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This research reviews numerous studies of the relationship between consumer knowledge and external search in conventional marketing channels to investigate differences among these studies that have produced conflicting results. The findings provide a benchmark for future researchers and practitioners seeking to gain insight into consumer information search processes unfolding in the new environment of online, mobile, and social networking channels.

A meta-analysis of an extensive array of empirical studies of the relationship between consumer knowledge and external information search was conducted. Regression analysis was used to test whether certain characteristics in the studies can explain variability in the effect sizes in which effect sizes are entered as dependent variables and moderators as independent variables.

Objective and subjective knowledge tend to increase search, while direct experience tends to reduce search. Consumers with higher objective knowledge search more when pursuing credence products. However, they search relatively less when pursuing search products. Consumers with higher subjective knowledge are much more likely to search in the context of experience products, but as is the case for objective knowledge having little effect on search for experience products, subjective knowledge has no significant effect on information seeking for search products. In addition, objective knowledge facilitates more information search in a complex decision-making context while higher subjective knowledge fosters more external information search in a simple decision-marketing context. Finally, the findings indicate that the knowledge search relationship reflects strong linkage in the pre-Internet era.

Relatively little is known about how the relationship between knowledge and information search varies across different types of products in simple or complex decision-making contexts. This study begins to fill this gap by providing insight into the relative importance of objective knowledge, subjective knowledge, and direct experience in influencing consumer information search activities for search, experience, and credence products in simple or complex decision-making contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to study how subjective and objective knowledge of finance, behaviour in managing personal finances and socio-economic status affect financial well-being.

The financial well-being score is constructed in quantitative financial literacy survey data from Estonia as the arithmetic mean of four statements on a five-point scale. Four hypotheses are tested in multiple regression analysis.

Subjective knowledge has a stronger relation with financial well-being than objective knowledge. Financial behaviour score and income level correlate with financial well-being.

The paper contributes to literature on financial literacy, subjective financial knowledge and financial well-being. In future research, psychological factors and future orientated financial well-being should be included, and their relationship to subjective well-being could be analysed further.

The results highlight the importance of subjective knowledge and sound behaviour for improving financial well-being. Providers of financial services should address these more in the design of their services and communication.

Policymakers developing national strategies for financial education need to address subjective financial knowledge for increasing financial well-being in society.

Knowledge, behaviour and subjective knowledge have not been used simultaneously in the analysis of financial well-being in Europe before.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of banks in enhancing consumer knowledge aiming to increasing customer’s financial well-being.

This research applied two quantitative studies with customers of banks in a Latin American country. The literature review and the results of the data analysis founded the development of a model that relates bank information transparency and subjective financial well-being through consumer financial knowledge.

By being transparent banks may transform the financial well-being of their customers. Particularly, this paper shows that consumer financial knowledge mediates the relationship between bank information transparency and the subjective financial well-being of individuals. However, the mediational effect occurs by subjective but not objective financial knowledge.

The mediational model of this research does not take in consideration the role that individual factors play in the exposition and processing of the information provided by banks and its final impact on the subjective well-being of individuals. Also, this paper does not explore potential moderators of the theoretical relationships neither include cultural variables in the analysis.

Firm transparency has been related to various constructs in the marketing literature; however, its impact on consumer financial well-being is under-researched. This paper shows that companies need to aim to increase the subjective financial knowledge of their customers as a way to improve ultimate well-being of their customers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance (UA) on the relationships among subjective knowledge, attitude toward Korean foods and dining out behavioral intentions (BI) of foreign residents in Korea.

A total of 247 foreign residents in Korea were participated through a street intercept survey at several locations in metropolitan areas of South Korea. Subsequently, the samples were divided into two groups (a low UA group and a high UA group) for multiple group analysis to examine the moderating role of UA.

The results of structural equation modeling showed that subjective knowledge and attitude toward Korean foods significantly influenced intention to visit Korean restaurants. Furthermore, multiple group analysis results showed that UA had a significant moderating effect as a cultural dimension on the relationships between subjective knowledge and BI, as well as between attitude and BI.

This research has made the first attempt to account for UA in examining the relationships among subjective knowledge, attitude and BIs, especially for ambiguous situations where foreign residents who are new to the mainstream Korean food culture face challenges in visiting Korean restaurants.

