Countering context effects in consumer decision-making: the limits of information-based debiasing approaches

Abstract The attraction and compromise effects describe preference shifts caused by adding an asymmetrically dominated or extreme alternative to choice sets. Despite the prominence of these context effects in consumer research, little is known about consumers’ coping behaviors in response to such decision problems. As an exception, Houghton et al. (1999) report reduced attraction and compromise effects after highlighting characteristics of choice sets that imply exposure to these effects’ influences. Building on their results, as well as predictions from an exploratory study suggesting that consumers view both context effects as manipulative marketing tactics, the persuasion knowledge model, and reactance theory, this article replicates and extends their evaluation of debiasing against context effects through information disclosures. One online and one lab experiment, the latter with consequential choices, using realistic product stimuli (1) yield opposing results between the online study and Houghton et al.’s (1999) original reports of successfully countering context effects by highlighting the choice set composition, and (2) overall do not show robust evidence in favor of debiasing against context effects across different levels of disclosing manipulative intentions in choice set construction. We discuss this pattern of results against the background of experimental design elements and suggest further debiasing strategies as promising targets to mitigate unwanted influences of context effects in product choice.