Resumo

Prime is a piece of information accessed before that unconsciously affects decision-making. Priming aspects to consider in the decision-making process can affect product search behavior. A large body of studies tried to understand the effect of a prime on final choice or decision. However, what happens when the information search behavior is primed? Past research studied information-seeking online under different approaches. Among these approaches is the breadth-depth dilemma on human behavior.

This research aims to investigate how the emphasis on aspects to be considered in the purchasing decision-making process affects the subsequent information search behavior.

The priming effect occurs when a stimulus influences subsequent behaviors (Kahneman, 2017). A prime can influence all the stages of information processing. Thus, the information-seeking process can also be primed (Shen & Wyer, 2008). Common measures of information search behavior are the time spent and the amount of information acquired, both coming from the process-tracing research (Payne & Bettman, 1988). Here we use the concept of breadth versus depth of search, defined based on the number of acquisitions and the time-per-acquisition, respectively (Huang et al., 2009).

A between-subjects experiment was designed to carry out the goal of this research. The independent variable was a video and the dependent measures represent the breadth of search, depth of search, and search effort. The 57 subjects from the sample were randomly assigned to the experimental conditions (presence or absence of priming). To examine the effect of the prime on the dependent variables the study employed a scenario-based task using a simulated online shopping website. The experimental task was to choose a computer on a website.

Mann-Whitney test shows a significant effect of the priming in the total number of pages visited (p<0.01), but not on the ratio between total time spent and the total number of pages visited (p>0.05). Regarding how deep subjects went looking for information, the Mann-Whitney test shows a significant effect of the prime only at level 2 (p<0.05), but not at level 1 (p>0.05), and level 3 (p>0.05). No difference was found for the variable time per acquisition (all p>0.05). Primed subjects spent more time acquiring information which represents more effort in the information-seeking behavior.

The priming affected the breadth of the search, but not the depth of the search. No primed subjects seem to use a more depth strategy while primed subjects followed a mixed breadth-depth strategy. The website's hierarchical structure showed that priming leads subjects to switch more between pages at level 2 in a breadth way, consistently with the elimination-by-aspects rule, used to make quick comparisons between available options. They put more effort into the search process looking for the relevant information and spending their resources to understand it.

Huang, P., Lurie, N. H., Mitra, S., Balasubramanian, S., Lynch, J., Macinnis, D., & Weiss, A. (2009). Searching for Experience on the Web: An Empirical Examination of Consumer Behavior for Search and Experience Goods. Journal of Marketing, 73, 55–69. Kahneman, D. (2017). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Payne, J. W., & Bettman, J. R. (1988). Adaptative Strategy Selection in Decision Making. Shen, H., & Wyer, R. S. (2008). Procedural priming and consumer judgments: Effects on the impact of positively and negatively valenced information. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(5),