The impact of age and cognitive style on E-commerce decisions: The role of cognitive bias susceptibility

Abstract

The aging associated declines in cognitive abilities could render older adults more susceptible to cognitive biases that are detrimental to their e-commerce decisions’ quality. Additionally, certain cognitive styles can lead online consumers to rely on decision heuristics which makes them less meticulous and more prone to bias. In this research-in-progress paper we introduce cognitive bias susceptibility as a potential mediator between age and cognitive style on one end, and decisional outcomes on the other. An experimental design to validate our proposed model is outlined. Both psychometric and eye-tracking methodologies are utilized to achieve a more holistic understanding of the relationships in the proposed model. Potential contributions and implications for future research are outlined.