Abstract

This study examined the effects of response mode, prior knowledge, and need for cognition on consumers' information acquisition processes. The information acquisition processes included amount of search, variability of search, and search pattern. A 2(response mode: judgment/choice) X 3(prior knowledge: high/middle/low) X 2(need for cognition: high/low) completely randomized factorial design was used. The main findings were as follows: On the amount of search, there was a significant effect for response mode. Subjects searched more information in judgment than in choice. For prior knowledge, it appeared that as knowledge increased, the amount of search also increased. But the effect of prior knowledge differed according to the other variables. For group of high need for cognition in judgment, knowledge was positively related to the amount of search, but in choice, even though marginally significant, there was inverted U shaped relationship between knowledge and information search. For need for cognition, high need for cognition subjects searched significantly more information than low need for cognition. But the effect of need for cognition differed according to the other variables. In judgment, only for group of high knowledge, the effect of need for cognition was significant. In choice, for group of moderate and low knowledge. the effect of need for cognition was marginally significant. On variability of search, a significant effect was found only for response mode. Subjects searched more constantly in judgment than in choice. On search pattern, there were significant effects for response mode and prior knowledge, but not for need for cognition. In judgment, subjects used a more attribute-based search pattern than in choice. As knowledge decreased, subjects tended to use an attribute-based search pattern. Finally, combination of the dichotomized scores on search pattern and variability of search yielded four search modes corresponding to four decision strategies. The frequency under each search mode showed that subjects made a most frequent use of attribute-based/variable mode.