The Role of Cause Involvement and Assortment Size on Decision Difficulty via Communal Relationships

Claire Heeryung Kim,Joonkyung Kim

doi:10.3390/su132313458

Abstract

Social enterprises aim to achieve both social and economic goals by reaching broader consumer segments through extensive assortments, but research into how this product proliferation strategy affects consumer response is scarce. In the current research we examine how consumers judge social enterprises providing large product assortments. Three experiments show that choice overload (i.e., having a decision difficulty when faced with many options) can be reversed among target consumers of social enterprises—specifically those whose involvement in a social cause is high. Because more-involved consumers view large assortments of cause-related products as an indicator of the company’s commitment to addressing social issues, they identify with the company and thereby form communal relationships. Thus, the consumers’ focus shifts from comparing options to helping the company, leading to reduced decision difficulty. The findings contribute to existing research on assortment size and the understanding of the information consumers use to evaluate the company’s commitment to social causes.

Highlights

By showing that the interactive effect of assortment size and cause involvement on decision difficulty is mediated by communal relationships, we provide new insights into a psychological mechanism
We propose that more-involved consumers will experience reduced decision difficulty when facing a large choice set offered by a social enterprise because they form a stronger communal relationship with the company
Consistent with the extant literature on choice overload, we find that large assortment size increases evaluation difficulty for the less-involved

Summary

Introduction

Sustainability 2021, 13, Over recent years, social enterprise, whose primary mission is to contribute to social causes through a market-driven approach, has been recognized as an innovative way to increase societal well-being. Examples of social enterprise retailers include Warby Parker (provides glasses to people in developing countries with partner VisionSpring), TOMS (gives one third of net annual profit to people in need), and Cafe Direct (gives 50% of profit to charity to improve the livelihoods of local farmers). While social enterprises address social issues, they aim to retain profit. It is vital for social enterprises to gain customer support to achieve their economic and social goals [1,2]. Increasing the size of the selection is one strategy to gain consumer support because a large assortment (i.e., the number of products offered by an organization) can attract broader consumer segments [3]

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion