Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 12, No.

1, 2018 1

Your comments are important to me! The impacts

of online customer reviews in shopping websites

Ismail Erkan*
Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences,
Izmir Katip Celebi University,
İzmir, Turkey
Email: ismail.erkan@ikc.edu.tr
*Corresponding author

Abdulaziz Elwalda
Faculty of Economics and Political Science,
Misurata University,
Misurata, Libya
Email: elwaldaa@eps.misuratau.edu.ly

Abstract: The aim of this study is to examine the influence of Online Customer
Reviews (OCRs) on consumers’ purchase intentions, and to understand the
role of attitude on information adoption within the computer-mediated
communication platforms. For this purpose, a research model was developed
based on the Information Adoption Model (IAM). The model was empirically
tested and validated through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The data
were collected from a sample of 384 university students. The results confirm
that attitude plays an important role on information adoption; and the following
are among the key factors which influence consumers’ purchase intentions:
eWOM quality, eWOM credibility, attitude towards eWOM, perceived eWOM
usefulness, and eWOM adoption. Theoretical and practical implications are
discussed as well as recommended for future studies.

Keywords: OCRs; online customer reviews; eWOM; electronic word of

mouth; shopping websites; purchase intention; information adoption model;
OCRs adoption model.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Erkan, I. and Elwalda, A.

(2018) ‘Your comments are important to me! The impacts of online customer
reviews in shopping websites’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising,
Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.1–18.

Biographical notes: Ismail Erkan received his PhD from Brunel University
London. His research interests are electronic word of mouth (eWOM), social
media, customer engagement and purchase intention. His previous papers have
been published in Computers in Human Behavior and Journal of Marketing
Communications. Currently he is working as a research assistant at Izmir Katip
Celebi University.

Abdulaziz Elwalda is a Lecturer in Marketing at Misurata University. He

received his PhD from Brunel University London. His research interests
include virtual community, electronic word of mouth, consumer behaviour, and
IT adoption. His research articles have been published in well-established

Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2 I. Erkan and A. Elwalda

journals such as Computers in Human Behavior and Journal of Customer

Behavior. Also, he has presented several papers in peer-reviewed conferences
(e.g. Academy of Marketing Conference, European Marketing Conference). He
received Brunel University London Dean’s Prize for Innovation and Impact in
Doctoral Research 2016.

1 Introduction

The importance of word of mouth (WOM) conversations in advertising, which refer to

the conversations among consumers about brands and their products and services (Arndt,
1967; Westbrook, 1987), has been rapidly increasing (Colliander et al., 2015; Kim et al.,
2015). WOM was considered worthy of study by researchers, and was found to be
influential on consumers’ product judgements (Bone, 1995; Engel et al., 1969; Feldman
and Lynch, 1988) as well as their purchase intentions (Brown and Reingen, 1987; Herr
et al., 1991). However, it has gained a new perspective with the advent of the internet,
since the information can now spread among a huge number of people in a very short
period of time (Alboqami et al., 2015; Brown et al., 2007; Phelps et al., 2004; Phillips
et al., 2014). This new form of WOM has been called electronic word of mouth (eWOM)
(Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004). eWOM can occur through a variety of platforms such as
shopping websites, social media websites, consumer review websites, discussion forums,
and blogs (Cheung and Thadani, 2012; Kudeshia and Mittal, 2016). In this study,
however, eWOM on shopping websites is examined since Online Customer Reviews
(OCRs) are considered to be the most preferred eWOM source by customers (Yeap et al.,
2014).
OCRs are a form of eWOM within shopping websites which refers to the content
posted by customers (Elwalda et al., 2016; Kim et al., 2015). OCRs present the
perspective of consumers who previously purchased and used the product (Park et al.,
2007; Scholz and Dorner, 2013). OCRs are considered as a rich source of product
information since they consist of experiences, opinions, and evaluations of former
customers (Elwalda et al., 2016; Park et al., 2007; Utz et al., 2012). People therefore find
OCRs useful for making better purchase decisions (Cheung et al., 2008; Park and Kim,
2008; Senecal and Nantel, 2004; Yayli and Bayram, 2012). As a result of this customer
interest, researchers also gave importance to eWOM on shopping websites; it is thus
studied by many researchers (Chevalier and Mayzlin, 2006; Gu et al., 2012; Li and Zhan,
2011). Previous studies investigated the role of consumer ratings (Chevalier and Mayzlin,
2006; Godes and Mayzlin, 2004), valence (Moe and Trusov, 2011; Sen and Lerman,
2007), valence intensity (Floh et al., 2013), level of detail (Jiménez and Mendoza, 2013),
volume (Liu, 2006), ratings-text congruence (Schlosser, 2011) and the source of the
review (Forman et al., 2008), on consumers’ purchase intentions. However, little
attention has been paid to the determinants of eWOM in shopping websites which
influences consumers’ purchase intentions; this study therefore focuses on this gap.
In order to understand these determinants, different theories and models have been
applied by previous researchers such as Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis,
1989) and Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985; Ayeh, 2015; Elwalda et al.,
2016). However, Sussman and Siegal (2003) particularly propose the Information
 Your comments are important to me 3

