Effect of consumer self-confidence and previous experience on information source preference

Abstract

Despite the importance of personal factors in information search behaviour, very few researches have been conducted that explore the influence of personal characteristics such as consumer self-confidence on information source preference in the Indian context. To fill the gap, this study aims to investigate the information source preference of Indian consumers. After analysing quantitative data from a cross-sectional survey of 527 Indian consumers, we have revealed several interesting findings. Consumer's utilisation of internal search is significantly different as per the level of previous experience in case of goods but not in the case of services. In addition, consumers, high in self-confidence, are more likely to search for information from different sources as compared to consumers who have a low level of self-confidence. The study contributes to the existing literature of consumer behaviour in the Indian context.