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ABSTRACT
To shed further light on the correlation between consumer product involvement and consumer product knowledge, the authors examined such correlation by treating product type and product knowledge type as moderating variables. The results show that the correlation between a consumer's product involvement and objective product knowledge is higher in a utilitarian product than in a hedonic product. On the contrary, the correlation between a consumer's product involvement and subjective product knowledge is higher in a hedonic product than in a utilitarian product. The implications of these results are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
One of the troublesome issues confronting social scientists involved in consumer behavior research concerns the nature of the relationships between product involvement as a major drive of consumer information processing and product knowledge as a proxy of consumer informationprocessing ability. Stated in the broadest terms, the question forms part of a larger disquisition about verifying correlations among theoretical variables in consumer behavior theory development. Although the development of such a theory, specifically engaged with discerning relationships between product involvement and product knowledge, has drawn much attention from academics as well as the corporate world, a methodologically focused theoretical study into its organization, processes, and further exposition remains underdeveloped. This deficiency is significant because the traditional literature on consumer behavior patterns in this regard is either ambivalent or simply has opted to sidestep the issues involved.
The objective of this research is to examine how some theoretically compelling characteristics-product type and product-knowledge type -might influence the correlation between consumer product involvement and consumer product knowledge. Research opinions on this issue diverge dramatically. Despite this wide divergence of opinion, though, there continues to be a paucity of generalizable research that consciously focuses in a methodological and theoretical manner on the correlations between product involvement and product knowledge.
The present research endeavors to fill a part of this lacuna by initially identifying and critiquing some of the salient trends in the relevant research on correlations between product involvement and product knowledge. Subsequent to this, two hypotheses were proposed and tested in a field study with college student samples. Then, a discussion of the results and potential avenues for future research were provided.
PREVIOUS RESEARCH TRENDS
Previous research concerning consumer behavior has emphasized...