Paper Info
Title
Virtual Progress: The Effect of Path Characteristics on Perceptions of Progress and Choice
Abstract
In goal-oriented services, consumers want to get transported from one well-defined state (start) to another (destination) state without much concern for intermediate states. A cost-based evaluation of such services should depend on the total cost associated with the service--i.e., the price and the amount of time taken for completion. In this paper, we demonstrate that the characteristics of the path to the final destination also influence evaluation and choice. Specifically, we show that segments of idle time and travel away from the final destination are seen as obstacles in the progress towards the destination, and hence lower the choice likelihood of the path. Further, we show that the earlier such obstacles occur during the service, the lower is the choice likelihood. We present an analytical model of consumer choice and test its predictions in a series of experiments. Our results show that in choosing between two services that cover the same displacement in the same time (i.e., identical average progress), consumer choice is driven by the perception of progress towards the goal (i.e., byvirtual progress). In a final experiment, we show that the effects of virtual progress may outweigh the effects of actual average progress.
Year
DOI
Venue
2003
10.1287/mnsc.49.9.1229.16574
Management Science
Keywords
Field
DocType
consumer choice,path characteristics,identical average progress,cost-based evaluation,byvirtual progress,choice likelihood,final experiment,virtual progress,actual average progress,idle time,final destination,transportation,goal orientation
Economics,Microeconomics,Consumer choice,Behavioral decision making,Total cost,Perception,Idle time
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
49
9
0025-1909
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
5
0.56
1
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Dilip Soman150.89
Mengze Shi21119.87