An Empirical Study on the Impact of Online Reviews on Consumers' Purchasing Intention

Abstract

Abstract:

Online word-of-mouth (WOM) has been playing an increasingly important role in consumers' purchasing decisions for the reason that Internet has greatly amplified the influence of WOM on consumers. This paper researches the online review which is one of the main forms of online WOM. It firstly develops a conceptual model for online reviews' power on consumers' purchasing intention which includes the receiver professional ability as the control factor, then raises corresponding hypotheses. Finally, the model and the hypotheses are tested and revised by empirical methods. The results of this paper show factors of functional value including the quantity, the quality and the titer of the comments affect consumers' purchasing intention positively. Besides, factors of receiver's mental representations including perceived risk, involvement and trust propensity have positive influence on online reviews' power on consumers' purchasing intention. Meantime, the receiver professional ability adjusts the relationships between the quality as well as the quantity of the comments and consumers' purchasing intention, but not the relationship between perceived risk and consumers' purchasing intention.

Key words: online review, consumers' purchasing intention, influence of online review

Du Xuemei, Ding Jingyu, Xie Zhihong, Lei Lifang. An Empirical Study on the Impact of Online Reviews on Consumers' Purchasing Intention[J]. , 2016, 28(3): 173-183.

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