Adoption Model (IAM) in order to explain how people adopt the information posted on
computer-mediated communication platforms. IAM is therefore considered applicable to
studies regarding the eWOM; and it is applied by many researchers (Cheung et al., 2008;
Cheung et al., 2009; Shu and Scott, 2014). On the other hand, although it is a widely used
model, we claim that the role of attitude towards information is relatively ignored in the
IAM. This paper therefore introduces a new model by extending the IAM. Our model
explains the determinants of eWOM in shopping websites which influence consumers’
purchase intentions and offers several theoretical contributions for the literature:
i) Information usefulness is not the only antecedent of information adoption. Attitude
is also influential on information adoption as well as usefulness.
ii) Purchase intention has two antecedents: information adoption and information
usefulness.
iii) Information quality has influence on information credibility.
The objective of this study is to examine the influence of OCRs on consumers’ purchase
intentions, and to understand the role of attitude on information adoption within the
computer-mediated communication platforms. For this purpose, we empirically test and
validate our research model through using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). More
specifically, our model tests quality, credibility, attitude, perceived usefulness, and
adoption as the main precursors of purchase intention. The results provide substantial
theoretical insights to information systems (IS) researchers, and contribute to the
literature regarding eWOM on shopping websites. On the managerial side, the
determinants provided by this study are valuable as they allow marketers to utilise
eWOM in digital marketing activities.

2 Theoretical background of the research model

The rapid and extensive growth of virtual communities has introduced a new type of
eWOM that of OCRs. OCRs are defined ‘as a peer-generated product evaluation that
facilitates the consumer’s purchase decision process’ (Mudambi and Schuff, 2010,
p.186). Studies have revealed that OCRs are the one of most important types of eWOM
(Purnawirawan et al., 2012; Sen and Lerman, 2007).
OCRs are regarded as the new element in the marketing mix (Product, Promotion,
Price, and Place) (Chen and Xie, 2008) and also have become a vital source of feedback
(Dwyer, 2007). Therefore, companies have started using them as a tool for understanding
customers’ attitudes (Dellarocas et al., 2007), which can help companies build their
marketing strategies (Zhang et al., 2012). Previous researches have reported the
significance of OCRs in online shopping. For example, Zhu and Zhang (2010) find that
the volume of OCRs in the video games sector has an impact on sales. Moe and Trusov
(2011) also report that OCRs valence in the beauty industry has an influence on sales.
Liu (2006) shows that the volume of OCRs significantly impacts box office revenues.
Furthermore, 61% of customers refer to one of the OCRs forms prior to making a
purchase (eMarketer, 2008).
In this study, therefore, we develop a theoretical model to identify the determinants of
eWOM in shopping websites which influence consumers’ purchase intentions. For this
purpose, the IAM (Sussman and Siegal, 2003) was expanded with two constructs which
4 I. Erkan and A. Elwalda

are attitude and intention. The developed model in this study is named as OCRs Adoption
Model. Our model shows that attitude towards information plays an important role on
information adoption within the computer-mediated communication platforms, and is
also influential on consumers’ purchase intentions along with the other constructs of
IAM.

