Impact of Information Technology on Information Search Channel Selection for Consumers

As information technology has evolved, digital media has become increasingly fragmented and hasstartedtoproliferatemultipleinformationchannels.Inordertooptimizeonthevariousdigital channels thatareavailable,organizationsare increasinglyrecognizing the importanceofgaining solidinsightsintoconsumerbehaviorandpreferencesthatcanbetranslatedintomarketingstrategies. Specifically,theyarekeentoidentifywhichinformationchannelstheycanusetoeffectivelyreachand communicatewiththeirtargetmarket.Inthisregard,thispaperdescribeshowmulticriteriadecision makingcanbeusedtodevelopanewmethodofdecisionmakingthatwillenableaneffectiveand systematicdecisionprocessoffuzzyAHPandTOPSIS.Further,thesetechniquescanbeusedforthe developingframeworkforidentifyingconsumerpreferences.Thispaperprovidesademonstration oftheunderpinningworkingmethodologyoftheproposedmodelbyexamininganrealcasethat isbasedonthedecisionprocessInternetusersemployduringtheironlinesearchforinformation. KEywORdS AHP, Consumer Preferences, Information Management, Information Search Channels, Internet Marketing, TOPSIS

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