THE EFFECT OF TIME ON CUE UTILIZATION IN PRODUCT EVALUATIONS

The effect of time on product evaluations has not been adequately investigated in previous cue utilization research. Most cue utilization studies have been conducted using simultaneous evaluations of product alternatives. This study was designed to compare the use of intrinsic and extrinsic cues in making product evaluations in a simultaneous evaluation circumstance and a sequential, time delayed evaluation circumstance. The product used for the investigation was barbecue sauce. Students sampled and evaluated three perceptually different sauces under one of four possible conditions: branded--no time delay, brand--time delay, unbranded--no time delay, and unbranded--time delay. Student evaluations of quality and similarity were analyzed using analysis of variance, t tests, and Latin square analysis. Results indicated that ratings of product similarity and quality are different when evaluations made in sequential, time delayed trials are compared to simultaneous evaluation trials. It was also found that the ordering of the products had an influence on evaluations in the time delay conditions. In general, the findings related to the use of cues did not indicate a clean preference for either intrinsic or extrinsic cues in making product evaluations. The conclusions drawn from the study include: (1) Time delayed evaluations of products are different than simultaneous evaluations of the same products. (2) In time delayed evaluations, products are perceived as being more similar. (3) Cue utilization in the time delay condition was not significantly different than cue utilization in the no time delay condition