2.1 Information adoption model (IAM)

eWOM communication consists of basic information exchange; however, the impact of
information may change from one person to another (Chaiken and Eagly, 1976; Cheung
et al., 2008). The same message can stimulate different outcomes among people due to
their personal perceptions (Shu and Scott, 2014). In order to understand how people
adopt the information posted on computer-mediated communication platforms, Sussman
and Siegal (2003) propose the IAM. This model was developed by considering the
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986; Petty et al., 1981)
which posits that people can be influenced by a message in two routes: central and
peripheral (Shen et al., 2013; Sussman and Siegal, 2003). The central route refers to the
basis of the message, where the peripheral route refers to the issues which are indirectly
related to the basis of the message (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986; Shu and Scott, 2014).
In the IAM, the ‘argument quality’ represents the central route, while the ‘source
credibility’ represents the peripheral route. Through this model Sussman and Siegal
claim that argument quality and source credibility are the two antecedents of information
usefulness which is the antecedent of information adoption. Figure 1 presents the IAM.

Figure 1 Information adoption model

Argument
Quality
Information Information
Usefulness Adoption
Source
Credibility

Source: Sussman and Siegal (2003)

As mentioned earlier, the IAM is considered as an applicable model to study eWOM

since it explains how people adopt the information posted on computer-mediated
communication platforms (Cheung et al., 2008; Cheung et al., 2009; Shu and Scott,
2014). However, although it is a widely accepted model, this study criticises the IAM
as it ignores the ‘attitude’ of consumers while focusing on the attributes of information
(i.e. quality, credibility, usefulness). In other words, this study claims that the ‘attitude’
of consumers should be considered in conjunction with the attributes of information, in
order to understand how people adopt the information.
 Your comments are important to me 5

3 Research model and hypotheses development

In order to understand the determinants of eWOM in shopping websites which influence

consumers’ purchase intentions, this study introduces OCRs adoption model by
extending the IAM (Sussman and Siegal, 2003). IAM is a powerful and widely accepted
model for online information adoption (Cheung et al., 2008; Cheung et al., 2009; Filieri
and McLeay, 2014). However, information adoption in IAM is predicted by only one
antecedent variable: information usefulness. Information usefulness is the basis of
information adoption, yet it merely explains a little of information adoption variance.
Moreover, IAM ignores both the ‘attitude’ of consumers and the relationship between
quality and credibility, whereas information credibility is likely a consequence of
information quality.
Addressing these limitations, we extend IAM by introducing attitude as an antecedent
of information usefulness and adoption, and as a result of quality and credibility factors.
Firstly, our OCRs adoption model regards attitude as another antecedent of information
adoption, suggesting that information adoption variance can be better explained
by customer attitudes towards OCRs. Customer attitude is a cognitive process that
represents customers’ positive or negative affection about adopting OCRs (Ajzen, 1991).
According to Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), an individual will perform a task based
on his or her pre-existing attitudes (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Supporting this notion,
prior studies have revealed that the overall attitude towards eWOM significantly impacts
the behavioural intention to use eWOM communication (Shen et al., 2013). Therefore,
considering customer attitudes towards OCRs in IAMs is of importance. Secondly,
building an attitude towards a task is a stage that is prior performing it (Ajzen, 1991);
hence, OCRs adoption model conceptualises customer attitude in the IAM to be
influenced by the quality and credibility of OCRs.
The OCRs adoption model is the first to provide an understanding of the role of
‘attitude’ in IAMs, and to investigate the weight of ‘quality’ in affecting ‘credibility’.
The model also shows that eWOM adoption is not only based on the perceived eWOM
usefulness, but also on the customers’ attitudes towards eWOM. The OCRs adoption
model delivers an understanding of the factors affecting eWOM adoption including:
eWOM quality, eWOM credibility, attitude towards eWOM, and perceived eWOM
usefulness. Furthermore, it explains the impact of usefulness and adoption on customer
behavioural intention. Figure 2 presents the model of this study.

