An enduring interest in consumer behavior is the investigation of external prepurchase information search. Past research has identified a large number of factors that have been found to influence the extent of information search. The purposes of this article are to summarize the external information search literature and then develop a more parsimonious model of information search. Specifically, we propose that the effects of these antecedents of information search are mediated by four variables: ability, motivation, costs, and benefits. This model integrates the psychological search literature by incorporating ability and motivation to search for information and the economic paradigm that centers on the perceived costs and benefits of information search. Propositions are developed based on this comprehensive model for future testing.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alba, Joseph W.
and J. Wesley Hutchinson. 1987. "Dimensions of Consumer Expertise."Journal of Consumer Research13 (March): 411-454.
2.
Babin, Barry J.
, William R. Darden, and Mitch Griffin. 1994. "Work and/or Fun: Measuring Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Value."Journal of Consumer Research20 (March): 644-656.
3.
Beatty, Sharon E.
and Scott M. Smith. 1987. "External Search Effort: An Investigation Across Several Product Categories."Journal of Consumer Research14 (June): 83-95.
4.
Bennett, Peter D.
and Gilbert D. Harrell. 1975. "The Role of Confidence in Understanding and Predicting Buyers' Attitudes and Purchase Intentions."Journal of Consumer Research2 (September): 110-117.
5.
Bettman, James R.1979. An Information Processing Theory of Consumer Choice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
6.
Bettman, James R.Eric J. Johnson
, and John W. Payne. 1991. "Consumer Decision Making." In Handbook of Consumer Research. Eds. T. S. Robertson and H. H. Kassarjian. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 50-84.
7.
Bettman, James R.
and C. Whan Park. 1980. "Effects of Prior Knowledge and Experience and Phase of the Choice Process on Consumer Decision Processes: A Protocol Analysis."Journal of Consumer Research7 (December): 234-248.
8.
Bloch, Peter H.
, Daniel L. Sherrell, and Nancy M. Ridgway. 1986. "Consumer Search: An Extended Framework."Journal of Consumer Research13 (June): 119-126.
9.
Brucks, Merrie
. 1985. "The Effect of Product Class Knowledge on Information Search Behavior."Journal of Consumer Research12 (June): 1-15.
10.
Cacioppo, John T.
and Richard E. Petty. 1982. "The Need for Cognition."Journal of Personality and Social Psychology42 (January): 116-131.
11.
Capon, Noel
and Marion Burke. 1977. "Information Seeking in Consumer Durable Purchases." In Contemporary Marketing Thought. Ed. B. A. Greenberg and D. N. Bellenger. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 110-115.
12.
Capon, Noel
and Marion Burke. 1980. "Individual, Product Class, and Task-Related Factors in Consumer Information Processing."Journal of Consumer Research7 (December): 314-326.
13.
Celsi, Richard L.
and Jerry C. Olson. 1988. "The Role of Involvement in Attention and Comprehension Processes."Journal of Consumer Research15 (September): 210-224.
14.
Chase, William G.
and Herbert A. Simon. 1973. "Perception in Chess."Cognitive Psychology4 (January): 55-81.
15.
Claxton, John D.
, Joseph N. Fry, and Bernard Portis. 1974. "A Taxonomy of Prepurchase Information Gathering Patterns."Journal of Consumer Research1 (December): 35-43.
16.
Cole, Catherine A.
and Siva K. Balasubramanian. 1993. "Age Differences in Consumers' Search for Information: Public Policy Implications."Journal of Consumer Research20 (June): 157-169.
17.
Copeland, Melvin T.1917. "Relation of Consumer's Buying Habits of Marketing Methods."Harvard Business Review1 (April): 282-289.
18.
Cox, Donald F.1967. Risk Taking and Information Handling in Consumer Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
19.
Cude, Brenda J.1987. "Estimating the Returns to Informed Decision-making."Journal of Consumer Affairs21 (Summer): 86-95.
20.
Cunningham, Scott M.1967. "The Major Dimensions of Perceived Risk." in Risk Taking and Information Handling in Consumer Behavior. Ed. I. J. Cox. Boston: Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Administration, 82-108.
21.
Dommermuth, William P.1965. "The Shopping Matrix and Marketing Strategy."Journal of Marketing Research2 (May): 128-132.
22.
Doney, Patricia M.
and Gary M. Armstrong. 1996. "Effects of Accountability on Symbolic Information Search and Information Analysis by Organizational Buyers."Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science24 (Winter): 57-65.
23.
Duncan, Calvin P.
and Richard W. Olshavsky. 1982. "External Search: The Role of Consumer Beliefs."Journal of Marketing Research19 (February): 32-43.
24.
Engel, James F.
, Roger D. Blackwell, and Paul W. Miniard. 1993. Understanding the Consumer, Seventh Ed.Fort Worth, TX: Dryden.
25.
Farley, John V.1964. "Brand Loyalty and the Economics of Information."Journal of Business37 (October): 370-381.
26.
Furse, David H.
