Consumer Awareness and Use of Product Review Websites
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CONSUMER AWARENESS AND USE OF PRODUCT REVIEW WEBSITES
Ainsworth Anthony Bailey
ABSTRACT: This paper reports on a study that was undertaken to assess consumer awareness, and use, of product review
websites. Factors included the impact of e-opinion leadership, consumer susceptibility to informational influence, and gender onawareness and use of these websites. Participants completed a survey that solicited information on awareness of product review
websites, extent of usage, the aforementioned individual difference factors, as well as demographic information. Results indicated
that consumers, generally, are aware of the existence of product review websites and there is moderate usage of, and varied uses
for, these types of websites. Gender and certain individual difference factors, in particular e-opinion leadership, have an impact
on usage and perceptions of these types of websites. Limitations of the study and future research issues are presented.
"The result is a magnificent flowering of interest communities,
including those centered around product information. The most
intriguing of these is Epinions.com (http://www.epinions.com),
a vast and endlessly fascinating collection of member-supplied
reviews on an enormous amount of consumer products. Among a number of product-review sites, Epinions has best applied
those two major interest-community trends. It's a giant
community with thousands of adept reviewers and millions of
visitors. Furthermore, it uses clever technologies to maintain its
appealing site and to generate several revenue streams,
including one for the reviewers" (O'Leary 2002)
One of the major developments on the Internet, from a
consumer behavior perspective, is the growth in the number of
websites where consumers can provide and read product
reviews, and voice their complaints and opinions about
various goods and services (Armstrong and Hagel 1996; Bailey
2004; Boush and Kahle 2001; Chatterjee 2001; O'Leary 2002;
Perry 2000). A number of consumer-developed and marketer-
developed websites allow consumers to provide reviews of,
and feedback on, various brands that are available in the
marketplace. This paper refers to these types of websites as
product review websites.
Among some of the more well-known product review websites
are: (a) e-pinions (http://www.epinions.com), which bills itself
as "a premier consumer reviews platform on the Web and a
reliable source for valuable consumer insight, unbiased advice,
in-depth product evaluations and personalized
recommendations" (http://www.epinions.com/about/); (b)
Consumer Search's productopia
(http://www.productopia.com), which had its genesis in its
founder's need to access multiple sources of product
information prior to purchasing a desktop publishing system
for a new business (http://www.productopia.com/); (c)
Consumerreview.com (http://www.consumerreview.com),
which "consumers visit to learn, interact, and buy or sell the
products showcased within...network of web communities
(http://www.consumerreview.com/channels/consumerreview/
data/main/about_us.html); and (d) Cnet.com
(http://www.cnet.com), where one can find a number ofreviews of electronic and technology products.
As a result of the proliferation of these kinds of websites
consumers have access to a wealth of information, prior to
and even after, making various shopping decisions. The exten
to which consumers rely on these websites for information ha
been the subject of previous research (Chatterjee 2001
Dholakia and Soltysinski 2001; Dholakia, Basuroy, and
Soltysinski 2002). Chatterjee (2001) contended that word-of
mouth information available online is far more voluminous in
quantity, compared to information that may be available
offline; can be negative or positive in valence; and comes froma variety of sources (p. 129). This voluminous quantity of
information has been shown to impact consumer behavior
(see, e.g., Bickart and Schindler 2001; Dholakia and Soltysinsk
2001; Ratchford, Lee, and Talukdar 2003). The stream of
research on word-of-mouth communication also would
suggest that consumers are likely to utilize information found
on online product review websites. However, much of these
studies have been experimental in nature, where participants
have been deliberately exposed to product review websites and
then asked to provide their feedback.
The aim of this paper is to add to the discussion on the use o
product reviews by consumers. Previous assessments o
consumer use of product review websites have used
experimental studies where consumers were forcibly exposed
to information about these types of websites and then asked
about their attitudes and perceptions (see, e.g., Chatterjee
2001; Chiou and Cheng 2003; Senecal and Nantel 2004). This
study was, therefore, more interested in using survey research
Journal of Interactive Advertising, Vol 6 No 1 (Fall 2005), pp. 68‐81
© 2010 American Academy of Advertising, All rights reserved
ISSN 1525‐2019
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to glean information from consumers regarding their
awareness of product review websites and their usage of these
types of websites in consumer decision making. In addition,
we investigated the impact of two individual difference factors,
consumer susceptibility to informational influence and
consumer e-opinion leadership, and an oft-explored
demographic factor, gender, on awareness and usage.
