What makes an online consumer review trustworthy?

Raffaele Filieri

Annals of Tourism Research, 2016, vol. 58, issue C, 46-64

Abstract: Online consumer reviews (OCRs) are increasingly used by consumers to make informed decisions about tourism-related products. However, there is an increase in concern about the level of trustworthiness of OCRs. As yet, little is known about how consumers assess trustworthiness and untrustworthiness of OCRs. This study aims to fill this gap by using a grounded theory approach based on 38 interviews with users of OCRs. Results show that consumers primarily use cues related to the message content and style and review extremity and valence to assess trustworthiness. Findings indicate that moderating variables such as consumer involvement and experience as well as the type of website affects the way consumers assess trustworthiness. Reviews perceived as untrustworthy are discounted by consumers.

Keywords: Electronic word-of-mouth; Online consumer reviews; Grounded theory; Untrustworthy reviews; Trustworthy reviews; Credibility theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (66)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738316300020
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:58:y:2016:i:c:p:46-64

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2015.12.019

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of Tourism Research is currently edited by John Tribe

More articles in Annals of Tourism Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().