IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orisre/v34y2023i3p1211-1227.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decide Now or Later: Making Sense of Incoherence Across Online Reviews

Author

Listed:
  • Dezhi Yin

    (Muma College of Business, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620)

  • Triparna de Vreede

    (Muma College of Business, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620)

  • Logan M. Steele

    (Muma College of Business, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620)

  • Gert-Jan de Vreede

    (Muma College of Business, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620)

Abstract

Mixed or inconsistent opinions are commonplace in online reviews. Prior research shows that review inconsistency has different effects: its product-level manifestation in the form of inconsistent product ratings is associated with poorer sales, but its review-level manifestation in the form of two-sided arguments is associated with greater helpfulness and credibility evaluations of the review. In practice, consumers rarely consult all reviews or just a single review before they make purchase decisions. Instead, they often read a set of featured reviews (i.e., a review set) and some additional reviews if needed. Focusing on inconsistency in a review set, we introduce a new type of inconsistency across reviews that does not exist within a single review or at the level of product ratings: cross-review incoherence, which refers to disagreement among reviewers about specific product features. Based on cognitive dissonance theory, we explore how and when cross-review incoherence influences helpfulness and credibility judgments of the review set, revealing that consumers’ reactions to such incoherence might operate differently beyond an individual review. In addition, we examine how and why consumers’ judgments of a review set influence their purchase deferral—that is, the likelihood of making a buy-or-not-buy decision immediately after consulting the top reviews or deferring it until after obtaining more information. Two laboratory experiments demonstrate that cross-review incoherence increases purchase deferral via more negative evaluations of the review set that, in turn, reduce attitude certainty. In addition, the negative effect of cross-review incoherence on review set evaluations is weaker when the reviewers provide more contextual information behind their opinions. These findings deepen our understanding of inconsistency across multiple pieces of information; reveal the consequences of review evaluations during an understudied stage of consumers’ decision-making process; and provide critical implications for review platforms, companies, and reviewers.

