The Dual Nature of Choice: When Consumers Prefer Less to More

Bailey Norwood () and Jayson Lusk

No 34850, 2007 Annual Meeting, February 4-7, 2007, Mobile, Alabama from Southern Agricultural Economics Association

Abstract: Economists typically assume that more choice is better, and consumers are more likely to purchase from a larger choice set. However, marketing and psychological studies show this is not always the case. This paper reports results from experiments designed to further investigate the so-called excessive-choice effect. First, we investigate whether people would voluntarily reduce their choice set size. Second, we investigate whether the excessive-choice effect, found in previous studies, is robust to changes in experimental design. Third, we explore how personality influences preferences for choice set size. Results show that the excessive-choice effect indeed exists for some people, but on average people prefer greater choice.

Keywords: Consumer/Household; Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:saeasm:34850

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.34850

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