The Decision-Making Process and Impact of Individual Decisions for Joint Consumption
研究比较了为自己、他人和联合消费做个体决策的过程，发现联合消费决策会因考虑多方偏好而增加责任感和降低信心，并影响决策焦虑、产品选择等下游行为，为营销者提供策略指导。
Consumers make individual decisions for their own, others’, and joint consumption. This research introduces a framework for understanding the process of making individual decisions for joint consumption by comparing them with individual decisions for the self and for others (e.g., gifts). Seven experiments show that individual decisions for joint consumption, which involve considering one's own and others’ preferences, consistently increase felt responsibility for unsatisfactory outcomes and decrease confidence in one's ability to make satisfactory choices compared with decisions for the self. Knowledge of others’ preferences plays a critical role in differentiating between individual decisions for joint versus others’ consumption; congruent (incongruent) preferences increase (decrease) confidence in decisions for joint consumption, while any knowledge of others’ preferences—regardless of congruity—increases confidence in decisions for others. Three managerially relevant downstream consequences that differ among individual decisions for joint, self, and others’ consumption are identified: decision anxiety, choice of assortment options, and choice of popular options. These insights offer valuable strategies for marketers to tailor their product offerings and communications to consumers engaged in individual decisions for joint, own, or others’ consumption.