The Pain of Deciding: Indecision, Procrastination, and Consumer Choice Online

In this paper, the authors suggest that the effects of the decision environment on consumers’ relative regret over an action hinder purchase behavior. They demonstrate that different augmentations of the purchase environment that manipulate the ease of avoiding choice (e.g., reducing consumers’ ability to defer choice) can increase purchase behavior. They further demonstrate that the influences of such manipulations on consumers’ relative regret over an action can explain changes in purchase behavior, and they discuss ways that the underlying theory may benefit both retailers and consumers.