Behavioral Research in the Wild - On Amir

Topics

  • The context of search results assortment
    • Dominance
    • Price contrast
  • Communication styles and global trade
  • The dark side of discrimination awareness
    (Tipping online)

(weak) Dominance

Dominance on some attributes but not all.
E.g. Object A is cheaper, has better reviews than Object B.

Research Questions

  • Is the dominance effect real?
    • (beyond the lab and 2-3 item choice sets; preference uncertainty)
  • Are dominance relationships prevalent?
    • (why would there be dominated items?)
  • How does the effect work?
    • Perceptual vs. Cognitive

Fiverr Case Study

Dominating gigs have a 40% increase in clients than non-dominating gigs (1% vs. 0.7%), and dominated gigs have no clients.

Experiencability of Categories - Preference Uncertainty

Experienceable category vs. non-experienceable category

Magnitude of Dominance

Cognitive vs. Perceptual
Dominance increases with the size of the dominance perceptual, not just similarity
Dominance increases the closer two objects are perceptual

Price Contrast in the Wild

How does an outlier price effect demand?
When there is an extreme price, the distribution shifts to the left, meaning people are less likely to buy from the marketplace as a whole.

Communication Style

Communication style is more indirect or direct depending on the culture that you come from.

Dark side of Discrimination Awareness

For pro sellers, women sellers get asked for revisions much more.