Consumer empowerment and self-assessment of empowerment

Abstract

This study examined the influence of consumer empowerment and its self-assessment on consumers’ information search behavior and consumer life satisfaction; it also examined whether the results were consistent with the Dunning−Kruger effect. A total of 977 consumers who participated in a national consumer survey were divided into four groups, based on their level of empowerment and self-assessment. The Dunning−Kruger effect was observed in the consumer empowerment results, with 35.9% of respondents showing imbalanced empowerment and self-assessment levels. A general linear model was used to examine the survey results, which indicated that the main effect of empowerment had no significant effect on information searching or consumer life satisfaction. However, there was a significant main effect of self-assessment on both dependent variables. In addition, the interaction of empowerment and self-assessment had a significant effect only on information search behavior. Consequently, it can be concluded that self-assessed empowerment, rather than actual consumer empowerment, affects information search and consumer life satisfaction.