TY - JOUR

T1 - First-time buyers' subjective knowledge and the attribute preferences of Chinese car buyers

AU - Qian, Lixian

AU - Soopramanien, Didier

AU - Daryanto, Ahmad

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 36, 2017 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.01.004

PY - 2017/5

Y1 - 2017/5

N2 - This research focuses on the subjective knowledge of first time buyers (FTBs hereafter) and how it influences their preference attributes in a market, more specifically, the emerging Chinese car market. Previous research has considered the difference in the subjective knowledge of a product between owners and non-owners but does not account that some non-owners have stronger intentions to make a purchase. Yet, the impact of the purchase goal of FTBs on their subjective knowledge remains unexplained. This research demonstrates that the effect of the purchase goal on subjective knowledge is moderated by product ownership. Specifically, the findings show that the purchase goal only affects the level of subjective knowledge of FTB but not those of potential repurchasing buyers. Furthermore, when segmenting potential FTBs on the basis of their subjective knowledge, the segment of potential FTBs with higher subjective knowledge display similar attribute preferences to owners, while the preference differences are observed when segmenting potential buyers into owners and non-owners. From a managerial perspective, the findings of the research demonstrate the value of using subjective knowledge for consumer segmentation when targeting car buyers.

AB - This research focuses on the subjective knowledge of first time buyers (FTBs hereafter) and how it influences their preference attributes in a market, more specifically, the emerging Chinese car market. Previous research has considered the difference in the subjective knowledge of a product between owners and non-owners but does not account that some non-owners have stronger intentions to make a purchase. Yet, the impact of the purchase goal of FTBs on their subjective knowledge remains unexplained. This research demonstrates that the effect of the purchase goal on subjective knowledge is moderated by product ownership. Specifically, the findings show that the purchase goal only affects the level of subjective knowledge of FTB but not those of potential repurchasing buyers. Furthermore, when segmenting potential FTBs on the basis of their subjective knowledge, the segment of potential FTBs with higher subjective knowledge display similar attribute preferences to owners, while the preference differences are observed when segmenting potential buyers into owners and non-owners. From a managerial perspective, the findings of the research demonstrate the value of using subjective knowledge for consumer segmentation when targeting car buyers.

KW - First time buyers

KW - Subjective knowledge

KW - Intention to buy

KW - Attribute preferences

U2 - 10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.01.004

DO - 10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.01.004

M3 - Journal article

VL - 36

SP - 189

EP - 196

JO - Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

JF - Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

SN - 0969-6989

ER -