Mitra Saleh et al, International Journal of Research in IT, Management and Engineering, ISSN 2249-1619, Impact Factor: 6.123, Volume 07 Issue 1, January 2017, Page 33-44 http://indusedu.org Page 33 A Review of Consumer Decision-Making Styles: Existing Styles and Proposed Additional Styles Mitra Saleh 1 , Seyed Erfan Alhosseini 2 , and Alireza Slambolchi 3 1 (Department of Management and Accounting, College of Humanities, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran) 2,3 (Faculty Member of Management and Accounting, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran) Abstract: Many researchers have concentrated on investigating factors that influence consumer purchasing behavior. As one of the factors, decision-making styles have received a significant amount of attention from consumer behavior researchers over the years. Understanding consumer decision-making styles is becoming more significant due to its inextricable relationship with shopping behavior. Previous studies considered decision-making styles as a personality trait which has a lasting effect on consumer decision making. Recently, some studies suggested that decision-making styles are influenced by product type and supported that decision- making styles are not consistent when used across contexts and decision situations. This paper argues that, although extensive effort has been made in investigating consumer decision making styles, relatively less attention has been invested in conceptualizations of decision-making styles and has failed to identify whether consumer decision-making styles are truly personality trait based or context dependent. Keywords: Consumer Decision Behavior, Consumer Knowledge, Decision-Making Styles I. INTRODUCTION As one of the factors influencing consumers purchase behavior, decision-making styles are crucial for understanding consumer shopping behavior and for developing successful marketing strategies. Decision- making styles have been mainly viewed as a relatively enduring consumer personality that seldom changes even when applied to different goods and situations. Recently, a study showed that consumer decision-making styles are influenced by product type, suggesting that decision-making styles are individual response patterns in a specific decision context rather than personality trait based. Despite extensive research regarding consumer decision making styles, relatively little attention has been paid to identify whether consumer decision-making styles are truly personality trait based or context-dependent. Identifying individual consumer decision-making styles has received a significant amount of attention from consumer behavior researchers and practitioners over the years due to the inextricable links to consumers’ purchase behavior (Mitchell & Bates, 1998). In particular, examining decision-making styles is important so that marketers and retailers are in a better position to understand the preferences and needs of different groups of consumers (Tai, 2005). Several studies have investigated consumer decision-making styles and revealed their importance to consumer behavior research (Hafstrom, Chae, & Chang, 1992; Durvasula et al., 1993; Lysonski, Durvasula, & Zotos, 1996; Mitchell & Bates, 1998; Fan & Xiao, 1998; Kamaruddin & Mokhlis, 2003; Bakewell & Mitchell, 2003; Mitchell & Walsh, 2004; Bauer et al., 2006). Problem Statement and Objectives In the consumer behavior literature, most studies assume that all consumers approach shopping with certain decision-making traits that combine to form a consumer’s decision-making styles(Walsh, Wayne- Mitchell, & Hennig-Thurau, 2001b). Sproles and Kendall (1986) suggested that decision-making styles are to be viewed as a relatively enduring consumer personality, analogous to the more general concept of personality in psychology. Sproles and Kendall (1986) suggested that decision-making styles are to be viewed as a relatively enduring consumer personality, analogous to the more general concept of personality in psychology. Namely, consumers adhere to a basic buying decision-making style even when applied to different goods and situations (Walsh, Hennig-Thurau, Wayne-Mitchell & Wiedmann, 2001a). However, Scott & Bruce(1995) argued that decision-making styles are more individual response patterns in a specific decision context rather than personality trait based. Recently, study showed that consumer decision-making styles are influenced by product type (Bauer, Sauer, &Becker, 2006) and supported the argument that decision-making styles are not stable personality traits. Although some researchers are aware that consumer may have different styles across product categories (Sproles & Kendall, 1986; Bauer et al., 2006), few studies provide clear evidence whether or not decision-making styles are influenced by contextual factors. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to investigate whether consumer decision-making styles are context dependent.