Customization decisions: The effects of perceived control and decomposition on *evaluations.

Technological advances have led to increased collaboration between consumers and firms in the product selection process to the point where consumers are often able to specify some or all of the attributes to be included in the products being purchased. Such product customization is seen as a desirable, and perhaps even a necessary, strategy by firms in order to be competitive in the marketplace. This belief is based primarily on the notion that allowing consumers to specify product features should lead to closer matches between consumers' preferences and selected products. However, in addition to this benefit, there are other aspects of customization that influence consumers' decision processes in fundamental ways. Two features in particular, increased perceived control and product selection task decomposition, provide additional mechanisms through which customization can influence consumers' perceptions of the product selection process and the product selected. The present research examines these factors and determines their implications consumers' decisions, including when and for whom customization yields greater and lesser benefits. The results of three experimental studies indicate: (1) that consumers desire differing levels of control over the products they specify, and that increased perceptions of control can influence both evaluations of the process and evaluations of the product selected both positively and negatively; (2) that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between level of decomposition and process evaluation, such that moderate levels of decomposition yield higher evaluations than very high or very low levels of decomposition, and further that this curve will shift in the direction of higher decomposition when cognitive resources are limited; and (3) that higher levels of perceived ambiguity concerning selected products increases the likelihood that aspects of customization that influence process evaluations will also affect product evaluations. Taken together, these findings have significant implications for both decision researchers and marketing managers.PhDMarketingSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/123592/2/3096098.pd