Shaping Online Consumer Choice by Partitioning the Web

This research explores how partitioning attributes in online search interfaces changes the valuations of those attributes—and impacts subsequent choice—such that attributes that are displayed as separate categories tend to receive greater decision weight than attributes grouped under umbrella categories. Across several choice domains—cars, dates, and hotels—we show that different attribute partitions impact the importance assigned to attributes (Studies 1 and 2), as well as consumer choices (Studies 3 and 4). We argue that these effects are due in part to users’ willingness to use the implicit recommendations of interface designers to determine the importance of attributes, a willingness that extends to following explicit recommendations of online agents based on those attributes (Study 5). © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. One of the many features that social networking sites such as Facebook.com and Match.com have added to the process of acquaintanceship is a feature whereby one can click on any attribute of some user (for instance, that person’s favorite television show from the 1980s), and receive a list of other users who share that attribute. In the real world, discovering fellow devotees of The Golden Girls is a difficult proposition; online search interfaces, on the other hand, offer instant access to such information. Imagine an online dating Web site that allows users to search on four attributes—age, height, weight, and television preferences—as opposed to one that groups the first three attributes under a Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 26(10): 908–926 (October 2009) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20305