As consumers are provided with ever-increasing amounts of
information from more products sold through more channels and
promoted in more ways, the idea of confusion is becoming increasingly
important and has been reported as a problem in many
markets, e.g., telecommunications (e.g., Turnbull, Leek, and Ying
2000), life, health and travel insurance (Roberts 1995), and veal
products (West et al. 2002). Here, we make further observations
regarding the extant literature in this area. First, the lack of a
generally-accepted definition has contributed to very different
conceptualizations of consumer confusion. Second, the existence
and potential significance of an affective dimension of confusion
has been neglected in previous confusion studies and definitions.
Third, almost all conceptual and empirical work examining consumer
confusion has disregarded how consumers cope with confusion
and the idea that they employ confusion reduction strategies.
The paper begins by reviewing the extant definitions of consumer
confusion and relevant literature before proposing and defining
three types of confusion. We then move on to provide a conceptual
model of consumer confusion which examines antecedents, potential
moderators and mediators, coping strategies and consequences
of consumer confusion.
DEFINING CONSUM