Less may be more when choosing is difficult: Choice complexity and too much choice

When More Alternatives Lead to Less Choice

One crucial decision firms or government agencies must make is the selection of the alternatives, e.g., the characteristics and/or the number of products, to offer to consumers or citizens. The selection of the set of alternatives to offer should not only take into account the potential preferences of the consumers and firms, but also the evaluation costs of the economic agents. This may lead t...

Metronomic Chemotherapy: When Less May Be More

The use of low dose continuous schedules of chemotherapy (i.e. metronomic chemotherapy), delivered at lower doses by necessity compared to traditional dosing schemes, has become an increasingly popular addition to patient management in veterinary medical oncology. While the concept itself is not new, as low dose, maintenance chemotherapy protocols have been important components of treatment for...

When More Is Less and Less Is More: The Role of Ideal Point Availability and Assortment in Consumer Choice

Contrary to the common wisdom that more choice is always better, selections made from large assortments can lead to weaker preferences. Building on the extant literature, this research identifies ideal point availability as a key factor moderating the impact of assortment on choice. It is proposed that, in the case of large assortments, ideal point availability can simplify choice, leading to a...

What Moderates the Too-Much-Choice Effect?

Core theories in economics, psychology, and marketing suggest that decision makers benefit from having more choice. In contrast, according to the too-much-choice effect, having too many options to choose from may ultimately decrease the motivation to choose and the satisfaction with the chosen option. To reconcile these two positions, we tested whether there are specific conditions in which the...

The Effect of Having Too Much Choice