Not worth the extra cost? Diluting the differentiation ability of highly rated products by altering the meaning of rating scale levels
Journal
Journal of Consumer Behaviour
ISSN
1472-0817
ISSN-Digital
1479-1838
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2013-04-29
Author(s)
Abstract (De)
Over the last decade, the use of rating scales has grown in popularity in various fields, including customer online reviews and energy labels. Rating scales convey important information on attributes of products or services that consumers evaluate in their purchase decisions. By applying multidimensional scaling, this paper reveals that the meaning of the levels of a rating scale can be altered by manipulating the labeling of the rating scale levels. The study reveals that consumers perceive product attributes as being more similar if the labels share similar or identical linguistic or visual characteristics. In addition, two choice-based conjoint studies examine whether the way consumers make their choices among products can be influenced by changing the labeling of rating scale levels. The results show that a manipulation of the meaning of rating scale levels diminishes both the importance of the rating scale information and consumers' willingness to pay a premium for a rating upgrade.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Publisher place
Chichester UK
Volume
12
Number
3
Start page
223
End page
231
Pages
9
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
230942
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
[Meissner, Heinzle Decker 2013] Not worth the extra cost.pdf
Size
316.27 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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