Abstract
Consumers face a plethora of product alternatives in software markets that places considerable cognitive burden in choosing the right alternative that best meets their needs. In this research, we aim to investigate how product cues associated with software products may affect consumer choice and whether market context moderates this effect. To address this research question we conducted a discrete choice experiment and analyzed the results with mixed multinomial regression. Our results indicate that externality enhancing features, open source and free products are favored by participants in choice decisions. We also found that the more expensive products were viewed more positively by participants than cheaper products. Externality features by far had the greatest effect on consumer choice. Users prefer a more functional feature with a closed source license to a less functional product with an open source license. Our analysis also points to the existence of considerable heterogeneity in preferences that is conducive to strategic positioning and product versioning in software markets.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | 24th Workshop on Information Technology and Systems |
| Publisher | University of Auckland Business School |
| State | Published - 2014 |
| Event | 24th Annual Workshop on Information Technologies and Systems: Value Creation from Innovative Technologies, WITS 2014 - Auckland, New Zealand Duration: Dec 17 2014 → Dec 19 2014 |
Other
| Other | 24th Annual Workshop on Information Technologies and Systems: Value Creation from Innovative Technologies, WITS 2014 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | New Zealand |
| City | Auckland |
| Period | 12/17/14 → 12/19/14 |
Keywords
- Cue utilization theory
- Discrete choice experiment
- Mixed multinomial logit
- Software licenses
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Computer Networks and Communications
- Information Systems
- Computer Science Applications