Consumers who perform information search before making a buying decision can be inferred that
they pay more attention to the utility of the product they purchase. The more effort they put on
information search, the smaller the difference between expectations and actual perceptions can be. In
contrast, consumers who make a buying decision without information search seem to be more concerned
about whether they can feel satisfied after the purchase. Their post-purchase perception is more focused
on immediate affective responses to the decision. Even if there is any dissonance, they will adjust their
cognitions to resolve the internal conflict (Mowen and Minor, 1998). Consumers whose impulse buying
decision is made after the information search stage may have probably lowered their standards in
evaluating the product’s attributes (Hirschman, 1992).