Influencing factors of online reviews: an empirical analysis of determinants of purchase intention. (28th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Thomas, Marc-Julian; Wirtz, Bernd W.; Weyerer, Jan C.
• Is Part Of: International journal of electronic business. Volume 15:Number 1(2019)
• Page Start: 43
• Page End: 71
• Publication Date: 2019-03-28
• Subjects: online reviews -- elaboration likelihood model -- argument quality -- peripheral cues -- purchase intention -- structural equation modelling; Electronic commerce -- Periodicals; 658.05467805
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1470-6067

Abstract

This study examines determinants of online review usefulness and their impact on recipients' purchase intentions. Based on elaboration likelihood theory, we developed and tested a model applying structural equation modelling to data collected from 282 Yelp users. The findings show that ease of comprehension, accuracy, opposing viewpoints, completeness, relevance and timeliness are significant dimensions of argument quality, whereas review quantity and consistency, reviewer reputation and expertise, product/service rating, as well as website reputation are crucial peripheral cues. Further, we identified argument quality and peripheral cues as determinants of review usefulness, which ultimately was found to positively affect recipients' purchase intentions.