Why Do They Make Things so Complicated? Desperate Consumers in Complex Buying Situations

In the past 50 years, consumers’ buying situations have not become easier. Consumers remain easily overwrought by complex buying situations that involve buying complex products or services, such as laptops or insurance. In such situations, consumers find it difficult to reach decisions and must exert high levels of cognitive effort. Prior consumer research has addressed the complexity of buying situations in several research streams, such as product complexity, choice complexity, and choice and information overload research. However, previous researchers have not reached consensus regarding what constitutes the complexity of a buying situation. They have mostly concentrated on cognitive constructs, such as perceived choice complexity, as responses to complexity rather than emotional constructs even though recent decision-making theories argue that cognitions and emotions both influence behavior (e.g., Loewenstein and Lerner, 2003). To close these research gaps, this dissertation provides an in-depth conceptualization of complex buying situations by developing a comprehensive reference framework based on one qualitative study (Study 1) and comprehensive literature reviews of product and choice complexity research. It summarizes the determinants of complexity, such as inherent category complexity, cognitive and emotional responses to complexity (CERC, such as perceived choice complexity and negative emotional responses to complexity (NERCO)), complexity-reduction strategies (such as relying on a recommendation of a salesperson to make a choice) and the consequences of CERC (such as a decreased purchase intention). In doing so, it synthesizes knowledge from different research streams. This dissertation differs from prior research by focusing on NERCO instead of concentrating on cognitive responses to complexity. A reliable and valid NERCO scale that consists of two factors, emotional resignation and fear of post-purchase dissonance, is developed based on one qualitative study (Study 1) and five quantitative studies (Studies 2-5). An experiment (Study 6) follows scale development and investigates the influence of two inputs in the reference framework, the number of alternatives in the consumer’s price class and the perceived expertise of the salesperson who provides a recommendation in a buying situation, on perceived choice complexity and NERCO and provides support for these hypothesized relationships. Additionally, it provides support for the reliability and validity of the NERCO scale and for the link between inputs and learning constructs (such as CERC) proposed by the reference framework. Interestingly, mediation analysis reveals that the influences of the inputs on NERCO are mediated by perceived choice complexity, which provides strong support for the cognitive appraisal theory of Lazarus and his colleagues (e.g., Smith and Lazarus, 1993). In sum, this dissertation provides evidence for the high relevance of CERC for research as well as for practice by revealing quantitatively the influence of NERCO on the application of avoidance strategies, such as delaying the purchase. This dissertation paves the way for numerous directions for future research on the complexity of buying situations (CBS) by providing theoretical fundamentals in the form of a detailed conceptualization of CBS and by precisely defining the research gaps.