Product knowledge and product involvement as moderators of the effects of information on purchase decisions
Abstract
This study investigated the effect of presenting information on consumers' purchase decisions. Product knowledge and product involvement were also proposed to interact with the complexity of information provided on brand selections. A criterion of good selections based on the highest quality and the lowest price at multi-levels, that is Maynes' (1973) Perfect Information Frontier (PIF) was used to define optimum purchase choices. Hypotheses or the overall effect of information, effects of product knowledge and involvement on consumers' purchase decisions, and the joint effects of knowledge and involvement with information were proposed. A mail survey was used to collect data from 2400 consumers who were randomly selected from mailing lists. This study employed a 2 (simple/complex information) x 2 (novice/expert in product knowledge) x 2 (high/low involvement) factorial design. Three products, ground coffee, jeans, and loudspeakers, are selected for replication. Subjects of each product were randomly assigned into simple or complex information group which was a manipulation variable. Respondents' product knowledge and involvement levels were measured. The overall response rate was 23% and the final sample size was 282. The result of paired t-test showed that information had overall effects on consumers' purchase decisions. The 2 x 2 ANOVA results indicated that consumers who were knowledgeable and relatively uninvolved with the product make choices closer to the PIF. A 2 x 2 x 2 analysis of covariance was used for the tests combining three factors together, where the initial distance from the PIF of the selected brand was the covariate. Compared with simple information, complex information had more effects on experts, which was consistent with Brucks' (1984) findings. In contrast, providing involved experts with simple information had the weakest effects. These major findings illustrated that the effects of product information, product knowledge, and product involvement did not independently influence consumers' purchase decisions as discussed in previous studies. These three factors interacted with each other and influenced consumers' purchase decisions simultaneously. The results suggested a direction of providing product information to the right target to marketers and consumer educators. The utilization of the PIF also provided a new application for the future studies.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Heslin, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Marketing|Behaviorial sciences
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