TY - GEN
T1 - The informational role of online product review distributions
T2 - 18th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2012, AMCIS 2012
AU - Yuan, Wenjuan
AU - Hong, Yili
AU - Pavlou, Paul A.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Previous studies have identified the impact of self-selection biases in online product reviews on consumer surplus. However, no empirical study has studied how the consumers evaluate the rating distributions of online reviews, especially when credibility of reviews is susceptible to be jeopardized by self-selection biases. This study investigates how the existence of different types of self-selection biases in online product reviews influences consumers' intentions to purchase products and post reviews. A 2×2×2 randomized experiment was conducted to examine the role of two self-selection biases (underreporting and purchasing biases). Results indicate that subjects exposed to online product reviews that suffer from underreporting bias and purchasing bias have a significantly lower intention to purchase a product and post a review. Because consumers are not able to fully correct the self-selection biases in online product reviews, this study calls for the need to overcome self-selection biases and formulate strategies to help consumers trust online product reviews.
AB - Previous studies have identified the impact of self-selection biases in online product reviews on consumer surplus. However, no empirical study has studied how the consumers evaluate the rating distributions of online reviews, especially when credibility of reviews is susceptible to be jeopardized by self-selection biases. This study investigates how the existence of different types of self-selection biases in online product reviews influences consumers' intentions to purchase products and post reviews. A 2×2×2 randomized experiment was conducted to examine the role of two self-selection biases (underreporting and purchasing biases). Results indicate that subjects exposed to online product reviews that suffer from underreporting bias and purchasing bias have a significantly lower intention to purchase a product and post a review. Because consumers are not able to fully correct the self-selection biases in online product reviews, this study calls for the need to overcome self-selection biases and formulate strategies to help consumers trust online product reviews.
KW - Online product reviews
KW - Purchasing bias
KW - Purchasing intention
KW - Self-selection biases
KW - Trust
KW - Under-reporting bias
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84877910698&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84877910698&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84877910698
SN - 9781622768271
T3 - 18th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2012, AMCIS 2012
SP - 3780
EP - 3790
BT - 18th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2012, AMCIS 2012
Y2 - 9 August 2012 through 12 August 2012
ER -