Nguyen T. Thai and Ulku Yuksel
This research aims to investigates whether and why choice overload (CO) occurs when people select a vacation destination.
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to investigates whether and why choice overload (CO) occurs when people select a vacation destination.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a two-group (large choice-set vs small choice-set) between-subject factorial design. Dependent variables representing CO-effects are post-choice satisfaction and regret. Choice confusion and choice uncertainty are mediators.
Findings
Relative to people choosing from a small destination portfolio, people who choose from a large portfolio are less satisfied and more regretful about their choice. Choosing from a large choice-set confuses people, which then makes them less certain about their choice, and subsequently, have less satisfaction and more regret about their decision.
Practical implications
A critical consideration is essential when providing a number of destination choices to tourists. A few destinations should be offered in a travel portfolio. If the number of destination offers must remain large, travel agents should cluster these offers based on a market segmentation analysis to ease the decision-making process for travellers.
Originality/value
The findings add to evidence of CO-effects to the current literature of travel destination choice, and contribute to CO literature by showing evidence of CO-effects in complex service contexts, especially in holiday destination choices. This study is the first to provide evidence of CO-effects at the early stages of the travel destination decision-making process; it uses hypothetical destinations to avoid potential confounds associated with real destinations; and it measures CO-effects via post-choice satisfaction and regret. In addition, while the only available study on CO in tourism (Park and Jang, 2013) does not explain why CO-effects occur, this research provides and explains the psychological underlying process of the CO phenomenon in destination choice-making.
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Nguyen T. Thai and Ulku Yuksel
This paper aims to find out what product features become salient when consumers are exposed to many market offerings, demonstrating how choice set size influences construal…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to find out what product features become salient when consumers are exposed to many market offerings, demonstrating how choice set size influences construal mindset, which then affects the type of product consumers choose.
Design/methodology/approach
Experiment 1 provides preliminary evidence that being exposed to a large (vs small) choice set may drive people to focus more on the feasibility (i.e. a secondary feature) of a product and less on the desirability (i.e. a primary feature) when making a choice. Experiment 2 unveils the serial mediating roles of construal level and importance of price/design.
Findings
Consumers are more likely to select feasible (i.e. affordable) market offerings and not desirable (i.e. well-designed) ones when choosing from a large (vs small) choice set. This effect is serially mediated by mental construals and by the importance of price or design. Choosing from a large (vs small) choice set leads to low-level mental construals, which increase the importance of price (a feasibility attribute) while decreasing the importance of design (a desirability attribute), resulting in choice of feasible (affordable) market offerings over well-designed ones.
Research limitations/implications
Although consumers generally focus on the desirability of a choice or an action, choosing from large choice sets makes them focus more on the feasibility of market offerings because of low-level mental construals.
Practical implications
In today’s era of e-commerce, as consumers are exposed to too many product offerings, retailers should emphasize the feasibility of their market offerings (e.g. affordability) to increase the chance that consumers purchase their products. This research shows that people rely very much on product price to make selections when provided with a large choice set.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to show that large choice sets make consumers choose affordable products over well-designed ones and introduces the serial mediation effect of construal level and importance of price/design. Accordingly, this research establishes that large choice sets activate low-level mental construals, which associate with a feasibility mindset that ultimately makes consumers choose an affordable product instead of a well-designed one. It adds to the literature on choice overload by showing that the importance of price overshadows the importance of design (aesthetics) when people are exposed to large choice sets.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the motivations for participating in international trade shows and perceptions of effectiveness and challenges faced by exhibiting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the motivations for participating in international trade shows and perceptions of effectiveness and challenges faced by exhibiting firms.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple‐methodology approach is adopted. Initially, interviews are conducted with travel trade exhibitors. These then serve as a foundation for a survey of senior tourism managers.
Findings
Exhibitors perceive efficient and effective products/services being displayed on the stand as the central factor for success. The key motivation for participating in travel trade shows is to improve relationships with customers. The primary motivation in participating in specific travel trade shows was influenced by the reputation of the fair, and the key challenge relates to following up leads from the fair.
Research limitations/implications
As the study emphasises tourism and travel, generalising to other trade shows must be done with caution.
Practical implications
The intangible and simultaneous nature of the offering emphasises empathy, responsiveness and reliability of the staff and will affect visitors' perceived service quality of the interaction. Furthermore, an explanation of the various motivations may aid exhibitors in their objectives for participating in travel trade shows.
Originality/value
Although the tourism industry, and consequently travel trade shows, are booming, little research examines the motivations and effectiveness of travel trade from the exhibitor's perspective. Furthermore, the services nature of travel trade shows and its effects on marketing travel trade shows have seen only limited investigation.
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Nguyen T. Thai and Ulku Yuksel
The choice overload (CO) phenomenon, whereby having many options leads to negative consequences, has been studied widely in psychology and marketing. However, empirical evidence…
Abstract
The choice overload (CO) phenomenon, whereby having many options leads to negative consequences, has been studied widely in psychology and marketing. However, empirical evidence of CO in the tourism context is limited, even though people often encounter numerous choices (e.g., vacation destinations, airfares, hotels, tours) at different stages when planning their holidays. Investigating CO in tourism and hospitality is important because (online) travel advisors are providing tourists with numerous choices, yet they do not know whether or not these decision makers are content after choosing from these large choice sets. This chapter proposes to review and apply insights garnered from the CO literature to tourism research. Accordingly, the chapter proposes five groups of solutions for tourists and travel advisors to avoid CO effects: reducing decision task difficulty, reducing choice-set complexity, reducing preference uncertainty, focusing on decision goals rather than the means to achieve those goals, and adopting appropriate decision-making styles.
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Teresa Davis, Margaret K. Hogg, David Marshall, Alan Petersen and Tanja Schneider
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.
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Hasan Dinçer and Hüsne Karakuş
Innovation means innovation. It enables companies to grow and compete with other companies. However, innovation studies also increase the welfare level of the countries. One of…
Abstract
Innovation means innovation. It enables companies to grow and compete with other companies. However, innovation studies also increase the welfare level of the countries. One of the most important topics in innovation studies is research and development (R&D). R&D enables companies to identify their current problems and lay the groundwork for new products and services. In this way, it contributes to the profit of the companies. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of innovation on the share value of the company. In the study, the data are collected from Turkey during the period 1991–2019. However, the study was tested by Engle–Granger Cointegration analysis. As a result, it has been determined that there is a long-term relationship between R&D expenditures and the company’s share value. In this context, companies need to focus on R&D expenditures to increase their share values. For this issue, they need to increase their liquidity. In addition, the R&D departments in the company need to be increased. Companies need to prepare a separate budget for R&D studies.