<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<p>The purpose of this paper is to study projection bias when individuals decide on their future consumption. The present research aims to investigate what and how factors influence the misprediction of future preferences and tastes, resulting in a gap between the expected and realised consumer utility. An online survey was conducted in Hungary to explore how personal drivers and beliefs influence the outcome of purchasing decisions on future consumption and how they contribute to a consumer utility gap. The research results demonstrate that high-level naivety goes with a minor change of preferences and tastes between the dates of purchasing choice and consumption, resulting in a small utility gap. Furthermore, individuals with stronger financial self-control perceive their savings to be higher and their utility gap to be smaller. We show that financial self-control, the change of preferences and tastes and the education level are significant predictors of the consumer utility gap regarding projection bias.</p>
</abstract>

The purpose of this paper is to study projection bias when individuals decide on their future consumption. The present research aims to investigate what and how factors influence the misprediction of future preferences and tastes, resulting in a gap between the expected and realised consumer utility. An online survey was conducted in Hungary to explore how personal drivers and beliefs influence the outcome of purchasing decisions on future consumption and how they contribute to a consumer utility gap. The research results demonstrate that high-level naivety goes with a minor change of preferences and tastes between the dates of purchasing choice and consumption, resulting in a small utility gap. Furthermore, individuals with stronger financial self-control perceive their savings to be higher and their utility gap to be smaller. We show that financial self-control, the change of preferences and tastes and the education level are significant predictors of the consumer utility gap regarding projection bias.

The Suboptimal Future Outcome of Consumer Decisions: A Survey on Projection Bias

University of Pécs, Faculty of Business and Economics

Studies in Business and Economics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"The Suboptimal Future Outcome of Consumer Decisions: A Survey on Projection Bias"}

The purpose of this paper is to study projection bias when individuals decide on their future consumption. The present research aims to investigate what and...

The Suboptimal Future Outcome of Consumer Decisions: A Survey on Projection Bias

Publicado en línea: 20 sept 2023

Páginas: 196 - 216

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sbe-2023-0032

Palabras clave
projection bias, misprediction, intertemporal choice, preference change, consumer utility

© 2023 Kármen Kovács, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Suboptimal Future Outcome of Consumer Decisions: A Survey on Projection Bias

Publicado en línea: 20 sept 2023

Páginas: 196 - 216

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sbe-2023-0032

Palabras claveprojection bias, misprediction, intertemporal choice, preference change, consumer utility

© 2023 Kármen Kovács, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Palabras clave
projection bias, misprediction, intertemporal choice, preference change, consumer utility