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EMAC 2024 Annual


Why Read This?: Exploring the Cues Consumers Use to Evaluate Online Reviews in the Context of Deception
(A2024-118301)

Published: May 28, 2024

AUTHORS

Andrea Wetzler, Toulouse School of Management; Andreas Munzel, Toulouse 1 Capitole University (TSM Research)

ABSTRACT

We investigate why consumers rely on online reviews despite being aware that some of them are fake. Through 17 in-depth interviews with adults residing in the US and Europe, we explore review browsing behavior using the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Our study shows that consumers prioritize gaining diagnostic information over detecting deception, whilst using overlapping cues, requiring varying levels of elaboration, for both tasks. Research shows that consumers are poor at identifying fake reviews, and that the cues they use to do so are manipulated by fake review writers. This study also reveals that there is a tipping point level for deception (i.e. percentage of fake reviews) after which consumers would no longer rely on review platforms. Our study complements existing research by concentrating on consumer perceptions amid rising online deception, diverging from the predominately quantitative and single-construct approaches in recent studies on fake reviews.