When going for grocery shopping, some consumers make up their minds about what to buy and write down shopping lists. Others just go into the supermarket and do not really think beforehand about the things they need. Although in both situations, individuals engage in different ways of decision making on the purchase of groceries, when coming home and putting things into the shelve, they positively or negatively assess the things they bought. Whereas in some situations one gets a positive feeling because e.g. s/he purchased all the products on the shopping list. In another situation, a consumer might end up being bored because s/he just bought the groceries which are perceived as useful, and did not listen to his/her inner voice calling for more than just the fulfillment of utilitarian needs. Generally, consumers can consciously do their purchases and decide for products after thinking on it, or can consider a product’s attributes and let their intuition decide. In the interest of the consumer, the question emerges how the consumer decides at best. Does a consumer receive greater satisfaction from consciously elaborating about the products s/he is facing, or is it better not to think consciously when facing product choices? This question is differently assessed by different models on decision making. Whereas some authors (Ajzen, 2011; Bandura, 1986, 1997; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Payne et al., 1993) emphasize consciousness in decision making, there is also a large number of proponents of unconscious thought (Dijksterhuis, 2004, Dijksterhuis et al., 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, Levine, 1996, Bargh, 2002, and Wilson et al., 1993). Dijksterhuis and Nordgren (2006b, p.96) argue for the superiority of unconscious decision making by mentioning that “...conscious thought is constrained by the low capacity of consciousness”, which results in sub-optimal choices. With regard to food products, this general superiority of unconscious thought is highly questionable. On the one hand, consumers constrain themselves in taking into account only specific products which respect certain criteria, as e.g. with diabetics and food products with less sugar content. On the other hand, food products are also bought because consumers want to confirm their conscience by purchasing e.g. fair-trade products which among other things are associated with a fair payment of farmers.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Consumer choice
2.1 The conscious in consumer choice
2.1.1 Bounded Rationality
2.1.2 The Elaboration Likelihood Model
2.2 The unconscious in consumer choice
3. Product attributes
3.1 Search attributes
3.2 Credence attributes
3.3 Experience attributes
4. Conscious and unconscious product choice
5. Methodology
5.1 Participants
5.2 Design
5.3 Materials
5.4 Procedure
6. Results
6.1 General results
6.2 H1 testing
6.3 H2 testing
6.4 H3 testing
Objectives and Research Themes
The primary objective of this thesis is to investigate how different food product attributes—namely search, credence, and experience attributes—influence consumer satisfaction when processed through conscious versus unconscious decision-making modes. The central research question seeks to determine which mode of choice leads to the highest post-choice satisfaction for each specific attribute type.
- Comparison of conscious versus unconscious deliberation in food product selection.
- Evaluation of post-choice satisfaction as a metric for consumer decision quality.
- Analysis of search attributes as boundary conditions in conscious decision-making.
- Exploration of credence attributes and their link to consumer identity and self-esteem.
- Investigation into experience attributes and their affective influence on choice outcomes.
Excerpt from the Book
1. Introduction
When going for grocery shopping, some consumers make up their minds about what to buy and write down shopping lists. Others just go into the supermarket and do not really think beforehand about the things they need. Although in both situations, individuals engage in different ways of decision making on the purchase of groceries, when coming home and putting things into the shelve, they positively or negatively assess the things they bought. Whereas in some situations one gets a positive feeling because e.g. s/he purchased all the products on the shopping list. In another situation, a consumer might end up being bored because s/he just bought the groceries which are perceived as useful, and did not listen to his/her inner voice calling for more than just the fulfillment of utilitarian needs.
Generally, consumers can consciously do their purchases and decide for products after thinking on it, or can consider a product’s attributes and let their intuition decide. In the interest of the consumer, the question emerges how the consumer decides at best. Does a consumer receive greater satisfaction from consciously elaborating about the products s/he is facing, or is it better not to think consciously when facing product choices?
