The effects of product popularity on consumer decisions

Previous research suggests that consumers tend to use indications of products’ popularity to a greater extent when high demands are placed on their cognitive resources such as when decision uncertainty is high and the amount of information presented is large. In this case, products’ popularity is likely to override the effect of specific attribute descriptions. In some cases, however, indications of others’ product preferences can sensitize consumers to a discrepancy between their general knowledge about a product category and their knowledge about the specific products they are evaluating. In my thesis, I identified conditions in which this is the case. I propose that product popularity makes knowledgeable consumers aware of a “knowledge gap,” which increases their curiosity about the uncertain product assortment. Consequently, they think about the products’ attributes in an attempt to understand others’ reactions to the assortment. As a result, the attribute information can have greater influence on their judgments than it would have if popularity information were not presented. Three studies provide evidence to corroborate this expectation. Furthermore, the results show that consumers’ tendency to deliberate on product attribution is stronger when (a) consumers perceive their general product knowledge to be high and (b) making decisions is cognitively demanding.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Business Administration

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Ha, Younhee

Contributors dc:contributor

• White, Tiffany B.
• Wyer, Robert S., Jr.
• Viswanathan, Madhubalan
• Shavitt, Sharon

• consumer decision
• product popularity
• Information Processing
• assortment

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2014 Younhee Ha

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/50488

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/50488