Information Processing Patterns during Choice: The Effects of Choice Design Complexity and Product Category Involvement on Attribute Non-Attendance
(A2025-126259)

AUTHORS

Alaa Elgayar, Institute of Marketing, School of Business and Economics, Humboldt University Berlin; Narine Yegoryan, Humboldt University Berlin

ABSTRACT

Understanding how customers process information is vital for marketers. This paper investigates the impact of choice design complexity and product category involvement on attribute non-attendance (ANA). We also explore the moderating effects of extrinsic attributes (price and brand) on these associations. To this aim, we conduct three between-subject discrete choice experiments and employ a mixed-effects model, extending earlier findings across different product categories and incentive-aligned choices. Our findings reveal that a higher number of attributes increases ANA, while greater involvement decreases ANA. First, we contribute by detecting a non-linear relationship between choice set size and ANA, indicating that intermediate complexity boosts cognitive effort, whereas excessive complexity leads to cognitive overload and enhances ANA. Second, we identify that the attendance for price, compared to other attributes, is less negatively affected by higher complexity or lower involvement.