Context matters: The impact of product type, emotional attachment and information overload on choice quality

We show that contextual variables in a Multiple Criteria Decision Making task influence choice quality. Based on an experiment we investigate the effects of product type, emotional attachment, and the amount and structure of information provided. We measured choice quality with nondominance, which is a desirable property of good choices. Regarding the product type effect, we distinguish between hedonic products that primarily are desirable due to affect, and utilitarian products, which are desirable because they are useful. When subjects with high emotional attachment make choices with hedonic products, they make fewer dominated choices than with utilitarian products. Further, we show that information overload is a relevant phenomenon in MCDM experiments. However, what matters is the quality of information, not just the quantity. When we add information that does not change the dominance relations between products, choice quality is not degraded.