Analyzing Consumers' Extensive Problem Solving Processes Using Competence Sets

This study is intended to provide a different approach to facilitate consumer decision analysis in the extensive problem solving stage. Since habitual domains and competence sets can provide a general behavioral base for decision making, we base our methods on these concepts to develop an operational, practical, and theoretical approach to analyze the level of extensive problem solving. An example on the promotion of digital cameras was conducted to illustrate the applicability of our proposed method in practice. Furthermore, several useful indices were established using fuzzy measures and fuzzy integrals to demonstrate the possibility of successfully appealing to consumers and the degrees of consumer satisfaction, product compatibility, and product uniqueness. These indices can support decisions for implementing competence set analysis in practical applications.