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ISSN : 1229-8778
Recently there has been a growing attention to the cognitive process of counterfactual thinking and the emotion of regret in consumer decision-making. Research has reported that decisions to maintain the status quo tend to make experience in counterfactual thinking and regret less than decisions to change. However, the study examined the influence of anticipated counterfactual thinking(i.e., prefactual thinking) and regret on status quo effect toward the upcoming outcome instead of counterfactual thinking and regret toward the past outcome. In addition, following research about individual differences on decision-making, the study explored whether need for closure and optimism-pessimism in deciding decision moderate the extent of prefactual thinking and regret. The results support the hypothesized interactive effect of need for closure by type of alternative(status-quo vs. non-status-quo) on prefactual thinking and anticipated regret, and the hypothesized interactive effect of need for closure by optimism-pessimism on regret. However, there is no the interactive effect of type of alternative by optimism- pessimism on both prefactual thinking and anticipated regret. Theoretical and practical implications for control of impulse buying discussed based on the results.
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