Die Qual der Wahl: Die Bedeutung des Regret bei Kaufentscheidungen

Abstract

Regret results from comparing the outcome of a chosen alternative to the outcome of a foregone alternative. Research shows that this emotion is highly relevant for consumer behavior and decision making, but in consumer research, only a few studies deal with regret. Most of these studies do not measure regret explicitly. And none of these studies include the antecedents of regret. They only examine the consequences of regret on consumer behavior, such as satisfaction. In contrast, the antecedents of regret, but not the consequences, has been a topic of interest in social psychology. Our research indicates that it is fruitful to analyze the antecedents of regret and its consequences together. Further we demonstrate that it is possible to summarize a wide variety of antecedents of regret. Last we measure regret explicitly with multiple item measures.