A Taxonomy of Leisure Purchase Decision Paradigms Based on Level of Involvement

Abstract

Level of involvement has emerged as a key variable in understanding leisure behavior. Five decision-making paradigms incorporating the influence of involvement are identified and discussed. They are: hierarchy-of-effects, dissonance-attribution hierarchy, alternative attribution hierarchy, low involvement hierarchy, and single or integrated hierarchy. Differences in involvement level and ability to differentiate between attributes of service alternatives lead to differences in sequencing of the cognitive, affective and conative components of the decision process. These different sequences differentiate the five alternative paradigms. It is suggested that recent work postulating involvement as a multidimensional rather than a unidimensional construct, is unlikely to affect the form of the five decision-making paradigms. Nine research propositions are offered to guide future involvement research efforts, and implications for service providers of identifying users' decision-making paradigms are discussed.

Keywords:

• decision-making
• paradigms
• leisure services
• involvement