Abstract
Background: Online review, as an important way of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication, plays an important role in e-commerce. However, few studies have examined the dark side of online reviews and their effect on consumers' purchase intentions. Information inconsistency is one of the dark sides that plays a critical role in influencing consumers' purchase intentions through online reviews.Methods: Using a 2*2 between-subject design that explores the main effects of the type of information inconsistency (vertical- vs. horizontal-attribute inconsistency) on purchase intention and the moderating effect of product type (search vs. experience product).Results: This study examines whether and how the type of information inconsistency between online recommendations and reviews influences consumer purchase decision-making.Conclusions: The findings show that vertical-attribute inconsistency leads to a lower purchase intention for search products; moreover, both vertical- and horizontal-attribute inconsistencies have no significant effect on purchase intention for experience products.
Highlights
With the advent of the “Internet+” era, online consumption patterns have become increasingly popular
ANOVA was used to analyze the type of information inconsistency between online recommendations and reviews
The results show that vertical-attribute inconsistency concerning search products leads to higher perceived uncertainty, which further leads to lower purchase intention, the hypothesis 4a is supported (Mvertical = 5.600, Mhorizontal = 4.179, r = 1.204, P < 0.001)
Summary
With the advent of the “Internet+” era, online consumption patterns (e.g., online booking and shopping) have become increasingly popular. Online recommendations are generated through referral systems (e.g., personal-recommendation websites), giving an explicit suggestion for consumers (Azer and Alexander, 2020) that are an effective tool for consumers to discover items they may be interested in from a large collection of products. Few studies have examined the dark side of online reviews and their effect on consumers’ purchase intentions. Information inconsistency is one of the dark sides that plays a critical role in influencing consumers’ purchase intentions through online reviews
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