Motivation and Search Intensity: An Investigation of Online Consumer Search Behavior

Abstract

The Internet is drawing consumers in search of information about a broad range of topics. In order to understand how consumers search for and benefit from information online, this chapter presents a set of hypotheses and an explanatory model concerning web-based information search behavior. Our model was tested within the patient health domain, wherein consumers are often highly motivated to seek relevant information. The analysis suggests that there is a clear link between an individual’s health and his or her use of online health information, and also that the search intensity that individuals undertake results in an increased propensity to talk with health care providers about the information.1 Though the context of our data analysis has limitations related to the source of the data (in the health domain), it can nevertheless be generalized that the higher the consumer’s involvement with the decision, the higher the motivation to seek information online.