Abstract

Online consumer reviews serve an important marketing function, as they provide useful consumer-generated product information that could help online shoppers evaluate a product for making a purchase decision. To capitalize on this consumer-driven marketing opportunity, a common practice among marketers, for example, is to display these reviews from “highest” to “lowest” ratings to strategically “guide” online shoppers to access and process these reviews. The current study examined how the serial position placement of online consumer reviews might influence the systematic and heuristic information processing style leading to product evaluation and purchase decision-making. Results showed that consumer reviews published in an ascending order of ratings led to more systematic information processing, which in turn was positively related to perceived review helpfulness. The opposite was true for the placement effects of consumer reviews on heuristic processing, and the relationship between heuristic processing and perceived review helpfulness. Consumers’ prior brand attitude had a positive association with systematic processing and perceived review helpfulness, in addition to a negative relationship with heuristic processing. While perceived review helpfulness and perceived e-commerce website credibility were positively associated with each other, the latter was similarly linked to consumer intentions to shop on the e-commerce website.

摘要

在线消费者评论具有重要的营销功能，因为它们提供了有用的消费者生成的产品信息，可以帮助在线购物者评估产品以做出购买决定。例如，为了利用这种以消费者为导向的营销机会，营销人员的常见做法是将这些评论从“最高”到“最低”评级显示，以战略性地“引导”在线购物者访问和处理这些评论。目前的研究检查了在线消费者评论的连续位置放置如何影响导致产品评估和购买决策的系统和启发式信息处理方式。结果表明，以评分升序发布的消费者评论导致更系统的信息处理，这反过来又与感知的评论有用性呈正相关。消费者评论对启发式处理的放置效果以及启发式处理与感知评论有用性之间的关系正好相反。消费者先前的品牌态度与系统处理和感知评论有用性呈正相关，此外与启发式处理呈负相关。虽然感知的评论有用性和感知的电子商务网站可信度彼此正相关，但后者同样与消费者在电子商务网站上购物的意图相关。消费者先前的品牌态度与系统处理和感知评论有用性呈正相关，此外与启发式处理呈负相关。虽然感知的评论有用性和感知的电子商务网站可信度彼此正相关，但后者同样与消费者在电子商务网站上购物的意图相关。消费者先前的品牌态度与系统处理和感知评论有用性呈正相关，此外与启发式处理呈负相关。虽然感知的评论有用性和感知的电子商务网站可信度彼此正相关，但后者同样与消费者在电子商务网站上购物的意图相关。