The paper is organized as follows: First, there is a review of the
relevant literature, which leads to certain research questions.
Then, there is the report on the development of the
questionnaire, the sample, as well as the measures used in the
survey. Data collection and analysis, as well as the results, are
also discussed. Finally, there is a general discussion of the
research findings, as well as a presentation of the limitations of
the study and avenues for future research.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Social Influence, Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal
Influence, and Online Product Reviews
There is a large body of research in social psychology that has
pointed to the impact that social influence can have on
people's behavior (Apanovitch, Hobfoll, and Salovey 2002;
Asch 1955; Dolinski, Nawrat, and Rudak 2001). Social
information processing theory (Salancik and Pfeffer 1978)
addresses mechanisms by which peers influence individuals'
behavior and attitudes. According to this theory, social
information consists of comments and observations made by
people whose views an individual considers relevant.Researchers have shown the effects of social influence in
different spheres (see, e.g., Dolinski, Nawrat, and Rudak 2001).
Consumer researchers have also investigated the role of social
influence and its impact on consumer behavior (Burnkrant
and Cousineau 1975; Calder and Burnkrant 1977; Park and
Lessig 1977; for recent examples, see Butcher, Sparks, and
O'Callaghan 2002; Schlosser and Shavitt 2002). Word-of-
mouth communication is one type of social influence that has
received extensive attention in the consumer behavior
literature, though much focus has been on negative word-of-
mouth communication, as opposed to positive word-of-mouthcommunication (Laczniak, DeCarlo, and Ramaswami 2001;
Richins 1982, 1983, 1984; Singh 1990). Researchers have
shown that word of mouth communication has an impact on
consumer attitudes (Bickart and Schindler 2001); consumer
risk-taking (Woodside and Delozier 1976); short-term and
long-term product judgments (Bone 1995); purchase decisions
and choice behavior (Lau and Ng 2001); and is related to such
variables as consumer complaining behavior (Blodge
Granbois, and Walters 1993). The research on word-of-mouth
is particularly relevant in the discourse on consumer use of
online product review websites, since the information found
on these websites represents electronic word-of-mouth
communication.
The Internet has facilitated more connections among
consumers and is a forum for the exchange of information
among consumers (Armstrong and Hagel 1996; Chatterjee
2001; Hennig-Thurau et al. 2004). Prior research has shown
the impact of the Internet as a medium for consumer feedback
and information, and its influence on consumer behavior
Bickart and Schndler (2001), for example, investigated how
discussions within online communities impacted consumer
behavior. Results from their study pointed to the efficacy of
online forums in generating product interest. There was more
focus, however, on how this information can be used to assistwebsite developers with the development of better websites
Ratchford, Lee, and Talukdar (2003), in a study using data on
automobile purchases collected in 1990 and 2000, found that
the use of the Internet as an information source limited the
amount of search in which consumers engaged. This suggests
reliance on the Internet as a source of information.
Hanson and Putler (1996) conducted a study on herd behavior
and online product popularity in which they manipulated the
perceived popularity of programs on a large commercia
online system. The download counts of software, defined by
them as how many previous users had obtained a copy of thesoftware program, were artificially increased by repeated
downloading. Then they recorded subsequent downloads o
the programs made by an online service's subscribers, to assess
whether a difference in relative download levels would
influence future downloads for two products that were
essentially the same. They found that the manipulation
increased downloads of the treated program.
The possible impact of the virtual environment on consumer
behavior was further underscored by Dholakia and his
colleagues. Dholakia and Soltysinski (2001) provided evidence
for the herding bias in online auctions. This herding biasrepresents the tendency of many buyers to "gravitate toward
and bid for, auction listings with one or more existing bids
ignoring comparable or even more attractive unbid-for
auction listings within the same product category and available
at the same time" (Dholakia and Soltysinski 2001, p. 226). One
factor that increased the herding bias, according to their study
was the difficulty to evaluate quality within a product category
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They suggested that consumers in these online auctions
observed and used others' behavior as a guide to their own.
Dholakia, Basuroy, and Soltysinski (2002) indicated that
psychologists have found that the observable behaviors of
others exert strong influences on individuals, since observed
behavior may guide goal-directed behaviors by benefiting the
informational and social motives of the decision maker (p.
117).
Chatterjee (2001) investigated whether negative word-of-
mouth information or reviews of online retailers affected
evaluations and patronage intentions. In this study, online
word-of-mouth information was operationalized as retailer
reviews provided by comparison shopping engines, along with
purchase information. The study focused on the effects of
negative reviews on consumers' decisions to patronize the
retailer, given that consumers needed to purchase a particular
product. Their results showed that a majority of participantswanted to access product reviews when they were told that
these reviews were available. Overall, they found that the effect
of negative consumer reviews on consumers' perceptions of
the reliability of a retailer and patronage intentions was
moderated by the level of familiarity with the retailer.
