Calibration of consumer knowledge of the web

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Abstract

Calibration of consumer knowledge of the web refers to the correspondence between accuracy and confidence in knowledge of the web. Being well-calibrated means that a person is realistic in his or her assessment of the level of knowledge that he or she possesses. This study finds that involvement leads to better calibration and that calibration is higher for procedural knowledge and common knowledge, as compared to declarative knowledge and specialized knowledge. Neither usage, nor experience, has any effect on calibration of knowledge of the web. No difference in calibration is observed between genders. But, in agreement with previous findings, this study also finds that males are more confident in their knowledge of the web. The results point out that calibration could be more a function of knowledge-specific factors and less that of individual-specific factors. The study also identifies flow and frustration with the web as consequences of calibration of knowledge of the web and draws the attention of future researchers to examine these aspects.

Introduction

Consumer knowledge has been a topic of considerable research interest in marketing for the past three decades (Alba and Hutchinson, 1987, Bettman and Park, 1980, Brucks, 1985, Mitchell and Dacin, 1996, Roy and Cornwell, 2004). The importance of consumer knowledge can be located in the fact that knowledge is central to understanding consumer behaviors such as information search and information processing. Researchers have examined the antecedents and consequences of prior knowledge of consumers (Alba, 1983, Chase and Simon, 1973) and the different types of consumer knowledge such as product class knowledge, price knowledge, knowledge of the World Wide Web, etc. (Brucks, 1985, Estelami et al., 2001, Page and Uncles, 2004). Researchers have also attempted to distinguish between objective knowledge, which refers to the absolute knowledge possessed by the consumer, and subjective knowledge, which refers to consumers' perception of their own knowledge (Raju, Lonial, & Mangold, 1995).

An aspect of knowledge that has been omitted from the discourse in consumer research is knowledge calibration. Knowledge calibration refers to the correspondence between accuracy and confidence in knowledge. Notions of correct and incorrect knowledge tap into only the first dimension, i.e., accuracy. A person can be well calibrated even when possessing inaccurate knowledge. Being well-calibrated means that a person is realistic in his or her assessment of the level of knowledge that he or she possesses. This, in turn, is likely to facilitate appropriate actions such as information search or optimal decision making. Hence, examination of this construct is likely to unravel processes that have not been brought to light by the research on consumer knowledge. The latter construct has attracted considerable research, while research on calibration of consumer knowledge is relatively new. Alba and Hutchinson (2000) highlighted the importance of this construct and its implications in consumer research and called for research in this area. This paper responds to the call by examining the calibration of consumer knowledge of the web, a topic that is of considerable relevance, given the increasing importance of the web for consumers. The paper proposes a model of calibration of knowledge of the web and examines the antecedent roles of involvement with the web, experience, usage, knowledge type, and gender on calibration of consumer knowledge of the web.

The paper's contribution is threefold. One, it seeks to empirically examine knowledge calibration in the consumer domain. Second, in doing so, it adds a new dimension to the research on knowledge and usage of the web. Third, it contributes to the larger stream of research on knowledge calibration through the examination of knowledge type as an antecedent of calibration.

We start by introducing the concept of knowledge calibration, followed by a brief review of the literature on knowledge calibration. The hypotheses for the study are presented afterwards. Subsequently, the method and the results of the study are presented. The results indicate the antecedent effects of involvement and knowledge type in enhancing calibration. Broadly, the results imply that calibration of knowledge of the web in particular and calibration of knowledge in general could be determined by knowledge variables such as types of knowledge. The study discounts the role of individual specific factors, other than involvement, as antecedents of knowledge calibration.

Section snippets

Knowledge calibration

As defined earlier, calibration of knowledge refers to the correspondence between accuracy and confidence in knowledge. High accuracy and high confidence together lead to high calibration. Similarly, low accuracy and low confidence lead to high calibration. Lack of correspondence between the two lead to low calibration; thus, low accuracy along with high confidence (overconfidence), and high accuracy along with low confidence (underconfidence) are instances of poor calibration, termed as

Sample

We used two samples to test the hypotheses. Sample 1 comprised 151 students enrolled in undergraduate business courses in a large university in the southeastern United States, who participated in the study for course credit. Sample 2 comprised 153 adults in a British city. The adults included (a) community members (40%) who were contacted in libraries, parks, residential apartments, and retail stores, (b) nonacademic staff members (25%) and faculty members (5%) in a leading British university

Scale reliability

The ten-item involvement scale had acceptable reliability (alpha = .875). The reliability of the knowledge of the web scale, computed using KR 20, fell below the threshold of .7 (overall .52; specialized = .83; common = .13; procedural = .35; declarative = .39). This is not deemed to be a cause for concern due to the following reasons: (a) the construct of knowledge of the web is necessarily multidimensional and a scale that attempts to tap into the various dimensions will have to compromise on

Discussion

We organize the discussion section into two parts. In the first part, we continue the discussion of the model, examining some potential antecedents and, more importantly, the consequences of calibration of consumer knowledge of the web. In the second part, we examine the implications of the study and outline future research directions.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Professor Hubert Gatignon and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments throughout the review process.

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