Consumer knowledge measures as predictors in product evaluation

An experiment was conducted to test whether measures of consumer knowledge predict utilization of extrinsic product cues and willingness to pay for a product. Consumers have been shown to value some extrinsic cues more than others, and this study shows that knowledge measures moderate the evaluation of some extrinsic cues. Compared to measures of familiarity and subjective expertise, objective expertise is found to be a more efficient predictor of product evaluation and to be more consistent in valuing extrinsic cues in accordance with their diagnostic utility.