Kollmer T, Eckhardt A, Reibenspiess V. Explaining consumer suspicion: insights of a vignette study on online product reviews.
Electron Mark 2022;
32:1221-1238. [PMID:
35692740 PMCID:
PMC9169021 DOI:
10.1007/s12525-022-00549-9]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2021] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
As part of the online product and service selection and purchase process, many consumers consult and rely on online product reviews. In order to persuade potential customers to buy their products, many organizations and businesses post deceptive product reviews of their own products on their own or third-party websites to their advantage. This creates consumer suspicion about the authenticity and veracity of online product reviews. To better understand how consumers' experiences of having been deceived by deceptive online product reviews in the past and the density of deception characteristics in an online product review influence their level of suspicion about the review and, ultimately, their intention to buy the product, we conduct a 3 × 3 vignette study. Our results indicate that deceptive characteristics in online product reviews and prior encounters with deception in online marketplaces increase consumer suspicion. Furthermore, we show that preference for a specific product decreases consumer suspicion about reviews of that product. Lastly, we demonstrate that consumer suspicion towards a product decreases purchase intention.
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