IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v135y2021icp66-77.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of the subjective-experiential knowledge gap on consumers’ information search behavior and perceptions of consumption risk

Author

Listed:
  • Tajdini, Saeed

Abstract

This research examines how the Subjective-Experiential Knowledge Gap (SEKG) influences perceptions of consumption risk and the importance of external information search. Guided by information processing theories, we identify some determinants of SEKG and show that the perceived importance of external information search is significantly different across levels of SEKG. Motivated by this, we then investigate the moderating role of SEKG in relationships among consumption risk, its determinants, and the importance of external information search. Results show that individuals low and high on SEKG differ in what product characteristics they view as sources of consumption risk. Moreover, only in the high-SEKG group, increased consumption risk leads to an increased importance placed on external information search. This research expands our understanding of what determines SEKG and how this metacognitive construct affects perceptions of consumption risk and information search. Businesses and public policymakers can increase the receptiveness toward their communications by leveraging SEKG.

Suggested Citation

  • Tajdini, Saeed, 2021. "The effects of the subjective-experiential knowledge gap on consumers’ information search behavior and perceptions of consumption risk," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 66-77.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:135:y:2021:i:c:p:66-77
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.06.025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296321004355
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.06.025?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Celsi, Richard L & Olson, Jerry C, 1988. "The Role of Involvement in Attention and Comprehension Processes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 210-224, September.
    2. Kelvin Lancaster, 1990. "The Economics of Product Variety: A Survey," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 189-206.
    3. Dhar, Vasant & Chang, Elaine A., 2009. "Does Chatter Matter? The Impact of User-Generated Content on Music Sales," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 300-307.
    4. Maheswaran, Durairaj & Sternthal, Brian, 1990. "The Effects of Knowledge, Motivation, and Type of Message on Ad Processing and Product Judgments," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(1), pages 66-73, June.
    5. Lawson, Stephanie J. & Gleim, Mark R. & Perren, Rebeca & Hwang, Jiyoung, 2016. "Freedom from ownership: An exploration of access-based consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2615-2623.
    6. Ratchford, Brian T, 2001. "The Economics of Consumer Knowledge," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 397-411, March.
    7. Alba, Joseph W & Hutchinson, J Wesley, 2000. "Knowledge Calibration: What Consumers Know and What They Think They Know," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(2), pages 123-156, September.
    8. Brucks, Merrie, 1985. "The Effects of Product Class Knowledge on Information Search Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Fellner, Gerlinde & Maciejovsky, Boris, 2007. "Risk attitude and market behavior: Evidence from experimental asset markets," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 338-350, June.
    10. Gustav Tinghög & David Andersson & Caroline Bonn & Magnus Johannesson & Michael Kirchler & Lina Koppel & Daniel Västfjäll, 2016. "Intuition and Moral Decision-Making – The Effect of Time Pressure and Cognitive Load on Moral Judgment and Altruistic Behavior," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, October.
    11. Chakravarti, Amitav & Janiszewski, Chris, 2003. "The Influence of Macro-level Motives on Consideration Set Composition in Novel Purchase Situations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 244-258, September.
    12. Thomas P. Novak & Donna L. Hoffman & Yiu-Fai Yung, 2000. "Measuring the Customer Experience in Online Environments: A Structural Modeling Approach," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 22-42, May.
    13. Price, Lydia J. & Dawar, Niraj, 2002. "The joint effects of brands and warranties in signaling new product quality," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 165-190, April.
    14. Lavoie, Marc, 2004. "Post Keynesian consumer theory: Potential synergies with consumer research and economic psychology," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 639-649, October.
    15. Maity, Moutusy & Dass, Mayukh & Kumar, Piyush, 2018. "The impact of media richness on consumer information search and choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 36-45.
    16. Sea-Jin Chang & Arjen van Witteloostuijn & Lorraine Eden, 2010. "From the Editors: Common method variance in international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(2), pages 178-184, February.
    17. Richard P. Bagozzi, 1983. "A Holistic Methodology for Modeling Consumer Response to Innovation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 128-176, February.
    18. Beatty, Sharon E & Smith, Scott M, 1987. "External Search Effort: An Investigation across Several Product Categories," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(1), pages 83-95, June.
    19. Thérèse Lind & Ali Ahmed & Kenny Skagerlund & Camilla Strömbäck & Daniel Västfjäll & Gustav Tinghög, 2020. "Competence, Confidence, and Gender: The Role of Objective and Subjective Financial Knowledge in Household Finance," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 626-638, December.
    20. Peter, J Paul & Tarpey, Lawrence X, Sr, 1975. "A Comparative Analysis of Three Consumer Decision Strategies," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 2(1), pages 29-37, June.
    21. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226316529 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Katharina Petra Zeugner-Roth & Vesna Žabkar & Adamantios Diamantopoulos, 2015. "Consumer Ethnocentrism, National Identity, and Consumer Cosmopolitanism as Drivers of Consumer Behavior: A Social Identity Theory Perspective," Post-Print hal-01563043, HAL.
    23. Heath, Chip & Tversky, Amos, 1991. "Preference and Belief: Ambiguity and Competence in Choice under Uncertainty," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 5-28, January.
