Investigating Consumer Choice Criteria for Free Services

Behavioral sciences recognize the following steps in the consumer purchase decision process: recognition of a problem or a need, search for information, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase evaluation. There is a plethora of research related to the aforementioned consumer decision-making process. The unanswered question in the marketing literature is: what changes, if any, in the consumer's decision process will be observed if they can obtain the product free of charge. Results of our study indicate that when consumers are spending their money on themselves, they are very careful and want to get the most for their money. On the other hand, when they are spending somebody else’s money on themselves, they are very careful to get the best for their money without caring how much it costs.