How do valence, types of
attributes mentioned and
recency influence the credibility
and perceived helpfulness of
online reviews?
The moderating role of consumer
skepticism
Table of Contents
Introduction
Research question
Main theoretical points
Conceptual Model
Methodology
Results
Conclusions
Introduction
Online consumer reviews are frequently defined as “peer-generated product
evaluation[s] posted on company or
Why is credibility important?
If people think the incoming information is credible, they will have more confidence to adopt the e-WOM comments and use them for making purchase decisions.
Why is Helpfulness important?
Helpfulness is an extremely broad
concept, but is often generally accepted to reflect a perception of an added value that derives from the decision-making
process (Mudambi et. 2010).
Reviews that were perceived as helpful by the reader had a much more potent
Research Question
How do valence of a review, the recency and the type of attributes mentioned in the
OCR affect the credibility and the
perceived helpfulness? And do consumer characteristics such as consumer skepticism
Main theoretical points
• “Negativity bias”
• Negative more credible
Valence
• Recent reviews more credible
but not much difference
Recency
• Search vs. experience
• Search more objective
OCR
Attributes
• Impossible to be persuaded no
matter what the arguments
Methodology
2x2x2 research design
Self made hotel reviews for each condition
Respondents randomly assigned to each condition using Qualtrics
222 respondents
Results
OCR usage mean of 5,16 on 7 point Likert Scale for the respondents
Identical results in Study 1 and Study 2
Model 5 was best performing with an R2 of 0,306
Median split used on consumer skepticism a solution for model 5 that presented
Not Significant Conclusions (I)
Recency
Not significant
Limitations and future Research
Time constraint
Adoption of other moderators
