It has been observed that the studies of quality are pursued in various
disciplines like economics, quality management, and marketing science,
and are seen isolated. The treatments imparted to these studies are also
different and has the backdrop of discipline in which the work has been
pursued. The nature of isolation is equally seen when quality
uncertainty and perceived quality were pursued separately without
showing any inkling that these can be complimentary. Economist and Nobel
Laureate, Akerlof (1970), wrote a seminal piece "The market for lemons:
quality uncertainty and market mechanism", where he described quality
uncertainty due to information asymmetry. It refers to the fact that a
party in a transaction may have more information than the other. This is
information asymmetry. If the seller has more information than the buyer
about the product quality, he/she may sell it, as if it is a
high-quality product. In reality, it could be a low-quality product. The
buyer does not have the information regarding the quality of the offered
product. The market condition that led to this transaction is quality
uncertainty due to information asymmetry.