This question is differently assessed by different models on decision making. Whereas some authors (Ajzen, 2011; Bandura, 1986, 1997; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Payne et al., 1993) emphasize consciousness in decision making, there is also a large number of proponents of unconscious thought (Dijksterhuis, 2004, Dijksterhuis et al., 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, Levine, 1996, Bargh, 2002, and Wilson et al., 1993). Dijksterhuis and Nordgren (2006b, p.96) argue for the superiority of unconscious decision making by mentioning that “...conscious thought is constrained by the low capacity of consciousness”, which results in sub-optimal choices. With regard to food products, this general superiority of unconscious thought is highly questionable. On the one hand, consumers constrain themselves in taking into account only specific products which respect certain criteria, as e.g. with diabetics and food products with less sugar content.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Presents the motivation for the study, contrasting conscious and unconscious decision-making models in the context of food product selection.
2. Consumer choice: Reviews established psychological models, including the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Elaboration Likelihood Model, and introduces the theory of unconscious thought.
3. Product attributes: Categorizes food product features into search, credence, and experience attributes and proposes hypotheses regarding their optimal decision-making mode.
4. Conscious and unconscious product choice: Synthesizes the theoretical framework and visualizes the relationship between attributes, processes, and expected satisfaction.
5. Methodology: Details the experimental design, including participants, procedures, and measures used to test the satisfaction-based hypotheses.
6. Results: Provides an empirical analysis of the experiment, testing the formulated hypotheses against the collected data.
Keywords
Consumer choice, Conscious decision-making, Unconscious decision-making, Post-choice satisfaction, Food products, Search attributes, Credence attributes, Experience attributes, Deliberation-without-attention, Theory of Planned Behavior, Bounded Rationality, Elaboration Likelihood Model, Consumer behavior, Satisfaction measurement, Decision strategies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The work examines whether consumers achieve higher satisfaction when making food product choices through conscious deliberation or through unconscious processes, specifically depending on the nature of the product's attributes.
What are the primary thematic areas covered?
The thesis covers consumer decision-making theory, the distinction between conscious and unconscious cognition, the categorization of product attributes, and empirical testing regarding consumer satisfaction.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to determine if there is a "best" decision-making mode (conscious or unconscious) for specific product attributes that maximizes consumer satisfaction after the purchase.
Which scientific methodology does the study employ?
The study utilizes a 2 (awareness: conscious vs. unconscious) x 3 (choice strategy) factorial experimental design, using post-choice satisfaction on a Likert scale as the primary dependent variable.
What topics are discussed in the main body?
The main body covers theoretical foundations (TPB, Bounded Rationality, ELM), the distinction between search, credence, and experience attributes, and the empirical results from a controlled experiment involving chocolate product choices.
Which keywords characterize this thesis?
Key terms include consumer choice, conscious vs. unconscious thought, post-choice satisfaction, and the specific classification of food attributes.
Why are "search attributes" considered non-compensatory?
Search attributes, such as price or specific nutritional constraints, act as hard boundary conditions. If a product fails to meet these pre-set thresholds, it is immediately excluded from the decision set, making them non-compensatory.
How does the "credence attribute" relate to consumer identity?
Credence attributes, such as fair-trade production, often carry high expressive value. They allow consumers to affirm their personal values and social identities, which the study hypothesizes may lead to higher satisfaction when consciously considered.
What was the role of the "n-back task" in the experiment?
The n-back task was used in the unconscious condition to occupy the participants' working memory, thereby blocking conscious deliberation and forcing the use of unconscious thought processes.
What was the conclusion regarding the superiority of unconscious thought?
The study did not find empirical evidence to support a general superiority of unconscious thought over conscious thought for post-choice satisfaction; rather, it suggests that differences are subtle and highly dependent on the specific attribute type.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Florian Schleicher (Autor:in), 2013, Conscious and Unconscious Consumer Choice of Food Products, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/265953
