2022/09/12 by Carolyn McNicholas, Rita Marcella
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification #Customer Service Quality and Loyalty #Digital Marketing and Social Media
paper · doi:10.1177/01655515221124080
openalex publication_date 2022/09/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
This article explores the role of information in high risk consumer decision making. Forty-two qualitative interviews were undertaken with international non-EU postgraduates when making the high risk decision to study in a UK Business School. Prospective international postgraduates moved iteratively through the stages in Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process model and learnt from the search process they had undertaken in a continuous cyclical manner. Word-of-mouth recommendations were the most influential sources of information gathered, and online sources were perceived to be credible regardless of their origins. The perception of risk impacted the rigour of the information search process. An iterative decision making cycle model is proposed with Kuhlthau’s model and word of mouth information at its core, which reflects the connectedness of individuals in this digital era. This study provides new insights by combining both marketing and LIS models and extends Kuhlthau’s research into a new context.