In an experiment, people expressed greater intentions to purchase a dish soap when they were told its environmental benefits were an ‘unintended side effect’ of the product-development process, as opposed to a planned feature (5.65 versus 4.77 on a nine point scale), says a team led by George E. Newman of Yale. Consumers tend to assume that product enhancements in one dimension — such as environmental impact — come at the expense of other dimensions.

(Source: Journal of Consumer Research)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, September 22nd, 2014