Online review trust factors. Characteristics and person-specific reputation

Which factors make online reviews trustworthy?

Thèse de Bachelor , 2021 , 44 Pages , Note: 1,0

Médias / Communication - Relations publiques, Publicité, Marketing, Médias sociaux

This thesis is about the Online review trust factors and the characteristics and person-specific reputation. Especially abou the question, "Which factors make online reviews trustworthy?"

Online reviews are more and more used by consumers trying to make an informed decision whether to buy a product or service. Trust plays a central moderating role in this decision-making process. However, specific factors that lead to the emergence of trust have not been identified and subsumed among scholars.

This thesis aims to fill this gap by addressing empirically proven conceptualizations of trust factors and evaluating them within an online setting and demonstrating these factors by descriptive visual aids. The results show that consumers essentially use review characteristics and person-specific factors to assess trustworthiness. The review length, its writing style, real pictures, and the review’s extremity primarily influence trustworthiness. The number of submissions of a reviewer, certain review patterns, virtual badges, real profile pictures, and real names with contact information secondarily influence trustworthiness. If a review is perceived as untrustworthy, it gets discounted by consumers.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
1.1. Problem Statement
1.2. Relevance
1.3. Motivation and Research Question

2. Methodology
2.1. Literature Review
2.2. Literature Selection Criteria
2.3. Literature on Reputation Management and Online Trust

3. Online Review Trust Factors
3.1. Defining Reputation and Trust
3.2. Review Characteristics
3.2.1. Review Length
3.2.2. Writing Style
3.2.3. Pictures
3.2.4. Review Extremity
3.3. Person-Specific Reputation
3.3.1. Number of Submissions
3.3.2. Review Patterns
3.3.3. Virtual Badges
3.3.4. Profile Picture
3.3.5. Real Name and Contact Information

4. Conclusion
4.1. Academic Contributions
4.2. Practical Implications
4.2.1. Implications for Consumers
4.2.2. Implications for Review Portals
4.3. Limitations
4.4. Future Research

References

• Université: Vienna University of Economics and Business (Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation)
• Note: 1,0
• Auteur: Sebastian Hochreiter (Auteur)
• Année de publication: 2021
• Pages: 44
• N° de catalogue: V1147032
• ISBN (PDF): 9783346569769
• ISBN (Livre): 9783346569776
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: online review, reputation, trust, consumer behavior, decision making