How online reviews affect purchase intention: a new model based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-488
Author(s):  
Linlin Zhu ◽  
He Li ◽  
Feng-Kwei Wang ◽  
Wu He ◽  
Zejin Tian

PurposeThe relationship between online reviews and purchase intention has been studied in previous research. However, there was little knowledge about the effect of information quality and the social presence of online reviews on purchase intention based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework. The purpose of this study is to explore the intrinsic relationship between the stimulus (perceived information quality and social presence) generated from online reviews and the response (purchase intention).Design/methodology/approachThis study developed a research model by applying the S-O-R framework to test the proposed hypotheses. A combination of a web-based experiment and an online survey was employed to collect data. Hypotheses were empirically tested using Smart PLS.FindingsThe PLS analysis shows that both perceived information quality and the social presence of online reviews positively affect trust. Moreover, satisfaction with online reviews affects purchase intention, whereas trust has a positive impact on satisfaction, playing a mediating role between two stimuli and satisfaction. Besides, perceived information quality of positive online reviews is found to have a more significant impact on trust, satisfaction and purchase intention.Originality/valueThe results of this study are of great value for expanding both theoretical research and practical applications of online reviews in relation to purchase intention. This study with a new research model reveals the understanding of how the purchase intention will be motivated by online reviews. Meanwhile, the moderating effects and the mediating effects are also discussed.

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 408-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Jin ◽  
Yongqiang Sun ◽  
Nan Wang ◽  
Xi Zhang

Purpose Prior studies on virtual product purchase have focused on external technological factor but have paid less attention to internal user factors. Thus, drawing upon the social presence and user engagement theories, the purpose of this paper is to develop a research model considering both technological factors and user factors and empirically examine the validity of the proposed research model. Design/methodology/approach A survey from 214 World of Warcraft players was conducted to test the proposed research model, and structural equation modelling approach (specifically, PLS) was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The data analysis results suggest that both social presence and user engagement positively influence the intention to purchase virtual products. Furthermore, two technological factors, interactivity and sociability, are found to affect social presence, and two social factors, social ties and social identity, are found to affect user engagement. Originality/value This study proposes a dual factor framework (i.e. technological and user factors) to investigate the factors influencing the intention to purchase by integrating the social presence perspective and user engagement perspective. The findings would be beneficial for service provider of massively multiplayer online role-playing games to recognize that triggering user demand is of equal importance with offering better technologies and suggest new ways to promote users’ virtual product purchase intentions.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Zhang ◽  
Lin Sun ◽  
Fang Qin ◽  
G. Alan Wang

Purpose In recent years, more and more e-retailers have adopted live streaming services to attract customers. Although the extant literature has mostly examined the motivations for live streaming usage, it remains unclear how to enhance customers’ purchase behaviour. Based on the social exchange theory, in the context of live streaming platforms (LSP), this study aims to investigate the impact of information quality and interaction quality on swift guanxi and customers’ purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted an online survey to conduct two rounds of data collection and analyses the data using SPSS and SmartPLS softwares. Findings The results show that information quality (believability, usefulness and vividness) and interaction quality (responsiveness, real-time interaction and empathy) are positively related to swift guanxi, which may influence customers’ online purchase intention on LSP. Originality/value Prior service quality studies tend to focus on traditional physical stores and e-commerce websites context. This study offers the description of key dimensions of service quality on emerging LSP context. The study also confirms the importance of swift guanxi in an online marketplace.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Wang ◽  
Baolong Ma ◽  
Dan Cudjoe ◽  
Rubing Bai ◽  
Muhammad Farrukh

