Consumer Information Search Behaviour: Evidence from a Netnographic Research, Questionnaire and a Choice Set Situation Experiment

Information search is of key importance for marketing science from both a practical and a scientific point of view. And although it has been the subject of studies since the 1920s, it has not lost it significance; on the contrary, it is a hotter issue than ever due to the free movement of goods, the ever faster turnover and larger merchandise, the large amount of information provided by the Internet and media and the changing trends of consumer behaviour. Our endeavour has been to look at consumers? information seeking behaviour, i.e. how and why consumers seek information from external sources before their purchase decisions. We use three different research methodologies: netnography, questionnaire and choice set situation experiment. Added to that, we also examine what factors affect the amount of information search. The choice of these factors is based on the recommendations of the relevant literature and the conclusions of our preliminary studies.