ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF ABSTRACT ATTRIBUTES AND BRAND FAMILIARITY INCONJOINT CHOICE EXPERIMENTS

The multinomial legit model for conjoint choice experiments is extende d to include effects of abstract brand attributes. The proposed CONFOL D model describes consumers' utility for the alternatives in conjoint choice experiments as a (weighted) sum of two components: one pertaini ng to the concrete attributes used in the design of the choice alterna tives, and the other pertaining to abstract attributes underlying the evaluation of brand names. An extension of the models allows the weigh ts of both of these components may depend on the familiarity of consum ers with the brands, An application to a conjoint study of automobiles is provided. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.