Choice overload in consumer services: The mediating role of decision strategy complexity on subjective states and behavioral outcomes

Purpose: The contemporary retail landscape is marked by a vast array of products and information, presenting consumers with an increasing number of choices. This phenomenon, known as choice overload, often overwhelms individuals and leads them to abandon their purchase, delay their decision, or opt for simpler choices. This study contributes to the literature on choice overload by focusing on two services (i.e. hotels and telecommunication plans) and exploring the mediating role of decision strategy complexity on subjective states and behavioral outcomes.

Methods: This study applies an experimental approach with a 2 (large vs small choice set) by 2 (hotels vs telecommunication programs) factorial design being developed and applied to a sample of 220 Belgians.

Results: Results show that the complexity of the strategy used by decision-makers may play a mediating role on the consequences that a choice set size may have in terms of psychological and behavioral responses.

Implications: Marketers should try to better understand which decision strategy best fits into their market target in order to fix the choice set accordingly. Moreover, they should also fix a choice architecture, such as a tournament-style choice architecture, that can enable choice set to remain large while reducing the effect of choice overload.