The Impact Of Spam Reviews On Purchase Intention Of Consumers

E-WOM refers to activities that consumers distribute and share information regarding products, brands or services via internet channels. Online reviews, which is a new type of WOM, refers to written product reviews posted by consumers via review websites or online communities for reading and sharing. Spam reviews (fake reviews, bogus reviews, or spam opinions, etc.) is one form of online reviews, and the users are called review spammers, fake reviewers, or opinion spammers, etc. Spam reviews are fake and deceptive reviews posted by hired users, for the purpose of improving or damaging the reputation of a (category of) product/service, and misleading potential consumers into risky purchase decision. Spam reviews seriously affect reviews’ value for reference, and the purchase decision of potential consumers’. From consumers’ perspective, this dissertation use experiments to explore the impact of spam reviews on online consumer purchase intention, findings of the research provide theoretical and practical contributions.This dissertation first outlines the research background and explains the research subject and research relevance, followed by thorough literature review on related studies. Based on the limitations of existing research, this dissertation explains the author’s research and goals. Chapter 2 describes and synthesizes related theories, including lay theory, persuasion theory, information processing theory and defense theory, etc.Focusing on the motivations and aims of spam reviews, Chapter 3 performs content analysis to survey existing research on spam review, include the characteristics of spam reviews in terms of review text, user reviewing behavior, product review, and store review, and establish a relatively complete frame to evaluate spam review characteristics.Chapter 4 and 5 explain the main research of this dissertation and explore the impact of online consumer reviews, especially spam reviews, on online consumers’ purchase intention and decision. Chapter 4 introduces defensive model and lay theory shows its validity, further examine "product competitiveness" role as a mediator in the context of spam reviews according to lay theory, explore the effect of information processing modes on lay theory of spam reviews. Chapter 4 explains 3 experiments: Experiment 1 focuses on two conditions (i.e. whether the subjects are aware of the existence of spam reviews), testing the impact of online consumer reviews, especially spam reviews, on online consumers’ purchase intention and decision. Experiment 2 examines the mediator (i.e. competitiveness of product) effect on the relationship between spam reviews and purchase intention in the lay theory of spam reviews. Experiment 3 aims to examine whether lay theory of spam reviews is significant when consumers pay much attention to the product and elaborate and detail.Chapter 5 examines the applicability of defensive model and lay theory of spam reviews in the context of experience goods and products that have mixed reviews (authentic and spam reviews). Chapter 5 consists of two experiments:the research subject of Experiment 4 is experience goods; in Experiment 1,2, and 3, we use utilitarian goods. In Experiment 5, the reviews consist of authentic and spam reviews; Experiment 1,2,3, and 4 use only one type of reviews, including real reviews only and fake reviews only.This research is innovative in the following aspects:(1) propose defensive model and lay theory of spam reviews, then test its validity. (2) examine the mediator effect of "product competitiveness" in lay theory of spam reviews and explore relevant impact factors (information processing strategy). (3) investigate the applicability of defensive model and lay theory of spam reviews (utilitarian and experience goods; single type reviews and mixed type reviews) Research limitations include:(1) the spam reviews used in the experiments have the more identifiable spam review text characteristics, which is less deceptive compared to spam reviews in real life. (2) in addition to information processing strategy, factors affecting lay theory of spam reviews needs further examination. (3) the experiment design could be more comprehensive if it considers ratings besides review text.