Choice freedom

Botti, Simona; Iyengar, Sheena S.; McGill, Ann L.

doi:10.1002/jcpy.1325

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 273 publications

(371 reference statements)

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“…However, scholars go a step further conceptually, raising the issue of whether more choice implies enhanced welfare. For example, in their review on consumer choice freedom, Botti et al (2023) state that increasing options entails both benefits and costs, and cognitive limitations and emotional conflict contribute to the latter. Similarly, Dholakia et al (2021a) argue that while consumer choice is reified morally and instrumentally, the real world presents enough instantiations of restrictions on and of choice-making.…”

Section: Findings and Discussion -Contemporary Challenges Of Consumpt...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary challenges of consumption: a Kafkaesque and critical marketing perspective

Arora

2023

International Journal of Contemporary Management

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Purpose Markets are sites of collaboration as well as contestation between their various actors, including firms and consumers. In this respect, a narrative that consumers are more empowered than ever has been in vogue. Drawing from Kafka’s literature and philosophy and the paradigm of critical marketing, this paper argues for a broadened perspective. Design/methodology/approach Using a selective and exploratory-review approach, six dimensions of the state of today’s consumer emerge. These are subsequently assessed and developed as manifestations challenging the empowerment thesis. Findings The depiction of intense subjugation in Kafka’s fiction and the lack of agency his characters portray furnish narrative frames to view the paradoxical state of contemporary consumption. Specifically, consumer choice and sovereignty, service failures and recoveries, privacy concerns, the capitalist nexus, transformation in service provisioning modes, and frontline employees’ lowered stakes comprise six analytical frames of consumers’ lives that depict their paradoxical simultaneity of empowerment and entrapment. Originality/value The work contributes to critical marketing theory in particular and critical philosophy in general. Specifically, the proposed framework of consumption challenges depicted herein can serve as a mid-range theoretical taxonomy. The exemplar states highlighted reveal managerial and policy challenges.

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Section: Findings and Discussion -Contemporary Challenges Of Consumpt...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary challenges of consumption: a Kafkaesque and critical marketing perspective

Arora

2023

International Journal of Contemporary Management

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“…In other words, we expect that perceived freedom mediates the effect. As in Reeve and Deci (1996) and Wertenbroch et al (2020), we refer to “autonomy” and “freedom” interchangeably, and see Botti, Iyengar and McGill (2023) for choice freedom as an antecedent of autonomy.…”

Section: Conventional Solutions For Increasing Satisfaction With Larg...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Choose as much as you wish: Freedom cues in the marketplace help consumers feel more satisfied with what they choose and improve customer experience.

Fasolo¹,

Misuraca²,

Reutskaja³

2024

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied

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Consumer satisfaction and customer experience are key predictors of an organization's future market growth, long-term customer loyalty, and profitability but are hard to maintain in marketplaces with abundance of choice. Building on self-determination theory, we experimentally test a novel intervention that leverages consumer need for autonomy. The intervention is a message called a "freedom cue" (FC) which makes it salient that consumers can "choose as much as they wish." A 4-week field experiment in a sporting gear store establishes that FCs lead to greater consumer satisfaction compared to when the store displays no FC. A large (N = 669) preregistered process-tracing experiment run with a consumer panel and a global e-commerce company shows that FCs at point-of-sale improve consumer satisfaction and customer experience compared to an equivalent message that does not make freedom to choose any amount salient. Perceived freedom mediates the effect. FCs do not change the time spent or clicks on the website overall but do change the focus of the choice process. FCs lead to greater focus on what is chosen than on what is not chosen. We discuss practical implications for organizations and future research in consumer choice. Public Significance StatementConsumer satisfaction and customer experience are difficult to maintain in marketplaces where there is abundance of choice, especially when consumers have no external constraints on how much to purchase. The present research suggests that simple point-of-sale messages reminding consumers that they are free to choose "as much as they wish" improve their customer experience and satisfaction. These messages are easy for organizations to incorporate into online or physical stores.

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“…Extent to which a purchase decision is reached alone or together with others (Botti & McGill, 2006;Botti et al, 2023;Cutright & Wu, 2023)…”

Section: ) Perceived Choice Responsibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another theme that emerged from the responses was the extent to which participants perceived to reach a purchase decision by themselves or jointly with others (e.g., FLEs). This perception of choice responsibility is related to extant work on control and choice (e.g., Botti & McGill, 2006;Botti et al, 2023;Cutright & Wu, 2023).…”

Section: Perceived Choice Responsibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Asking your phone or a frontline employee? The influence of in‐store information source on choice overload, responsibility, and confidence among young consumers

Schaefers

Kessenbrock

Cziehso³

et al. 2023

Psychology and Marketing

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Consumers frequently use mobile phones in a store to search for external information as an alternative to consulting with frontline employees. Mobile phone usage is especially prevalent among young consumers. Drawing on qualitative study results and existing literature, we conceptualize the effects of different in-store information sources on choice overload, responsibility, and confidence among young consumers, as well as the moderating role of product category knowledge. A field experiment suggests that when knowledge is low, consulting with frontline employees (vs. mobile phone) leads to lower choice overload and, consequently, increases choice confidence. When knowledge is high, these beneficial effects are attenuated. At the same time, young consumers perceive greater choice responsibility when their phone is the information source; however, this does not influence choice confidence. This work contributes to extant literature by extending the knowledge of customer experience at the point of sale, the role of technology usage in in-store retailing, and the role of frontline employees as an information source. It also provides managerial implications for retailers by highlighting the importance of providing an opportunity for an in-person frontline employee interaction especially when customers have low product category knowledge.

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Choice freedom

Cited by 12 publications

References 273 publications

Contemporary challenges of consumption: a Kafkaesque and critical marketing perspective

Contemporary challenges of consumption: a Kafkaesque and critical marketing perspective

Choose as much as you wish: Freedom cues in the marketplace help consumers feel more satisfied with what they choose and improve customer experience.

Asking your phone or a frontline employee? The influence of in‐store information source on choice overload, responsibility, and confidence among young consumers

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