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Variety-seeking as an emotional coping strategy for chronically indecisive consumers

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Abstract

The present research provides evidence that variety-seeking is a generalized emotional coping strategy for chronically indecisive consumers. Recent research reveals that (1) chronic indecisiveness is associated with increased variety-seeking behavior and (2) chronically indecisive consumers (vs. not) feel more positive after choosing a mix of products. The present research demonstrates that chronically indecisive consumers’ increased tendency to seek variety can be further inflated by inducing them to experience negative emotion unrelated to the choice task. This finding is directly at odds with past research that has repeatedly found an increasing effect of positive emotion on variety-seeking behavior. The present research shows that this effect does not hold for chronically indecisive consumers, who variety-seek even more when made to feel negative.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by research fund of Chungnam National University.

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Correspondence to Hyewook G. Jeong.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Emotion manipulation

1.1.1 Negative condition

In this study, you will be presented with a story. As you read it, try to imagine you are part of the story, as if the events in the story were happening to you. That is, try to project yourself into the story so that you can more or less feel as if the events were really happening to you.

Imagine that you are about to turn in a midterm exam for one of the classes you are taking this quarter. You had 1 week to prepare for the exam.

You were very busy this past week. So, you studied less than you probably usually would have.

You feel bad about the amount of time you studied and the effort you put in. Indeed, there were many topics on the test that you had not covered in your review. You answered all of the questions.

You felt it was a tough exam but fair.

After you finished, you handed the exam to your professor who took the time to flip through it in front of you. The professor looks uneasy and nods. Things do not look good.

1.1.2 Positive condition

In this study, you will be presented with a story. As you read it, try to imagine you are part of the story, as if the events in the story were happening to you. That is, try to project yourself into the story so that you can more or less feel as if the events were really happening to you.

Imagine that you are about to turn in a midterm exam for one of the classes you are taking this quarter. You had 1 week to prepare for the exam.

You were not very busy this past week. So, you studied more than you probably usually would have. You studied a lot.

You feel really good about the amount of time you studied and the effort you put in. Indeed, there were not any topics on the test that you had not covered in your review. You answered all of the questions. You felt it was an easy exam but fair.

After you finished, you handed the exam to your professor who took the time to flip through it in front of you. The professor looks pleased and nods. Things look good.

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Jeong, H.G., Drolet, A. Variety-seeking as an emotional coping strategy for chronically indecisive consumers. Mark Lett 27, 55–62 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-014-9300-7

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