Investigation of the Preference-Reversal Phenomenon in a New Product Introduction Task.

Researchers have found a tendency for subjects in gambling situations to reverse their preferences for different types of gambles. That is, subjects tended to choose to play more conservative (low variance) gambles, but to set higher selling prices for riskier (high variance) gambles, despite the be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Applied Psychology Vol. 65; no. 6; pp. 715 - 723
Main Authors: Mowen, John C., Gentry, James W.
Format: Article
Published: American Psychological Association Dec80
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      vid: 65
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        10.1037/0021-9010.65.6.715
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        atl: Investigation of the Preference-Reversal Phenomenon in a New Product Introduction Task.
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        au:
          Mowen, John C.
          Gentry, James W.
        affil: College of Business Administration, Oklahoma State University
      su:
        Management simulation methods
        New product development
        Gambling
        Decision making
        Product management
        Choice (Psychology)
        Operations research
        Profit
      sug:
        subj:
          Management simulation methods
          New product development
          Gambling
          Decision making
          Product management
          Choice (Psychology)
          Operations research
          Profit
      ab: Researchers have found a tendency for subjects in gambling situations to reverse their preferences for different types of gambles. That is, subjects tended to choose to play more conservative (low variance) gambles, but to set higher selling prices for riskier (high variance) gambles, despite the bets having equal expected values. The present research investigated this preference-reversal phenomenon in a simulated managerial decision task. In the task, student subjects had to choose which of two products to develop and market as well as set prices for the products. Subjects were given estimates of the profits (or losses) that would accrue if the product were a success or a failure and the corresponding probabilities of success and failure. In addition, some subjects made the decisions as individuals, whereas others made the decisions in groups. Results revealed that subjects tended to reverse their preferences but not as frequently as found in the gambling task. Further, the results revealed that groups were significantly more prone to the decision bias than individuals.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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