Purpose

This study aims to assess the relative importance of the argument strength, argument sidedness, writing quality, number of arguments, rated review usefulness, summary review rating and number of reviews in determining the perceived usefulness and credibility of an online review. Additionally, the authors use insights from the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to explore the effect of consumers' product category involvement on the cues' relative importance.

Design/methodology/approach

A conjoint analysis (N = 287) is used to study the relative importance of the seven previously mentioned attributes. A balanced orthogonal design generated eight cards that correspond to individual reviews. Respondents scored all eight cards in a random order for perceived usefulness and credibility.

Findings

Overall, argument strength is the most important cue, while summary review rating and the number of reviews are the least important for perceived review usefulness and credibility. The number of arguments is more important for people who are more highly involved with the product, while writing quality and rated review usefulness are relatively more important for the low-involvement group.

Originality/value

This study provides a comprehensive test of how consumers perceive online reviews, as it the first to the authors’ knowledge to simultaneously investigate a large set of cues using conjoint analysis. This method allows for the implicit valuation (utility) of the individual cues, revealing the cues' relative importance, in a setting that comes close to a real-life context. Besides, insights of the ELM are used to understand how the relative importance of cues differs depending on the level of review readers' product category involvement.

中文翻译：

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哪些提示会影响在线评论的有用性和可信度？联合分析

目的

这项研究旨在评估论点强度，论点支持度，写作质量，论据数量，评分评论有用性，总结评论等级和评论数量在确定在线评论的感知有用性和可信度方面的相对重要性。此外，作者还利用拟订可能性模型（ELM）的见解来探索消费者参与产品类别对线索相对重要性的影响。

设计/方法/方法

联合分析（N  = 287）用于研究前面提到的七个属性的相对重要性。平衡的正交设计生成了八张与个人评论对应的卡片。受访者随机分配了八张卡片的评分，以了解其有用性和可信性。

发现

总体而言，论点强度是最重要的提示，而摘要评价的等级和评价的数量对于认为评价的有用性和可信性则最不重要。对于更多地参与产品的人们来说，论点的数量更为重要，而对于低参与度群体来说，写作质量和评价的有用性则相对更为重要。

创意/价值

这项研究提供了有关消费者如何看待在线评论的全面测试，这是作者首次了解使用联合分析同时调查大量线索的方法。此方法允许在接近现实生活的环境中对单个提示进行隐式评估（效用），从而揭示提示的相对重要性。此外，ELM的见解用于了解提示的相对重要性如何根据评论读者对产品类别的参与程度而有所不同。