Search engines as substitutes for traditional information sources? An investigation of media choice

We develop a two-phased survey design-based on the uses and gratifications approach and the theory of planned behavior-to analyze competitive relations between search engines and traditional information sources. We apply the survey design in a large-scale empirical study with 14- to 66-year-old Internet users ( mean age 32) to find out whether complementary or substitutional dependencies predominate between search engines and three traditional information sources-paper-based encyclopedias and yellow pages and telephone-based directory assistance. We find that search engines, compared to the traditional alternatives, are gratifying a wider spread of users' needs. Although yellow pages and directory assistance are potentially substitutable, encyclopedias serve those needs that search engines cannot ( yet) fulfill. The traditional media companies face increased competition, but do not necessarily have to be in an inferior competitive position.