Chiou and Cheng (2003) manipulated message favorableness,
message number, and brand image to assess their impact on
online consumers' perceptions and attitudes. They concluded
that message favorableness and message number in the online
discussion forum impacted consumers' brand evaluations and
attitudes toward the Web owner. More recently, Senecal andNantel (2004) investigated consumers' usage of online
recommendation sources and found that those participants in
their study who consulted product recommendations selected
recommended products twice as often as those who did not
consult recommendations, with some differences across
recommendation source and product category.
Prior research has shown that there are a number of individual
difference variables that are likely to impact consumers'
response to the Internet (Bagozzi and Dholakia 2002; Hennig-
Thurau et al. 2004). To date, no study of which we are aware
has looked at the extent to which susceptibility tointerpersonal influence might impact how consumers respond
to websites such as product review websites. Consumer's
susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII) has been a
source of interest for marketing researchers. This construct
relates to the extent to which consumers are amenable to
influence from different sources of information. Researchers
opine that this is a general trait that varies across people
(Bearden, Netemeyer, and Teel 1989; McGuire 1968). Bearden
Netemeyer, and Teel (1989) and Deutsch and Gerard (1955)
point to the different dimensions of CSII: (a) normative
influence, that is, the tendency to conform to the expectation
of others; and (b) informational influence, that is, the tendency
to accept information from others as evidence about reality
(Deutsch and Gerard 1955, p. 474).
In the current study, the interest was in susceptibility to
informational influence, given the nature of product review
websites as sources of information for consumers. Park and
Lessig (1977) suggest that in the case of informationa
influence, consumers may search for information from other
consumers whom they regard as knowledgeable, or they form
their judgments and decisions by observing others. Previous
research has also shown an impact of informational influence
on consumer behavior (see, e.g., Burnkrant and Cousineau
1975; LaTour and Manrai 1989; Lord, Lee, Choong 2001; Parkand Lessig 1977).
Opinion Leadership and Product Review Websites
Consumer opinion leadership has been of interest to
marketers for a long time. It is based on the idea that there are
"certain people who are most concerned about the issues and
as well as most articulate..." (Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet
1948). Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet (1948) referred to
these people as opinion leaders, and they exert interpersona
influence. Corey (1971) posited that they were "models of
opinion" who could be influencers on marketing efforts by
word-of-mouth communication to people around themMerton (1957) made a distinction between those opinion
leaders that influence opinions in limited spheres and those
opinion leaders who exert interpersonal influence in severa
different spheres. Most of the literature on opinion leadership
relates to interpersonal communication in an off-line sphere
(see, e.g., Bloch 1986; Corey 1971; Flynn, Goldsmith, and
Eastman 1996), with a few recent studies investigating opinion
leadership in an online sphere (Eastman, Eastman, and
Eastman 2002; O'Cass and Fenech 2003).
Eastman, Eastman, and Eastman (2002) focused primarily on
insurance sales agents and their use of, and attitudes toward
the Internet. Using the Flynn, Goldsmith, and Eastman (1996
opinion leadership scale, they developed opinion leadership
scores, as well as subjective knowledge scores, for these sales
agents. They then compared these scores to attitudes toward
the Internet. They found that agents with a higher level o
subjective knowledge about the Internet were more likely to be
opinion leaders about the Internet. In addition, opinion
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leaders and agents with higher levels of subjective knowledge
had a more favorable attitude about the Internet. However,
they found significance only for the relationship with opinion
leadership. Sales agents who were younger than the mean age
of 46 years old were more likely to be opinion leaders, and
they had a higher level of subjective knowledge of the Internet.
A primary conclusion of these researchers was that that
perceived knowledge and the willingness to discuss the
Internet with others impacted the agents' attitude toward the
Internet. They also concluded that younger agents would play
a major role in how the Internet would be used.
O'Cass and Fenech (2003) utilized the Technology Acceptance
Model (TAM) and applied it in an assessment of adoption of
the Internet for retail usage among a convenience sample of
Australian Web users. Among the constructs in which they
were interested was opinion leadership and its role in
impacting Web usage. They found that it was one of theantecedents that impacted users' perceptions of the usefulness
and ease of use of the Web for retail purchases.
