Online reviews: Determining the perceived quality of information

Abstract

The technology scape has undergone tremendous changes in the last couple of decades. With increased changes in technology a lot of changes have occurred in the way consumers behave. One major change area is in the way consumers gather information about the products to make purchase decisions. Online reviews have become the major source of information and have taken over many traditional sources that existed earlier. The quality of information obtained from any source plays a major role in the consumer decision making. In this study the factors that influence the consumer perception of information quality of online reviews are identified. For this purpose a conceptual model was developed by reviewing literature in the following areas, online reviews, electronic word of mouth, and information quality. The model was tested using a pan India survey. The sample size included 155 online consumer review readers in their product purchase to identify the impact of various factors on perceived quality of information. The data was analyzed using ordered logistic regression. This study identified that factors such as Perceived Informativeness, Perceived Persuasiveness, Source Credibility, and Attitude towards Online Reviews have significant positive impact on the consumer's perception of quality of information obtained from online reviews.