Information Search in an Era of Connected Consumers

Abstract

Today, interactive consumers create, communicate, and deliver substantial amounts of information that influence other consumers (consumer-to-consumer or C2C interactions) (Bagozzi and Dholakia 2002; Barwise and Farley 2005; Brown et.al. 2007; Chiou and Cheng 2003; Henning-Thurau et al. 2004; Shankar and Hollinger 2007; Smith et al. 2005). So understanding how consumers search for product information and why they choose certain types of media to conduct their search, is critical in today’s online world. This phenomenon has drawn the attention of marketers attempting to understand the various facets of C2C interactions (Libai et al. 2010). However, there are still several unanswered questions in this prominent stream of research, which deserve further attention. The purpose of this study is to address one such fundamental research question through a 3 (mediums) × 2 (a good and a service) between subjects web survey experiment – what factors related to the source, medium, and message influence the intention to use a particular medium (Text Blog Vs. Photo Blog Vs. Video Blog) to seek product information. The authors expect that along with usefulness and ease of use of the medium, source, medium, as well as message credibility will have varying impacts on the attitude toward using a medium for product information search. The authors attempt to develop and test such a model which will not only contribute substantially to the marketing literature but also open avenues for future research. This research is one of the few initial research endeavors in the field of C2C interactions that is rooted in theory. This model is also of practical import because knowing more about how different factors influencing the intention to use one or more particular mediums for product information search provides a guideline to managers (especially in marketing communications) on where and how to encourage C2C interactions. Given the drastic growth of C2C communications, and avenues that promote the proliferation of information amongst consumers, this research adds significant value to marketing knowledge.