Information Search in the Purchase of Employment Apparel: A Synthesis of Two Theories

This paper is designed to synthesize two theories of consumer information search process and to extend recent research by the authors on information search strategies used by employed women for the purchase of employment apparel. The main objective is to offer an integrated explanation for the processes which produce dfferent search patterns used by employed women for the purchase of employment apparel. While speculative, it provides one possible schematic that captures the interaction of consumers, product, and situational characteristics and information search patterns by utilizing systematic/heuristic theory and active/passive search theory within an integrative explanatory framework. This information contributes to theory development about search strategies among consumers.