The foregoing leads us to expect that in the online domain,
opinion leadership will have an impact on consumers' use of
product review websites. We refer to opinion leadership in the
online domain as E-opinion leadership and adapt the offline
definition of the construct for the online domain: consumers'
ability to influence other online consumers' opinions (e.g.,
Flynn, Goldsmith, and Eastman 1996; Reynolds and Darden
1971). E-opinion leaders are more likely than non-E-opinion
leaders to give their opinions and the Internet provides aforum for them to dispense these opinions.
Gender
Prior research on men's and women's use of the Internet has
revealed gender differences in online communication (Savicki,
Lingenfekter, and Kelly 1997). This stream of research has
investigated the link between gender and online behavior, with
some of these focusing on the use of information in the online
context (Garbarino and Strahilevitz 2004; Ha and Stoel 2004;
Sheehan 1999). Sheehan (1999) conducted a study to assess
gender differences in attitudes and behaviors towards
marketing communications involving the gathering of online
information. They also explored attitudes toward online
privacy. They surveyed a group of Internet users regarding
fifteen advertising and marketing situations. Their study
established gender differences in concerns for online privacy.
Women were more concerned than men about the type of
information that they shared online. There were also gender
differences in certain online behaviors, such as taking steps to
protect one's privacy, with women taking fewer steps than
men to safeguard their online privacy.
Ha and Stoel (2004) found, for example, gender differences in
the use of the Internet for information search for apparel
products. They found that female consumers were more likely
to use the Internet for this purpose than male consumersGarbarino and Strahilevitz (2004) investigated gender
differences in the perceptions of risks associated with
shopping online. In one study, using a survey, they looked a
how men's and women's online shopping risk perceptions
changed when they received a recommendation from a friend
In a follow-up experimental study they examined whether
there were differences between men and women in their
willingness to make an online purchase, based on a friend's
recommendation. They found gender differences, with women
perceiving a higher level of risk in online purchasing than
men. They also found that when a site was recommended by afriend that led to both a greater reduction in perceived risk
and a stronger increase in willingness to buy online among
women than among men.
RESEARCH ISSUES
In view of the foregoing discussion, the main purpose of this
research study was to try to answer the following questions:
R1: What is the level of awareness among consumers of
product review websites?
R2: To what extent do consumers use these websites in
their decision making?
R3: Do individual difference factors such as consumer
susceptibility to informational influence and e-opinion
leadership impact consumer use of product review
websites?
R4: Are there differences between men and women in the
use of product review websites, given prior research that
has shown gender differences in other areas of Internet
usage?
Answers to these questions will aid marketing communicator
who are interested in using vehicles such as product reviewwebsites in their efforts to reach consumers. The
characteristics of the consumers who use these websites in
their decision-making could be used as segmentation
variables, in order to distinguish those consumers for whom
this vehicle is an effective medium of communication and
those for whom it is not.
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METHOD
Questionnaire design
A survey was conducted in order to answer the above research
questions. The questionnaire used in the study contained
items that asked whether respondents had ever made
purchases online and their purchase histories, and about the
respondents' level of awareness of product review websites and
how they had become aware of them. The response to whether
they had ever purchased items online was used as a screening
question, since the interest was primarily in consumers who
had made purchases online. Respondents were also asked
about their visits to product review websites and whether they
had ever provided feedback at these sites. They also completed
the 4-item consumer susceptibility to informational influence
scale, which is a part of the longer CSII scale (Bearden,
Netemeyer, and Teel 1989) and a 5-item e-opinion leadership
scale, which represented an adaptation of the Reynolds andDarden (1971) opinion leadership scale, but with the focus on
online behavior. The items on the two scales referred to above
are in Appendix A. Demographic information such as
respondents' age, gender, race, income and employment levels,
as well as level of education was also gathered.
Sample
Data were collected using students enrolled in marketing
classes at a Midwestern metropolitan university in the US.
These students were asked to administer the survey to an adult
respondent other than themselves in the city where theUniversity is located (see, e.g., Goldsmith, Lafferty, and Newell
2000; Lau and Ng 2001). They received extra course credit for
their participation in data collection. Lau and Ng (2001)
justified this data collection approach, citing the relatively
inexpensive cost and reduction of non-useable questionnaires
as one of its principal advantages. A total of 250 useable
questionnaires were returned. The first question asked
respondents whether they had ever made any online
purchases. Those who responded no to this question were not
included in the analysis, since the interest was in consumers
who used the Internet to make purchases. As a result, 30
questionnaires were excluded from the data analysis stage.