Figure 2 The proposed research model

eWOM Perceived eWOM

Quality Usefulness
H2 H4 H7

Attitude towards Purchase

H1 H6
eWOM  Intention

eWOM H3 H5 eWOM H8
Credibility Adoption
6 I. Erkan and A. Elwalda

3.1 Hypotheses development

According to IAM, information quality is considered to be a central influence in
information adoption (Sussman and Siegal, 2003). The quality has evidently shown to be
an important component that individuals use to evaluate eWOM communication (Cheng
and Zhou, 2010). Individuals do not simply follow reviews thoughtlessly; they rather
evaluate the review quality (Cheung et al., 2009). Once individuals are satisfied with the
review quality, they will develop a positive attitude supporting credibility of the review.
To some extent individuals evaluate both the trustworthiness and believability of reviews
depending on their quality. Cheung et al. (2009) suggest that the credibility of a review
depends on its quality. Supporting this, Park et al.’s (2007) study reveals that a
high-quality review is likely to enhance OCRs’ persuasiveness. Moreover, eWOM
quality is found to significantly affect online trust (Awad and Ragowsky, 2008).
Similarly, argument strength that is an essential part of eWOM quality is reported to
significantly affect eWOM credibility (Cheung et al., 2009). The present study, therefore,
hypothesises the following:
Hypothesis 1: eWOM quality is positively related to eWOM credibility.
The interpersonal nature of OCRs can affect customers’ attitude (Lee et al., 2008).
Quality and credibility are concerned with the degree to which a customer perceives the
reviews to be valid, credible, and convincing by which that customer’s position is
supported (Cheung et al., 2008; Cheung et al., 2009). Individuals consult OCRs to assist
with the purchasing decision in hand (Kim and Choi, 2012). The level of credibility and
quality assigned by individuals to the source of OCRs will determine how influential
OCRs would be to the purchasing decision (Kim and Lee, 2017; Koo, 2016). According
to the TRA, the beliefs of the consequences of performing behaviour are the base of
accomplishing an attitude towards that behaviour or object (Suh and Han, 2003).
Therefore, when individuals experience a review from a highly trustworthy and credible
source, they are more likely to adopt it, changing their attitude towards eWOM.
Supporting this notion, Harmon and Coney (1982) report that a highly credible source is
more effective than a lower credible source when the communication recommended
purchasing a product or a service. Furthermore, prior studies have revealed that customer
attitudes are positively and directly affected by the argument strength (Cacioppo et al.,
1983; Sia et al., 1999). Additionally, highly credible reviews are perceived to be useful
(Cheung et al., 2008; Filieri and McLeay, 2014; Sussman and Siegal, 2003), and thus
enables knowledge transfer (Ko et al., 2005), which in return is likely to affect
customers’ attitudes towards the reviews.
In addition, attitudes are subject to change based on social influence and motivation
(Eagly and Chaiken, 1995). OCRs deliver both social influence and motivation presented
in the degree of the quality and credibility of information provided. Hence, individuals’
attitudes towards eWOM are likely to be affected by the quality and credibility of
eWOM. The present study, therefore, proposes the following:
Hypothesis 2: eWOM quality is positively related to attitude towards eWOM.
Hypothesis 3: eWOM credibility is positively related to attitude towards eWOM.
Attitudes refer to an individual’s cognitive assessment or evaluation of an object (George
and Jones, 1996), and are associated with the one’s views whether the behaviour is
 Your comments are important to me 7

