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

摘要

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.