There were 115 men and 103 women (gender information for
two respondents was missing). Most of the respondents
(57.7%) fell into the 18-24 age range. The majority were
Caucasian (80.5%), and were either college graduates (30%) or
had some college experience (about 58%). A majority had
incomes below $15,000 (35%), although there were a number
of respondents who earned in excess of $50,000 (26.4%). Mos
were full-time (41.8%) or part-time (36.4%) employees. Refer
to Table 1 for the profile of the sample used in this study.
Table 1. Demographic Profile of Respondents
Construct
The results of a principal components factor analysis involving
the items on the susceptibility to informational influence scale
and the e-opinion leadership scale using varimax rotation are
reproduced in Table 2. This shows that the items loaded on the
"appropriate" factors. Assessment of the scales' reliabilities wa
conducted using Cronbach alphas. The reliabilities were 0.75
for the SII scale and 0.89 for the E-opinion leadership scale, in
both cases above the 0.70 level recommended by Nunnally and
Bernstein (1994). Accordingly, the items on each scale were
summed to form composite scales that measured the twoconstructs. The mean score on the susceptibility to
informational influence scale was 17.46 (SD = 8.03), while the
median score was 17.0. The mean score on the e-opinion
leadership scale was 16.95 (SD = 5.03), while the median score
was 17.0. In both cases, higher scores on the scales represented
higher levels of the construct.
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Table 2. Factor Analysis Results, Alphas, and Descriptive
Statistics for Individual Difference Constructs
Data Analysis
After obtaining various descriptive statistics, a number of Mann-Whitney U-tests were performed, alternately using
susceptibility to informational influence, e-opinion leadership,
and gender as grouping variables. The analyses were
performed using SPSS 12.0 for Windows.
RESULTS
Awareness of Product Review Websites and Sources
Creating Awareness
After obtaining various descriptive statistics, a number of
Mann-Whitney U-tests were performed, alternately using
susceptibility to informational influence, e-opinion leadership,and gender as grouping variables. The analyses were
performed using SPSS 12.0 for Windows.
Participants' awareness of the existence of product review
websites was measured using a single Likert-type scale item.
We provided a description to the participants and asked them
to indicate how aware they were of product review websites
prior to reading the description. The description read: When
consumers have to shop online, they have access to websites
where companies and consumers provide product reviews and
feedback about consumers' experiences with purchasing and
using certain types of products. For example, Amazon.com hasa link on its website where consumers can provide reviews on
books that they have purchased from that company. These
websites can be classified as product review websites. Four
options were provided: not at all; somewhat aware; aware; very
aware. Of the participants in the sample, 13.6% indicated that
they were not at all aware of the existence of product review
websites. About 21% of the sample regarded themselves as
being very aware of the existence of product review websites
with the majority being somewhat aware (38%) or aware
(28%).
Figure 1: Awareness of product review websites
To determine what sources created awareness of product
review websites, participants were asked to indicate from
among several options how they became aware of these types
of websites. The options were: word-of-mouth from friend
family member, other person; surfing the Internet; Internet
search; news report/story; chatrooms/discussion forums
company communication; and other. Participants could check
more than one source of information. The primary source
creating awareness was Internet surfing. Of those who
indicated that they were aware of the existence of product
review websites, about 66% of them reported that they became
aware of them while surfing the Internet. Off-line word-of-
mouth communication was ranked as the second most
influential source of awareness, with 34% reporting that they
became aware of product review websites through this means
Company communication and online communication via
chatrooms and discussion forums did not play a major role in
creating awareness, as only 9.5% and 2.6%, respectively, of the
sample reported these as sources of information.
Visits to Product Review Websites and Factors Influencing
Visits
The current research was interested in the extent to which
consumers visited product review websites and used
information at these websites in their decision making. So
participants in this survey were asked (a) whether they had
ever visited a product review website; (b) whether they had
visited a product review website prior to purchasing a product
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74 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2005
reviewed at that website; and (c) whether they had visited a
product review website after they had made a product
purchase. They were provided with options from which they
selected the main reason for visiting a product review website
prior to a product purchase. In the case of visits after a product
purchase, an open-ended question solicited their reasons for
visiting the site after a product purchase. The data from
participants who indicated that they were unaware of the
existence of product review websites were not included in the
analyses related to items b and c.
