More About Consumer Choice

At the Intersection of Health, Health Care and Policy The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is available at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/15/3/277.citation For Reprints, Links & Permissions : http://content.healthaffairs.org/1340_rep rints.php Email Alertings : To Subscribe : http://content.healthaffairs.org/subscriptions/et oc.dtl https://fulfillment.healthaffairs.org Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution Downloaded from http://content.healthaffairs.org/ by Health Affairs on May 29, 2016 by HW Team Cite this article as: James C. Robinson Taking Consumers' Rights Seriously Health Affairs 15, no.3 (1996):277-279 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.15.3.277

Previous research studies directed at the influence of information on consumers' preferences and choices of food in the context of genetically modified (GM) food assume that information is exogenous, in that this is provided to consumers from external sources. Information made available to consumers is also typically treated as being received and processed. Other literature and observation suggests that these two features tend not to apply in practice. Using data from a choice experiment on consumers' choices for genetically modified food in which respondents were able to voluntarily access information, this study allows information to be endogenous; consumers' product choices and information access decisions are examined within a simultaneous choice framework. We find that these two types of decisions are related, but not entirely as might be expected from the existing agricultural economics literature since those with more negative attitudes toward GM food were most likely to access information made available. Our results are consistent with research findings in the social psychology literature. There is heterogeneity across consumers in the relationship between information access and consumer choices which may reflect differentiation in attitudes to GM food.

ABSTRACTThe use of neuro-physiological data in models of consumer choice is gaining popularity. This article presents some of the benefits of using psycho-physiological data in analyzing consumer valuation and choice. Eye-tracking, facial expressions, and electroencephalography (EEG) data were used to construct three non-conventional choice models, namely, eye-tracking, emotion and brain model. The predictive performance of the non-conventional models was compared to a baseline model, which was based entirely on conventional data. While the emotion and brain models proved to be as good as conventional data in explaining and predicting consumer choice, the eye-tracking model generated superior predictions. Moreover, we document a significant increase in predictive power when biometric data from different sources were combined into a mixed model. Finally, we utilize a machine learning technique to sparse the data and enhance out-of-sample prediction, thus showcasing the compatibility of biometric data with well-established statistical and econometric methods.

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Purpose – This purpose of this paper is to present a technique for measuring the impact of package graphic designs on consumer choice and purchase intentions. The technique allows several proposed graphic designs for the same product to be compared, both with one another and with their immediate competitors up to a maximum of eight designs. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is based upon a fractionally replicated Latin square design with two sets of four package graphic designs and five consumer groups as the independent variables. The dependent variable is consumer choice. Findings – Three fully worked examples of the test are presented. The results show that graphic design has a massive and statistically significant impact on consumer choice, ceteris paribus. The test is able to discriminate strongly between package graphic designs that only apparently differ in detail. Research limitations/implications – The results show that graphic design has a significant impact upon consumer choice, but it also shows that this impact is highly product and situation specific. This may have considerable implications for any claimed wider “empirical generalisations” relating to the impact of graphic designs, or components thereof, on food consumer choice. Practical implications – The methodology presented allows graphic designs to be tested before they enter the marketplace. It replaces opinion with a reliable and quantifiable output that can be easily interfaced with econometric and market share models that have been developed within the choice modelling literature. Originality/value – This appears to be the first paper to appear within the literature that presents a reliable, simple and easily administered test that is capable of quantifying the performance of alternative graphic designs on food packaging.

Positive Net Neutrality: Zero-Rating and the Material Reduction of Consumer Choice

The article examines individual action informed by ethical concerns for the environment as a strategy for moving toward more sustainable consumption. The article first employs a model of rational choice to analyze independent consumer choices among the usually assumed self- and welfare-centered consumers and then expands the model to analyze the implications of other than self- and welfare-centered motivations for consumer choice. The article next analyzes interdependent consumer choices informed by self- and welfare-centered values with the help of a simple game-theoretic model and then moves on to examine the implications of nonutilitarian environmental concerns for interdependent consumer choice in the same game-theoretic framework. The article concludes that although a strategy based on individual action may have limited promise when environmental concerns are widely shared, the case for collective action remains strong because of both efficiency and equity reasons.

<p>The aim of the present thesis is to develop a conceptual framework of how consumers' choice of products may be influenced by the human values that they endorse. The framework combines a traditional model of human value influence based in expectancy-value theory (e.g., Scott and Lamont's (1973), Gutman's (1982) and Lindberg, Garling and Montgomery's (1989) attribute-mediation approach), with a new approach based on product meanings, judgements and psychological functions. From the union, a product meaning approach to value influence is suggested which outlines two structures of the value-attitude-behaviour system. Firstly, when consumers are evaluating a product's utilitarian meaning and making a piecemeal judgement, human values may influence the importance of the product's tangible attributes that in turn influence product preference. Secondly, when consumers are evaluating a product's symbolic meaning and making an affective judgement, human values may influence product preference directly. The meaning and judgement elements of the conceptual framework and the traditional attribute-mediation approach were examined in three studies; Study 1 found that the attribute-mediation approach could not fully account for the influence of human values on product preference (Hypothesis 1) and that the inability was greatest for products, such as red meat and overseas holiday destinations, which are likely evaluated on their intangible attributes of symbolic meanings and aesthetics (Hypothesis 2). The second and third studies tested whether the two routes of value influence uncovered in Study 1, that is, the route proposed in the attribute-mediation approach and the alternative, direct route, result from consumers evaluating different product meanings and making different types of judgements. Study 2 developed scales that measure the general publics' product meaning and judgement preferences, and Study 3 associated the meaning and judgement preference scales with the influences of human values on automobile and sunglasses ownerships; confirming the product meaning approach hypothesis that a consumer's preference for utilitarian meaning and for a piecemeal judgement to symbolic meaning and an affective judgement should be greater when his or her human values have an indirect influence on product preference (e.g., via the importance of the product's tangible attributes) than when his or her human values have a direct influence. Besides modelling the cognitive structure through which human values operate when consumers attend to utilitarian and symbolic meanings and make piecemeal and affective judgements, several propositions were made that consumers have a cross-product tendency to prefer the same meanings, judgements and routes of value influence, and that each route of value influence serves a specific psychological function. Concerning the latter, the propositions were made that when consumers attend to symbolic meaning and directly apply their human values, the application serves an expressive psychological function (e.g., self-consistency and social approval), and hence should be associated with greater psychological identification with the product, greater importance assigned to human values in general (e.g., value relevance), and a preference for terminal values to instrumental values. Conversely, when consumers attend to utilitarian meaning and indirectly apply their human values via tangible attribute importances, the application serves an instrumental psychological function (e.g., utility maximisation and control of the environment), and hence should be associated with a weaker psychological identification with the product, weaker value relevance, and a preference for instrumental values to terminal values. Study 4 assessed these propositions by examining the results of Studies 1-3 in detail and by analysing a fourth data set. Support was found for most of the propositions. Qualifications and limitations of the product meaning approach to the influences of human values on consumer choices are discussed, as are the implications of the approach for human value theory and consumer research.</p>

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks consumed in the world, also in Poland. In the literature, much attention is paid to the influence of coffee on human health, especially daily intake of caffeine, and also purchasing consumer behavior. There is a lack of research devoted to consumer choices and habits in relation to coffee consumption and brewing method. Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe the characteristics of coffee consumers and present their segmentation based on consumer choices and habits towards coffee consumption. The study was performed using the computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) method on a group of 1500 adults respondents in Poland reporting the consumption of coffee. We collected information about consumer choices and habits related to coffee consumption, including brewing method, place of consuming coffee, and factors determining coffee choices. Using cluster analysis, we identified three main groups of coffee consumers. There are “Neutral coffee drinkers”, “Ad hoc coffee drinkers”, and “Non-specific coffee drinkers”. The respondents in the study are not coffee gourmets; they like and consume coffee, but these are often changing choices. To conclude, it can be stated that the Polish coffee consumer prefers conventional methods of brewing coffee (like a “traditionalist”) but is open to novelties and new sensory experiences. Based on study results it is possible to know the coffee drinking habits in Poland.

This research proposes that consumers’ preference for supersized food and drinks may have roots in the status-signaling value of larger options. An initial experiment found that consumers view larger-sized options within a set as having greater status. Because low-power consumers desire status, we manipulated power to test our core propositions. Whether induced in the lab or in the field, states of powerlessness led individuals to disproportionately choose larger food options from an assortment. Furthermore, this preference for larger-sized options was enhanced when consumption was public, reversed when the size-to-status relationship was negative (i.e., smaller was equated with greater status), and mediated by consumers’ need for status. This research demonstrates that choosing a product on the basis of its relative size allows consumers to signal status, illustrates the consequences of such a choice for consumers’ food consumption, and highlights the central role of a product category’s size-to-status relationship in driving consumer choice.

