Author
Guney, Begum
Publication Date
2018-05
Publication Place
-
Okan University
Subject
Status quo, Selection, Reference effect, Continuous reference effect JEL classifications: D00, C83, C91, Status quo, Reference effect, Continuous reference effect JEL classifications: D00, C83, C91
Type
Periodical
Language
Turkish
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Özyeğin University
Library Asset ID
1307-7112
Record ID
0ff8bce4-7fb9-4b6d-b3c1-022a2abd1527
Library Location
Economics
Date
2018-05
Sample Text
Status quo represents a person's current position. The job you work in and the city you live in are examples of the status quo. A status quo, even if not one's own choice, can influence a person's choice among other alternatives by changing the relative ranking of those alternatives, and this is called the "reference effect." In this study, a survey was conducted among Özyeğin University undergraduate students to understand the reference effect of status quos. The survey was prepared using the Qualtrics program and shared with students by sending a disposable link to the participants' e-mail addresses. The survey asked participants to choose between different phones defined by storage capacity and battery life. It has been shown that when the status quo is dominated by each of the other alternatives—that is, when it is worse than the other alternatives in terms of both battery life and storage capacity—and is not itself chosen, it can alter one's choice between those alternatives. It has been observed that the choices made by a statistically significant number of people from the same cluster in the presence and absence of the status quo are different. This behavior can only be explained by the theoretical status quo models in the literature that allow for the continuous reference effect (Guney and Richter, 2017)., Status quos represent one's current standing, such as current job or current city. A status quo can change the relative ranking among other options and hence influence choices even if itself isn't chosen. This is called the “reference effect”. In the present study, we conducted a survey among undergraduate students at Ozyegin University in order to understand status quos' reference effects. The survey was prepared using the program Qualtrics and distributed to subjects via one-time link that was sent to their e-mail addresses. Subjects were asked to make choices among phones that were defined by the storage capacity and battery life. A status quo that was dominated by all other options in the choice set was observed to influence choices among these options even though the status quo itself wasn't chosen. A statistically significant amount of choices from the same set were observed to differ depending on whether or not there was a dominant status quo in the choice problem. This effect can only be explained by status quo-based theories that allows for status quo's continuous reference effects (Guney and Richter, 2017).
Cilt
55
