Information Search Behaviour among New Car Buyers: A Two-Step Cluster Analysis

摘要

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.