Source preference criteria in the context of everyday projects: Relevance judgments made by prospective home buyers

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to elaborate how source preference criteria are defined in therncontext of everyday projects that require the seeking of problem-specific information. Morernspecifically, to find out how information seekers explain their preference criteria by characterizing thernperceived strengths and weaknesses of diverse sources.rnDesign/methodology/approach - The approach takes the form of qualitative content analysis ofrnempirical data gathered by semi-structured interviews with 16 prospective home buyers in 2008. Thernsource preference criteria were elicited by making use of the construct of information source horizon.rnFindings - Networked sources were favoured most strongly, followed by printed media, humanrnsources and organizational sources. Content of information was the primary source preferencerncriterion. Availability of information was a fairly important criterion, while user characteristics,rnusability of information and situational factors were fairly marginal in this regard. In the definition ofrnthe preference criteria, more emphasis was placed on the perceived strengths than weaknesses ofrnsources. Positive qualities such as "provides updated information" were referred to particulariy whilernjudging the relevance of the networked sources. Negative qualities like "outdated information" werernprimarily associated with printed media and organizational sources.rnResearch limitations/implications - The study is exploratory, drawing on a relatively smallrnsample recruited through a web-based service. Thus, the findings cannot be generalized to prospectivernhome buyers.rnPractical implications - Prospective home buyers tend to favour web-based information sourcesrnand services. They should provide the customers with detailed information about the property,rnincluding photos.rnOriginality/value - The paper specifies the picture of user-defined relevance judgment in therncontext of everyday life information seeking.