Who are you behind the review? The effect of reviewers' profiles on consumer response

Abstract

As E-commerce market expands and a number of consumers buy products online, they seek for credible reviews about products before purchasing since consumers lack direct interaction with them. This study focuses on online consumer reviews and reviewers and investigates what affects them to be credible to consumers and their effect on consumer response. The study examines reviewers and reviews in terms of reviewers’ profiles and review valence. A 2 (levels of profiles) x 2 (review valence) online experiment was conducted with 245 subjects. The result indicates that reviewers’ profiles and reviews affect consumer credibility and consumer response. Negative reviews negatively affect consumer response regardless of reviewers` different levels of profiles, whereas positive reviews positively affect consumer response according to reviewers` different levels of profiles. As such, online marketers must organize a system for reviewers’ profiles in order to provide consumers with credible reviews for helping their purchase decision.