Technology purchasing decisions represent complex processes that have attracted
substantial attention from both researchers and managers. Individual consumers often
make choices about software products with varying relative strengths and limitations, on
the basis of key characteristics, such as price, functionality, user interface design, and
vendor support. For organizations, technology choice decisions tend to involve broader
strategic considerations, such as strategic orientation, and the contextual factors of the
technology usage. Thus vendors must understand the key factors affecting choice by
consumers and organizations, and then leverage that knowledge to improve their product
design and marketing communication.
To approach this broad research question, I examine the influence of the three
fundamental aspects of decision-making: external market information, the decision
context, and internal information process strategies. Specifically, I focus on the placebo
effects of software pricing, incorporating user perceptions and product attributes in
modeling software product choices, and firms’ practices of green information technology
(IT). My customer-centric approach to users’ assessments of IT applications and products
differs from prior studies that tend to focus on vendors’ profit maximization or product
differentiation. Instead, I address the evaluative responses of individual consumers and