The Role and Influence of External Information Sources in Alternative Housing Decisions by Elderly Consumers:

This paper explores the use and evaluation of external information sources in consumer decision-making. Information sources were evaluated by respondents according to six possible applications for the information-based on information use and hierarchical levels in the decision process. The research setting is nonprofit retirement apartments and the subjects are recent movers to those apartments. The empirical findings of this study have marketing implications for marketers of nonprofit retirement housing and social service agencies serving the elderly. They also suggest further research for other nonprofit marketers.