The impact of trivial attributes on inaction inertia

In this research, I investigate the role of trivial attributes in mitigating inaction inertia arising from having missed a much lower price than the discounted price at which a product is currently available. I show that a trivial attribute reduces regret by providing a silver lining against a psychological deficit caused by an unfavorable, intertemporal, price discrepancy, and restores purchase likelihood. I also show that a trivial attribute has an asymmetric effect on inaction inertia and while its addition mitigates the tendency, its subtraction does not exacerbate it. Further, increasing the number of trivial attributes added to a product does not have an additive effect on mitigating inaction inertia. Finally, I show that if alternative mechanisms can curb inaction inertia, then a trivial attribute does have an additional effect on purchase likelihood. The results suggest that synchronizing depth of price discounts with trivial changes in product attributes can help marketers better manage sales across price promotion cycles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).