Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Information overload, choice deferral, and moderating role of need for cognition: Empirical evidence

Sobrecarga de informação, adiamento de escolha e a função moderadora de need for cognition: evidência empírica

La sobrecarga de información, el aplazamiento de elegir y el papel moderador de la necesidad de la cognición: la evidencia empírica

ABSTRACT

Choice deferral due to information overload is an undesirable result of competitive environments. The neoclassical maximization models predict that choice avoidance will not increase as more information is offered to consumers. The theories developed in the consumer behavior field predict that some properties of the environment may lead to behavioral effects and an increase in choice avoidance due to information overload. Based on stimuli generated experimentally and tested among 1,000 consumers, this empirical research provides evidence for the presence of behavioral effects due to information overload and reveals the different effects of increasing the number of options or the number of attributes. This study also finds that the need for cognition moderates these behavioral effects, and it proposes psychological processes that may trigger the effects observed.

Keywords:
behavioral effects; choice deferral; information overload; need for cognition

Departamento de Administração da Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade da Universidade de São Paulo Avenida Professor Luciano Gualberto, 908, sala F184, 05508-900 São Paulo / SP Brasil, Tel./Fax 55 11 3818-4002 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: rausp@usp.br