Of the total sample, 123 respondents indicated that they had
visited a product review website before (56% of all participants
who met the screening criterion; 65% of those who were aware
of product review websites). Hence, participants in this study
were more likely to have visited a product review website, but
more so when they were aware of their existence. Seventy six
(76) participants indicated that they had visited a productreview website prior to making a product purchase. This was
62% of those who said that they had ever visited a product
review website. There were significant differences in the
reasons posited for these visits (x2[6] = 55.16, p < .00). The
principal motivating factor was to use it as an additional
source of information (35.5%; refer to Table 3). The next
major motivating factor was the need for assurance or
reassurance that they were making a good (correct) choice
(27.6%). About 17% of the sample wanted to know what other
consumers were thinking. Few used the website as a primary
source of information prior to a product purchase (10.5%).
A small portion of our sample (n = 43; 35% of all respondents
who had visited a product review website before) had visited a
website after they made a product purchase. The principal
motivating factor was to see what other consumers thought
about the product (28%), while the need for reassurance (21%)
also figured prominently. A number of respondents gave one-
word responses such as "curiosity" and "dissatisfaction," which
were classified as Other reasons. About 19% wanted to provide
feedback (see Table 4).
Table 3. Factors influencing visit to product review
website prior to product purchase (n = 76)
Table 4. Factors influencing visit to product review
website after product purchase (n = 43)
Provision of Feedback at Product Review Websites
The likelihood of participants providing feedback at producreview websites was also explored. Since product review
websites owe their existence to consumer willingness to pos
feedback regarding their experiences with various brands and
companies, it was important to determine what percentage of
the sample had engaged in this activity. Of the 123 participant
that had ever visited a product review website, only 28% had
provided feedback at one of these sites. Among those who had
visited a product review website after a product purchase, this
percentage increased to 44%. In general, the participants
reported that extreme dissatisfaction or extreme satisfaction
with a product purchase experience would be the main factorsthat would influence them to provide feedback at a product
review website. This was the case also among those
respondents who had visited a product review website after a
product purchase (extreme dissatisfaction was ranked number
1 by 41% of these respondents; extreme satisfaction was
ranked number 1 by 25% of these respondents).
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E-opinion Leadership, Consumer Susceptibility to
Informational Influence, Gender, and Product Review
Websites
The impact of two individual difference factors as well as
gender on consumers' awareness of and use of product review
websites was also investigated. On the basis of median splits of scores on the susceptibility to informational influence scale
and the e-opinion leadership scale (refer to Table 2),
respondents were divided into groups (high and low in
susceptibility to interpersonal influence; high and low e-
opinion leadership). Several Mann-Whitney U tests were
conducted, alternately using these three variables. The results
of the Mann-Whitney U tests are reported in Tables 5 through
7.
Table 5. Mann-Whitney U test Results: E-opinion
leadership
Table 6. Mann-Whitney U test results: Susceptibility to
Informational Influence
Table 7. Mann-Whitney U test results: Gender
As indicated in Table 5, the tests showed that e-opinion
leadership had a significant impact on all the dependen
variables of interest, with the exceptions of perceptions of the
importance of product review websites to consumers (z = -
1.68, p = 0.09) and whether they had visited a product review
website after a product purchase (z = -1.05, p = 0.29). E-
opinion leadership significantly affected (a) awareness of
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product review websites (z = -3.25, p = 0.00), with high e-
opinion leadership respondents being more likely to be aware
of these websites than low e-opinion leadership respondents;
(b) whether respondents had ever visited a product review
website (z = -3.15, p = 0.00); (c) whether respondents had ever
visited a product review website prior to a product purchase (z
= -3.12, p = 0.00); (d) perceptions of these sites' influence on
consumer decision making (z = -3.26, p = 0.00); and (e)
provision of feedback at product review websites (z = -3.49, p
= 0.00). In all these cases, mean ranks for high e-opinion
leadership respondents were significantly higher than those for
low e-opinion leadership respondents. However, regardless of
whether they were low e-opinion leaders or high e-opinion
leaders, respondents perceived product review websites as
important to consumers but were not likely to have visited one
after a product purchase.
Unlike the pattern with e-opinion leadership, the pattern forsusceptibility of informational influence indicated that this
construct had a significant impact only on perceptions of the
importance of product review websites to consumers (z = -
2.51, p = 0.01), with the mean rank for high SII respondents
exceeding that of low SII respondents. There were no
significant differences in mean ranks across the other
variables.
The results indicated gender differences in the cases of
awareness of product review websites (z = -3.15, p = 0.00);
whether respondents had ever visited a product review website
(z = -3.12, p = 0.00); and whether they had visited one prior toa product purchase (z = -2.58, p = 0.01). In all cases, the mean
ranks for male respondents exceeded those of female
respondents. None of the other variables was susceptible to
gender differences.
