Positive emotion bias: Role of emotional content from online customer reviews in purchase decisions

Junpeng Guo, Xiaopan Wang and Yi Wu

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2020, vol. 52, issue C

Abstract: Abundant research has investigated the impact of review valence on purchase decisions, but has reported mixed findings. To reconcile these mixed findings, this study unearths the understanding of review valence from the perspective of the emotional content in online customer reviews. To explore the effect of emotional content on purchase decisions and the moderating role of emotional content on non-emotional content and purchase decisions based on a heuristic-systematic model, a laboratory experiment with 106 subjects was used to empirically test the research hypotheses. The results show that pleasant online customer reviews lead to a higher purchase likelihood compared to unpleasant ones. Perceived credibility and perceived diagnosticity have significant influence on purchase decisions, but only in the context of unpleasant online customer reviews. The findings demonstrate positive emotion bias for online customer reviews, and carry important practical implications for both sellers and customers.

Keywords: Online customer reviews; Emotional content; Perceived credibility; Perceived diagnosticity; Heuristic-systematic model; Signaling theory; Positive emotion bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:52:y:2020:i:c:s0969698918309160

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101891

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