在時間距離與心理模擬及選項類型的交互調節效果下產品選擇框架對決策困難之影響

Abstract

提供基本商品或服務讓消費者彈性的加上想要的選項，或提供完整商品或服務讓消費者刪除不想要的選項是市場上販售商品或服務時越來越常見的兩種選擇框架。若能了解兩種選擇框架在決策上心理的差異，將可有效的進行管理並吸引消費者或創造更好的利潤。有些消費者經常提早進行購買決策，有些則是在交易當下才進行決策，過去有關選擇框架的研究並未針對不同時間點進行討論。因此，本研究主要針對產品選擇框架（加法與減法）和時間距離對消費者決策困難和滿意度的影響進行討論。透過三個實驗設計進行假設驗證，多變量分析結果顯示消費者使用加法框架進行選擇，相對於為遙遠未來做決策，在為近期做決策會有比較高的決策困難和較低的滿意度。然而，消費者使用減法框架進行選擇時，相對於在為近期做決策，在為遙遠未來做決策會有比較高的決策困難和較低的滿意度。此外，基於心理模擬理論，本研究提出在使用減法框架的情況下，利用過程模擬可以有效降低為遙遠未來做決策的困難度，相反的，使用加法框架的情況下，利用結果模擬可以有效降低為近期做決策的困難度。另外，本研究進一步討論兩種不同型式的選項（越多最好與有理想點）對選擇框架和時間距離對消費者選擇影響的調節效果。這些影響適用於不同產品類別和不同的選項價格。

Providing goods or services with basic function to allow consumers to flexibly add desired options, or to provide goods or services with fully function to allow consumers to delete unwanted options are the two type of option framing that more and more common in the market. If firms can understand the difference between the two decision-making framework in decision-making, will be able to effectively manage and attract consumers or create a better profit. Some consumers often make early purchase decisions, while others make decisions only at the time of the transaction. The previous studies on the option framing were rare discussed the influence by different points of decision time. Thus, this research focus on the effects of the type of product option framing (additive vs. subtractive) and the temporal distance between an option choice on decision difficulty and satisfaction. In three experimental design studies, the research shows that consumers who engage in additive option framing experience greater difficulty in making decisions and are less satisfied with their decision for the near future than for the distant future, whereas consumers who engage in subtractive option framing experience greater difficulty in making decisions and are less satisfied with their decision for the distant future than for the near future. In addition, by using theories of mental simulation, the authors show that communication strategies that promote process simulations for distant-future choices in the subtractive option framing condition and those that promote outcome simulations for near-future choices in the additive option framing condition are most effective in reducing decision difficulty. Furthermore, this research identifies the type of choice options (more-the-better versus ideal-point) as a key factor moderating the impact of product option framing and temporal distance on consumer choices. These effects hold across varying product categories and varying option prices.