The effect of consumer self-confidence on information search and share intention

Purpose 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). Design/methodology/approach 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. Findings 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. Originality/value 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.