How credible are online product reviews? The effects of self-generated and system-generated cues on source credibility evaluation

Online product reviews are important information sources in the consumer decision-making process. Despite the importance of online reviews in product evaluation, there is an emerging need to address the role of self-generated and system-generated information in enhancing the credibility of online reviews. Two experiments were conducted to examine the topic. Study 1 found significant interactions between perceived similarity and source reputation on the evaluation of trustworthiness and expertise. Study 2 extended the findings of study 1 by examining how argument quality influenced credibility perception under different levels of similarity and source reputation. Two experiments were conducted to examine the credibility assessment of online product reviews.Self-generated cues and system-generated cues were found to have different roles in source credibility evaluation.Users' reputation generated by a peer-rating system has positive influences on trustworthiness and expertise.Perceived similarity has a positive effect on trustworthiness and a negative effect on expertise.Argument quality has greater influence on credibility evaluation than heuristic cues.

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