PurposeThe COVID-19 outbreak has been rapidly spreading around the world for more than a year. However, few studies have explored the connection between the perceived severity of COVID-19 and purchase intention of the health-related products, for example, organic food. Based on the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) framework, this study examines the influencing mechanism of perceived severity of COVID-19 on purchase intention of organic food.Design/methodology/approachTo evaluate the proposed model, an online survey was utilized to collect 1,104 valid questionnaires from China.FindingsThe findings suggest that (1) the perceived severity of COVID-19 has a significant positive impact on purchasing intention; (2) health consciousness acts as a mediating role between perceived severity of COVID-19 and purchasing intention and (3) perceived inconvenience negatively moderates the connection between perceived severity and purchase intention.Originality/valueThe findings of this paper provide new insights into the positive effects of COVID-19 and pave the way for governments and enterprises to promote the purchase behaviour of organic food.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Kuei Wu ◽  
Hsiao-Chung Wu ◽  
Chih-Sung Lai

PurposeThis study aims to explore how a buyer's perceived buyer-seller (B-S) guanxi facets (i.e. ganqing, renqing and mianzi) and guanxi positions (i.e. zi-ji-ren, shou-ren and sheng-ren) affect the seller's influence effectiveness (SIE) and purchase intention (PI) in social commerce.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted an online survey in three cities of Taiwan and collected a total of 364 data. The structural equation modeling and cluster analysis were used to test research hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that (1) each guanxi facet exerts a different and positive impact on SIE, but only one guanxi facet – renqing – helps improve PI, (2) guanxi facets can be used to predict the buyer's perceived guanxi position toward the seller, (3) the effect of guanxi facets on SIE and PI varies across B-S guanxi positions and (4) the SIE positively mediates effects of guanxi facets on the PI.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates the individual effect of each guanxi facet on SIE and PI and affirms the implicit guanxi position features guanxi facets and determines the buyer's perceived SIE and PI as well. To the best of our knowledge, these findings are rarely proposed in previous research and are beneficial for understanding the guanxi mechanism in social commerce.


2015 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommy K. H. Chan ◽  
Christy M. K. Cheung ◽  
Na Shi ◽  
Matthew K. O. Lee

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors associated with user satisfaction in the social network sites (SNSs), and to explore the moderating effects of gender on user satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – A research model was built upon the expectation disconfirmation model (EDM) with a focus on SNSs specific motivations (i.e. relationship maintenance and entertainment). The model was tested empirically with 221 experienced Facebook users using an online survey. Findings – The research model explained 40.5 percent of the variance in user satisfaction. In addition, the results showed that entertainment plays a more important role in determining user satisfaction with SNSs for male users, while relationship maintenance is more important in determining user satisfaction with SNSs for female users. Research limitations/implications – The current study enriched the theoretical understanding of user satisfaction in the context of SNSs. Particularly, perceptions and disconfirmations about the use of SNSs were identified and empirically tested. Furthermore, gender differences in terms of SNSs usage were empirically demonstrated. Originality/value – The present study is one of the first few studies that attempts to explain user satisfaction with SNSs as well as examine the role of gender with a theoretical foundation. It complements the empirical research in the IS literature that addresses new social communication technologies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yahua Bi ◽  
Insin Kim

The research aims to examine what service convenience factors drive customer satisfaction in travel websites from the perspective of older travelers, and if older travelers’ satisfaction enhances e-loyalty. Additionally, drawing on socioemotional selectivity theory, this study argues that the social presence in travel websites plays a significant moderating role in increasing older travelers’ satisfaction. To empirically verify the conceptual model, an online survey was conducted targeting older travelers aged over 50 in the USA who have purchased products via travel websites. The data from 308 older travelers were analyzed, and the results revealed four dimensions of service convenience positively influence satisfaction. Unexpectedly, access convenience and transaction convenience do not influence older travelers’ satisfaction. The older travelers’ satisfaction with travel websites has a positive impact on e-loyalty. Additionally, social presence amplifies the effect of post-purchase convenience on satisfaction. The current research makes a significant contribution to understanding older travelers’ perceptions and behaviors for using e-commerce service in the field of tourism and provides practitioners with effective ways to attract older travelers for sustainable management of travel websites.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 1139-1154
Author(s):  
Yunjeong Kim ◽  
Yuri Lee

