A cross‐cultural study on online reviews and decision making: An eye‐tracking approach

Abstract

AbstractEvery information on an online review has a different impact on individual's decision‐making process. This difference is attributed to the individual's attribution of responsibility, which influences their cognition. In this study, a survey and eye‐tracker were used to conduct a study on restaurant reviews between two groups of participants (U.S. and Japan). Result suggests that the presentation of food in an image has a stronger impact on the Japanese respondents than it is for Americans. Between the two groups of participants, Americans focused more on the positive ratings, whereas Japanese focus on the extreme end of the ratings (1‐star vs. 5‐star). The distribution of the star ratings, which forms a particular letter shape (e.g., E) also has an impact on respondents' decision‐making process. Results show that Americans fixate on the shape of the distribution 7–8 times longer than the Japanese respondents. The result in this study suggests that the cultural cognition and attribution of responsibility, which is reflected in respondents' cultural dimensions (e.g., monumentalism vs. flexhumility), need to be considered. These considerations will affect how a company presents their information on a review site so that the content resonates and aids in their consumers' decision‐making process.