Mitigating the Negative Effect of Overchoice on Purchase Decision: The Role of Product Evaluability

ABSTRACT While consumers often desire to choose from a large assortment size in shopping tasks, overchoice tends to increase difficulty in making a purchase decision. The present study investigates the role of product evaluability in mitigating the negative effect of overchoice on consumer purchase. Through four experiments involving with fictional or real products, we consistently found that it was more difficult for consumers to make a choice under a large (vs. a small) assortment context for low‐evaluability products, whereas consumers' choice decision did not differ between large and small assortment contexts for high‐evaluability products. The present research further identified consumers' overload as a mediation mechanism in the choice‐making process. Our research expanded the explanatory scope of General Evaluability Theory and shed light on how to mitigate the negative effect of overchoice with regard to product evaluability. We also provided profound practical implications to marketing managers for setting the appropriate assortment size of product based on its evaluability.