A Literature Review of the Consumer Cognitive Miserliness Behavior and Its Marketing Implications: Based on the Framework of the Cue Utilization Theory

Abstract

As a comprehensive embodiment of human laziness and bounded rationality on cognition, cognitive miserliness denotes that the brain tends to adopt the principle of the least effort during the decision-making process. It reflects that individuals are reluctant to deliberate on various problems they face owing to limited resources, for instance, time, knowledge and attention. In current studies, the dual-process theory, need for the cognition theory and the elaboration likelihood model are regularly used to explain the internal mechanism of cognitive miserliness. In light of these theories, cognitive miserliness is elicited by the lack of intrinsic cognitive motivations, as well as the attempt to reduce information processing. Its most direct manifestation refers to the adoption of sensation and intuitive heuristics to process information. However, the explicit theoretical framework on specific behaviors of cognitive miserliness has not yet constructed in these theories, which causes the particular applications of cognitive miserliness in specific fields to remain unclear. In order to fix the problem aforementioned, the cue utilization theory is used to expound specific behaviors of cognitive miserliness. Previous works on the cue utilization theory indicate that individuals would cut down cue searching and processing when they make decisions, which is consistent with issues the cognitive miserliness theory concentrates on. In line with the cue utilization theory, individuals with cognitive miserliness would collect and evaluate specific cues on sensation and intuitive heuristics, thus making judgments and decisions based on few cues. In the domain of marketing, the fact that consumer cognitive miserliness is prevalent makes it valuable to explore how consumer cognitive miserliness can be utilized or avoided. What’s more, the gap in consumer behavior performance of cognitive miserliness calls for more exploration and discussion in this issue. Therefore, the research can start with the specific cue searching behaviors led by cognitive miserliness. On the one hand, utilizing consumer cognitive miserliness mainly proceeds from designing attractive cues according to the fast decision-making needs of consumers. Specifically, pricing and price presentation should not only lay stress on the impacts of internal reference prices, such as historical prices and expected prices, to reduce consumers’ expectations for future lower prices, but also set up external reference prices reasonably to guide consumers’ choices effectively. In order to enhance consumers’ attention and favorability, sensory cues that can enforce perceptional experience and accessible information like package should be highlighted in the product design. With regards to the brand management, it is essential to build representative attributes such as the famous brand and high quality, and cultivate consumers’ long-term loyalty by underlining the brands’ emotional ownership consistently. Marketers should pay attention to word-of-mouth management and fully display emotional cues to promote consumers’ emotional experience in mass communication. When it comes to the sales promotion, marketers should design exquisite verbal tricks to induce consumers’ final purchase. On the other hand, avoiding consumer cognitive miserliness is mostly realized through helping consumers to reduce the cognitive bias caused by sensation and intuitive heuristics. Thus, corporations can help consumers to make rational decisions and put their corporate social responsibility （CSR） in business ethics into practice. Specifically, enterprises should fully demonstrate cues that are easily overlooked by consumers and present critical cues in a clear way, making these cues unavoidable for consumers. In addition, in order to enhance consumers’ post purchase satisfaction and loyalty, firms need to guide consumers to consider the decision-making weight of different cues and offer them more cues that can promote rational thinking. In a comprehensive view, the research of carrying out or avoiding consumer cognitive miserliness according to its behavioral characteristics can not only conduce to the realization of the operationalization of cognitive miserliness, but also lay a solid theoretical foundation for marketing practice.