Consumer perceptions of online consumer product and service reviews : Focusing on information processing confidence and susceptibility to peer influence

Purpose – Online consumer reviews play an important role in influencing consumers' purchasing decisions by providing a wealth of information about products and services. Framed by uncertainty reduction theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine consumer perceptions of online consumer reviews and effects on consumer attitudes and usage behaviors in relation to individual characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – Data were randomly collected from 1,930 US online consumer review users using an online survey. Findings – The researchers found that consumers perceived both benefits and costs from online consumer reviews and that both benefits and costs influenced consumer attitudes toward, and usage behaviors of, online consumer reviews. Individual characteristics – confidence in the information process and consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence – were shown to determine how online consumer reviews were perceived. Originality/value – The results provide insight to retailers and marketers as to how they can use consumer reviews for their products or services to improve business performance.