Raffaella Misuraca, Francesco Ceresia, Ashley E. Nixon and Costanza Scaffidi Abbate
Research on choice overload with adult participants has shown that the presence of a brand significantly mitigates the phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on choice overload with adult participants has shown that the presence of a brand significantly mitigates the phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether these findings can be expanded to a population of adolescents, where it has already been shown that choice overload occurs in a similar way as adults.
Design/methodology/approach
Studies 1 and 2 aim to test whether the presence of a brand name mitigates the adverse consequences of choice overload in adolescents. In line with prior research on choice overload, in both studies, the authors compared between-subjects differences in the levels of reported dissatisfaction, difficulty and regret in a choice condition where adolescents chose among either 6 or 24 options associated with brand names and in another choice condition where adolescents chose among the same 6 or 24 options but not associated with brand names.
Findings
This paper presents evidence from two studies that when facing either a large or a small amount of choice options that are associated with brand names, choice overload disappears among adolescents. Conversely, when no brands are associated to the choice options, adolescents report choice overload, that is a greater dissatisfaction, difficulties and regret with larger (versus smaller) assortments.
Practical implications
Prior research on choice overload has led to recommendations that marketers and other choice architects should simply reduce choice options or assortments to improve consumers’ satisfaction. However, our finding suggests that this recommendation may be invalidated when brands are present, at least for certain age groups. Adolescents cope indeed very well with large assortments of branded products.
Originality/value
The research adds to the existing understanding of choice overload, demonstrating that the brand is a moderator of the phenomenon for adolescents, who currently represent a large portion of the market. A second important contribution of this work is that it extends prior research on choice overload to real-world consumer scenarios, where consumers choose among products with a brand, rather than among products described only by technical characteristics or nutritional values, as in classical studies on choice overload.
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Enzo Bivona, Francesco Ceresia and Giovanni Tumminello
The purpose of this paper is to show how the changing interrelationships between fleet management, human resources and outsourcer capacity areas are likely to counterbalance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how the changing interrelationships between fleet management, human resources and outsourcer capacity areas are likely to counterbalance managerial policies, thereby generating a performance decay. The use of system dynamics modelling in a waste collection company offered an effective contribution to support decision makers to overcoming myopic decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature review and a case study analysis (including interviews with company actors and data gathering) offered the basis to build a system dynamics model. The model built was then used to run simulations sessions to assess alternative investments decisions.
Findings
Simulation results show that understanding cause-and-effect relationships between company sub-systems can help managers to shift the focus of their decision process from a single department to the whole business system. Further, the paper offers three alternative scenarios (myopic, reactive and proactive) from which to learn how to design effective long-term sustainable policies.
Research limitations/implications
The simulation model was developed based on a literature review and a single-case study. Although it offers a useful contribution in the investigated case, to generalise its results, additional application to waste collection companies would be desirable.
Practical implications
The findings of the study have implications for public decision makers and those scholars investigating how to discourage the adoption of myopic decisions in complex environments.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, only few studies investigated how the fleet management is likely to impact on the performance of waste collection companies. This study offers a contribution in this direction.
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Auqib Rasool Dar and Maleeha Gul
This study, a systematic literature review, aims to review the state-of-the-art literature on choice overload from 2000 to 2023.
Abstract
Purpose
This study, a systematic literature review, aims to review the state-of-the-art literature on choice overload from 2000 to 2023.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews 53 research articles published in peer-reviewed journals, using thematic and descriptive analyses. The literature was selected using the PRISMA framework.
Findings
Recent research in consumer behaviour has found that too many choices can be detrimental to decision-making. This paper reviews the development of choice overload literature, methodologies used by researchers to study choice overload, small and large choice sets, antecedents, moderators and outcomes of choice overload and the contexts in which choice overload exists.
Research limitations/implications
Limited literature coverage because of the strict adherence to inclusion/exclusion criteria. The theory challenges the conventional choice models in psychology and economics according to which expanding a choice set cannot make decision-making worse and violates the regularity axiom, a cornerstone of classical choice theory. This review also identifies avenues for further research in the field.
Practical implications
A significant decrease in satisfaction or motivation because of too many choices would require marketers and public policymakers to rethink their practice of providing ever-increasing assortments to choose from because they could possibly boost their success by offering less.
Originality/value
This systematic review makes distinctive contributions by classifying the existing studies based on evidence “for” and “against” the existence of choice overload. The review also combines cross-context insights on assortment sizes, moderators and methodological commonalities and gaps to understand the multi-faceted nature and contextual nuances of choice overload.