Understanding consumer behaviour and choices are crucial for marketing students in tertiary institutions of learning. Thus, the paper examined the impact of the internet and search engines on students' understanding of consumer behaviour and choices in tertiary institutions of learning in Abuja. Three research objectives and three research questions guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population comprised 1,126 students that were drawn from three tertiary institutions in the FCT. A sample of 291 students was used for the study, using Krejae, and Morgan's (1970) sample size determination table. Sixteen items self-structured questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. Content validity was used. Test-retest method of reliability was used to obtain the internal consistency. The reliability index was obtained through Cornbrash's alpha (0.86). 274 questionnaires were returned valid, representing a 94% success rate. Data collected were imputed into the SPSS (25) software package where descriptive statistics, in the form of graphs and tables were generated. The study discovered among others that Google is the most used search engine by students in tertiary institutions of learning in the Federal Capital Territory. Internet search engines have positive impacts on students' understanding of consumer behaviour and choices in tertiary institutions of learning in Abuja. The study recommended among others that Faculty and Departmental lecturers should educate students on how to identify junk information while surfing through the search engines, students should attend special ICT training programmes to improve their internet search skills and the cost of internet subscription should be made affordable for students and other subscribers. . Keywords: Impact, Internet, search engines, consumer behaviour and choices

This paper is focused on modeling consumer's behavior related to decision making with some models of imperfect information. Our approach is based on the Lewin's field theory with our own expansion stemming from it. We use a few imperfect information models, namely: fuzzy sets, triangular norms and balanced norms. The former two models are applied in aggregating positive premisses to indicate a decision. The latter one involves aggregation of both negative and positive premisses in the decision making process. The goal of the research is to investigate how, using imprecise information representation models, neoclassical understanding of the consumer's choice theory can be reformed. We believe that applying named tools might be beneficial for better description of human behavior on the market.

To determine how frequently lay consumers evaluate both the front label of a product package and other nutritional information on the back label of the package; whether the nutritional descriptors on the front label that concern fat affect consumer choice; to what degree information on the back label redirects this choice; and how well consumers understand the percent daily value on the new food label. Preliminary cross-sectional survey. General community and university setting. Volunteer sample of 200 men and women. Participants were first asked to choose between two fabricated cookie packages, one with a "low fat" and the other with a "no saturated fat" front label. Eighty-four percent of participants made their product choice without turning the package to view the back label. Thirty-six percent chose the product with the low fat front label, while 64% chose the product with the no saturated fat front label. In contrast, when respondents were subsequently presented with two cake products that contained no front-label descriptors (which resulted in 100% of subjects turning the package to view the back label), 53% chose the product with a label indicating 6 g of total fat (none saturated), while 47% chose the product with a label indicating 4 g of total fat (all saturated). Thirty-two of the 94 respondents who chose the no saturated fat cookie (only viewing the front label and giving fat content as the reason for their choice) chose a cake product in which the fat was all saturated, based on back-label nutrition information. Finally, 56% of participants could not accurately use the new percent daily value component to calculate saturated fat content. The data from this pilot study suggest that consumers make product choices based on only viewing the front-label information; health claims on the front label that are related to fat do affect product choice; a choice made based on the information on the front label is potentially altered once the back label is viewed; and approximately one half of our population could not clearly understand the percent daily value. We conclude that current consumer choice may be overly influenced by industry-directed claims placed on the front of a product package.

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in freshwater ecosystems worldwide are a growing threat to human health and the health of aquatic ecosystems. In East Africa, HABs threaten the livelihoods and health of the more than 42 million people who live in the Lake Victoria basin. Since fish is an important food source in this area, understanding how food safety concerns from HABs influence consumer choices is crucial to any policy response. My findings highlight the severity of the impacts of HABs in Lake Victoria and the danger to the surrounding community, yet the existing research on food safety and consumer perceptions is somewhat limited. In this paper, I summarize recent updates to the literature regarding harmful algal blooms and discrete choice experiments to explore what existing literature can tell us about how algal blooms may affect consumer choices.

The manuscript deals with a timely topic that is of strong interest to both academics and practitioners.A strong case is made for the need of this type of