Impact of information overload on consumer decision-making in the agri-food sector: a stimulus-organism-response theory perspective

In the era of big data and AI, consumers are confronted with an overwhelming amount of information and a wide range of choices when purchasing agri-food products online. This can significantly impact their decision-making processes. However, there is currently insufficient comprehensive understanding regarding how information overload influences consumer purchasing decisions in the agri-food sector and whether differences in personal cognition and knowledge moderate this effect. This study aims to address this knowledge deficiency. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory, an influence mechanism model is developed to examine the impact of information overload on consumers’ decision deferral. A situational experiment involving 430 agri-food consumers is conducted to empirically test the proposed model. The results show that information overload significantly affects the level of consumer confusion. This, in turn, causes a deferral of purchase decisions. Furthermore, both cognitive need and consumer knowledge negatively moderate the relationship between information overload and consumer confusion.