Consumer External Information Search in Health Care:

: An Empirical Study of the Impacts of Prior Knowledge on Information Search Behavior

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between prior knowledge and information search behavior in the health care market. First, based on prior knowledge about health care issues faced by consumers, consumers were divided into groups reflecting the three stages of the product life cycle: “Extensive Problem Solving”, “Limited Problem Solving”, and “Routine Problem Solving”.
Tests of experimental hypotheses revealed a positive relationship between the three problem solving stages and prior knowledge. These findings suggest that product solving stages can be used to examine the relationship between the amount of prior knowledge and information acquisition behavior. In addition, significant differences were observed among the three problem solving stages in the number of external searches and information sources, showing an inverted U-shaped relationship.
Thus, in the health care market, prior knowledge was shown to influence information acquisition behavior.