The findings indicate that enhancing subjective knowledge about Korean foods should increase the probability of foreign residents visiting Korean restaurants, so restaurant marketers should consider subjective knowledge as they work to encourage foreign residents to try Korean foods. Furthermore, planning strategies for marketing to foreign residents should consider level of UA among foreigners.

This study first illustrates the value of considering the cultural trait of UA in examining dining out behavior at ethnic restaurants. The UA trait sheds light on how subjective knowledge helps predict attitude and dining out BI at ethnic restaurants.

Although the organic market has expanded in recent years, it remains small. Some researchers argue that consumers' lack of knowledge concerning organic food is an important factor slowing down growth. This paper aims to focus on the factors influencing objective and subjective knowledge with regard to organic food production and the relationship between both types of knowledge and consumer attitudes and motivations towards organic food and its consumption.

A literature review is presented, relating to the impact of knowledge on behaviour in general and, more specifically, on organic food consumption. Several hypotheses are formulated concerning the relationship between objective and subjective knowledge, attitudes and organic food consumption and these are tested on organic vegetable consumption in Flanders (Belgium). Multiple regression models, a probit model and an analysis of variance are applied to a sample of 529 completed questionnaires (response rate=44 per cent). The respondents were selected in January 2007 using a convenience sampling technique. Socio‐demographic variables are used to check representativeness.

In the sample, the level of objective knowledge regarding organic vegetables is high. Attitudes towards the consumption of organic vegetables are generally positive. The strongest motivations for consuming organic vegetables are that they are produced without synthetic pesticides, are better for the environment, healthier, of higher quality and taste better. The strongest perceived barriers are overly high prices and lack of availability. Objective and subjective knowledge with regard to organic food production show a positive correlation. Higher levels of objective and subjective knowledge concerning organic food are positively related to a more positive attitude towards organic food, greater experience of it and a more frequent use of information. Membership of an “ecological organisation” (VELT) is also related to higher levels of knowledge. Some variables have a significant positive relationship with subjective knowledge, but not with objective knowledge. Attitude is significantly and positively influenced by subjective knowledge, VELT‐membership, norm, motivations and female gender. Perceived barriers have a significant negative influence on attitude. The likelihood of consuming organic vegetables is significantly and positively influenced by VELT‐membership, subjective knowledge, attitude, motivations and the presence of children in the household. Whilst objective knowledge, norm and female gender have a significantly positive influence on attitude towards organic vegetables, they have no significant influence on the likelihood of actually consuming organic vegetables.

Whilst several researchers argue that knowledge may be a very important factor in increasing organic food consumption, few have studied the mechanisms behind it. To the authors' knowledge this is the first paper describing the impact of knowledge on organic food consumption in such detail. By assessing the impact of knowledge, as well as other factors, on organic food consumption, greater insight is gained with regard to organic food consumption behaviour.

This study examines the effect of both objective knowledge (i.e., what arts audience members actually know about art) and subjective knowledge (i.e., what arts audiences members think they know about art) on their propensity for experience-sharing (i.e., the tendency to share art-related experiences with other individuals). In addition, the study examines the role of culture (i.e., whether arts audiences belong to an individualistic or collectivistic culture) on the above-mentioned relationship.

Data were gathered through a field survey at a large contemporary art museum in Italy, conducted via a structured questionnaire and analyzed using multiple regression analysis.

Results indicate that both subjective and objective knowledge positively affect arts audiences’ propensity for experience-sharing, such as talking to others about a visit to an art gallery. Moreover, such effects appear to vary depending on culture: objective knowledge seems to positively influence experience-sharing when audiences belong to collectivistic cultures, whereas subjective knowledge seems to positively influence experience-sharing when they belong to individualistic cultures.

The study’s findings could motivate arts managers to emphasize the implementation of international communication strategies aimed at reinforcing arts audiences’ subjective and objective knowledge since these variables are positively associated with their propensity for experience-sharing with others.

This is the first study to assess the effects of objective and subjective knowledge, alongside the cultural dimensions of individualism and collectivism, on arts audiences’ propensity for experience-sharing.

