Journal
MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
Volume 64, Issue 5, Pages 2445-2459Publisher
INFORMS
DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2016.2703
Keywords
behavioral decision making; behavioral economics; consumer behavior; choice architecture; theory; government; regulations; applications; marketing; segmentation; translated attributes; proenvironmental behavior
Funding
- National Science Foundation [SES 0951516]
- Alcoa Foundation Fellowship from the American Australian Association [2787 2012]
- Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie [0951516] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Divn Of Social and Economic Sciences
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie [1463122] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Every attribute can be expressed in multiple ways. For example, car fuel economy can be expressed as fuel efficiency (miles per gallon), fuel cost in dollars, or tons of greenhouse gases emitted. Each expression, or translation, highlights a different aspect of the same attribute. We describe a new mechanism whereby translated attributes can serve as decision signposts because they (1) activate otherwise dormant objectives, such as proenvironmental values and goals, and (2) direct the person toward the option that best achieves the activated objective. Across three experiments, we provide evidence for the occurrence of such signpost effects as well as the underlying psychological mechanism. We demonstrate that expressing an attribute such as fuel economy in terms of multiple translations can increase preference for the option that is better aligned with objectives congruent with this attribute (e.g., the more fuel-efficient car for those with proenvironmental attitudes), even when the new information is derivable from other known attributes. We discuss how using translated attributes appropriately can help align a person's choices with their personal objectives.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available