Abstract:

The current research investigates how different attributions of perceived choice difficulty influence consumers’ preference. The authors propose that the metacognitive experience of choice difficulty can be inferred by different reasons. Across two empirical experiments, it’s demonstrated that consumers who attribute the perceived choice difficulty to the importance of choice per se will be more likely to choose the extreme options. However, if the perceived choice difficulty is believed to be induced by the importance of product attributes, consumers will be more likely to choose the compromise option. A discussion of theoretical contributions and managerial implications is included in the end of the paper.

Key words: Choice Difficulty, Compromise Effect, Extreme Choice, Attribution