A Preliminary Investigation into Pre‐ and Post‐Purchase Risk Perception and Reduction

Since 1960, perceived risk has been of interest to marketing academics. Their interest in the consumer decision‐making process considerably predates this, but interest in how risk varies during the process has ot been so prevalent and many studies have assumed that perceived risk remains constant throughout the buying process. Tests this assumption in a study of 180 breakfast cereal shoppers, half of whom were interviewed prior to purchase and half immediately after. The results showed that risk perceptions and risk‐reducing strategy usefulness did vary between the two states. The differences were not large, but were sufficient to allow rejection of the proposed null hypothesis and to cast doubt on the assumptions made in many studies.