CONTEXTUAL CUES AND DESCRIPTIVE NORMS: DO PEOPLE STICK TO CONTEXT WHEN THEY KNOW WHAT OTHERS CHOOSE?

Our research examines the role of social norms on compromise-effect. Drawing on research on context-based inference, conformism and social identification, we show that when considering a ternary choice set in which an extreme alternative is popular in the market or in a reference group, consumers vary in their likelihood of selecting the compromise alternative and in their assessment of the relational properties of examined context. Our work documents that different social cues modify the inference consumers make basing on the context. Finally, the role of social norms on compromise-effect is attenuated when the uncertainty surrounding the choice task increases.