positive or negative (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Attitudes deliver importance to an

object or behaviour by placing it within the individual’s existing knowledge (Gawronski
and Bodenhausen, 2007). Studies have shown that when opportunity is given to
individuals to select information that will empower them to use their attitudes, they are
likely to do so (Visser et al., 2003). Attitudes also lead individuals to process information
more deeply and focus on it more closely (Celsi and Olson, 1988; Holbrook et al., 2005).
For instance, individuals have a tendency to spend more time processing information that
is in line with their attitudes (Holbrook et al., 2005). Moreover, rather than focusing
equally on a huge selection of information, individuals tend to focus on information that
is relevant to their attitudes (Holbrook et al., 2005). Therefore, having a favourable
attitude towards eWOM will possibly lead to the reviews to be perceived as useful.
Additionally, in consonance with TRA, individuals adopt certain behaviour whenever
they believe it will lead to positive consequences (Compeau and Higgins, 1995). Given
these arguments, one can conclude that attitudes towards eWOM will impact the
perceived eWOM usefulness and eWOM adoption. This study, hence, hypothesises the
following:
Hypothesis 4: Attitude towards eWOM is positively related to perceived eWOM
usefulness.
Hypothesis 5: Attitude towards eWOM is positively related to eWOM adoption.
Perceived usefulness is defined as ‘the degree to which a person believes that using a
particular system would enhance his or her job performance’ (Davis, 1989, p.320).
Perceived usefulness is an essential predictor of customers’ adoption (Cheung et al.,
2008; Davis, 1989). According to the IAM, the decision to adopt information is
determined by the degree of usefulness of the information presented (Sussman and
Siegal, 2003). In online communities and the majority of shopping websites, ideas,
opinions, and experiences of other customers about products and services are offered.
Therefore, if such reviews are perceived as useful information, the intention of adopting
these reviews by potential customers is likely to be greater (Cheung et al., 2008). OCRs
and eWOM communications were examined in the eWOM literature. For example,
Cheung et al. (2008), Liu and Zhang (2010), Tseng and Kuo (2014), and recently Yan
et al. (2016) found that information usefulness has a positive direct effect on eWOM
adoption. Thus, this study proposes the following:
Hypothesis 6: Perceived eWOM usefulness is positively related to eWOM adoption.
When individuals classify that a specific system or scheme can improve their
performance, they tend to adopt it (Davis, 1989). If the system is useful, individuals will
have positive attitudes towards it, which will eventually lead to them using it. Therefore,
the perceived eWOM usefulness is associated with customers’ intention (Elwalda et al.,
2016). Previous studies have reported the relationship between usefulness and intention.
For example, Hsu et al.’s (2013) study finds that the perceived usefulness of blogs has a
positive impact on customer intention. This positive relationship has been reported
by many other studies (Elwalda et al., 2016; Park et al., 2007; Trivedi and Kumar, 2014;
Ye et al., 2011). This study, consequently, hypothesises the following:
Hypothesis 7: Perceived eWOM usefulness is positively related to purchase intention.
8 I. Erkan and A. Elwalda

EWOM on shopping websites are considered as a type of social influence that impacts
consumers’ purchase intention (Cheung and Thadani, 2012). In addition, comparable to
the role of social impact in the TRA, information from an outside source may improve
purchase intention (Ajzen, 1991; Cheung and Thadani, 2012). Hence, we believe that
eWOM adoption will have a direct influence on consumers’ purchase intentions.
Accordingly, this study hypothesises the following:
Hypothesis 8: eWOM adoption is positively related to purchase intention.

4 Method

To test the hypothesised relationships among the key variables in the research model, a
self-administered survey was employed.

