Consumer choice of compromise option and activated styles of thinking: Experimental evidence

Abstract

Choice preferences for the compromise option are one common way to make decisions which has received a great deal of research attention to seek a richer understanding of consumers' product choices. Prior research has focused on investigating the various factors underlying the compromise choice. Given that the literature on cognitive style provides considerable evidence of how a holistic-analytic thinking style influences consumers' decision-making processes, this article applies an individual-differences perspective to examine the influence of consumers' situationally activated styles of thinking on their choice of compromise option. We conduct two separate experimental studies in Korea and in France, as representatives of holistic-and analytic-thinking culture, respectively, and identify whether priming consumers to think either holistically or analytically induces the shift in their thinking tendencies and consequently in their choice behavior. The results demonstrate a significant interaction between consumers' culture and the priming condition; French consumers have a greater tendency to select compromise option in holistic-prime condition, while Korean consumers have a lower tendency to select compromise option in analytic-prime condition. Contributing to literature not only on compromise choice, but also on priming effects of thinking style, the findings provide useful managerial insights into implementing effective global strategies for compromise-option product ranges.