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19 2015 12:45 - 14:00
Via Roentgen, 1  4th floor room E4.SR01

Seeking and Avoiding Choice Closure

Simona Botti, London Business School

Achieving a sense of finality with past decisions, or reaching closure with one’s choices, is generally regarded as beneficial to subjective wellbeing. We instead investigate circumstances under which reaching closure about a choice prevents satisfaction maximization: when post-choice information characterizes a decision outcome as inferior, choice closure inhibits unfavorable comparisons and enhances satisfaction; but when it characterizes this outcome as superior, choice closure inhibits favorable comparisons and fails to enhance satisfaction. Building on research showing that closure can be externally facilitated, we demonstrate that visual cues can trigger a sense of finality. To maximize satisfaction, consumers should seek such triggers when faced with an inferior outcome and avoid them when faced with a superior outcome. However, our results suggest that consumers may decide to employ or avoid choice-closure triggers in ways that fail to enhance satisfaction, and that nudging them against their default inclinations may be needed in regulating post-choice satisfaction.