How do People Evaluate Electronic Word-Of-Mouth? Informational and Normative Based Determinants of Perceived Credibility of Online Consumer Recommendations in China

This study empirically examined the informational and normative based determinants of perceived credibility of online consumer recommendations in China. Past literature demonstrated that informational influence is important in affecting reader’s evaluation of incoming information and the effectiveness of a communication. This study extends from the previous Word-of-Mouth studies by including the normative factors. Since online consumer discussion is characterized by its social aggregation, we argue that several normative cues could be salient and play significant roles in shaping a reader’s credibility evaluation towards the eWOM recommendation. The informational determinants (argument strength, source credibility and confirmation with receiver’s prior belief) and the normative determinants (recommendation consistency and rating) are investigated via an online survey to users of a famous online consumer discussion site in China (myetone.com). Results supported our proposed research model which substantiates the effects of perceived eWOM review credibility from both informational-based and normative-based determinants. This research provides researcher and practitioners with insights on receiver’s eWOM evaluation.