Analyzing Customer Pre-Purchase Preference as a Determinant Factor Affecting a Brand’s Performance in the Phone Industry

This research aims at examining and analyzing the factors impacting on preferences for personal information in the smartphone pre-purchase process. The factors are product knowledge, perceived risk, need for cognition, self-confidence, and informational susceptibility to interpersonal influence. The study also seeks to examine and analyze the impact of product knowledge on perceived risk, and the impact of self-confidence on informational susceptibility on interpersonal influence. Data in this study was collected by questionnaire. Applying non-probability convenience sampling, the study is conducted on 150 Banjarmasin citizens. The hypotheses are tested using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) technique by AMOS 18. The results indicate that customer relative preference for interpersonal information search is significantly influenced by consumers’ product knowledge, need for cognition, self-confidence, and informational susceptibility to interpersonal influence.  Consumer’s product knowledge also influenced their perceived risk, which did not affect their preference for interpersonal search significantly. Consumer’s self-confidence also did not affect their informational susceptibility to interpersonal influence.