Abstract
Online product configurators allow customers to create highly customized products. However, their design strongly affects users’ decision-making. This paper explores the relationship between the order of product attribute decisions and customers’ choice of default options. Using a fully randomized experiment with 596 participants, we found that defaults are selected more often when the configuration process starts with a high number of selection options, which was hypothesized to deplete cognitive resources. An order with a decreasing number of options also led to lower perceived choice difficulty and higher choice satisfaction. Based on a recency effect, the last easy decisions in the configuration seem to most strongly influence the overall impression and also reduced skepticism towards defaults. Thus, customers seemed unaware of how cognitive depletion could “nudge” them towards choosing defaults. This study contributes to digital nudging research and provides guidance to practitioners for implementing less effortful product configuration decisions “by design.”
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 42nd International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) |
Editors | Anitesh Barua, Ryan Wright, Atreyi Kankanhalli, Xitong Li, Shaila Miranda |
Number of pages | 18 |
Place of Publication | Atlanta, GA |
Publisher | Association for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL) |
Publication date | 2021 |
Article number | 2099 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781733632591 |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Event | The 42nd International Conference on Information Systems: ICIS 2021: Building Sustainability and Resilience With is: A Call for Action - Austin, United States Duration: 12 Dec 2021 → 15 Dec 2021 Conference number: 42 https://icis2021.aisconferences.org/ |
Conference
Conference | The 42nd International Conference on Information Systems: ICIS 2021 |
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Number | 42 |
Country/Territory | United States |
City | Austin |
Period | 12/12/2021 → 15/12/2021 |
Internet address |
Series | Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems |
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ISSN | 0000-0033 |
Keywords
- Product configuration
- Digital nudging
- Defaults
- Cognitive depletion
- Experiment