A study of comparative judgments based on numerical and verbal attribute labels

38 Pages·1992·2.1 MB·English

by  Viswanathan, Madhubalan

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Faculty Working Paper 92-0113
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330
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1992:113 COPY 2
A
Study of Comparative Judgments Based on
Numerical and Verbal Attribute Labels
Madhubalan Viswanathan Sunder Narayanan
Department ofBusinessAtlminstration Departments ofAdvertising and
BusinessAdministration
University ofIllinois University ofIllinois
Bureau of Economic and Business Research
College ofCommerce and Business Administration
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

BEBR
FACULTY WORKING PAPER NO. 92-01 13
College of Commerce and Business Administration
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
March 1992
A Study of Comparative Judgments Based on
Numerical and Verbal Attribute Labels
Madhubalan Viswanathan'
Sunder Narayanan
* Please address comments to Madhubalan Viswanathan, Department of Business Administration,
University of Illinois, Champaign, IL 61820; Tel. [phone]

A Study of Comparative Judgments Based on Numerical and
Verbal Attribute Labels
Abstract
Consumers often compare brands on a specific attribute using
the information available to them. The paper examines
comparative judgments of brands based on numerical and verbal
labels. Using a comparative judgment task from cognitive
psychology, comparisons of pairs of numerical and/or verbal
labels are studied in two experiments. Results of the first
experiment suggest that comparing a pair of numerical labels may
be easier than a pair of verbal labels or a numerical-verbal
pair. Further, several past findings are replicated in the
context of brand attribute comparisons. In addition, results
also suggest that the utility properties of the attribute may
provide a reference point for the comparisons of numerical and
verbal labels. A second study replicates the findings of the
first study and provides support for the effect of the utility
property of an attribute.