Title: An empirical investigation of online review diagnosticity

Authors: G. Amar Raju; Dennis Joseph

Addresses: IBS Hyderabad, IFHE University, Dontanpally, Hyderabad, 501203, Telengana, India ' IBS Hyderabad, IFHE University, Dontanpally, Hyderabad, 501203, Telengana, India

Abstract: Online reviews have become an essential tool for evaluating products and services with the exponential growth of online shopping. Marketers are also using online product reviews as important promotional tools that motivate the consumers to buy. Websites that provide better information in the form of online reviews will eventually attract more consumers. In this context, it is important to improve the perceived diagnosticity of online reviews. The present empirical study aims to investigate whether argument quality and source credibility of information in online reviews affect the review website diagnosticity. The study also investigates whether this perceived diagnosticity in turn affects consumer's attitude towards the website and revisit intention.

Keywords: electronic word of mouth communication; product reviews; online reviews; argument quality; source credibility; diagnosticity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2017.084440

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2017 Vol.25 No.3, pp.319 - 335

Received: 09 Oct 2015
Accepted: 13 Dec 2015
Published online: 07 Jun 2017 *

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