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To buy or how much to buy? Partition dependence in purchase-quantity decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Nader T. Tavassoli

    (London Business School)

  • Matteo Visentin

    (Google Cloud Platform)

Abstract

Four studies demonstrate that people are more likely to buy (but not to buy more) when directly asked how much to buy in response to a set of purchase quantities (0, 1, 2 … n) than when first asked whether to buy in response to a seemingly innocuous yes/no purchase-interest question. This finding is explained in terms of response-scale partitioning. A purchase-quantity scale has a single negative (0) and multiple (n) positive response options. In contrast, a dichotomous yes/no purchase-interest question has an equal proportion of negative (“no”) and positive (“yes”) response options, the latter of which subsumes all positive quantity options into one partition. Ascertaining purchase interest using a single negative and multiple positive response options (“no,” “mildly,” “somewhat,” “likely,” “very,” and “definitely”) eliminated the effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Nader T. Tavassoli & Matteo Visentin, 2022. "To buy or how much to buy? Partition dependence in purchase-quantity decisions," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 177-188, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:33:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11002-021-09596-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11002-021-09596-2
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