Accentuating the Forest Instead of the Trees: Induced Global Processing in Mass Customization Systems

This research investigates some unintended consequences of different mass customization formats on individual processing styles. Two studies provide novel empirical evidence that conventional attribute-wise configuration formats increase local processing, whereas prespecified configuration formats increase global processing. Importantly for marketers, we show that a global (vs. local) processing style leads to more mental simulation of the configured product and, as a consequence, to increased choice satisfaction, pride of authorship, and purchase intention. These findings highlight important process variables that should be considered when designing mass customization systems.