The role of selective information processing in price-quality inference

This research investigates the effects of the amount of information presented, information organization, and concern about closure on selective information processing and on the degree to which consumers use price as a basis for inferring quality. Consumers are found to be less likely to neglect belief-inconsistent information and their quality inferences less influenced by price when concern about closure is low ( vs. high) and information is presented randomly ( vs. ordered) or a small amount of information is presented. Results provide a picture of a resource-constrained consumer decision maker who processes belief-inconsistent information only when there is motivation and opportunity.