The Impact of Online Customer Review Valence on Purchase Intention: the Moderating Role of Internal Factors

The relationship between online customer reviews (OCRs) and marketing performance measures has drawn significant attention recently. However, such a relationship has not yet been fully understood due to the complex nature of the problem, such as the impact of OCRs on the internal factors affecting customer decisions involving many issues, which have not been well analysed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate this relationship by developing an understanding of the impact of the valence of OCRs on customer perception, motivation and attitudes and how these internal factors influence customer purchase intentions in an online behaviour context. A controlled experiment is adopted to the investigation of the effects of OCRs on the internal factors and purchase intention. The findings of this study, in addition to their contribution to the existing literature, will help business communities by providing a better understanding of consumers and how their decisions are affected by OCRs.