IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v168y2023ics0148296323005982.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Brand wagon effect: How brand equity eclipses the effect of eWoM on purchase intentions – Mediating role of review helpfulness

Author

Listed:
  • Upadhyay, Yogesh
  • Tripathi, Aditya

Abstract

As a result of digitalization, consumers have more agency than in earlier times. Consumers now have the ability to express their consumption experiences through diverse online platforms by means of rating or providing written feedback. The ability to effectively decipher online customer reviews (OCRs) holds significant importance for businesses due to its far-reaching consequences. This research aimed to determine if review valence (RV) (the degree to which reviews are extremely positive or negative) was transmitted to purchase intentions via review helpfulness within the framework of signaling theory and cue-diagnosticity theory. The research also examined the presence of negative bias among customers when evaluating the valence of online customer reviews (OCRs) and its signaling ofreview helpfulness. Further, to determine if such an effect occurs within the boundaries of brand equity, an experimental study was conducted sequentially on two products: mobile phones and laptop computers. The study did not find negative bias among consumers concerning the assessment of RV. Further, the study supports an indirect effect of RV on purchase intention through review helpfulness. In addition, the results demonstrate that the referred effect is fully mediated by review helpfulness. Moreover, the results indicate that such an indirect effect is contingent on the brand's equity. The findings indicate that the RV has a significant effect on purchase intentions, particularly when brand equity is low. The study also discusses the study's managerial and research implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Upadhyay, Yogesh & Tripathi, Aditya, 2023. "Brand wagon effect: How brand equity eclipses the effect of eWoM on purchase intentions – Mediating role of review helpfulness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:168:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323005982
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114239
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323005982
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114239?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ma, Ruijing & Wang, Weisha, 2021. "Smile or pity? Examine the impact of emoticon valence on customer satisfaction and purchase intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 443-456.
    2. Cambier, Fanny & Poncin, Ingrid, 2020. "Inferring brand integrity from marketing communications: The effects of brand transparency signals in a consumer empowerment context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 260-270.
    3. Alton Y.K. Chua & Snehasish Banerjee, 2015. "Understanding review helpfulness as a function of reviewer reputation, review rating, and review depth," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(2), pages 354-362, February.
    4. Eric J. Johnson & John W. Payne, 1985. "Effort and Accuracy in Choice," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 395-414, April.
    5. Filieri, Raffaele, 2015. "What makes online reviews helpful? A diagnosticity-adoption framework to explain informational and normative influences in e-WOM," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1261-1270.
    6. Verma, Deepak & Prakash Dewani, Prem & Behl, Abhishek & Pereira, Vijay & Dwivedi, Yogesh & Del Giudice, Manilo, 2023. "A meta-analysis of antecedents and consequences of eWOM credibility: Investigation of moderating role of culture and platform type," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Zhang, Jason Q. & Craciun, Georgiana & Shin, Dongwoo, 2010. "When does electronic word-of-mouth matter? A study of consumer product reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(12), pages 1336-1341, December.
    8. Purnawirawan, Nathalia & De Pelsmacker, Patrick & Dens, Nathalie, 2012. "Balance and Sequence in Online Reviews: How Perceived Usefulness Affects Attitudes and Intentions," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 244-255.
    9. Bian, Qin & Forsythe, Sandra, 2012. "Purchase intention for luxury brands: A cross cultural comparison," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 1443-1451.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yani Wang & Jun Wang & Tang Yao, 2019. "What makes a helpful online review? A meta-analysis of review characteristics," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 257-284, June.
    2. Yi Feng & Yunqiang Yin & Dujuan Wang & Lalitha Dhamotharan & Joshua Ignatius & Ajay Kumar, 2023. "Diabetic patient review helpfulness: unpacking online drug treatment reviews by text analytics and design science approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 328(1), pages 387-418, September.
    3. Zheng, Lili, 2021. "The classification of online consumer reviews: A systematic literature review and integrative framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 226-251.
    4. Pooja Katyal & Reetika Sehgal, 2025. "Unraveling the impact of online consumer reviews on consumer buying behavior," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 16(1), pages 330-345, January.
    5. Shobhit Kakaria & Aline Simonetti & Enrique Bigne, 2024. "Interaction between extrinsic and intrinsic online review cues: perspectives from cue utilization theory," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 2469-2497, December.
    6. Bhukya, Ramulu & Paul, Justin, 2023. "Social influence research in consumer behavior: What we learned and what we need to learn? – A hybrid systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    7. Moradi, Masoud & Dass, Mayukh & Kumar, Piyush, 2023. "Differential effects of analytical versus emotional rhetorical style on review helpfulness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Yang Liu & Xingchen Ding & Maomao Chi & Jiang Wu & Lili Ma, 2024. "Assessing the helpfulness of hotel reviews for information overload: a multi-view spatial feature approach," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 59-87, March.
    9. Guha Majumder, Madhumita & Dutta Gupta, Sangita & Paul, Justin, 2022. "Perceived usefulness of online customer reviews: A review mining approach using machine learning & exploratory data analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 147-164.
    10. Bin Guo & Shasha Zhou, 2017. "What makes population perception of review helpfulness: an information processing perspective," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 585-608, December.
    11. Meek, Stephanie & Wilk, Violetta & Lambert, Claire, 2021. "A big data exploration of the informational and normative influences on the helpfulness of online restaurant reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 354-367.
    12. Han Yan & Rui Wang & Jin Qin, 2025. "Design factors of the tag-based review summarization system: Perspective of the consumers’ intention to use," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 35(1), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Wanshu Niu & Liqiang Huang & Xixi Li & Jie Zhang & Mingliang Chen, 2023. "Beyond the review information: an investigation of individual- and group-based presentation forms of review information," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 159-176, June.
    14. Purnawirawan, Nathalia & Eisend, Martin & De Pelsmacker, Patrick & Dens, Nathalie, 2015. "A Meta-analytic Investigation of the Role of Valence in Online Reviews," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 17-27.
    15. Anuja Shukla & Anubhav Mishra, 2023. "Role of Review Length, Review Valence and Review Credibility on Consumer’s Online Hotel Booking Intention," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 12(4), pages 403-414, December.
    16. Zhu, Yongmin & Liu, Miaomiao & Zeng, Xiaohua & Huang, Pei, 2020. "The effects of prior reviews on perceived review helpfulness: A configuration perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 484-494.
    17. Harrison-Walker, L. Jean & Jiang, Ying, 2023. "Suspicion of online product reviews as fake: Cues and consequences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    18. Hernández-Ortega, Blanca, 2020. "When the performance comes into play: The influence of positive online consumer reviews on individuals' post-consumption responses," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 422-435.
    19. Banerjee, Snehasish & Chua, Alton Y.K., 2020. "How alluring is the online profile of tour guides?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    20. Zhang, Hao & Liang, Xiaoning & Qi, Chenyue, 2021. "Investigating the impact of interpersonal closeness and social status on electronic word-of-mouth effectiveness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 453-461.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:168:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323005982. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.