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An assumption made in many applications of stated preference modeling is that preferences remain stable over time and over multiple exposures to information about choice alternatives. However, there are many domains where this assumption can be challenged. One of these is where individuals learn about new products. This paper aims to test how attribute preferences as measured in an experimental choice task shift when respondents are exposed to new product information. The paper presents results from a study investigating consumer preferences for a new consumer electronics product conducted among 400 respondents from a large consumer panel. All respondents received several choice tasks and were then able to read additional information about the new product. After this they completed an additional set of choice tasks. All choices were from pairs of new product alternatives that varied across eight attributes designed according to an orthogonal plan. Using heteroscedastic logit modeling, the paper analyses the shifts in attribute utilities and scale variances that result from the exposure to product information. Results show that as respondents become better informed about a new attribute the attribute has a greater influence on their choices. In addition a significant shift in scale variance is observed, suggesting an increase in preference heterogeneity after information exposure.

This paper applies the mixed logit and the latent class models to analyse the heterogeneity in foreign investment location choices in Central and Eastern Europe. The empirical results show that the responsiveness of the probabilities of choices to invest in a particular location to country-level variables differs both across sectors and across firms of different characteristics. The paper highlights the superiority of the latent class model with regards to the model fit and the interpretation of results.