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1 – 10 of over 24000Lianzhuang Qu and Patrick Y. K. Chau
Although considerable evidence shows that online product reviews (OPRs) can greatly affect consumers, how interface designs of OPR systems (i.e. websites where consumers read and…
Abstract
Purpose
Although considerable evidence shows that online product reviews (OPRs) can greatly affect consumers, how interface designs of OPR systems (i.e. websites where consumers read and write OPRs) impact online buying behavior has not yet been well investigated. Using research on confidence in judgment and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, this study aims to develop a model of the effects of OPR system design on consumer purchase behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
A study using a two by two by two factorial experimental design was conducted. The structural model with AMOS 23 based on 319 useable data points was tested.
Findings
Findings are very interesting. First, designs that manipulate positions of reviews impact perceived value but surprisingly have no effects on confidence in judgment. Second, designs using default display order based on helpfulness votes rather than on recency of reviews increase confidence to a higher level. Third, although unstructured organization methods are used by many major OPR systems, they are inferior in enhancing consumers’ emotional reactions to structured ones.
Research limitations/implications
This paper highlights the need for more academic research on how interface designs of online product review systems impact purchase behavior. Additionally, this study emphasizes the need for examining how confidence in judgment is impacted in the online environment.
Practical implications
For practitioners, this research provides them with design implications on how to increase consumer purchase behavior.
Originality/value
This research enhances the understanding of the effects of OPR system interface design on purchase behavior. In addition, the current paper sheds light on how confidence in judgment, given its importance in reducing online consumer’s hesitance to buy, is impacted by various interface designs of OPR systems. Furthermore, this study applies the SOR framework to the context of OPR system designs.
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Sunita S. Ahlawat and Timothy J. Fogarty
Studies that have indicated that the processing of audit evidence results in judgment bias may be the result of the study of individual decision-making. Building on work that…
Abstract
Studies that have indicated that the processing of audit evidence results in judgment bias may be the result of the study of individual decision-making. Building on work that suggests important differences between individual and group decision-making, this paper evaluates decision-making attributes of audit groups. Experienced auditors from offices of Big-Five firms in the U.S. served as the participants in an experiment involving the going concern judgment. Results show that recency does affect the judgments of individual auditors but disappears as an important effect when groups make judgments. Group responses are less extreme and exhibit greater confidence than those of individuals.
Lili Zheng and Faouzi Bensebaa
With the growth of online shopping, during which consumers are not able to touch products, there is much for researchers and marketers to learn about the underlying role of the…
Abstract
Purpose
With the growth of online shopping, during which consumers are not able to touch products, there is much for researchers and marketers to learn about the underlying role of the need for touch (NFT) in driving online shopping decisions. Consumers' emotional state prior to purchase is considered a situational variable that affects their attitude and behaviour. This study explores the effects of consumers' NFT and pre-purchase emotional states on their online decision-making behaviour, examining perceived quality, confidence in product judgment and intention to purchase.
Design/methodology/approach
A field experiment was conducted using a scenario presenting buying a sweater as a real purchase opportunity available to participants. A convenience sample of two hundred ninety-eight university students at a university in the southeast of France was used in this study. A 2 (NFT: high/low determined by a median split) × 2 (emotional states: high/low level) analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to further examine the interaction of NFT and emotional states in consumer decision making.
Findings
The results indicate that autotelic NFT and positive emotional states experienced before shopping have an impact on consumers' decisions in relation to perceived quality, confidence in product judgment and intention to purchase. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that instrumental vs autotelic NFT affects consumer decision making, with mixed support found for negative emotional states acting as possible moderators.
Originality/value
This study advances the NFT field and leads to insights regarding online consumer purchase decision making by exploring instrumental vs autotelic NFT and pre-purchase emotional states as antecedents of consumer decisions.
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Sonia Noemi Vilches-Montero and Mark T. Spence
This paper aims to examine how activating an abstract versus concrete construal as a retrieval cue – prior to providing estimates but after exposure to the stimulus – affects…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how activating an abstract versus concrete construal as a retrieval cue – prior to providing estimates but after exposure to the stimulus – affects retrospective duration estimates of a hedonic experience, the kind of experience one might wish to repeat. Recent research has examined the effect of construal mindsets on prospective time perceptions (Hans and Trope, 2013) as well as the prediction of future durations (Kanten, 2011; Siddiqui et al., 2014).
Design/methodology/approach
Two experiments are presented to test four hypotheses. The effect of construal level on time perceptions, confidence in duration judgments and future preferences using two different construal level manipulation techniques and a range of measures for the dependent variables is demonstrated.
Findings
This research found that compared to a neutral experience, time perceptions of an enjoyable event are not explained by differences in the level of attention paid to the stimuli; that duration estimates elicited under abstract construals are shorter than those produced by concrete construals; and regardless of construal mindset, memory decay due to time delay appears to be at work. Hence duration estimates shorten. Moreover, abstract construals decrease confidence in duration judgments, but positively affect future preferences compared to a concrete mindset.
Originality/value
This paper expands current knowledge by showing that construal mindsets can be used as retrieval cues to affect evaluations of past experiences and consumers’ experience-based future preferences.
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Kishore Gopalakrishna Pillai, Michael Brusco, Ronald Goldsmith and Charles Hofacker
This paper aims to introduce knowledge discrimination to consumer research. It also examines the antecedent effects of objective knowledge and confidence in knowledge on consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce knowledge discrimination to consumer research. It also examines the antecedent effects of objective knowledge and confidence in knowledge on consumer knowledge discrimination. Research in psychology has sought to distinguish between calibration and discrimination, two related skills in probabilistic judgments. Though consumer research has sought to examine knowledge calibration, the construct of knowledge discrimination has not attracted any attention.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports on three studies which use a cross-sectional design using a structured questionnaire. The hypotheses are tested using regression. In addition, the paper also reports the results of an experimental study.
