Modeling Inertia and Variety Seeking Tendencies in Brand Choice Behavior
Abstract
Theories of exploratory behavior suggest that inertia and variety-seeking tendencies may coexist within the individual, implying that the same individual may exhibit inertia and variety-seeking at different times depending on his/her choice history. Past research has not allowed for such within-consumer variability in these tendencies. The purpose of this study is to present a choice model that allows us to identify such “hybrid” behavior (i.e., a mixture of inertia and variety-seeking), and to distinguish hybrid behavior from simpler types of behavior such as pure inertia, pure variety-seeking and zero-order behavior. The model is estimated at the household level using panel data for three product classes, covering a total of 1069 households. The empirical analysis shows that more than half the households analyzed exhibited hybrid behavior rather than simpler types of behavior.
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The reluctance to change service provider has been attributed to customer inertia.
“The reluctance to change service provider has been attributed to customer inertia (Bawa 1990; Meidan 1996; Panther and Farquhar 2004; White and Yanamandram 2004).”
From Health insurance policy renewal: an exploration of reputation, performance, and affect to understand customer inertia (2022) · cites this paper as Bawa 1990
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- Authors
- Bawa, K.
- Affiliations
- New York University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bawa, Kapil
- Venue
- Marketing Science
- Published
- 1990-08
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 263-278
- ISSN
- 0732-2399 (ISSN-L)
- 1526-548X
- OpenAlex
- W2089415009
- Cited by
- 213
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 9.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Marketing Science (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior and Marketing Influence
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Keywords
- brand choice, consumer inertia, variety seeking, exploratory behavior, choice models, household panel data, product classes
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