The Dual Nature of Choice: When Consumers Prefer Less to More

Economists typically assume that more choice is better, and consumers are more likely to purchase from a larger choice set. However, marketing and psychological studies show this is not always the case. This paper reports results from experiments designed to further investigate the so-called excessive-choice effect. First, we investigate whether people would voluntarily reduce their choice set size. Second, we investigate whether the excessive-choice effect, found in previous studies, is robust to changes in experimental design. Third, we explore how personality influences preferences for choice set size. Results show that the excessive-choice effect indeed exists for some people, but on average people prefer greater choice.