4.1 Sample
Participants were chosen from the university students in the UK. University students
were deemed appropriate for this study since the younger age groups are more familiar
with online shopping websites. Latest reports show that 90% of 25–34-year olds and 83%
of 16–24-year-old UK consumers use online shopping (National Statistics, 2014). A total
of 384 university students participated in the study. Among the participants 42.7% were
undergraduate students, 22.9% were Master students, and 34.4% were PhD students.
Other sample characteristics are presented in Table 1.
Table 1 Sample demographics

Measure Frequency Percentage (%)

Age
18–22 153 39.8
23–27 94 24.5
28–32 98 25.5
33–37 28 7.3
38 or above 11 2.9
Online reviews usage
Always 108 28.1
Frequently 127 33.1
Sometimes 132 34.4
Never 17 4.4
Online shopping frequency
More than once a month 175 45.6
Once a month 113 29.4
Very rare 89 23.2
Never 7 1.8
 Your comments are important to me 9

4.2 Measures
A multi-item approach was used to design the survey. Each variable was measured by
several items in order to enhance reliability and validity. A five-point Likert scale
ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ was employed for each of the
constructs. Items were borrowed from the prior literature and modified for this study. A
total of 16 items measuring the following six variables were rated by participants:
(1) eWOM quality (Park et al., 2007), (2) eWOM credibility (Prendergast et al., 2010),
(3) attitude towards eWOM (Park et al., 2007), (4) perceived eWOM usefulness (Bailey
and Pearson, 1983), (5) eWOM adoption (Cheung et al., 2009), and (6) purchase
intention (Coyle and Thorson, 2001).

5 Results

5.1 Measurement model evaluation

The research model was tested through an SEM technique (with AMOS 20 software) as
this is well suited for predictive models (Bentler and Chou, 1987). Firstly, the reliability
and validity of the scales were assessed to understand whether they achieved satisfactory
levels. For this purpose, internal reliability, factor loadings, convergent validity, and
discriminant validity were employed.
Table 2 Factor loadings, CR and AVE values

Variable Item Factor loading CR AVE

EQ1 0.80
eWOM quality
EQ2 0.82 0.814 0.594
(M = 3.57, SD = 0.76, α = 0.81)
EQ3 0.69
eWOM credibility EC1 0.83
0,810 0.681
(M = 3.61, SD = 0.82, α = 0.81) EC2 0.82
ATE1 0.76
Attitude towards eWOM
ATE2 0.85 0.859 0.670
(M = 3.88, SD = 0.87, α = 0.86)
ATE3 0.80
Perceived eWOM usefulness PEU1 0.91
0.867 0.766
(M = 3.91, SD = 0.84, α = 0.87) PEU2 0.84
eWOM adoption EA1 0.83
0.843 0.728
(M = 3.80, SD = 0.89, α = 0.84) EA2 0.87
PI1 0.83
Purchase intention PI2 0.84
0.847 0.583
(M = 3.78, SD = 0.56, α = 0.86) PI3 0.62
PI4 0.74
Notes: CR – composite reliability, AVE – average variance extracted.
The internal reliability of the scales was assessed by using Cronbach’s α. As a rule of
thumb, figures between 0.70 and 0.90 are considered as high reliability (Hinton et al.,
2014); and since the figures for each constructs fell from 0.81 to 0.87, they highlight
10 I. Erkan and A. Elwalda

internal consistency for all the scales employed in this study. Additionally, the factor
loadings of each items are acceptable as they are greater than 0.50 (Hair et al., 2010).
Furthermore, convergent validity, which presents how the measures are related to each
other, was examined using the composite reliability (CR) and the average variance was
extracted (AVE). The lowest acceptable value is 0.70 for CR and 0.50 for AVE (Fornell
and Larcker, 1981; Hair et al., 2010); since CR of each variables ranging from 0.810 to
0.867, and AVE of each variables ranging from 0.583 to 0.766, the convergent validity is
achieved. Table 2 shows the figures for each instrument. Finally, discriminant validity
was assessed to understand whether a measurement is not a reflection of any other
measurements. To reach adequate discriminant validity in this assessment, each of the
square roots of AVE should be greater than the other correlation coefficients (Fornell and
Larcker, 1981). The figures which state the achievement of discriminant validity in this
study are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Correlation matrix of key variables

