Choosing between noncomparable alternatives associated with missed or to-be-missed opportunities

• Autor(a) principal: Bule, João André neves
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/30136
• topic: Noncomparables; Missed opportunities; Past regret; Future regret; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

Avoiding negative emotions is one of the determinants of the consumers’ buying process. Previous research has demonstrated, for similar products, that people, when faced with alternatives associated with missed and to-be-missed opportunities, tend to choose the alternative associated with a past miss, as it makes them experience less regret and feel less responsible. This research aimed at analysing whether the same occurs when the choice is among noncomparable products. Experiments 1 and 2 confirms that participants preferred to purchase the product associated with the past miss, with only the “buyers” indicating they would feel more regret with a future miss, and Experiment 2 showing that levels of regret are higher when participants expect to come across the future miss.