Abstract

The internet is information media and social media for online consumers to seek information on the websites and opinions from other consumers. This study examined how the three dimensions of interactivity (control, direction of communication, and synchronicity) affected the users’ online information seeking process. According to past studies, individual differences such as knowledge of product and motivation of purchase, affect the process of information seeking online. Opinion leaders are often viewed as important targets for successful marketing campaigns, since opinion leaders have greater potential to affect others’ decisions by sharing their abundant knowledge and personal experiences with goods. Therefore, we also investigated how users’ opinion leadership moderates the effects of interactivity. The empirical method of survey is employed to test the proposed hypotheses. A total of 511 respondents were recruited to participate in the survey. The empirical results showed that the control and synchronicity significantly increased consumers’ involvement in the information shown on the websites, whereas communication direction and synchronicity significantly affect on social presence of other people online who provide product related information. Furthermore, users’ opinion leadership moderated the effects of communication direction and synchronicity on social presence. The findings of this study provide online practitioners with useful suggestions applicable to personalization strategies.

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