The Effects of Sujective Knowledge on Information Search and Evaluation Rules for Apparel Products

This study was to identify dimensions of subjective knowledge and to test the structural model of the effect of subjective knowledge on information search and evaluation rules for apparel products. A questionnaire was administered to 668 females living in Seoul, Taejon, and Cheongju, and the data were analysed by using LISREL 8. The results of this study were as follows: First, consumers' subjective knowledge regarding apparel products consisted of five factors; Style knowledge, Fashion Knowledge, Store Knowledge, Fabric/Management Knowledge, and Brand knowledge. Those factors were influenced by the experience related with apparel products. Second, the subjective knowledge influenced information searches. That is, internal search was significantly influenced by fashion knowledge and store knowledge, while external search was significantly influenced by fashion knowledge and fabric/management knowledge. Third, the subjective knowledge had indirect effects on evaluation rules via search activities (e.g., internal and external), suggesting that the internal search was mediated in relationship between subjective knowledge and compensatory rule, while the urtemal search was mediated in the relationship between subjective knowledge and noncompensatory rule. Therefore, this study implies that subjective knowledge plays an important role to explain consumers' decision making processes such as information search and evaluation.

의류제품에 대한 주관적 지식이 정보탐색과 평가규칙에 미치는 영향