External Search Effort

External Search Effort

Reviewed by Faisal Zaidi

How far a buyer looks beyond memory to retailers, media, other people and neutral sources before buying.

What it is

Across five consumer electronics products, purchase involvement, attitudes toward shopping and time available went with more external search, and knowledge of the product class went with less.

In effect

In the article on habitual, limited and extended decision making, it is used to show why one item lands at different levels for different buyers.

What it does not say

It describes degrees of search and not a fixed type of buyer. The same item can call for little search from one buyer and much from another, and the study covered five consumer electronics products.

Sources

  1. Beatty, S. E., & Smith, S. M. (1987). External search effort: An investigation across several product categories. Journal of Consumer Research, 14(1), 83.