Dimensions of Consumer Information Seeking Behavior

In a comprehensive study of the behaviors and correlates of information seeking by Australian new car buyers, the authors examine three dimensions of information seeking—a sources of information dimension, a brand dimension, and a time dimension. Cluster analysis is used to develop consumer taxonomies of search behavior based on measurements of each of the dimensions. The resulting taxonomies are a high search group, a low search group, and three clusters collectively styled selective information seekers. Examination of the correlates of the individual search dimensions suggests that only certain predictors of search behavior are related to the different search dimensions.