TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lange, Jens
A1  - Krahé, Barbara
T1  - The effects of information form and domain-specific knowledge on choice deferral
JF  - Journal of economic psychology : research in economic psychology and behavioral economics
N2  - Three studies examined the effect of information form on choice deferral in consumer choice and explored the moderating role of knowledge about the product domain. Two theoretical approaches were contrasted: (1) The process approach predicting that choice deferral varies as a function of information form, and (2) the communication approach predicting an interaction of information form and domain-specific knowledge. Participants were presented with different laptops described in an absolute (e.g. '300 GB hard disc'), evaluative-numerical (e.g. 'hard disc with 30 out of 100 points in an expert rating') or evaluative-verbal (e.g. 'bad hard disc') information form, and they could choose to buy one of the laptops or defer. Domain-specific knowledge was also assessed. In Study 1, evaluative-numerical and evaluative-verbal values led to more deferral in people with high domain-specific knowledge. The pattern for evaluative-numerical and evaluative-verbal values was replicated for a different information organization in Study 2. Study 3 showed that absolute values led to more deferral the less knowledgeable participants were and demonstrated that domain-specific knowledge and deferral were unrelated when absolute and evaluative-verbal values were presented in combination. In sum, the results support the communication approach and have methodological implications for decision research and theoretical implications for understanding choice deferral in real-life decisions. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW  - Choice deferral
KW  - Information form
KW  - Domain-specific knowledge
KW  - Communication
KW  - Consumer choice
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2014.05.001
SN  - 0167-4870
SN  - 1872-7719
VL  - 43
SP  - 92
EP  - 104
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -