Consumer Decision-Making: An Empirical Exploration of Multi-Phased Decision Processes

Abstract

Over the past 50 years, a great deal of research has conceptualised and modelled consumer decision-making as a single-or two-stage decision process. Today, the decision complexity has increased and consumers need to filter out a large amount of information prior to the final choice decision. This poses a challenge for marketing modellers to develop decision models that are more representative of real-world decision-making. An important rationale for the present study is to improve our understanding of consumer decision-making by providing empirical evidence that consumer decision-making may go beyond a single-or two-stage structure. This thesis aims to provide an insightful view of consumer decision-making, which may help marketers to develop and reinforce marketing programs to address consumer needs and hence increase profits, with knowledge of the types of decisions made and how decisions are made at different stages of the decision process. The literature review identified single-and two-stage decision models. Data analysis did not fully support this conceptualisation. An empirical exploration of consumer decision-making for a durable product revealed that the existing literature is limited in scope and predictability as they failed to capture multi-phase decision processes, which accounted for approximately one-half of consumer decisions. Empirical evidence was found suggesting that consumers seldom use a single strategy throughout the decision process. Consumer heterogeneity was also evident in this research as different consumers approached the same decision task with different processes and outcomes. Finally, this research identified those aspects of decision processes that have not been captured by the literature-based decision strategies. This research suggests that consumer decisions are more contingent than previously conceived in a single-and two-stage model. This research recommends that marketers should reconsider their understanding of consumer decision-making and bear in mind that one marketing strategy does not fit all customers. Marketers need to develop marketing strategies to address the entire decision process instead of focusing only on the decision outcome. By identifying different decision paths that are used by consumers, marketers can effectively segment the market; marketers can also benchmark consumers' perceptions of their performance on the important attributes against competitors to ensure that their product/brand is not eliminated prior to the selection from within the choice set. Future research requires us to understand how consumer differences interact with the decision environment to influence decision processes and outcomes. To do so, researchers must adopt a multi-phase perspective.