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether consumers differ in their online or offline purchase intention, depending on which channel with price promotion information they are first exposed to, and to analyse the moderating role of brand trust.Design/methodology/approachOverall, 174 responses were obtained via an online survey using two contact channels (online/offline) by two levels of brand trust (high/low) between-subject designs.FindingsSpillover effects were found across channels when a consistent price promotion is executed in both online and offline channels, purchase intentions for cross-channel and contact channel increase simultaneously. Although there was a similar effect in the discrepancy of purchase intentions towards the cross-channel according to contact channels, it varied depending on brand trust. When brand trust is high, having contact with offline price-discount information has a large online spillover effect. When brand trust is low, the spillover effect from online to offline is large.Research limitations/implicationsThis study expands the multi-channel research by proving the spillover effects between channels and confirming the difference according to brand trust.Practical implicationsIncreasing promotion information for online contact is effective in driving offline visits for new brands, and the effective use of promotion information at offline stores can have a positive impact on online channels for well-known brands.Originality/valueThis study explores the cross-channel spillover effect of price promotion and proves that these effects depend on brand trust.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 (GROUP) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Damaris Schmid ◽  
Dario Staehelin ◽  
Andreas Bucher ◽  
Mateusz Dolata ◽  
Gerhard Schwabe

Conversational agents (CA) have drawn increasing interest from HCI research. They have become popular in different aspects of our lives, for example, in the form of chatbots as the primary point of contact when interacting with an insurance company online. Additionally, CA find their way into collaborative settings in education, at work, or financial advisory. Researchers and practitioners are searching for ways to enhance the customer's experience in service encounters by deploying CA. Since competence is an important treat of a financial advisor, they only accept CA in their interaction with clients if it does not harm their impression on the client. However, we do not know how the social presence of the CA affects this perceived competence. We explore this by evaluating three prototypes with different social presences. For this, we conducted a video-based online survey. In contrast to prior studies focusing on single human-computer interaction, our study explores CA in a dyadic setting of two humans and one CA. First, our results support the Computers-Are-Social-Actors paradigm as the CA with a strong social presence was perceived as more competent than the other two designs. Second, our data show a positive correlation between CA's and advisor's competence. This implies a positive impact of the CA on the service encounter as the CA and advisor can be seen as a competent team.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 2496-2511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikhat Afshan ◽  
Srabasti Chatterjee ◽  
Prerna Chhetri

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of use of information technology (IT) and relational aspect on supply chain collaboration (SCC) in the context of developing country, in this case India. The study has considered two important components of use of IT namely, information sharing and information quality and further investigated their impact on SCC. Two important components of relational aspect, namely, trust and commitment have been considered, as identified from literature review, trust has been considered as an antecedent to commitment and the impact of commitment on SCC has been investigated. The research also investigates the impact of SCC on financial performance of the firm. Design/methodology/approach Based on extensive review of SCC literature a research model has been proposed hypothesizing the relationships between information sharing, information quality, trust, commitment, SCC and financial performance. The proposed research model is tested using data from 166 manufacturing firms across India. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships between constructs. Findings The results showed that there is significant positive impact of information sharing and information quality on SCC. Consistent with earlier literature, trust was found to have a significant positive impact on commitment and commitment was found to have significant positive impact on SCC. Further, the findings confirmed the positive relationship between SCC and financial performance of the firm. Originality/value This is the first study to the best of our knowledge which has investigated the impact of SSC on financial performance in Indian context. This study has taken into account both use of IT and relational aspect simultaneously and investigated their impact on SCC.


Author(s):  
Kevin K.W. Ho ◽  
Eric W.K. See-To ◽  
Gloria T.C. Chiu

This research revisited how fan pages in the social network site created by online merchants affects the purchase intention of online shoppers using qualitative research methods. Through fine-tuning the research model developed by Jahn and Kunz (2012) which is grounded on the Uses and Gratifications Theory, the authors conducted a qualitative study through interviewing consumers who participated in fan pages. Based on their responses in the interviews, the authors reconfirmed that content-oriented needs and social interaction value of relationship-oriented needs had positive impacts on fan page usage intensity and fan page engagement, respectively. Plus, the authors discovered that content-oriented needs had a positive impact on fan page engagement. The theoretical contributions, managerial implications of this study are also discussed.


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