Escaping the tyranny of choice: when fewer attributes make choice easier

by: Barbara Fasolo, Gary H Mcclelland, Peter M Todd

Marketing Theory, Vol. 7, No. 1. (1 March 2007), pp. 13-26.

View FullText article

DOI, HighWire

Reviews [Write a review of this article]

There are no reviews of this article

Find related articles from these CiteULike users

klouie, Glimcher_Lab (group)

Find related articles with these CiteULike tags

choicebehavior, economics, neuroeconomics, paradox_of_choice

Abstract

In the age of the Internet and easy access to almost infinite information, the problem of information overload among consumers is bound to become of great importance to marketers. By means of simulations we show that this tyranny of choice' is avoidable. Consumers can neglect most product information and yet make good choices, so long as either there is no conflict among the product attributes or the attributes are unequally important. In these conditions, only one attribute is enough to select a good option - one within ten percent of the highest value possible. We conclude with marketing implications of these findings. 10.1177/1470593107073842

@article{citeulike:1624408, abstract = {In the age of the Internet and easy access to almost infinite information, the problem of information overload among consumers is bound to become of great importance to marketers. By means of simulations we show that this tyranny of choice' is avoidable. Consumers can neglect most product information and yet make good choices, so long as either there is no conflict among the product attributes or the attributes are unequally important. In these conditions, only one attribute is enough to select a good option - one within ten percent of the highest value possible. We conclude with marketing implications of these findings. 10.1177/1470593107073842}, author = {Fasolo, Barbara and Mcclelland, Gary H. and Todd, Peter M. }, citeulike-article-id = {1624408}, doi = {10.1177/1470593107073842}, journal = {Marketing Theory}, keywords = {choicebehavior, economics, neuroeconomics, paradox\_of\_choice}, month = {March}, number = {1}, pages = {13--26}, posted-at = {2007-09-05 16:11:30}, priority = {2}, title = {Escaping the tyranny of choice: when fewer attributes make choice easier}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1470593107073842}, volume = {7}, year = {2007} }

RIS record

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1624408 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1624408 TI - Escaping the tyranny of choice: when fewer attributes make choice easier JF - Marketing Theory VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - 13 EP - 26 N2 - In the age of the Internet and easy access to almost infinite information, the problem of information overload among consumers is bound to become of great importance to marketers. By means of simulations we show that this tyranny of choice' is avoidable. Consumers can neglect most product information and yet make good choices, so long as either there is no conflict among the product attributes or the attributes are unequally important. In these conditions, only one attribute is enough to select a good option - one within ten percent of the highest value possible. We conclude with marketing implications of these findings. 10.1177/1470593107073842 KW - choicebehavior KW - economics KW - neuroeconomics KW - paradox_of_choice AU - Fasolo, Barbara AU - Mcclelland, Gary AU - Todd, Peter PY - 2007/03/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1470593107073842 ER -

RIS BibTeX