Abstract
The ICT’s brought new opportunities for gathering pre-purchase product information. With the help of social media, Consumer Information Search (CIS) has been more refined and specified. The purpose of this study is to identify the need categories of pre-purchase Consumer Information Search based on Uses and Gratifications theory. The model was examined through fully structured questionnaire by using bivariate and factor analysis on a sample of 246 respondents. This study was conducted in Chinese context; therefore results and implication are limited because western social media is quite different than eastern social media. The contribution of this study presented four social media need categories that influence consumer information search (cognitive, social integrative, affective and personal integrative). The finding showed that entertainment and pleasure with social interactions are vital need categories for pre-purchase information search. For enhancing CIS behavior, marketing managers have to provide more information about product & its usage and should use consumer engagement tools for increasing social interaction such as building online brand communities. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1p11
Highlights
Tremendous increase in information technology and communication media has altered the ways of consumer behavior
After extracting need categories through principal component analysis, we examined the proposed hypothesis and results showed that all hypotheses are accepted other than tension-release needs because factor analysis excluded the variables that measure tension-release needs for Consumer Information Search (CIS) search on social media
Prior studies supported the research propositions for instance, the work of Wolfinbarger & Gilly (2001) concluded that quantity of product/service information on internet have a positive influence on consumer information search
Summary
Tremendous increase in information technology and communication media has altered the ways of consumer behavior. In order to purchase a product, consumer has to make a decision which relies on the information gathered through prior interaction with that product by means of different communication channels (Jepsen, 2007, Srinivasan, & Ratchford, 1991). With the popularity and utility of social media, internet becomes more preferable for pre-purchase information search about the product/service that consumer intends to buy. Schmidt & Spreng (1996) defined information search as a phase of decision-making in which consumers gather and organize information from various sources prior to making a purchase or re-purchasing the product. Prior studies showed that consumer use internet for searching information regarding product and its usage (Fallows, 2005). This study has investigated the perceived benefits by using social media could provide large amount of information, pleasure, leisure time and saving cost for hiring sales-personal (e.g. Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2001, Bellman et al, 2006)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