    24. Flynn, Leisa Reinecke & Goldsmith, Ronald E., 1999. "A Short, Reliable Measure of Subjective Knowledge," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 57-66, September.
    25. Bettman, James R & Park, C Whan, 1980. "Effects of Prior Knowledge and Experience and Phase of the Choice Process on Consumer Decision Processes: A Protocol Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 7(3), pages 234-248, December.
    26. Russell Golman & David Hagmann & George Loewenstein, 2017. "Information Avoidance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(1), pages 96-135, March.
    27. Richins, Marsha L & Bloch, Peter H, 1986. "After the New Wears Off: The Temporal Context of Product Involvement," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 13(2), pages 280-285, September.
    28. Liu, Yi & Polman, Evan & Liu, Yongfang & Jiao, Jiangli, 2018. "Choosing for others and its relation to information search," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 65-75.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ganlin Pu & Md. Qamruzzaman & Ahmed Muneeb Mehta & Farah Naz Naqvi & Salma Karim, 2021. "Innovative Finance, Technological Adaptation and SMEs Sustainability: The Mediating Role of Government Support during COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-27, August.
    2. Wu, Xuepin & Ma, Yongjun, 2023. "Research on the comparison effect of urban residents' consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    3. Yuanyuan Guo & Xiaoting Chen & Chaoyou Wang, 2023. "Consumer Information Search in Live-Streaming: Product Involvement and the Moderating Role of Scarcity Promotion and Impulsiveness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sanjay Kumar Mishra & Manoj Kumar, 2012. "A comprehensive model of information search and processing behaviour of mutual fund investors," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(1), pages 31-49, April.
    2. Naderi, Iman & Paswan, Audhesh K. & Guzman, Francisco, 2018. "Beyond the shadow of a doubt: The effect of consumer knowledge on restaurant evaluation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 221-229.
    3. Colleen E. McClure & Justin M. Lawrence & Todd J. Arnold & Lisa K. Scheer, 2023. "The opportunities and costs of highly involved organizational buyers," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 480-501, March.
    4. Gaia Rubera & Andrea Ordanini & David Mazursky, 2010. "Toward a contingency view of new product creativity: Assessing the interactive effects of consumers," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 191-206, June.
    5. Catherine Viot, 2012. "Subjective knowledge, product attributes and consideration set : the wine case," Post-Print hal-01803724, HAL.
    6. Dutta, Sujay & Banerjee, Somak & Johnson, Aaron & Biswas, Abhijit, 2022. "Overcoming the challenge of low familiarity: Can a weakly familiar brand signal quality with exceptionally strong warranty?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 737-754.
    7. Frank J. van Rijnsoever & Martin J. Dijst & Carolina Castaldi, 2009. "Involvement and use of multiple search channels in the automobile purchase process," Innovation Studies Utrecht (ISU) working paper series 09-06, Utrecht University, Department of Innovation Studies, revised Apr 2009.
    8. Cristiane Pizzutti & Renata Gonçalves & Maura Ferreira, 2022. "Information search behavior at the post-purchase stage of the customer journey," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(5), pages 981-1010, September.
    9. Cheema, Amar & Papatla, Purushottam, 2010. "Relative importance of online versus offline information for Internet purchases: Product category and Internet experience effects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 979-985, September.
    10. Meng, Bo & Choi, Kyuhwan, 2016. "The role of authenticity in forming slow tourists' intentions: Developing an extended model of goal-directed behavior," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 397-410.
    11. Ozer, Muammer, 2011. "Understanding the impacts of product knowledge and product type on the accuracy of intentions-based new product predictions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 211(2), pages 359-369, June.
    12. Bosul Yoo & Sotaro Katsumata & Takeyasu Ichikohji, 2017. "The Impact of Customer Orientation on Quantity and Quality of User-Generated Content: A Multi-Country Case Study of Mobile Applications," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 17-12, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    13. Davies, Antony & Cline, Thomas W., 2005. "A consumer behavior approach to modeling monopolistic competition," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 797-826, December.
    14. Kwon, Kyoung-Nan & Lee, Jinkook, 2009. "The effects of reference point, knowledge, and risk propensity on the evaluation of financial products," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(7), pages 719-725, July.
    15. Chakravarty, Anindita & Liu, Yong & Mazumdar, Tridib, 2010. "The Differential Effects of Online Word-of-Mouth and Critics' Reviews on Pre-release Movie Evaluation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 185-197.
    16. de Bont, Cees J. P. M. & Schoormans, Jan P. L., 1995. "The effects of product expertise on consumer evaluations of new-product concepts," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 599-615, December.
    17. Bian, Xuemei & Moutinho, Luiz, 2009. "An investigation of determinants of counterfeit purchase consideration," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 368-378, March.
    18. Zaheer Ahmed & Umara Noreen & Suresh A.L. Ramakrishnan & Dewi Fariha Binti Abdullah, 2021. "What explains the investment decision-making behaviour? The role of financial literacy and financial risk tolerance," Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19.
    19. Mazursky, David & Vinitzky, Gideon, 2005. "Modifying consumer search processes in enhanced on-line interfaces," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(10), pages 1299-1309, October.
    20. Wirawan Dony Dahana & HeeJae Shin & Sotaro Katsumata, 2018. "Influence of individual characteristics on whether and how much consumers engage in showrooming behavior," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 665-692, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:135:y:2021:i:c:p:66-77. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.