Title: Influencing factors of online reviews: an empirical analysis of determinants of purchase intention

Authors: Marc-Julian Thomas; Bernd W. Wirtz; Jan C. Weyerer

Addresses: Chair for Information and Communication Management, German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer, Freiherr-vom-Stein-Str. 2, 67346 Speyer, Germany ' Chair for Information and Communication Management, German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer, Freiherr-vom-Stein-Str. 2, 67346 Speyer, Germany ' Chair for Information and Communication Management, German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer, Freiherr-vom-Stein-Str. 2, 67346 Speyer, Germany

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.

Keywords: online reviews; elaboration likelihood model; argument quality; peripheral cues; purchase intention; structural equation modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2019.099062

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2019 Vol.15 No.1, pp.43 - 71

Received: 24 Jul 2018
Accepted: 18 Dec 2018
Published online: 12 Apr 2019 *

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