When going for grocery shopping, some consumers make up their minds about what to buy and write down shopping lists. Others just go into the supermarket and do not really think beforehand about the things they need. Although in both situations, individuals engage in different ways of decision making on the purchase of groceries, when coming home and putting things into the shelve, they positively or negatively assess the things they bought. Whereas in some situations one gets a positive feeling because e.g. s/he purchased all the products on the shopping list. In another situation, a consumer might end up being bored because s/he just bought the groceries which are perceived as useful, and did not listen to his/her inner voice calling for more than just the fulfillment of utilitarian needs. Generally, consumers can consciously do their purchases and decide for products after thinking on it, or can consider a product’s attributes and let their intuition decide. In the interest of the consumer, the question emerges how the consumer decides at best. Does a consumer receive greater satisfaction from consciously elaborating about the products s/he is facing, or is it better not to think consciously when facing product choices? This question is differently assessed by different models on decision making. Whereas some authors (Ajzen, 2011; Bandura, 1986, 1997; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Payne et al., 1993) emphasize consciousness in decision making, there is also a large number of proponents of unconscious thought (Dijksterhuis, 2004, Dijksterhuis et al., 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, Levine, 1996, Bargh, 2002, and Wilson et al., 1993). Dijksterhuis and Nordgren (2006b, p.96) argue for the superiority of unconscious decision making by mentioning that “...conscious thought is constrained by the low capacity of consciousness”, which results in sub-optimal choices. With regard to food products, this general superiority of unconscious thought is highly questionable. On the one hand, consumers constrain themselves in taking into account only specific products which respect certain criteria, as e.g. with diabetics and food products with less sugar content. On the other hand, food products are also bought because consumers want to confirm their conscience by purchasing e.g. fair-trade products which among other things are associated with a fair payment of farmers.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Consumer choice
- The conscious in consumer choice
- Bounded Rationality
- The Elaboration Likelihood Model
- The unconscious in consumer choice
- The conscious in consumer choice
- Product attributes
- Search attributes
- Credence attributes
- Experience attributes
- Conscious and unconscious product choice
- Methodology
- Participants
- Design
- Materials
- Procedure
- Results
- General results
- H1 testing
- H2 testing
- H3 testing
- General discussion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This study investigates the influence of conscious and unconscious decision-making on consumer satisfaction with food product choices. The research explores the role of different product attributes, namely search, credence, and experience attributes, in shaping consumer preferences and satisfaction levels.
- The impact of conscious and unconscious decision-making on consumer satisfaction with food products.
- The role of search, credence, and experience attributes in influencing food choices.
- The interplay between product attributes and cognitive processes (conscious vs. unconscious) in shaping consumer preferences.
- The implications of these findings for marketing professionals, policymakers, and food designers.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
Chapter 1: Introduction
The chapter introduces the research topic by exploring the duality of conscious and unconscious decision-making in the context of food product choices. It highlights the conflicting perspectives on the superiority of conscious or unconscious thought in consumer behavior and outlines the need for a more nuanced approach that considers the specific characteristics of food products.
Chapter 2: Consumer Choice
This chapter examines existing consumer behavior models that emphasize conscious deliberation, such as the Theory of Planned Behavior, and introduces the concept of bounded rationality as a mechanism for simplifying complex decisions. It then explores the role of unconscious thought in decision-making, drawing on theories that suggest that a significant number of choices are made unconsciously and influenced by environmental factors.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The primary focus of this research lies on the intersection of consumer behavior, decision-making, and food product choice. Key areas of investigation include conscious and unconscious deliberation, product attributes (search, credence, and experience), consumer satisfaction, and the implications of these findings for marketing, policy, and food design.
- Quote paper
- Florian Schleicher (Author), 2013, Conscious and Unconscious Consumer Choice of Food Products, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/265953
