Determinants of online information search: a critical review and assessment

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractDevelopments in electronic technology are changing the way business is normally done. This paper investigates how Internet technology reshapes consumer behavior, specifically in online information search. While information search has been a major research stream in the consumer behavior literature, online search for product/service information is a relatively new area. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for studying the determinants of online information search. Since information search online is a precursor to online purchase, an in-depth understanding of how consumers gather information online is critical to Internet business success.

An empirical study of how third-party websites influence the feedback mechanism between online Word-of-Mouth and retail sales

“…In addition, neither of those two studies examined free sampling, which is prevalent and has become one of the most important features on third-party websites in recent years. Beyond soliciting WOM, many vendors offer free product sampling of experience goods on thirdparty websites, such as free software downloads on CNETD and free movie previews on IMDB.com, because people can hardly assess the product quality of experience goods before consumption [29]. Our study contributes to this line of research by testing not only the interplay of internal WOM and external WOM, but also the interplay of internal WOM and third-party free sampling.…”

How much is enough? An investigation of nonprofessional investors information search and stopping rule use

“…The economics of information search theory suggests that individuals will not acquire all available information but instead will search for information until the perceived marginal costs of the search outweigh the benefits (Klein and Ford, 2003;Sen et al, 2006;Ho et al, 2011). Benefits from the search include gathering relevant information that the individual believes useful, while the costs of obtaining the information include the time and effort required to search and the overload that occurs with online searches (Kulviwat et al, 2004). Information search theory is consistent with information overload theory concerning the acquisition of information.…”

The Effect of Information Channel on Information Source Selection: Students' Information Search

“…Similarly, people consult different sources depending on types of information that 2007). Compared to one-way offline media (e.g., print materials, TV, and radio), the online channel provides more interactivity (i.e., two-way communication and personalization), flexibility, and promptness (Grant et al, 2007;Kulviwat, Guo, & Engchanil, 2004). Especially, the interactivity of the online channel allows information seekers, who were traditionally considered receivers, to be part of information creators.…”