Understanding the Informational Social Influence of Online Review Platforms

Online review platforms have become a basis for many consumers to make informed decisions. This type of platforms is rich in review messages and review contributors. For marketers, the platforms’ practical importance is its influence on business outcomes. In the individual level, however, little research has investigated the impacts of a platform on consumer decision-making process. In this research, we use the heuristic-systematic model to explain how consumers establish their decision based on processing review messages on the platform. We build a research model and propose impacts of different constructs established from the systematic and heuristic processing of review messages. Survey data from a Chinese online review platform generally supports our hypotheses, except that the heuristic cue, source credibility, fails to affect consumers’ behavioral intention. Based on the findings, we discuss implications for both researchers and practitioners. We further point out limitations and suggest opportunities for future research.