Enhancing Consumer Choice: Are We Making Appropriate Recommendations?

To reduce information search costs, consumers often use choice‐making aids. If these aids are to help consumers make choices consistent with their own preferences, as well as reduce search effort, they must be based on choke models consistent with consumers' true preference sets. This study used conjoint analysis to identify these ideal choice models. Thirty‐six percent of the subjects were found to use compensatory choice models and 64 percent noncompensatory models. The results suggest a need to base choice‐making aids on ideal choice models if the aid is to lead consumers to decisions consistent with true preferences.