You are here:  

• Print

The increasing integration of technology into consumer decision-making has further differentiated offline and online purchasing experiences, especially during pre-purchase activities.

 

---

 

Research summary

Although existing literature invested into enjoyment of products and services (Voss et al., 2003; Yim et al., 2014; Motoki et al., 2020), very little is known about the enjoyment of information search, its role for product choice (Mourali et al., 2005, Lin et al., 2008), and its implications for cognitive engagement (Smith et al., 2021). Even less is understood about how the need for cognition shapes consumers’ interactions with technology in decision-making.

In our study, we used a medium involvement consumer durable and compared physical inspection of a number of product alternatives with analogue brochure (analogue treatment) to a ‘mocked up’ website with the same products shown on the screen (web treatment). During the information review for three products (with each product presented sequentially) and until the final product choice the cognitive underpinnings of consumer choice dynamics were captured by an eye-tracking device (glasses for the analogue treatment).

The brochure/website consisted of product image, price, product and brand description, and product reviews. After making the choice respondents were given a ChatGPT verdict on the best choice and were asked to comment on this via an open response question. The responses were coded by the team thematically. Using the scales of Trait Task Enjoyment (TTES; Czikmantory, et al., 2021) and Need for Cognition (NfC; de Holanda Coelho et al., 2020) together with post-experiment survey assessing the enjoyment of product choice activity (ENJOY scale; Davidson et al., 2023) and the difficulty of making the final choice via Hart and Staveland’s NASA Task Load Index (TLX; 1988) we aimed to relate the pre-choice dynamics to the individual constructs of enjoyment and cognitive curiosity.

 

---

 

 

---