The choices we make

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Access to information, personal preference, existing knowledge, a communications prompt, an already established loyalty; the reasons people decide on a particular brand for a product or service they want to purchase are varied.

One might assume that consumers with a strong prior preference apply reasoning that will bolster this preliminary choice – and, indeed, some research has pointed to this.

But what happens when important information needed to complete the purchase is missing during this pre-purchase research period? How will their strength of opinion for their first choice affect their reaction to missing information? 

Research carried out by a team in the US has suggested that those with relatively stronger prior preferences for a product are more likely to abandon it than those with weaker prior preferences. 

The researchers looked at how preference strength plays a part because those with relatively stronger prior preferences experience more cognitive dissonance when information on new attributes is ...