Bachelor Thesis Unconscious Decision Making and its Impact on Consumers’ Intention to Purchase Online A Quantitative Study Investigating Consumers’ Mental Shortcuts Authors: Anna Quant Ellen Rydberg Sofie Göransson Tutor: Dan Halvarsson Examiner: Setayesh Sattari Semester: Spring 2018 Level: Bachelor Course Code: 2FE21E Date: 2018-05-23 II Acknowledgement We would like to take the opportunity to show our gratitude to the people who have supported us while conducting this study with their expertise and engagement. Through their constructive comments and useful inputs, we were able to steer this study into the right direction throughout the writing process. Firstly, we would like to thank our tutor Dan Halvarsson lecturer in the Department of Marketing at Linnaeus University that has always taken the time to support our study as well shared his knowledge regarding this topic. Secondly, a big thank you to our examinator Setayesh Sattari senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing at Linnaeus University for helping us during the writing process by providing us with her knowledge on quantitative research as well supporting with inputs during the seminars. Finally, we would also like to say a big thank you to all the participants that took their time responding to our questionnaire. Without them this bachelor thesis would never been able to reach a result. Växjö, Sweden 23rd of May 2018 Anna Quant Ellen Rydberg Sofie Göransson III IV Abstract Consumers often make decisions without being aware of it, also known as habitual decision making. A part of habitual decision making is mental shortcuts, which can push the consumers to unconsciously make decisions. This study will evaluate if the mental shortcuts anchoring, confirmation bias, loss aversion, paradox of choice and framing effect has an impact on consumers’ intention to purchase fashion online, aiming at finding a relationship between these. The researchers used a quantitative research with a descriptive nature, to gain a broader perspective. With the help of a survey in form of a questionnaire, the researchers collected 293 responses, whereas 274 were qualified. Furthermore, the data was put into SPSS in order to test the reliability, validity and the correlation between the variables. Out of the five hypotheses there were two hypotheses that were accepted, two rejected and one was not qualified to be further tested. The conclusion drawn from this study showed that previous experience on a retailing site decides how consumers’ unconsciously form expectations when purchasing a product on future retailing sites. Further, consumers feel stronger emotions when they feel that they have saved money compared to if they would have gained the same amount when making a purchase. Keywords Habitual decision making, Mental shortcuts, Anchoring, Loss aversion, Confirmation bias, Paradox of choice, Framing effect, Intention to purchase V Table of Content 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Problem Discussion ..................................................................................... 3 1.3 Purpose ......................................................................................................... 4 2. Theoretical Framework .................................................................................. 5 2.1 Online Purchase Intention ............................................................................ 5 2.2 Habitual Decision Making ........................................................................... 6 2.2.1 Mental Shortcuts in Habitual Decision Making ........................................................ 6 2.2.1.1 Anchoring ........................................................................................................... 7 2.2.1.2 Confirmation bias ............................................................................................... 8 2.2.1.3 Loss Aversion ..................................................................................................... 9 2.2.1.4 The Paradox of Choice ....................................................................................... 9 2.2.1.5 Framing Effect .................................................................................................. 10 2.3 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................... 11 3. Conceptual Framework ................................................................................ 14 3.1 Conceptual Model ...................................................................................... 16 4. Methodology ................................................................................................... 17 4.1 Research Approach .................................................................................... 17 4.1.1 Deductive Research ................................................................................................. 17 4.1.2 Quantitative Research.............................................................................................. 18 4.2 Research Design ......................................................................................... 19 4.3 Data Collection Method ............................................................................. 20 4.4 Data Collection Instrument ........................................................................ 21 4.4.1 Operationationalization and Measurement of Variables ......................................... 22 4.4.2 Questionnaire Design .............................................................................................. 24 4.4.3 Pre-Testing .............................................................................................................. 25 4.5 Sampling .................................................................................................... 25 4.5.1 Sample Selection ..................................................................................................... 27 4.6 Data Analysis Method................................................................................ 28 4.6.1 Data Coding ............................................................................................................. 28 4.6.2 Descriptive Statistics ............................................................................................... 29 4.6.3 Multiple Linear Regression Analysis ...................................................................... 30 4.6.3.1 Hypothesis testing ............................................................................................ 31 4.7 Quality Criteria .......................................................................................... 32 VI 4.7.1 Content Validity ...................................................................................................... 32 4.7.2 Construct Validity ................................................................................................... 33 4.7.3 Criterion Validity .................................................................................................... 33 4.7.4 Reliability ................................................................................................................ 34 4.8 Ethical Considerations ............................................................................... 34 4.9 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................... 36 5. Results ............................................................................................................. 37 5.1 Demographic .............................................................................................. 37 5.2 Reliability and Cronbach’s Alpha.............................................................. 38 5.3 Validity and Correlation Coefficient ......................................................... 39 5.4 Descriptive Statistics .................................................................................. 40 5.5 Hypothesis Testing..................................................................................... 41 6. Discussion ....................................................................................................... 44 6.1 Discussion on Anchoring ........................................................................... 44 6.2 Discussion on Confirmation Bias .............................................................. 45 6.3 Discussion on Loss Aversion ..................................................................... 46 6.4 Discussion on Paradox of Choice .............................................................. 47 6.5 Discussion on Framing Effect.................................................................... 47 6.6 Conceptual Model ...................................................................................... 48 7. Conclusions .................................................................................................... 49 7.1 Managerial Implications ............................................................................ 50 7.2 Theoretical Implication .............................................................................. 50 8. Limitations and Future Research ................................................................ 52 8.1 Limitations ................................................................................................