DISCUSSION
A principal aim of this study was to glean information on
consumers' awareness and use of product review websites in
their decision making. This was against the background that
consumers now have at their disposal, in the online
environment, a rich array of comments and opinions, from
myriad sources, regarding experiences with various products
and brands. The Internet has fostered this consumer-to-
consumer articulation, and, as is the case with off-line word-
of-mouth communication, these online consumer-to-
consumer articulations are likely to have implications for
consumer behavior. In addition, the impact of two individual
difference factors, consumer susceptibility to informational
influence and e-opinion leadership, and gender on consumer
use of these product review websites, was investigated.
From a theoretical point of view, this study indicates that there
are a number of individual difference factors that ought to be
incorporated in any investigation or discussion of the effects
on online consumer-to-consumer articulations. It was seenfrom this study that consumers' perceptions of their level of e-
opinion leadership was one variable that impacted their
awareness and use of product review websites. It had an
impact on all but two of the seven variables that were assessed
Hence, this is an important construct in the discourse on
online consumer articulations. Even though susceptibility to
informational influence was not as overarching in its effects
there was still evidence that this construct impacted
perceptions of the importance of product review websites to
consumers. Consumers who are susceptible to informationa
influence attach more importance to these types of websitesthan do consumers who are less susceptible to informationa
influence. The results also lend support to the various studies
that have found gender differences in online communication
and consumer behavior. Men were more likely to be aware of
product review websites and to have visited them before and
also before a product purchase. Both groups felt that these
sites were important and had an impact on consumer decision
making. In addition, there were no gender differences in
posting feedback at product review websites. Hence, any
model that purports to explain how consumers respond to
online consumer-to-consumer articulations needs to take into
account the role of gender.
These results also hold managerial implications. Generally
consumers are aware of the existence of product review
websites and are likely to visit them when they are aware o
them. Consumers use them primarily for reassurance and as
source of additional information. It means, therefore, tha
marketers have to strive to minimize negative online
consumer articulations, given the reasons that consumers use
product review websites. This warrants additional attention, a
respondents in this survey indicated that it was the level of
dissatisfaction or satisfaction with a marketer that would
prompt them to provide feedback on one of these websites.
A task that marketing communications managers and brand
managers have to undertake is the identification of low and
high e-opinion leadership consumers. If companies want to
improve their offerings to consumers they could target high e
opinion leaders for their feedback and recommendations
since these consumers are more likely than low e-opinion
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77 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2005
leaders to generate feedback to companies. Obviously, any
online feedback that these consumers provide would be
available to other interested consumers. Results also indicated
that consumers who are highly susceptible to informational
influence differ from lowly susceptible to informational
influence consumers in their perceptions of the importance of
product review websites. So, marketing communications
managers and brand managers could develop review websites
and target these consumers with them.
There are also implications from a public policy point of view.
Some companies may manipulate website information in
order to influence and obtain consumers, aware that various
consumers use product review websites prior to decision
making. So, for example, a company official who enters a
forum where a company's products are reviewed and posts
recommendations or positive feedback under the guise of
being an ordinary forum user would be doing somethingunethical. However, with the anonymity that the Internet
provides, one is not always certain who is posting what
information in cyberspace. Hence, it is important that there be
some mechanism in place to monitor the extent to which
companies associated with different websites manipulate
consumer feedback on these websites. The caveat "buyer
beware" is also applicable to consumers who are reliant on
these types of websites for their decision making.
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
As with many research projects, this project suffered from
some limitations. A main concern is that students enrolled in
marketing classes at a Midwestern university in the United
States administered the survey to adults in the city in which
the university is located. Hence, this sample was not a
probability sample. So, there are limits on the extent to which
findings from this study can be generalized to the entire
population of Internet users. However, given the exploratory
nature of this study, it does contribute to an appreciation of
the importance of taking into account the possible impact of
product review websites on consumer decision making. Efforts
should be made to replicate this study with other groups of
consumers and across cultures, since it is likely that cross-cultural differences in consumer response to product review
websites also exist.
A screening criterion was used that excluded participants that
had never purchased items online, since the principal focus
was on those consumers who make online purchases.
However, it is very possible that there are consumers who may
rely on online product review websites when they make
purchases in traditional brick-and-mortar retai
establishments. These consumers, even though they use
product review websites, were excluded from our study
Future research should incorporate these consumers in
investigating the use of product review websites. Differences in
reasons for usage between online and offline purchasers could
be explored. Some respondents in this study also indicated
that they use these websites for reassurance. It would
therefore, be worthwhile to investigate the extent to which
these websites could play a role in fostering or minimizing
such negative consumer emotions as cognitive dissonance.
