-making: Comparing and combining product experiences’ influence on choice difficulty and mental imagery

Maaike Ven (), Lieve Doucé (), Kim Willems (), Felitsa Rademakers (), Malaika Brengman () and Philippine Loupiac ()
Additional contact information
Maaike Ven: UHasselt – Hasselt University, Faculty of Business Economics – Department of Marketing & Strategy
Lieve Doucé: UHasselt – Hasselt University, Faculty of Business Economics – Department of Marketing & Strategy
Kim Willems: UHasselt – Hasselt University, Faculty of Business Economics – Department of Marketing & Strategy
Felitsa Rademakers: UHasselt – Hasselt University, Faculty of Business Economics – Department of Marketing & Strategy
Malaika Brengman: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, imec-SMIT
Philippine Loupiac: TBS Business School - Social & Innovation Marketing Lab

Electronic Markets, 2025, vol. 35, issue 1, No 54, 25 pages

Abstract: Abstract Companies are increasingly adopting augmented reality (AR) to provide new virtual product experiences for consumers. Despite practical and academic interest, AR’s potential to reduce the negative effects of choice overload remains largely unexplored. Drawing on cognitive load theory, this article compares and combines AR with a more indirect product experience (i.e., physical product swatches) to examine the relationships between mental imagery, choice difficulty, choice confidence, and purchase intention while considering decision-making style as a moderator. The results show that AR, especially static AR, enhances mental imagery and that this imagery is key in influencing choice difficulty and confidence. However, difficulty can also be reduced by combining AR with a more traditional indirect product experience. Furthermore, mental imagery and choice difficulty influence choice confidence, subsequently affecting purchase intentions. Only for people with a maximizing decision-making style was a direct effect of choice difficulty on purchase intention found. The results contribute to choice overload and AR literature by demonstrating how AR’s virtual experience affects decision-making and, more specifically, choice difficulty.

Keywords: Augmented reality; Virtual product experience; Decision-making; Choice overload; Choice difficulty; Mental imagery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12525-025-00801-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:elmark:v:35:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s12525-025-00801-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ystems/journal/12525

DOI: 10.1007/s12525-025-00801-y

Access Statistics for this article

Electronic Markets is currently edited by Rainer Alt and Hans-Dieter Zimmermann

More articles in Electronic Markets from Springer, IIM University of St. Gallen
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().