Boston College
More isn't necessarily better when it comes to men making
decisions together, especially if you want a middle-of-the-road compromise.
That's according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research which
finds that compromise always occurs among two decision makers when a woman is
involved (female-female pairs or mixed gender pairs), but hardly ever when the
pair of decision makers are men. The findings could be pertinent to marketers,
managers, and consumers alike.
"When men are in the presence of other men, they feel the need to prove their masculinity," says co-researcher Hristina Nikolova, the Coughlin Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor of Marketing with the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.
"Both tend to push away from the
compromise option because the compromise option is consistent with feminine
norms. On the other hand, extremism is a more masculine trait so that's why
both male partners tend to prefer an extreme option when making decisions
together."
Titled "Men and the Middle: Gender Differences in Dyadic
Compromise Effects" and published in the Journal of Consumer
Research, the study was co-authored by Cait Lamberton, Associate Professor
of Marketing with the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the
University of Pittsburgh.
While previous research has examined the compromise
effect -- the tendency to choose the middle, compromise option in a choice set-
using single individuals, this is the first research examining how joint
decision-making contexts change consumers' preferences for the compromise
option.
"The decisions we make in pairs may be very different than
those we make alone, depending on who we make them with," according to the
study. "Classic compromise effects, AKA the 'goldilocks effect' or
'extremeness aversion,' may not emerge in all joint consumption
decisions."
Nikolova and Lamberton conducted four experiments with 1,204
students at two U.S universities, and a fifth experiment using 673 online
participants.
The studies involved different pairs of a man and woman, two
women, and two men making decisions on such things as buying printers,
toothpaste, flashlights, tires, hotels, headphones, different sizes and shapes
of grills, what prizes to seek in a lottery, and whether to buy risky or safe
stocks with corresponding high and low returns.
"No matter what the product is, we see the same
effects," says Nikolova. "The compromise effect basically emerges in
any pair when there is a woman. However, surprisingly, when you have men
choosing together, they actually tend to push away from the compromise option
and select one of the extreme options. Say two men are choosing a car and the
cars they are considering differ on safety and fuel efficiency -- they will
either go for the safest car or the one that offers them the most fuel
efficiency, but they won't choose an option that offers a little of both."
In contrast, individuals and mixed-gender and female-female pairs will likely
go for the middle option since it seems reasonable and is easily justified.
According to the study: "When making decisions together,
men take actions that are maximally different from feminine norms, which
prioritize moderation, and maximally similar to masculine norms, which
prioritize extremity. Furthermore, because a female presence makes the masculinity
of men in male-female dyads obvious, in these pairings we observe compromise
behavior consistent with that of individual decision-makers and female-female
dyads."
"In contrast to men," says Nikolova, "women act
the same together as they would alone because they don't need to prove anything
in front of other women. Womanhood is not precarious and does not need the same
level of public defense as manhood. That's why we observe the compromise effect
in the joint decisions of two female partners."
Interestingly, the research found that compromise is criticized
among other men, but embraced by women.
"Only men judge other men very harshly when they suggest
the compromise option to a male partner," says Nikolova. "It doesn't
happen when a man suggests the compromise option to a female partner or when
women suggest the compromise option so it's really specific to men dealing with
other men."
Nikolova says the findings are something corporate American will
want to pay attention to and gear campaigns around since the compromise effect
is a robust phenomenon often used to manage assortments, position products, and
drive sales. The findings of the study suggest that retailers and marketers
should be aware of the gender composition of the joint decision-making pairs
they might be targeting.
"For instance, marketers should be aware of the fact that
when two men make decisions together, they are more likely to choose one of the
extreme options. So if a company wants to push sales toward a particular
option, and they expect their target customers to primarily be men making
decisions together, then it's better to make the particular option an extreme
option rather than a middle alternative."
For example, the findings can easily be applied by car sales
people. When offering different cars and creating the choice set for their
customers, car sales people need to pay attention to the gender composition of
the decision-making pairs.
If a father and a son are purchasing the first car
for the son together, it would be better for the sales person to make the
particular car which he or she wants to sell (usually the most profitable one)
an extreme option in the offered choice set (e.g., the one with the most fuel
efficiency, the best interior design, or the highest horsepower.).
In contrast,
if a male/female couple or a mother and a daughter are shopping together, it
would be best to make that option a middle alternative in the choice set by
adding other alternatives that offer less or more of the particular attribute.
Furthermore, Nikolova says if an organization wants more middle
ground decisions made, it's critical to include a woman in the decision-making
pair. In contrast, if a manager wants to "nudge" more all-or-nothing
decisions, it is better to entrust them to two men.
As for consumers, it's important for male consumers to know what
they might buy themselves is different from what they would choose with another
man.
"What we're finding is when men have to choose alone, most
select the compromise option," says Nikolova. "But when they have to
make the decision with another man, they tend to choose one of the extreme
options which is not something they would prefer if they were alone. It's
important for male consumers to be aware of this when making decisions with
other people since the drive to prove their masculinity might lead them to make
decisions that they might not enjoy later."