The Effect Of Ambivalence On Choice Deferral In Online Shopping

Ambivalence refers to the attitude which contains both strong positive and negative evaluations of the same object at the same time.When individuals hold ambivalence,the consistency of attitude-behavior is poor.Therefore,it's hard to predict consumers'behavior according to their attitudes.In a real-life situation,when a consumer faces multiple options and does not need to make a choice immediately,the consumer often chooses to make a decision later due to multiple considerations,that is,choice deferral occurs.So will the ambivalence resulting from the comparison of multiple products cause choice deferral?Based on Prospect Theory,this study explores the effect of ambivalence on choice deferral in online shopping,and discuss its psychological mechanism:the mediating role of uncertainty of the choice correctness and the moderating of product attribute(utilitarian/hedonic)and regulatory focus.Based on the results of the four experiments,the following conclusions produced:(1)In online shopping,the higher the ambivalence,the more likely choice deferral occurs.(2)In online shopping,the uncertainty of choice correctness mediates the relation of the ambivalence and choice deferral.When the level of the ambivalence is high,the uncertainty of choice correctness rises,so choice deferral is more likely to occur(3)The product attribute plays a moderating role between the ambivalence and choice deferral:when the product is a utilitarian product,the higher the ambivalence,the greater the uncertainty of choice correctness,the more likely consumer defer;When the product is a hedonic product,the uncertainty of choice correctness and choice deferral are not affected by the level of the ambivalence.(4)Regulatory focus moderates the relationship between the ambivalence and choice deferral:when the individual is prevention focus,the high level of the ambivalence will lead to a higher proportion of choice deferral;when the individual is promotion focus,the level of the ambivalence not affects the proportion of choice deferral.This study enriches the consumers research on the influence of the ambivalence,while also providing more evidence for the research of utilitarian and hedonic products.What's more,this study supports related research about the effects of regulatory focus on consumer behaviors.It also provides enterprises with some advice about how to avoid consumers deferring.