Influence of User Generated Content on consumer pre-buy behaviour?

During the pre-internet era, consumer search was, to some degree, easier to assess for marketers and researchers. Nowadays, consumers are being confronted with all kinds of information sources. Internet, and specifically User Generated Content, provides new ways and opportunities to search information before a purchase decision is made. Often, the emphasis in User Generated Content studies is on consumer motivation: 'Why do people publish?' However, little attention is being paid to the use of this kind of interpersonal peer-to-peer information as a worthy information source during the pre-purchase phase. This in spite of the fact that search fulfils a major role within the purchase decision process. In this paper, based on a literature review and an online quantitative survey (N = 279), we answer the question: 'What is the influence of User Generated information on the consumer's pre-buy stage?' More in particular we focus on the purchase of cars. Important theoretical concepts regarding this research include search, diffusion and Word of Mouth. Our conclusions show that the Internet takes a special place within search behaviour. We find that online Word of Mouth, and specifically User Generated Content, is perceived as a crucial information source. To some extent it even exceeds the importance of strong tie advice by family members and friends. Following this conclusion, the paper gives input for the complementary doctoral study, embedding the concept of trust within online pre-buy consumer behaviour.