The effect of information overload on consumers’ purchase intentions
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Abstract
The study examined whether consumers are affected by information overload caused by a quantity of product attributes and textual descriptions of the attributes. First, the study investigated whether information overload affects consumers' stress and frustration (subjective state). Next, it was examined whether information overload, stress, and frustration modify consumers' purchase intentions. Respondents' product knowledge and shopping preferences (online versus brick-and-mortar stores) were taken into consideration as well. Wine was used a product to test the research hypotheses. Two experiments with two sets of stimuli were employed. For Experiment 1, wine tasting notes were used as stimuli. The notes included product attributes with detailed textual descriptions. For Experiment 2, wine labels with no textual descriptions were used. The no information overload condition was measured by stimuli that included nine product attributes; whereas the information overload condition was measured by stimuli with 18 product attributes. The purpose of using two types of product descriptors was to measure if quantity (nine versus 18 product attributes) and quality (with versus without textual description) of information had a different effect on information overload perceptions among respondents. Structural equation modeling for testing the relationships between defined constructs and latent variables was performed in both experiments. The main findings suggest that an increased number of product attributes in wine tasting notes that included textual descriptions of product attributes indeed triggered information overload. Participants reported feeling overwhelmed when trying to process the information provided in the stimuli. On the contrary, significant results regarding information overload were not found among respondents who saw wine labels without a textual description of product attributes. Therefore, there is a significant difference in the type of presented information in product descriptors, suggesting that the abundance of textual information triggers information overload. In both experiments, information overload affected respondents’ subjective state, measured as feelings of stress and frustration. Regardless of the type of stimuli, information overload increased respondents' levels of stress and frustration when they felt overwhelmed by the provided information. Further, it was found that information overload itself did not significantly affect respondents' purchase intention. However, stress caused by information overload did. Results from the structural equation modeling indicated that stress positively stimulated respondents' purchase intention. Finally, the results from Experiment 2, where respondents saw wine labels, suggested that information overload increased the perception of risk associated with purchase, which in turn decreased respondents' purchase intention. The obtained results suggest that despite information overload not directly influencing respondents' purchase intention, it triggers other factors that reduce purchase intentions. Overall, this study extended knowledge about the information overload theory and produced a conceptual model that can serve as a valuable framework for future academic research on this topic. Additionally, insights about the adverse effects of information overload can help retail managers understand consumer behavior better.