Determinants of Online Review Credibility and its Impact on Consumers’ Purchase Intention

Author: 

Marc-Julian Thomas
Bernd W. Wirtz
Jan C. Weyerer

Abstract: 

Consumers frequently rely on online reviews in forming purchase intentions, but at the same time have increasingly expressed reservations with regard to the credibility of online reviews in recent years. Given the lack of empirical research investigating how consumers assess the credibility of online reviews, this study examines determinants of online review credibility and its effect on consumers’ purchase intentions. Drawing upon elaboration likelihood theory, we develop a research model and empirically test it by means of structural equation modeling with data collected from 282 users of the online review website Yelp. Our findings suggest that factors based on argument quality, including accuracy, completeness and quantity of online reviews, as well as peripheral cues, including reviewer expertise, product/service rating and website reputation, both significantly impact online review credibility, which in turn positively influences consumers’ purchase intentions.

Key Word: 

Published Date: 

February, 2019

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