Identifier

etd-04272010-160358

Degree

Master of Mass Communication (MMC)

Department

Mass Communication

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Consumer lack of trust in online vendors and brands is identified as one of the biggest obstacles in the growth of e-commerce. This study examined how third-party product reviews help in building consumers’ trust, in consumers’ perception of product quality, their brand attitudes and consumers’ purchase intention. The six cell experimental design tested the effect of consumer and expert online product reviews on fictitious web sites for high-involvement and low-involvement products. The findings indicate that online consumer product reviews perform better than online expert product reviews and no product reviews. Online product reviews affected visitors to a web site with a high-involvement product the most. The study implies that online consumer product reviews significantly affect consumers in a high-involvement condition and are more effective than online expert product reviews.

Date

2010

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Porter, Lance

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.2446

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