ABSTRACT
Consumer learning has been a central construct in models of consumer behavior since at least the 1960s (e.g., Howard & Sheth, 1969; Massy, Montgomery & Morrison, 1970). Research on consumer knowledge and expertise is more recent (e.g., Bettman & Park, 1980; Brucks, 1985; Alba & Hutchinson, 1987). In cognitive psychology, the topics of learning and expertise are more or less separate domains, or perhaps more accurately, expertise is a sub eld that focuses on the highest levels of learning, where learning has occurred naturally over many years rather than in the laboratory as the result of experimental procedures (e.g., Chi, Glaser, & Farr, 1988; Shanteau, 1992). In consumer research, the topics have been more closely related and generally involve comparisons of more knowledgeable and less knowledgeable consumers without requiring that the more knowledgeable consumers be experts in the sense of representing the highest attainable levels of knowledge (e.g., grand masters in chess, professional judges of agricultural products, medical doctors, meteorologists, etc.). is focus on “relative” rather than “absolute” expertise is natural because many (arguably most) important problems in consumer behavior involve the very earliest stages of naturalistic learning (e.g., the adoption of innovations, transitions from trial to repeat purchases, di erences between light and heavy users, etc.). us, in this chapter we emphasize the integration of learning and expertise and focus on the e ects of relative di erences in consumer knowledge across individuals.1
