Effects of online communication practices on consumer perceptions of performance uncertainty for search and experience goods

Weathers, Danny; Sharma, Subhash; Wood, Stacy

doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2007.03.009

Cited by 356 publications

(258 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The concept of "low-touch" and "high-touch" is closely related to uncertainty (Weathers et al, 2007). The attributes of "low-touch" products can be known prior to purchase, while the attributes of "high-touch" products are difficult to judge and can only be known through direct experiences (Chiang & Dholakia, 2003).…”

Section: H7mentioning

confidence: 99%

How do you feel when you see a list of prices? the interplay among price dispersion, perceived risk and initial trust in Chinese C2C market

Vassileva

Noorian

et al. 2015

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

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The issues of trust fraud, product genuineness and price dispersion jointly make Chinese C2C buyers difficult to identify trustworthy sellers with a low price. Little is known about the generation of initial trust when buyers search products and receive lists of widely ranged prices. This study proposes a theoretical model to explain how price dispersion interacts with other factors in C2C purchase, such as initial trust, perceived risk, perceived value and purchase intention. Product type is considered as a moderator. 261 students were invited in a survey-based experiment. The results from PLS analysis show that price dispersion negatively affects perceived value, whilst, positively affects perceived risk, which further influences perceived value negatively. Price dispersion also negatively influences initial trust through perceived risk. Moreover, the negative effects of price dispersion are stronger when buyers purchase high-touch products.Keywords: consumer to consumer, trust, price dispersion, purchase intention, perceived risk The issues of trust fraud, product genuineness and price dispersion jointly make Chinese C2C buyers difficult to identify trustworthy sellers with a low price. Little is known about the generation of initial trust when buyers search products and receive lists of widely ranged prices. This study proposes a theoretical model to explain how price dispersion interacts with other factors in C2C purchase, such as initial trust, perceived risk, perceived value and purchase intention. Product type is considered as a moderator. 261 students were invited in a survey-based experiment. The results from PLS analysis show that price dispersion negatively affects perceived value, whilst, positively affects perceived risk, which further influences perceived value negatively. Price dispersion also negatively influences initial trust through perceived risk. Moreover, the negative effects of price dispersion are stronger when buyers purchase high-touch products.

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Section: H7mentioning

confidence: 99%

How do you feel when you see a list of prices? the interplay among price dispersion, perceived risk and initial trust in Chinese C2C market

Vassileva

Noorian

et al. 2015

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By contrast, experience attributes of a product such as taste and fit are those that consumers can only evaluate by acquiring the product information through purchase and actual use of the product. Information of experience products involves more subjective judgment hinging on individual differences in perception of consumption experience or presentation of one's own experience with regard to the information cues such as storytelling elements, numbers of pictures, and consumer feedback ratings; whereas information of search products provides more standard or concrete product specifications (Hoch and Ha et al 1986;Weathers et al 2007). …”

Section: Product Typementioning

confidence: 99%

Education, Educational Services and their Quality

Dulaimi¹

2016

JMM

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Rich information facilitates consumer buying judgment and decision-making, and therefore enhances marketing communication effectiveness. Drawing on the information richness theory, this study attempts to address how valence of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), product type and consumer knowledge will yield different levels of eWOM richness perception for experience goods versus search goods. The results based on a three-way experimental study with 156 valid responses suggest that negative eWOM has a stronger effect in producing eWOM information richness than does positive eWOM, and such effect is more pronounced for a leisure farm tour (experience goods) than for digital camera (search goods). The tendency that negative eWOM will provide richer information for the leisure farm tour is more evident for high-knowledge consumers than for low-knowledge consumers. The study's results caution against the aggravated harm of negative eWOM incurred from the dissatisfactory experience of a leisure farm tour. The managerial implications for the practitioners are provided.

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“…It has been found to be affected by information vividness, review content, review valence, brand reputation, purchase involvement, and readers' personality. Specifically, information vividness is related to the presentation of the information in the reviews (Herr, Kardes, & Kim, 1991;Weathers, Sharma, & Wood, 2007). Herr et al (1991) comparing the WOMs without pictures and WOMs with pictures, found that with high control over information WOM communication has a greater impact on product judgment than less-vivid printed information (Herr et al, 1991).…”

Section: Product Judgmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers are interested in looking for ways to mitigate the uncertainty in e-commerce, for example, based on Luhmann's theory of trust and power, Gefen claimed that both familiarity and trust can help reduce the complexity and simplify the buyer-seller relationship in online transactions (Gefen, Karahanna, & Straub, 2003). In the context of customer reviews, Weathers et al (2007) examined the effect of product type and information vividness on the performance uncertainty of products. Testing the effect of information vividness on the basis of no picture, picture present, third party evaluation (consumer report), and high control over information (hyperlink) reveals a moderating effect of product type (Weathers et al, 2007).…”

Section: Purchase Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the context of customer reviews, Weathers et al (2007) examined the effect of product type and information vividness on the performance uncertainty of products. Testing the effect of information vividness on the basis of no picture, picture present, third party evaluation (consumer report), and high control over information (hyperlink) reveals a moderating effect of product type (Weathers et al, 2007). They found that the reviews provided by a third-party source are the key to reducing uncertainty and enhancing information credibility for search products.…”

Section: Purchase Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Review for the Influential Factors in E-WOM Research

Yang¹,

Sarathy²,

Feng³

2015

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Although substantial literature is available on customer reviews or e-WOM (electronic word of mouth), the topic is still under development and offers potential opportunities for further research. Since the topic is still at the stage of development, a review of the literature on customer reviews with the objective of summarizing existing findings will initial further studies on the growth of e-WOM technologies. This paper reviews the literature on e-WOM using a suitable classification scheme to identify the gap between theory and practice. Aiming to provide useful insights into the anatomy of e-WOM literature and be a good source for anyone who is interested in e-WOM, nine categories of findings are ultimately presented based on dependent-independent-variable relationship, along with a comprehensive list of reference. The paper ends up with discussions on future directions for research.

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Effects of online communication practices on consumer perceptions of performance uncertainty for search and experience goods

Cited by 356 publications

References 26 publications

How do you feel when you see a list of prices? the interplay among price dispersion, perceived risk and initial trust in Chinese C2C market

How do you feel when you see a list of prices? the interplay among price dispersion, perceived risk and initial trust in Chinese C2C market

Education, Educational Services and their Quality

A Review for the Influential Factors in E-WOM Research

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