WHY SWITCH - PRODUCT CATEGORY-LEVEL EXPLANATIONS FOR TRUE VARIETY-SEEKING BEHAVIOR

The authors address two key issues that have received inadequate atten tion in the choice behavior literature on variety seeking. First, they explicitly separate true variety-seeking behavior (i.e., intrinsicall y motivated) from derived varied behavior (i.e., extrinsically motivat ed). Second, they hypothesize variety-seeking behavior to be a functio n of the individual difference characteristic of need for variety and product category-level characteristics that interact to determine the situations in which variety seeking is more likely to occur relative t o repeat purchasing and derived varied behavior. The authors test thei r hypotheses in a field study of Dutch consumers, which assesses both the intensity of brand switching and the underlying motives for their switching behavior. Results support the importance of isolating variet y switches from derived switches and of considering product category-l evel factors as an explanation for the occurrence of variety-seeking b ehavior.