Management Improvement Dictionary: Revealed Preference

Revealed Preference - the preference consumers display by their action, in contrast to what they may say they prefer. While surveys may be useful people often say they will do one thing and actually when given the choice to do so, don't.

Normaly what matters is not what people say they want but what they actually will choose. For that reason revealed preference is a better measure than stated preference. Stated preference is often used as a proxy for actual preference (which may be fine) but it is important to understand that it is just a proxy for actual preference.

• Confirmation Bias
• Outcome Measures
• Voice of the Customer

• Consumers stated and revealed preferences for community health workers and other strategies for the provision of timely and appropriate treatment of malaria in southeast Nigeria
• Why Revealed Preferences Beat Stated Preferences