What motivates people to search online? Antecedences and comparisons among different buyers

Human factors affect information-seeking behavior in online shopping. However, there are few studies that investigate the differences in product-selections on information seeking. This study adopts Bakerʹs theory with respect to consumer decision style (1999) to identify influential antecedents and contextual factors in web pages best explain consumer information-seeking behavior in the pre-purchase stage. Four cases of different buys that generalize high versus low level of product involvements are selected for investigations. Results identify three types of shopping styles. In addition, product involvement is revealed as a significant factor in affecting shoppersʹ information search. Information with respect to store reputation, product functions and payment methods are perceived as the most important for web store search. Shoppersʹ age, occupations, income and online shopping expenses are also influential. This study generalizes human factors in adopting information seeking in the pre-purchase stage and suggests web information system designs to facilitate online shopping.