Consumer Information-seeking for Social Products

THIS study proposes that marketing communication can be approached within a socio-psycho logical framework, where market-related information is subject to both internal (cognitive) and external or social influences, specifically reference groups. The concept of Information-seeking within this frame...

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Main Authors: Peter Schafer, Nina Overton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2022-11-01
Series:Communicare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/2101
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author Peter Schafer
Nina Overton
author_facet Peter Schafer
Nina Overton
author_sort Peter Schafer
collection DOAJ
description THIS study proposes that marketing communication can be approached within a socio-psycho logical framework, where market-related information is subject to both internal (cognitive) and external or social influences, specifically reference groups. The concept of Information-seeking within this framework implies that the consumer is actively involved in the interchange of market related Information, and that he actively seeks Information relevant to his goals in the purchase situation. A broad spectrum of literature on Information-seeking is systemized according to the nature and sources of information seeking. From this model, a number of propositions regarding the nature and sources of consumer information seeking for social products are formulated, which form the basis of the empirical investigation. While the findings of the study point to the pervasive influence of reference groups in Information-seeking and consumer behaviour, they also indicate that there is a clear distinction between direct, verbal reference group influence communicated by Informal personal sources and in direct, non-verbal reference group influence communicated by formal, non-personal sources. A number of implications for marketers and advertisers are suggested.
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institution Kabale University
issn 0259-0069
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language English
publishDate 2022-11-01
publisher University of Johannesburg
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series Communicare
spelling doaj-art-a413d8ea346c454796783aaa90712ad02025-01-20T08:43:32ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-11-017110.36615/jcsa.v7i1.2101Consumer Information-seeking for Social ProductsPeter Schafer0Nina Overton1Marketing St GallenUniversity of Johannesburg THIS study proposes that marketing communication can be approached within a socio-psycho logical framework, where market-related information is subject to both internal (cognitive) and external or social influences, specifically reference groups. The concept of Information-seeking within this framework implies that the consumer is actively involved in the interchange of market related Information, and that he actively seeks Information relevant to his goals in the purchase situation. A broad spectrum of literature on Information-seeking is systemized according to the nature and sources of information seeking. From this model, a number of propositions regarding the nature and sources of consumer information seeking for social products are formulated, which form the basis of the empirical investigation. While the findings of the study point to the pervasive influence of reference groups in Information-seeking and consumer behaviour, they also indicate that there is a clear distinction between direct, verbal reference group influence communicated by Informal personal sources and in direct, non-verbal reference group influence communicated by formal, non-personal sources. A number of implications for marketers and advertisers are suggested. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/2101marketing communicationsocio-psycho logical frameworkinternal (cognitive) and external or social influencesconsumerInformation-seeking
spellingShingle Peter Schafer
Nina Overton
Consumer Information-seeking for Social Products
Communicare
marketing communication
socio-psycho logical framework
internal (cognitive) and external or social influences
consumer
Information-seeking
title Consumer Information-seeking for Social Products
title_full Consumer Information-seeking for Social Products
title_fullStr Consumer Information-seeking for Social Products
title_full_unstemmed Consumer Information-seeking for Social Products
title_short Consumer Information-seeking for Social Products
title_sort consumer information seeking for social products
topic marketing communication
socio-psycho logical framework
internal (cognitive) and external or social influences
consumer
Information-seeking
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/2101
work_keys_str_mv AT peterschafer consumerinformationseekingforsocialproducts
AT ninaoverton consumerinformationseekingforsocialproducts