感知在线评论可信度对消费者信任的影响研究--不确定性规避的调节作用

The Influence of Credibility of Online Reviews on Consumers’ Trust:The Moderating Role of Uncertainty

传统口碑随着互联网的发展呈现为网络口碑的新形式,并成为消费者获取商品信息、减少购买决策过程中不确定性的重要参考依据。同时,随着网络购物愈发普及,网络口碑的一种主要形式--在线评论对消费者购买决策产生越来越大的影响,而在线评论影响力大小与营销效果主要取决于消费者感知的在线评论可信度。本文将研究消费者感知的在线评论可信度影响因素及其对商家信任的影响机制,并加入了文化维度变量--不确定性规避作为调节变量。本文通过实证研究方法和结构方程模型对假设做出检验。研究结果显示:平台客观性、评论者专业性、评论质量正向影响消费者感知的在线评论可信度;感知在线评论可信度正向影响消费者对商家的能力信任、诚信信任和善意信任;而不确定性规避对平台客观性、评论者专业性和感知在线评论可信度之间的关系起到调节作用。

With the rapid development of Internet in recent years,consumers are relying more on the online reviewer comments than on the offline comments. Online reviews,as an important source of information during the process of attaining products knowledge,have reduced perceived risk and played an increasingly vital role in consumer purchase decisions. However,until now,there is no research systematically exploring the antecedents of the credibility of online reviewers’ comments as well as the consequences on customers’ online trust. The present research aims to explore the effects of three online review characteristics( i. e.,review commentators’ expertise,the objectivity of e-commerce platform,and the information quality) on consumer perceived credibility of online reviews as well as the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance,which subsequently affect consumer trust including ability,integrity and benevolence. We build and test a causal model based on data from Chinese consumers in the online industry. By conducting the data analyses through structural equation modeling,we find that review commentators’ expertise,the objectivity of e-commerce platform,and the information quality have significant effects on the credibility of online reviews;and the credibility of online reviews have positive effects on the consumers’ trust. Besides,culture values such as uncertainty avoidance moderate the relationships between commentators’ expertise,quality of the information,and the credibility of online reviews. We also discuss the theoretical and managerial implications,and suggest future research directions.