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The Effects of Trivial Attributes on Choice of Food Products

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Dragan Miljkovic ,
Jian Gong  and
Linda Lehrke
Dragan Miljkovic
Affiliation:
Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota
Jian Gong
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania
Linda Lehrke
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas
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Abstract

Trivial or irrelevant attributes are defined as attributes that do not create a meaningful difference in a brand's performance. The objective of this paper is to determine if and how trivial attributes affect consumers in their choice of variety/brands of food products including frozen green beans, orange juice, canola oil, and frosted strawberry toaster pastries. Sixty subjects participated in the experiment. Subjects understood that trivial attributes are less important than substantive attributes. Substantive (important) quality attributes and economic variables affecting choice were all perceived equal across brands by the subjects in the experiment. Two critical driving forces in determining the presence and direction of the effect of a trivial attribute on the consumer choice are the size of the choice set and the type of trivial attribute, i.e., product versus promotional attribute.

Keywords

consumer choicefood productsproduct attributespromotional attributeschoice set sizetrivial attributes
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , October 2009 , pp. 142 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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