Abstract
User-generated reviews have become important to consumers in evaluating market offerings and making purchase decisions. This study takes an overall look at the evolving sources of information from which consumers draw to get information about products and services and focuses specifically on an electronics product, a smart phone. We examine the influence of online product ratings and reviews on consumers. Results from data analysis found that online consumer ratings may have more of an impact on consumers than do the ratings of experts. Consumers were more likely to purchase products receiving high ratings from consumers despite receiving low ratings from experts, compared to products receiving high ratings from experts but low ratings from consumers. This suggests that consumers may trust other consumers more than they trust experts to rate products and services. In addition, results suggest that online ratings have more of an impact on high-priced products than they do on low- priced products. Unique patterns in search behavior are also found for inexpensive products. Implications are discussed for both theory development and practice.
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Creative Commons License
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DOI
10.20429/jamt.2024.110103
Publication Date
6-21-2024
First Page
19
Last Page
33
Recommended Citation
Ackerman, D., Hu, J., & Gross, B. L. (2024). Whose opinions do we listen to? The influence of online product ratings and price on consumers, Journal of Applied Marketing Theory, 11(1), 19-33. ISSN: 2151-3236. DOI: 10.20429/jamt.2024.110103