Effects of Online Reviews on Consumer Evaluation of Products: How Are They Different Among Search, Experience and Credence Products?

Motivated by the lack of research on how online reviews affect consumers’ evaluation of credence products, we conduct this research. This research in progress explores how emotions embedded in peer-generated online reviews affect consumers’ evaluation and attitude toward different types of products (i.e., search, experience and credence products). Drawing upon information processing theory, construal level theory and literature on online reviews, we propose that the effects of emotions (i.e., valence and arousal) on consumers’ trust toward the related products are moderated by product type. In particular, credence products have higher strengthening effects, compared to search products and experience products. In addition, we argue that psychological distance aroused by the review context weakens the moderating effects of product type. Our research findings have the potential to enrich our understanding of how online reviews affect consumers’ evaluation of different types of products, especially credence products.

[1]  David Schuff,et al.  What Makes a Helpful Review? A Study of Customer Reviews on Amazon.com , 2010 .

[2]  Bin Gu,et al.  Research Note - The Impact of External Word-of-Mouth Sources on Retailer Sales of High-Involvement Products , 2012, Inf. Syst. Res..

[3]  Chrysanthos Dellarocas,et al.  Are Consumers More Likely to Contribute Online Reviews for Hit or Niche Products? , 2010, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[4]  Heather C. Lench,et al.  Discrete emotions predict changes in cognition, judgment, experience, behavior, and physiology: a meta-analysis of experimental emotion elicitations. , 2011, Psychological bulletin.

[5]  Y. Trope,et al.  Construal-level theory of psychological distance. , 2010, Psychological review.

[6]  Daniel Västfjäll,et al.  Affect, Moral Intuition, and Risk , 2010 .

[7]  R. Fazio,et al.  The Enhancing Versus Backfiring Effects of Positive Emotion in Consumer Reviews , 2020, Journal of Marketing Research.

[8]  P. Nelson.  Information and Consumer Behavior , 1970, Journal of Political Economy.

[9]  Elena Karahanna,et al.  The Dark Side of Reviews: The Swaying Effects of Online Product Reviews on Attribute Preference Construction , 2017, MIS Q..

[10]  Yili Hong,et al.  Social Network Integration and User Content Generation: Evidence from Natural Experiments , 2017, MIS Q..

[11]  Han Zhang,et al.  Anxious or Angry? Effects of Discrete Emotions on the Perceived Helpfulness of Online Reviews , 2014, MIS Q..

[12]  Thomas E. Nygren,et al.  The Influence of Positive Affect on the Decision Rule in Risk Situations: Focus on Outcome (and Especially Avoidance of Loss) Rather Than Probability , 1996 .

[13]  Chuan-Hoo Tan,et al.  Comprehension and Assessment of Product Reviews: A Review-Product Congruity Proposition , 2013, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[14]  Christopher K. Hsee,et al.  Risk as Feelings , 2001, Psychological bulletin.

[15]  Yaacov Trope,et al.  Construal levels and self-control. , 2006, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[16]  Time-dependent gambling: odds now, money later. , 2002 .

[17]  Joseph E LeDoux.  Emotional networks and motor control: a fearful view. , 1996, Progress in brain research.

[18]  Choon-Ling Sia,et al.  Is This Review Believable? A Study of Factors Affecting the Credibility of Online Consumer Reviews from an ELM Perspective , 2012, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[19]  Esben Sloth Andersen,et al.  The evolution of credence goods in customer markets: exchanging 'pigs in pokes' , 1998 .

[20]  A. Tversky,et al.  Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases , 1974, Science.

[21]  R. Schindler,et al.  Perceived helpfulness of online consumer reviews: The role of message content and style: Perceived helpfulness of online consumer reviews , 2012 .

[22]  Samuel D. Bond,et al.  Keep Your Cool or Let it Out: Nonlinear Effects of Expressed Arousal on Perceptions of Consumer Reviews , 2017 .

[23]  Martin Wetzels,et al.  More than Words: The Influence of Affective Content and Linguistic Style Matches in Online Reviews on Conversion Rates , 2013 .

[24]  R. Schindler,et al.  Perceived Helpfulness of Online Consumer Reviews: The Role of Message Content and Style , 2010 .

[25]  M. Darby,et al.  Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud , 1973, The Journal of Law and Economics.

[26]  S. Danziger,et al.  “Wii Will Rock You!” The Use and Effect of Figurative Language in Consumer Reviews of Hedonic and Utilitarian Consumption , 2013 .

[27]  Joan Meyers-Levy,et al.  Emotional Persuasion: When the Valence versus the Resource Demands of Emotions Influence Consumers’ Attitudes , 2009 .

[28]  A. Isen,et al.  The influence of positive affect on acceptable level of risk: The person with a large canoe has a large worry , 1987 .

[29]  Chuan-Hoo Tan,et al.  Helpfulness of Online Review Content: The Moderating Effects of Temporal and Social Cues , 2018, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[30]  Kai Lung Hui,et al.  What Makes a Review Voted? An Empirical Investigation of Review Voting in Online Review Systems , 2015, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[31]  R. Zajonc.  On the primacy of affect. , 1984 .

[32]  Y. Trope,et al.  The role of feasibility and desirability considerations in near and distant future decisions: A test of temporal construal theory. , 1998 .

[33]  Joseph P. Newhouse,et al.  Health Care Spending Growth , 2011 .

[34]  X. Zhang,et al.  Impact of Online Consumer Reviews on Sales: The Moderating Role of Product and Consumer Characteristics , 2010 .

[35]  Yuksel Ekinci,et al.  Antecedents of travellers' electronic word-of-mouth communication , 2013 .

[36]  Yaacov Trope,et al.  You focus on the forest when you're in charge of the trees: power priming and abstract information processing. , 2006, Journal of personality and social psychology.