, Girish Punj, and David W. Stewart. 1984. "A Typology of Individual Search Strategies Among Purchasers of New Automobiles."Journal of Consumer Research10 (March): 417-431.
27.
Gatignon, Hubert
and Thomas S. Robertson. 1991. "Innovative Decision Processes." In Handbook of Consumer Behavior. Eds. T. S. Robertson and H. H. Kassarjian. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 316-348.
28.
Gutman, Jonathon
. 1982. "A Means-End Chain Model Based on Consumer Categorization Processes."Journal of Marketing46 (Spring): 60-72.
29.
Hawkins, Del I.
, Roger J. Best, and Kenneth A. Coney. 1986. Consumer Behavior Strategy: Implications for Marketing Strategy. Plano, TX: Business Publications.
30.
Hempel, D. J.1969. "Search Behavior and Information Utilization in the Home Buying Process." In Marketing Involvement in Society and the Economy. Ed. P. R. McDonald. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 241-249.
31.
Howard, John A.
and Jagdish N. Sheth. 1969. The Theory of Buyer Behavior. New York: John Wiley.
32.
Inman, J. Jeffrey
, Leigh McAlister, and Wayne D. Hoyer. 1990. "Promotion Signal: Proxy for a Price Cut?"Journal of Consumer Research17 (June): 74-81.
33.
Johnson, Blair T.
and Alice H. Eagley. 1990. "Involvement and Persuasion: Types, Traditions, and the Evidence."Psychological Bulletin107 (3): 375-384.
34.
Johnson, Eric
and J. Edward Russo. 1984. "Product Familiarity and Learning New Information."Journal of ConsumerResearch11 (June): 542-550.
35.
Katona, George
and Eva Mueller. 1955. "A Study of Purchase Decisions." In Consumer Behavior. Ed. L. H. Clark. New York: New York University Press.
36.
Kiel, Geoffrey C.
and Roger A. Layton. 1981. "Dimensions of Consumer Information Seeking Behavior."Journal of Marketing Research18 (May): 233-239.
37.
Kunda, Ziva
. 1990. "The Case for Motivated Reasoning."Psychological Bulletin108 (March): 480-498.
38.
Krugman, Herbert
. 1965. “The Impact of Television Advertising: Learning Without Involvement."Public Opinion Quarterly29 (Fall): 349-356.
39.
MacInnis, Deborah J.
, Christine Moorman, and Bernard J. Jaworski. 1991. "Enhancing and Measuring Consumers' Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to Process Brand Information From Ads."Journal of Marketing55 (October): 32-51.
40.
Maute, Manfred F.
and William R. Forrester, Jr. 1991. "The Effect of Attribute Qualities on Consumer Decision Making: A Causal Model of External Information Search."Journal of Economic Psychology12 (December): 643-666.
41.
Miyake, Naomi
and Donald A. Norman. 1979. "To Ask a Question, One Must Know Enough to Know What Is Not Known."Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior18 (June): 357-364.
42.
Moore, William L.
and Donald R. Lehmann. 1980. "Individual Differences in Search Behavior for a Nondurable."Journal of Consumer Research7 (December): 296-307.
43.
Newman, Joseph W.
and Richard Staelin. 1971. "Multivariate Analysis of Differences in Buyer Decision Time."Journal of Marketing Research8 (May): 192-198.
44.
Newman, Joseph W.
and Richard Staelin. 1972. "Prepurchase Information Seeking for New Cars and Major Household Appliances."Journal of Marketing Research9 (August): 249-257.
45.
Newman, Joseph W.
and Richard Staelin. 1973. "Information Sources of Durable Goods."Journal of Advertising Research13 (April): 13-29.
46.
Olshavsky, Richard W.1979. "Task Complexity and Contingent Processing in Decision Making: AReplication and Extension."Organizational Behavior and Human Performance24 (December): 300-316.
47.
Olshavsky, Richard W.1985. "Towards a More Comprehensive Theory of Choice." In Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 12. Eds. E. Hirschman and M. T. Holbrook. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 465-470.
48.
Olshavsky, Richard W.
and Walter Wymer. 1995. "The Desire for New Information From External Sources."Proceedings of the Society for Consumer Psychology. Eds. S. Mackenzie and R. Stayman. Bloomington, IN: Printmaster, 17-27.
49.
Park, C. Whan
and V. Parker Lessig. 1981. "Familiarity and Its Impact on Consumer Decision Biases and Heuristics."Journal of Consumer Research3 (September): 223-230.
50.
Park, C. Whan
, V. Parker Lessig and Banwari Mittal. 1985. "A Theory of Involvement in Consumer Behavior: Problems and Issues." In Research in Consumer Behavior, Vol. 1. Ed. Jagdish N. Sheth. Greenwich, CT: JAI, 210-231.
51.
Park, C. Whan
, Meryl P. Gardner, and Vinod K. Thukral. 1988. "Self-Perceived Knowledge: Some Effects on Information Processing for a Choice Task."American Journal of Psychology, 101 (Fall): 401-424.