The purpose of this study is to examine how subjective knowledge about fair trade products and the perceived trustworthiness of information about fair trade goods influence purchase intention and reported purchase behaviour across two product categories, namely, fashion and food.

Data were collected from an online survey with a sample of 1,616 consumers in four European countries, namely, Germany, Italy, Austria and the UK.

The results show that subjective knowledge moderates the positive relationship between intentions to purchase and reported purchase behaviour of fair trade products, however, the moderating role of perceived information trustworthiness was not significant. Furthermore, both the intention to purchase and reported purchase behaviour are significantly lower for fair trade fashion products than for fair trade food products.

This paper shows how fair trade consumption behaviour is mainly influenced by subjective knowledge about fair trade products. It reveals existing differences in both the buying intentions and reported purchase behaviour in different European markets.

This research broadens the understanding of consumers’ fair trade consumption behaviour across two different product categories and four different countries, with a focus on the interaction effect of consumers’ subjective knowledge and information trustworthiness.

This study aims to highlight the impact of information acquisition confidence and social outcome confidence on information search and information share intention. Moreover, the role of subjective knowledge is analyzed as a mediating variable among these relations.

This study conducted a survey which generated 233 valid responses. The data were analyzed using component factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Whereas, to examine the mediating effect, Hayes and Preacher (2008) model for statistical mediation analysis was used.

The results mainly supported the model by confirming that subjective knowledge, information acquisition confidence and social outcome confidence are positively related to information search intention. No association between information acquisition confidence and information sharing intention was found. The study's findings also suggested a positive association of social outcome confidence, subjective knowledge and information acquisition confidence with information share intention. Moreover, the results revealed that there is a significant and positive mediating effect of subjective knowledge between information acquisition confidence and information search intention. Subjective knowledge also acts as a mediator in the relationship between social outcome confidence and information sharing intention.

This study will be helpful for marketers and policymakers for designing marketing strategies which can enhance the flow of information. Moreover, this study will ensure the importance of information to marketers.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study the impact of consumer information acquisition confidence, social outcome confidence on information search and sharing with mediating role of subjective knowledge.

The knowledge about a specific product develops self-confidence among consumers and facilitates them to share and search for information. This study aims to highlight the effects of consumer’s self-esteem on search and share intentions of information. Furthermore, this relationship was analyzed through the mediation of subjective knowledge (SK).

The data were collected from 1,136 Chinese respondents having a perception of purchasing cellphones. To analyze the data, check its normality and validity, analysis of moment structures (AMOS) was used. However, to inspect the relationship of study variables, “structural equation modeling” and Hayes and Preacher’s (2014) model were used to mediate the analysis.

The study results revealed that consumer’s self-confidence (information acquisition confidence, persuasive knowledge confidence, personal outcome decision-making and market interface confidence) affect the information search and share the intention of consumers. Additionally, the presence of SK significantly and positively mediates this relationship.

This study intends to investigate the role of all practical aspects of consumer’s self-confidence in searching and sharing information by mediating the role of SK. Moreover, it used all the possible and useful dimensions, which were ignored by previous studies.

This study aims to investigate consumer knowledge of environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) and examine the impact of communication on consumer knowledge of ESA.

This study employed a quantitative survey focused on Millennial and Generation Z consumers. Two communication methods, hangtags and product webpages, were involved. First, two instruments were established to measure consumers’ objective and subjective knowledge of ESA. Second, two questionnaires were developed to collect participants’ knowledge before and after reading hangtags or product webpages.

There were 385 useable responses. It was found that participants’ knowledge about waste and cotton production’s water issues was less than their knowledge of other subjects and did not increase after reading the related information on hangtags or webpages. Participants’ subjective knowledge was significantly higher than their objective knowledge after communication. The positive effects of communicating with consumers via hangtags and webpages on consumers’ subjective knowledge were confirmed. Additionally, the ESA information provided via hangtags was more effective than webpages in improving consumers’ objective knowledge.

This study makes up for the deficiency in the literature. It provides in-depth insights on consumers’ knowledge of ESA by investigating consumer knowledge before and after communication based on consumer knowledge structure. The textile and apparel industry can use this study’s findings to improve communication with consumers and aid in sustainable product distribution.