The role of two individual difference factors and how they
related to consumer use of product review websites was
explored. There are a number of other individual difference
factors that could be considered to determine the extent to
which they impact consumer use of product review websites
A factor closely related to e-opinion leadership is e-mavenism(see, e.g., Walsh & Mitchell 2001). The extent to which
consumers regard themselves as e-mavens is likely to impact
their visits to product review websites and their provision o
feedback at these websites. Consumers' perceptions of their
general expertise with using the Internet might also impact
whether they rely on product review websites. This is an issue
that is open to exploration. In addition, it is likely tha
demographic factors such as age and levels of education migh
have an impact on consumers' perceptions of these types o
websites. This, too, can be investigated, so that marketers can
better profile consumers who use these websites in their
decision-making.
Credibility of the websites will likely impact the extent to
which consumers rely on these types of websites in their
decision making. For example, consumers might perceive
consumer-operated websites differently from company
operated websites. In addition, at some websites, consumers
are paid to encourage their feedback. Some consumers might
discount the feedback provided at these "pay-for-feedback
websites. Future research should investigate the factors that
enhance product review website credibility. Also, across
cultures, there are likely to be differences in consumers
reliance on sources of information such as product review
websites. Cross-cultural studies that seek to identify these
differences should be undertaken.
The issue of consumer use of product review websites will
continue to attract attention from both researchers and
marketing communications managers and brand managers
given the impact that the Internet continues to have on
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78 Journal of Interactive Advertising Fall 2005
consumer behavior. The growth in these websites means that
much exchange of information can take place in virtual
communities, some of which marketers can control and some
of which they cannot control. Hence, it is necessary for them
to be able to establish profiles of consumers that are likely to
use these websites, as well as determine what factors will likely
influence how consumers perceive the information available at
these websites.
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APPENDIX A: Questionnaire Items used in Survey
A. Consumer Susceptibility to Informational Influence
Scale
1. I often consult other people to help choose the best
alternative available from a product class (INF1).
2. To make sure I buy the right product or brand, I often
observe what others are buying and using (INF2).
3. If I have little experience with a product, I often ask my
friends about the product (INF3).
4. I frequently gather information from friends and family
about a product before I buy (INF4).
B. Online Opinion Leadership*
1. My friends, family, and neighbors often ask me my advice
about shopping online (EOL1).
2. I sometimes influence my friends to shop online (EOL2).
3. People are more likely to come to me more often than I go
to them for information about online shopping (EOL3).
4. I feel that I am generally regarded by others as a good source
of advice about online shopping (EOL4).
5. I can think of at least one person whom I have told about
online shopping in the last six months (EOL5).
*All items were measured on 7-point scales anchored by
Strongly disagree and Strongly agree
C. Awareness of Product Review Websites
Description: When consumers have to shop online, they have
access to websites where companies and consumers provide
product reviews and feedback about consumers' experience
with purchasing and using certain types of products. For
example, Amazon.com has a link on its website where
consumers can provide reviews on books that they have
purchased from that company. These websites can be classified
as product review websites.
Prior to reading the above, were you aware of the existence of
product review websites? Please check one
(Not at all _____ Somewhat aware _____Aware _____ Very
aware ______)
D. Visit to Product Review Websites
Have you ever visited one of these product review websites?
(Yes ____ No ____)
E. Visit to Product Review Website Prior to Product
Purchase
Have you ever visited any product review websites prior to
making an online purchase? (Yes ___No ___)
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F. Visit to Product Review Website After Product Purchase
Have you ever visited a product review website after you made
a product purchase? (Yes ___No ___)
G. Perceptions of Influence of Product Review Websites
To what extent do product review websites influence youronline purchase decisions?
(Not at all______A little _____ A lot _____ It depends on
product _____)
H. Perceptions of Importance of Product Review Websites
How important do you think product review websites are for
consumers? Please circle a number.
Not very important 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Very Important
I. Provision of Feedback at Product Review Website
I have provided feedback/review at a product review website.
(True _____ False ____)
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Ainsworth Anthony Bailey (Ph. D, University of Iowa) is an
assistant professor of marketing in the College of Business
Administration, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA. His
research focuses on the effects of different sources and various
marketing communications stimuli on consumption behavior.
He has had articles published or forthcoming in Journal of
Marketing Communications, Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services, Psychology and Marketing, and Journal of
Advertising. E-mail: [email protected].