Vol 22, No 1&2; Article by S M Satish and Sivakumaran Bharadhwaj; March/June 2010
With consumers adopting different search strategies, identifying the patterns of their information search behaviour has become a challenge. The allocation of resources across different sources of information depends on the understanding of the patterns of information search behaviour. This article discusses the findings of a two-step cluster analysis of new car buyers in India, which was performed to identify consumer taxonomies of external pre-purchase information search behaviour.
Personality traits have been used for the first time to explain the differences in search strategies across different groups of consumers. Two-step cluster analysis was used to simultaneously identify the distinct segments of new car buyers, and the relative importance of significant variables in differentiating the segments. Distinct patterns of information search behaviour were found across four distinct groups -broad moderate searchers, intense heavy searchers, low broad searchers, and low searchers.
An examination of the correlates of search groups indicates the importance of personality variables along with different dimensions of search activities in significantly differentiating the consumers into distinct groups based on their external pre-purchase information search behaviour. Personality variables like shopping enjoyment, perceived behavioural control, subjective knowledge, optimum stimulation level, need for cognition and technology readiness were found to be significantly different across different segments and differentiated the segments. This is a first of its kind study in India, where an attempt has been made to identify distinct segments of new car buyers based on their information search behaviour. The findings are consistent with the findings of studies conducted in the West, and demonstrate the effectiveness of the two-step clustering procedure in identifying the distinct segments of consumers simultaneously and the relative importance of the variables in differentiating the segments. Managers could avail of these findings to tailor their communication strategies according to the targeted segment.
Reprint No 10101
