Invitation to PhD defense

On Monday 19 December 2011, Mark Pasquine will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic, and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.

14.12.2011 - Red.

Prescribed topic for the trial lecture:

The study of context effects in consumer decision making: theories, approaches and contributions

Time of the trial lecture:

11.15 in Karl Borch's Auditorium, NHH

Title of the thesis:

Now you see me, now you don't? Effects of choice set configuration in complex choice tasks.

Time and place for the defense:

13.15 in Karl Borch's Auditorium, NHH

Members of the evaluation committee:
Professor Sigurd V. Troye, NHH, chair
Professor James B. Wilcox, Texas Tech University

Professor Fred Selnes, BI Norwegian Business School

Supervising committee:

Professor Einar Breivik, NHH
Professor Roy D. Howell Texas Tech University

Abstract:
This thesis considers stimulus-based influences on consumer decision-making. Context effects, referred to as set configuration effects here, have repeatedly been shown to influence consumers' choices. For example, the choice probability of an alternative increases when a similar, but inferior, alternative is added to a set originally containing two alternatives. Studies examining set configuration effects have generally been conducted using simple choice tasks; that is choice sets with few attributes and alternatives. Some authors have argued that increasing the number of alternatives and attributes, a more complex task, should reduce the probability of set configuration effects, yet very few studies have empirically tested this assumption. Therefore, this thesis considers choice set configuration effects among consumers presented with complex choice tasks.

Across five experiments, the influence of two set configurations on choice were examined; uniqueness and asymmetric dominance. Uniqueness denotes a set configuration in which a single alternative is unique on an important attribute among heterogeneous competitor alternatives. Asymmetric dominance is a set configuration in which an alternative that is similar, but inferior, to another alternative is added to the set. Findings indicate that these two set configurations can increase choice of a target alternative in more complex tasks.

Another key finding is that asymmetric dominance can influence choice directly, as just discussed, and at a secondary level, or step. That is, an asymmetric dominance relationship among non-considered alternatives can influence choice among considered alternatives. To my knowledge, this type of secondary level set configuration effect has not been observed in the literature. Secondary level set configuration effects were moderated by task complexity (simple vs. complex) and product involvement (high vs. low): secondary level effects were observed in higher involving, more complex tasks.

The trial lecture and thesis defense will be open to the public. Copies of the thesis will be available from: [email protected]