Choice contexts and social communication

Abstract

This research investigates how one element of the choice context, namely assortment size, influences the tendency to share, both offline and through social networks, positive versus negative purchase or consumption experiences. The idea advanced in this paper is that consumers tend to share positive experiences if such experiences are the outcome of choices made in large assortments, while they tend to share negative experiences if such experiences are the outcome of choices made in small assortments. In other words, product categories presenting a high number of options increase consumers' tendency to talk about positive experiences but decrease consumers' tendency to talk about negative experiences. Such an effect is attributable to the fact that wide assortments, in addition to enhance feelings of information overload, make consumers perceive a relatively higher degree of control over the outcome of their choice, deriving from the fact that consumers have a greater freedom of choice compared to contexts characterized by a few options. This, in turn, leads them to see the positive or negative outcome as the result of their ability to choose. Three experimental studies conducted in different settings provide empirical evidence supporting both the effect and the underlying theoretical mechanisms proposed to drive it.