Martin Meißner

Eye-tracking Information Processing in Choice-based Conjoint Analysis

Choice models are a common tool in market research for quantifying the influence of product attributes on consumer decisions. Process tracing techniques, on the other hand, try to answer the question of how people process information and make decisions in choice tasks. This paper suggests a combination of both approaches for in-depth investigations of consumer decision processes in preference measurement by means of choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis. We discuss different process tracing techniques and propose an attribute-specific strategy measure for the analysis of CBC results. In our empirical study we eye-track respondents evaluating CBC choice tasks for single-cup coffee brewers. On the basis of several hypotheses we illustrate the benefits of simultaneously recording eye-tracking information for market research.

Eye-Tracking Reveals Processes that Enable Conjoint Choices to Become Increasingly Efficient with Practice

Choice-based conjoint is a popular technique for characterizing consumers’ choices. Three eye-tracking studies explore decision processes in conjoint choices that take less time and become more accurate with practice. These studies reveal two simplification processes that are associated with greater speed and reliability. Alternative focus gradually shifts attention toward options that represent promising choices, whereas attribute focus directs attention to important attributes that are most likely to alter or confirm a decision. Alternative and attribute focus increase in intensity with practice. In terms of biases, the authors detect a small but consistent focus on positive aspects of the item chosen and negative aspects of the items not chosen. They also show that incidental exposures arising from the first-examined alternative or from alternatives in a central horizontal location increase attention but have a much more modest and often insignificant impact on conjoint choices. Overall, conjoint choice is found to be a process that is (1) largely formed by goal-driven values that respondents bring to the task and (2) relatively free of distorting effects from task layout or random exposures.

AHP versus ACA – An Empirical Comparison

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been of substantial impact in business research and particularly in managerial decision making for a long time. Although empirical investigations (e.g. Scholl et al. (2005)) and simulation studies (e.g. Scholz et al. (2006)) have shown its general potential in consumer preference measurement, AHP is still rather unpopular in marketing research.

Robust Preference Measurement A Simulation Study of Erroneous and Ambiguous Judgement’s Impact on AHP and Conjoint Analysis

A method of treating arrhythmia in mammals which comprises administering 8-chloro- or 8-bromo-3-( beta -diethylaminoethyl)-4-methyl-7-ethoxycarbonylmethoxycoumarin (or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof) thereto. When formulated in conventional pharmaceutical preparations, the active ingredient may be administered orally or endovenously.

Detecting and Debugging Erroneous Statements in Pairwise Comparison Matrices

The invention relates to a process for the determination of uranium (VI) or dialkyl dithiophosphoric acid present in an organic solvent. In this process, a dialkyl dithiophosphoric acid or a uranium (VI) salt is added to the organic solvent so as to convert all the uranium or dialkyl dithiophosphoric acid present in said solvent into a mixed uranium (VI) - dialkyl dithiophosphoric acid-organophosphorus compound complex. The optical density of the solvent containing the complex in solution is measured so as to determine the concentration of this solvent in the complex, together with its uranium dialkyl dithiophosphoric acid content. Application to the determination of traces of uranium in tributylphosphate obtained from the reprocessing of irradiated fuels.

Adapting Human-Computer-Interaction of Attentive Smart Glasses to the Trade-Off Conflict in Purchase Decisions: An Experiment in a Virtual Supermarket

In many everyday purchase decisions, consumers have to trade-off their decisions between alternatives. For example, consumers often have to decide whether to buy the more expensive high quality product or the less expensive product of lower quality. Marketing researchers are especially interested in finding out how consumers make decisions when facing such trade-off conflicts and eye-tracking has been used as a tool to investigate the allocation of attention in such situations. Conflicting decision situations are also particularly interesting for human-computer interaction research because designers may use knowledge about the information acquisition behavior to build assistance systems which can help the user to solve the trade-off conflict. In this paper, we build and test such an assistance system that monitors the user’s information acquisition processes using mobile eye-tracking in the virtual reality. In particular, we test whether and how strongly the trade-off conflict influences how consumers direct their attention to products and features. We find that trade-off conflict, task experience and task involvement significantly influence how much attention products receive. We discuss how this knowledge might be used in the future to build assistance systems in the form of attentive smart glasses.

The Benefits of Computer-Based Brand Concept Mapping

Despite the widespread application of computer-aided interviews in both marketing research and practices, computer-based mapping has not been tested empirically in the brand image measurement context. We compare traditional poster-board and computer-based mapping using the Brand Concept Maps approach. Our results show that consumers who use computer-based mapping build valid and reliable brand association networks. Moreover, we validate the computer-based mapping by using representative online samples. Overall, the results suggest that the computer-based approach extends the flexibility and applicability of brand association mapping by enabling independence from stationary test studios.

Towards Attentive In-Store Recommender Systems

We present research-in-progress on an attentive in-store mobile recommender system that is integrated into the user’s glasses and worn during purchase decisions. The system makes use of the Attentive Mobile Interactive Cognitive Assistant (AMICA) platform prototype designed as a ubiquitous technology that supports people in their everyday-life. This paper gives a short overview of the technology and presents results from a pre-study in which we collected real-life eye-tracking data during decision processes in a supermarket. The data helps us to characterize and identify the different decision contexts based on differences in the observed attentional processes. AMICA provides eye-tracking data that can be used to classify decision-making behavior in real-time to make a recommendation process context-aware.

The Promise of Eye-Tracking Methodology in Organizational Research: A Taxonomy, Review, and Future Avenues

Technological advances in recent years have greatly lowered the barriers for using eye tracking (ET) as a research tool in laboratory and field settings. However, despite its potential and widespread application in other disciplines, the use of ET in organizational research remains sparse. This article therefore aims to introduce ET, and thus a new mode of behavioral data, to the field of organizational research. Based on a synthesis of prior literature, we propose an integrative taxonomy that unravels the methodological potential of ET as well as its scope of application. Building on our proposed taxonomy, we systematically review the use of ET in leading management journals and reflect on the current state of research. We further illustrate future avenues for ET in the domains of strategic management, entrepreneurship, and human resources to contribute to the method’s future dissemination and to the advancement of organizational science as well.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY CUSTOMERS: THE INFLUENCE OF CUSTOMER EMPOWERMENT ON CONSUMERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF WELL-ESTABLISHED BRANDS

Labelling product innovations as designed and/or selected by customers can positively affect non-participating consumers’ self-stated behavioural intentions, that is, it can increase the probability of purchasing that product. Most previous studies have used fictitious brands to test the aforementioned effect, raising concerns about the degree to which these findings are relevant for marketing practice. Brand managers thus might wonder whether labelling product innovations as user-designed and/or user-selected might indeed increase sales for their well-established brands. This paper addresses this research gap by investigating the possible effects of three alternative strategies for labelling innovations (i.e., empowerment-to-select, empowerment-to-create, and full empowerment) for two well-established technology brands. For all three strategies and both brands, we find that involving customers significantly increases the perceived innovation ability, which then positively mediates the effect on behavioural intentions. However, due to a negative direct effect, only labelling products as selected by customers has an overall positive effect.