Antecedents of the attraction effect: An information-processing approach

Abstract

Many researchers have demonstrated the existence of an attraction effect that increases the choice probability of an existing target brand by the introduction of a relatively inferior decoy brand. A causal model that links antecedent variables with the attraction effect is developed. It is found that the attraction effect is explained to a considerable extent by changes in the following 7 variables: 1. information relevance or stimulus meaningfulness, 2. product class knowledge, 3. task involvement, 4. perceived similarity between decoy and target, 5. relative brand preference, 6. share captured by decoy brand, and 7. perceived decoy popularity. The overall results were consistent across product classes studied, which included beer, cars, and television sets. The popularity explanation for attraction effect, alluded to by Huber, Payne, and Puto (1982), was tested and found to hold true.