This question involves finding literature sources related to consumer
perceptions of making purchases by auction for an MBA research
proposal.


Background to the Question
--------------------------

South Africa tends to lag behind the rest of the world when it comes
to making purchases by auction. The purpose of this study is to
determine what are the perceptions of South African consumers towards
making purchases by auction. In doing this it is anticipated that this
information will be able to be used to address the concerns of
consumers and thereby increase the overall auction market in South
Africa.

The South African auction industry is said to turn over in excess of
one billion rand annually yet there is major scope for growth in this
industry as it appears there are a number of factors hindering it's
growth.

The problem of this research is to determine South African consumer
perceptions towards making purchases by auction.

The sub problems are:
i) To identify the primary issues affecting South African consumer
perceptions towards making purchases by auction.
ii) To determine the perception of South African consumers towards
making purchases by auction.

The research will not attempt to distinguish between online and
offline auctions but rather the general perceptions of consumers
towards making purchases by auction no matter what the medium. The
questionnaire will be administered through an online survey, which
means that the respondents will be restricted to those that have
Internet access only.

Due to the lack of literature available on this topic, the research
will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will be qualitative
involving the interviewing of industry experts in order to formulate a
questionnaire for the second phase, which will involve a quantitative
study on the perceptions of consumers based on the consumer survey
questionnaire.

The Question
------------

I am busy working on the proposal for my MBA research, of which a
major part is the literature review (the literature review is meant to
cite literature that is relevant to the research). Now I would
appreciate some help in finding relevant literature sources for my
literature review (the more academic the literature the better), as I
have not been able to find too much at all. This could include:

· Information / stats on the worldwide auction industry. For example I
once read that over 90% of property in Australia is sold by auction
(in contrast in South Africa this figure is extremely low so this type
of information would be highly relevant)
· Consumer perceptions of buying by auction in other countries around
the world e.g. what concerns do consumers have. Is it trust, concerns
of being ripped off, lack of guarantees etc.

Although I intend to interview experts to formulate the consumer
questionnaire, ideally I need to find supporting literature that will
assist in formulating this questionnaire. To answer this question I
would therefore need the literature sources that I can use to write my
literature review (to clarify I am not asking for a literature review
? just for the source of relevant literature that I can use to write
the literature review).