Findings
The paper finds that the objective knowledge has a positive effect on discrimination. But confidence in knowledge does not have a consistent effect on discrimination. The paper also finds that feedback improves discrimination.
Research limitations/implications
The study adds a new dimension to the examination of metaknowledge and metacognitions in the consumer domain.
Practical implications
The study suggests some ways in which companies/government agencies can improve consumer knowledge discrimination.
Social implications
Knowledge discrimination is expected to reduce consumer vulnerability and enhance consumer competence.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine knowledge discrimination in the consumer domain. Prior research has observed that there could be a trade-off between calibration and discrimination. Hence, the study of knowledge discrimination can inform the study of knowledge calibration.
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Rouxelle de Villiers, Robin Hankin and Arch G. Woodside
This chapter presents a new model for developing and assessing the decision competencies of executive decision-makers. Prior models consider individual and group decision-making…
Abstract
This chapter presents a new model for developing and assessing the decision competencies of executive decision-makers. Prior models consider individual and group decision-making but neglect to consider the impact of group-interactive decision-making on real-world problem-solving and sense-making activities. In the present study experimental protocols represent an approximation of a realistic business decision-making process, where decision-makers consult with groups of stakeholders and then make decisions on their own. The model juxtaposes decision competence with the level of decision confidence with which decisions are made. The study furnishes an objective test for this phenomenon, resulting in quantitative empirical evidence of either follow-the-herd (FTH) behavior, or group-forged individual decisions (GFID), or follow-my-own-mind (FMOM) individual decision behavior. The study investigates the impact of group-interactive decision processes on hubristic behavior – decision-makers who make poor/wrong decisions, but remain confident in their choices, judgments, and decisions. The resulting management decision competency model provides an inter-disciplinary matrix, of benefit to human resource development specialists, and provides scholars in organizational behavior and leadership development with guidance for current and future research into group dynamics and decision competencies.
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Kishore Gopalakrishna Pillai and Charles F. Hofacker
Studies on consumer knowledge calibration have used different measures of calibration. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a comparative assessment of important measures. In…
Abstract
Purpose
Studies on consumer knowledge calibration have used different measures of calibration. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a comparative assessment of important measures. In addition, it seeks to identify the best performing measure.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports on three studies. The first study uses eight survey data sets. The second and third studies use experiments.
Findings
The study found that the Brier score component measure is most responsive to feedback and is the most suitable measure of knowledge calibration. The results also indicate that researchers should use measures that use item-level confidence judgements, as against an overall confidence judgement.
Research limitations/implications
By documenting the relationship between the different measures of knowledge calibration, the study enables proper interpretation and accumulation of results of various studies that have used different measures. The study also provides guidance to researchers in psychology and education where this issue has been noted.
Practical implications
The study provides guidance to managers in knowledge intensive industries, such as finance and insurance, interested in understanding their consumers’ knowledge calibration.
Originality/value
This is the first study in consumer research that examines this issue.
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Feirong Yuan and Richard W. Woodman
Much of the literature in organizational change has taken a single approach to explain employee expectation formation regarding the outcomes of a change event. A conceptual model…
Abstract
Much of the literature in organizational change has taken a single approach to explain employee expectation formation regarding the outcomes of a change event. A conceptual model is developed to integrate two existing streams of research (the information effects approach and the social effects approach) and to develop a comprehensive picture of outcome expectation formation. We propose that information and social effects function simultaneously to shape an employee's outcome expectations. The strength and content consistency of information and social effects jointly determine what people expect regarding change outcomes and how confident they feel about those expectations. Implications are discussed in terms of setting the boundaries for information and social effects as well as future research directions.
Michael F. Cassidy and Dennis Buede
The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the accuracy of expert judgment, drawing on empirical evidence and theory from multiple disciplines. It suggests that counsel…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the accuracy of expert judgment, drawing on empirical evidence and theory from multiple disciplines. It suggests that counsel offered with confidence by experts might, under certain circumstances, be without merit, and presents approaches to assessing the accuracy of such counsel.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper synthesizes research findings on expert judgment drawn from multiple fields, including psychology, criminal justice, political science, and decision analysis. It examines internal and external factors affecting the veracity of what experts may judge to be matters of common sense, using a semiotic structure.
Findings
In multiple domains, including management, expert accuracy is, in general, no better than chance. Increased experience, however, is often accompanied by an unjustified increase in self‐confidence.
Practical implications
While the dynamic nature of decision making in organizations renders the development of a codified, reliable knowledge base potentially unachievable, there is value in recognizing these limitations, and employing tactics to explore more thoroughly both problem and solutions spaces
Originality/value
The paper's originality lies in its integration of recent, multiple‐disciplinary research as a basis for persuading decision makers of the perils of accepting expert advice without skepticism.
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Fatma Fishara, Abo‐El‐Yazeed Habib and Farhad Simyar
This paper addresses the relationship between framing effects and decision makers' confidence in their judgments. In an experimental setting, a sample of financial officers of…
Abstract
This paper addresses the relationship between framing effects and decision makers' confidence in their judgments. In an experimental setting, a sample of financial officers of sixty medium size organizations were asked to evaluate the likelihood of making an investment in a series of four joint ventures for oil and gas exploration based on different sets of probabilities and payoff information for each joint venture. Subjects were also asked to provide a rating of confidence in their judgment. The results indicate that subjects' rating of the likelihood of making investment decisions are affected by information frame and payoff information. However, confidence ratings were not significantly affected by information frame.