52.
Park, C. Whan
, David L. Mothersbaugh, and Lawrence Feick. 1994. "Consumer Knowledge Assessment."Journal of Consumer Research21 (June): 71-82.
53.
Payne, John W.1976. "Task Complexity and Contingent Processing in Decision Making: An Information Search and Protocol Analysis."Organizational Behavior and Human Performance16 (August): 366-387.
54.
Payne, John W.
, James R. Bettman, and Eric J. Johnson. 1988. "Adaptive Strategy Selection in Decision Making."Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition14 (July): 534-552.
55.
Petty, Richard E.
and John T. Cacioppo. 1986. "The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 19. Ed. Leornard Berkowitz. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, 123-205.
56.
Phillips, Leslie W.
and Brian Sternthal. 1977. "Age Differences in Information Processing: A Perspective on the Aged Consumer."Journal of Marketing Research14 (July): 243-249.
57.
Punj, Girish
and Richard Staelin. 1983. "A Model of Consumer Information Search Behavior for New Automobiles."Journal of Consumer Research9 (March): 366-380.
58.
Reynolds, Fred D.
and Joseph O. Rentz. 1981. "Cohort Analysis: An Aid to Strategic Planning."Journal of Marketing45 (Summer): 62-70.
59.
Richins, Marsha L.
and Peter H. Bloch. 1986. "After the New Wears Off: The Temporal Context of Product Involvement."Journal of Marketing Research13 (September): 280-286.
60.
Rosen, Dennis L.
and Richard W. Olshavsky. 1987. "A Protocol Analysis of Brand Choice Strategies Involving Recommendations."Journal of Consumer Research14 (December): 440-444.
61.
Russo, J. E.1977. "The Value of Unit Price Information."Journal of Marketing Research14 (May): 193-201.
62.
Schacter, Daniel L.1983. "Feeling of Knowing in Episodic Memory."Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition9 (January): 39-54.
63.
Schaninger, Charles M.
and Donald Sciglimpaglia. 1981. "The Influence of Cognitive Personality Traits and Demographics on Consumer Information Acquisition."Journal of Consumer Research8 (September): 208-216.
64.
Simon, Herbert H.1967. "Motivational and Emotional Controls of Cognition."Psychological Review74 (1): 29-39.
65.
Simonson, Itamar
. 1989. "Choice Based on Reasons: The Case of Attraction and Compromise."Journal of Consumer Research16 (September); 158-174.
66.
Spreng, Richard A.
and Richard W. Olshavsky. 1989. "Exploring the Headwaters of the Prior Knowledge-Search Relationship." In Proceedings of the American Marketing Association Summer Educators'Conference. Eds. Paul Bloom, Bart Weitz, Russ Winer, Robert Spekman, Harold H. Kassarjian, Vijay Mahajan, Debra L. Scammon, and Michael Levy. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 220-224.
67.
Spreng, Richard A.
and Richard W. Olshavsky. 1990. "The Impact of Standard of Comparison and Knowledge Domain on the Measurement of Subjective Knowledge." In Proceedings of the American Marketing Association Summer Educators' Conference. Eds. A. Parasuraman and W. Bearden. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 44-48.
68.
Srinivasan, Narasimhan
. 1986. "A Path Analytic Model of External Search for Information for New Automobiles." In Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 14. Eds. M. Wallendorf and P. Anderson. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 319-322.
69.
Srinivasan, Narasimhan. 1987. "A Causal Model of External Search for Information for Durables: A Particular Investigation in the Case of New Automobiles." Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo.
70.
Srinivasan, Narasimhan
. 1990. "Pre-Purchase External Search for Information." In Review of Marketing. Ed. Valarie E. Zeithaml. Chicago: American Marketing Association, 153-189.
71.
Srinivasan, Narasimhan
and Brian T. Ratchford. 1991. "An Empirical Test of a Model of External Search for Automobiles."Journal of Consumer Research18 (September): 233-242.
72.
Stigler, George J.1961. "The Economics of Information."Journal of Political Economy69 (June): 213-225.
73.
Swan, John E.1969. "Experimental Analysis of Predecision Information Seeking."Journal of Marketing Research6 (May): 192-197.
74.
Udell, John C.1966. "Prepurchase Behavior of Buyers of Small Electrical Appliances."Journal of Marketing30 (January): 50-52.
75.
Urban, Glenn L.
, John S. Hulland, and Bruce D. Weinberg. 1993. "Premarket Forecasting for New Consumer Durable Goods: Modeling Categorizaiton, Elimination, and Consideration Phenomena."Journal of Marketing57 (April): 47-63.
76.
Urbany, Joel E.
, Peter R. Dickson, and William L. Wilkie. 1989. "Buyer Uncertainty and Information Search."Journal of Consumer Research16 (September): 208-215.
77.
Wilkie, William L.
and Peter R. Dickson. 1985. ShoppingforAppliances: Consumers' Strategies and Patterns of Information Search. Cam- bridge, MA: Marketing Science Institute.
