The impact of temperament and time pressure on choice overload effect

• Main Author: Yang, Hai Yuan
• Other Authors: Ho Moon-Ho Ringo
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/59146
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Current research in the field of consumer psychology argues that a large assortment is not beneficial to consumers. Compared to a small assortment, a large assortment could lower both the product satisfaction and subsequent motivation to purchase the product. A recent meta-analysis argued that the effect of having too much choice or choice overload effect could be affected by both contextual and decisional factors. The purpose of this experiment was to examine time pressure and temperament as possible factors in affecting the effect of choice overload. This study revealed that both time pressure and temperament were not significant in bringing about the effect of decreased motivation to purchase as number of choice increased, but the pattern of the results is consistent with our prediction. On the other hand, these factors are capable of influencing the type of post-decisional emotions (choice difficulties, enjoyment of the selection process and the product dissatisfaction) experienced by consumers. Different temperament and time pressure brings about different types of post-decisional emotion outcomes. At the same time, this study also revealed the possible effect of product type (utilitarian and hedonic) in influencing the post-decisional emotions experienced by consumers.