Suggested Citation

  • Dezhi Yin & Triparna de Vreede & Logan M. Steele & Gert-Jan de Vreede, 2023. "Decide Now or Later: Making Sense of Incoherence Across Online Reviews," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 1211-1227, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:34:y:2023:i:3:p:1211-1227
    DOI: 10.1287/isre.2022.1150
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.1150
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/isre.2022.1150?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yili (Kevin) Hong & Paul A. Pavlou, 2014. "Product Fit Uncertainty in Online Markets: Nature, Effects, and Antecedents," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 328-344, June.
    2. Monic Sun, 2012. "How Does the Variance of Product Ratings Matter?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(4), pages 696-707, April.
    3. Zhanfei Lei & Dezhi Yin & Han Zhang, 2021. "Focus Within or On Others: The Impact of Reviewers’ Attentional Focus on Review Helpfulness," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 801-819, September.
    4. Floyd, Kristopher & Freling, Ryan & Alhoqail, Saad & Cho, Hyun Young & Freling, Traci, 2014. "How Online Product Reviews Affect Retail Sales: A Meta-analysis," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 217-232.
    5. Zhanfei Lei & Dezhi Yin & Sabyasachi Mitra & Han Zhang, 2022. "Swayed by the reviews: Disentangling the effects of average ratings and individual reviews in online word‐of‐mouth," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(6), pages 2393-2411, June.
    6. Dezhi Yin & Sabyasachi Mitra & Han Zhang, 2016. "Research Note—When Do Consumers Value Positive vs. Negative Reviews? An Empirical Investigation of Confirmation Bias in Online Word of Mouth," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 131-144, March.
    7. 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.
    8. C. Nadine Wathen & Jacquelyn Burkell, 2002. "Believe it or not: Factors influencing credibility on the Web," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 53(2), pages 134-144.
    9. Urbany, Joel E & Dickson, Peter R & Wilkie, William L, 1989. "Buyer Uncertainty and Information Search," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 16(2), pages 208-215, September.
    10. Greenleaf, Eric A & Lehmann, Donald R, 1995. "Reasons for Substantial Delay in Consumer Decision Making," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 22(2), pages 186-199, September.
    11. Ho-Young Ahn & Lei Wu & Stephanie Kelly & Eric Haley, 2011. "A qualitative study of college student responses to conflicting messages in advertising: anti-binge drinking public service announcements versus wine promotion health messages," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 56(3), pages 271-279, June.
    12. Chih-Hung Peng & Dezhi Yin & Han Zhang, 2020. "More than Words in Medical Question-and-Answer Sites: A Content-Context Congruence Perspective," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 913-928, September.
    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. Dominik Gutt & Jürgen Neumann & Steffen Zimmermann & Dennis Kundisch & Jianqing Chen, 2018. "Design of Review Systems - A Strategic Instrument to shape Online Review Behavior and Economic Outcomes," Working Papers Dissertations 42, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    2. Duan, Yongrui & Liu, Tonghui & Mao, Zhixin, 2022. "How online reviews and coupons affect sales and pricing: An empirical study based on e-commerce platform," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Hongpeng Wang & Rong Du & Jin Li & Weiguo Fan, 2020. "Subdivided or aggregated online review systems: Which is better for online takeaway vendors?," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 915-944, December.
    4. Xie, Guangming & Lü, Kevin & Gupta, Suraksha & Jiang, Yushi & Shi, Li, 2021. "How Dispersive Opinions Affect Consumer Decisions: Endowment Effect Guides Attributional Inferences," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 621-638.
    5. Marchand, André & Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten & Wiertz, Caroline, 2017. "Not all digital word of mouth is created equal: Understanding the respective impact of consumer reviews and microblogs on new product success," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 336-354.
    6. Ismagilova, Elvira & Dwivedi, Yogesh K. & Slade, Emma, 2020. "Perceived helpfulness of eWOM: Emotions, fairness and rationality," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    7. Christian Matt & Thomas Hess, 2016. "Product fit uncertainty and its effects on vendor choice: an experimental study," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 26(1), pages 83-93, February.
    8. Zhanfei Lei & Dezhi Yin & Sabyasachi Mitra & Han Zhang, 2022. "Swayed by the reviews: Disentangling the effects of average ratings and individual reviews in online word‐of‐mouth," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(6), pages 2393-2411, June.
    9. Li, Yiming & Li, Gang & Tayi, Giri Kumar & Cheng, T.C.E., 2019. "Omni-channel retailing: Do offline retailers benefit from online reviews?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 43-61.
    10. Sungsik Park & Woochoel Shin & Jinhong Xie, 2021. "The Fateful First Consumer Review," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(3), pages 481-507, May.
    11. 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).
    12. Li, Yimeng & Xiong, Yu & Mariuzzo, Franco & Xia, Senmao, 2021. "The underexplored impacts of online consumer reviews: Pricing and new product design strategies in the O2O supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    13. Hu, Xin & He, Liuyi & Liu, Junjun, 2022. "Status reinforcing: Unintended rating bias on online shopping platforms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Pauwels, Koen & Aksehirli, Zeynep & Lackman, Andrew, 2016. "Like the ad or the brand? Marketing stimulates different electronic word-of-mouth content to drive online and offline performance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 639-655.
    15. Schulz, Petra & Shehu, Edlira & Clement, Michel, 2019. "When consumers can return digital products: Influence of firm- and consumer-induced communication on the returns and profitability of news articles," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 454-470.
    16. Agnieszka Zablocki & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Michael J. Houston, 2019. "How valence, volume and variance of online reviews influence brand attitudes," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 9(1), pages 61-77, June.
    17. Zhuolan Bao & Wenwen Li & Pengzhen Yin & Michael Chau, 2021. "Examining the impact of review tag function on product evaluation and information perception of popular products," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 517-539, June.
    18. Camilleri, Adrian R., 2017. "The Presentation Format of Review Score Information Influences Consumer Preferences Through the Attribution of Outlier Reviews," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-14.
    19. Qian Wang & Michael Chau & Chih-Hung Peng & Eric W. T. Ngai, 2022. "Using the Anchoring Effect and the Cultural Dimensions Theory to Study Customers’ Online Rating Behaviors," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 1451-1463, October.
    20. Tunç, Murat & Cavusoglu, Huseyin & Raghunathan, Srinivasan, 2021. "Online product reviews : Is a finer-grained rating scheme superior to a coarser one?," Other publications TiSEM ec57cbf3-7415-4427-aafc-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

    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:inm:orisre:v:34:y:2023:i:3:p:1211-1227. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.