Consumer Information Search behavior for Experiential and Material Purchases

Abstract

The experiential/material distinction, which is based on the variance of people’s intentions when making a purchase, suggests that when people have the main intention of getting a life experience they make experiential purchases; on the other hand when their main purpose is to get a physical possession they make material purchases (Van Boven & Gilovic, 2003; Van Boven, 2005). The objective of this study is to determine whether sources of information consulted and the extent of information search made differ between experiential and material purchases. For this purpose two experiments were conducted. In the first experiment participants were presented with three hypothetical scenarios of either a material purchase, experiential purchase or a mixed purchase. Andreasen’s (1968) classification of information sources, representing five different categories of information sources as personal independent, personal advocate, impersonal independent, impersonal advocate and direct observation, was employed to evaluate participants’ choice of information source. In the second experiment participants were asked to recall either an experiential or a material purchase that they made and asked about their reliance on different source types and the extent of total search made for this purchase.