Relationship of prior product knowledge to pre-purchase information search ;a motivation theory approach

Abstract

Understanding the consumer information search process plays a pivotal role in key strategic managerial decision areas such as communications planning and new product introduction. This study examined the process by which prior product knowledge influences consumer information search during purchase decision-making. The existing literature offers conflicting views on how prior product knowledge influences information search behavior, showing support for positive, negative, null and non-linear relationships between them. A majority of these studies draw their support from the cost-benefit framework, which states that a customer engages in the search process till the time her benefits of search exceed her search costs.

This thesis argues that information is not merely an end consumable; rather it acts as an input to the purchase process itself. Many-a-time during the purchase process, decisions regarding the right kind of information and their worth are themselves made under uncertainty. We develop and test a framework based on motivational theory to understand the process through which prior product knowledge influences information search. We model motivation to search as a separate construct in our framework apart from an information search construct that measures the actual search undertaken by consumer. We propose that relationship between prior product knowledge to information search is mediated by motivation to search. Deriving support from expectancy theory of motivation, we further propose that prior knowledge influences motivation to search through its influence on the consumer’s perceived ability to search and her perceived value of additional information. Our conceptualization makes the model more parsimonious than other models in the literature because it provides a simpler account of factors that influence the search process.

Empirical results presented in the thesis support the proposed model and demonstrate that the relationship between prior product knowledge and amount of information search is indeed mediated by the motivation to search. The results further illustrate that the perceived ability to search and perceived value of additional information mediate the relationship between prior product knowledge and motivation to search.

Our study has direct relevance to managers and provides insights on how to extend or limit the consumer information search process. The fact that the perceived ability to search is positively related to the motivation to search implies that a new market entrant with the desire to enhance the customer search process (to increase the probability of inclusion of their brand in the consideration set), should invest in supplementing the consumer’s perceived ability to search. In addition, the results also show that the focus of communication targeted at a consumer with low prior product knowledge should be significantly different from the one that is targeted at knowledgeable customers. A key theoretical contribution of this thesis has been the development and testing of a new framework for understanding the consumer information search process. The results indicate that perceived ability to search is a strong predictor of motivation to search. The importance of studying the role of abilities in addition to the existing cost-benefit based frameworks is also illustrated. The study furthers the existing knowledge pool in the area of information search and perceived value of additional information. Finally, this study focuses on understanding the information search process in the context of Indian markets, which are inherently different from the matured markets of the west, where the majority of other studies are based.