The order effects on consumer decision-making
Consumer decision-making is not isolated, but rather influenced by a range of contextual factors. The order of information, whether it is naturally determined or purposefully arranged, is one of the critical factors that plays a crucial role in shaping consumers’ perceptions. In this dissertation, I examine how this order of information affects consumers’ decision-making process in multiple domains. Chapter 1 examines how the naturally determined order in making sustainable products affects consumers’ evaluation. Sustainable products are often created by modifying select aspects of conventional products, while keeping other aspects unchanged or potentially harmful to the environment. Consequently, these sustainable products vary based on whether the environmental benefit relatively comes either before or after the harm. This work documents that consumers perceive the environmental impact of sustainable products as less significant when the benefit comes before, not after, the harm. This provides insights that consumers have systematic differences in evaluating green products and may make suboptimal decisions based on this order. Chapter 2 investigates the impact of purposefully arranged presentation order of options in a choice set on consumers’ commitment. When discovering options one at a time, identifying the most preferred option at the end (vs. beginning) provides additional utility above and beyond the value they would gain from the chosen option. Finding it at the end (vs. beginning) gives the perception that their effort in searching paid off, and this leads to an increased commitment to the same chosen option. Overall, this dissertation examines order of information as a critical contextual cue to guide consumers’ evaluation and decision-making in multiple domains.