Status Quo Bias versus Variety Seeking

摘要

With many consumer decisions, two opposed behavioral tendencies are observed: status quo bias and variety-seeking behavior. In this paper, we identify individual-specific and situation-specific moderators of the relative strength of these phenomena via an experimental study. As expected, we find differences between decision scenarios regarding variety-seeking behavior and status quo bias but the effects are more complex than expected. Making an alternative the status quo, often leads to the result that an alternative similar to the status quo is chosen rather than the status quo itself. Furthermore, the moderators risk propensity, sensation-seeking tendency, and competence each have a selective impact on the relative strength of variety-seeking behavior and status quo bias in the decision situations. These findings are discussed and implications for marketing and future research are outlined.