Year: 1987
Type: article
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to review basic empirical results from the psychological literature in a way that provides a useful foundation for research on consumer knowledge. A conceptual organization for this diverse literature is provided by two fundamental distinctions. First, consumer expertise is distinguished from product-related experience. Second, five distinct aspects, or dimensions, of expertise are identified: cognitive effort, cognitive structure, analysis, elaboration, and memory. Improvements in the first two dimensions are shown to have general beneficial effects on the latter three. Analysis, elaboration, and memory are shown to have more specific interrelationships. The empirical findings related to each dimension are reviewed and, on the basis of those findings, specific research hypotheses about the effects of expertise on consumer behavior are suggested.
Source: Journal of Consumer Research
DOI: 10.1086/209080
Authors: Joseph W. Alba, J. Wesley Hutchinson
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2108860923