How do online reviews affect purchasing intention?

Online reviews are widely used in recent years but scarcely researched. This study adopts the Elaboration Likelihood Model ( ELM) to explore the effects of online reviews. Two hundred and fifty eight undergraduates expressed their attitudes about a product in an online experimental study. Four findings emerged from the results. First, the argument quality of online reviews has a positive effect on the purchasing intention of online shoppers. Second, the review quantity positively affects the purchasing intention of online shoppers. Third, people under high-involvement conditions take the central route in attitude change; that is, they are more influenced by review quality. Fourth, low-involvement consumers tend to adopt the peripheral route in forming attitude; that is, they are more persuaded by review quantity. Managerial implications are provided.