The Impact of Sequence Disruptions on Order Effects in Choice: A Script Theoretical Perspective

Consumer choices are typically presented in a sequence, and the presentation order has been observed to have an effect on choice where items first (primacy effect) and last (recency effect) in the sequence are preferred (e.g., Li and Epley 2009; Mantonakis et al. 2009; Sulmont-Rosse et al. 2008;). However, the procedures used in these experiments may not accurately reflect what occurs in an actual retail environment. Sales associates may disrupt a consumer’s evaluation process by asking them to evaluate an option between samples (i.e., step-by-step procedure) or ask the consumer to compare a current sample to a previously sampled item (i.e., pairwise-comparison procedure). Results from two studies show that these common sequence presentation procedures may impact the possibility of order effects, with high and low product knowledge acting as boundary conditions for this effect.