EQ EC ATE PEU EA PI
eWOM quality (EQ) 0.771
eWOM credibility (EC) 0.729 0.825
Attitude towards eWOM (ATE) 0.671 0.674 0.818
Perceived eWOM usefulness (PEU) 0.703 0.685 0.688 0.875
eWOM adoption (EA) 0.608 0.652 0.707 0.791 0.853
Purchase intention (PI) 0.515 0.496 0.505 0.606 0.650 0.763
Notes: Italicised elements are the square root of AVE for each variable.

5.2 Structural model evaluation

As the measurement model was found acceptable, the second stage, the goodness-of-fit
for the hypothesised structural model was examined. Six goodness-of-fit indices
were employed, all indicating that the model fits the data very well: χ²/df = 1.790;
p < 0.001; GFI = 0.947; AGFI = 0.925; CFI = 0.979; RMSEA = 0.045; PCLOSE =
0.744. Moreover, eight hypothesised relationships were found statistically significant.
Specifically, eWOM quality was found to have a positive influence on eWOM credibility
and attitude towards eWOM: (respectively) H1 (β = 0.73, p < 0.001), H2 (β = 0.40,
p < 0.001). H3, which predicts the positive influence of eWOM credibility on attitude
towards eWOM, was supported (β = 0.43, p < 0.001). Further, the positive effect of
attitude towards eWOM on perceived eWOM usefulness and eWOM adoption was
supported: (respectively) H4 (β = 0.74, p < 0.001), H5 (β = 0.36, p < 0.001). Also,
perceived eWOM usefulness was found to have a positive effect on eWOM adoption and
purchase intention: (respectively) H6 (β = 0.52, p < 0.001), H7 (β = 0.24, p < 0.012).
Finally, H8, which predicts the positive influence of eWOM adoption on purchase
intention, was supported (β = 0.46, p < 0.001). Table 4 presents both the results for
hypotheses testing, and the goodness-of-fit indices of the structural model.
 Your comments are important to me 11

Table 4 Results and goodness-of-fit indices

Relationship Std RW CR P-value

H1 eWOM quality eWOM credibility 0.73 10.625 ***
H2 eWOM quality Attitude towards eWOM 0.40 4.912 ***
H3 eWOM credibility Attitude towards eWOM 0.43 5.266 ***
H4 Attitude towards eWOM Per. eWOM usefulness 0.74 12.293 ***
H5 Attitude towards eWOM eWOM adoption 0.36 4.942 ***
H6 Per. eWOM usefulness eWOM adoption 0.52 7.050 ***
H7 Per. eWOM usefulness Purchase intention 0.24 2.519 0.012
H8 eWOM adoption Purchase intention 0.46 4.545 ***
Goodness-of-fit indices
 /df
2
1.790
Goodness-of-fit index (GFI) 0.947
Adjusted GFI (AGFI) 0.925
Comparative fit index (CFI) 0.979
RMSEA 0.045
PCLOSE 0.744
Notes: Std RW – standardised regression weights, CR – critical ratio.
*** p < 0.001.

6 Discussion and conclusion

The rapid development of web 2.0 technologies has brought traditional WOM into the
online world, transforming the way that customers make a purchasing decision. In order
to understand the determinants of eWOM in shopping websites which influence
consumers’ purchase intentions; in this study, we introduce OCRs adoption model by
extending the IAM.
In this study, the point of departure was to move beyond traditional models of
information adoption. Through the use of attitude in the IAM this study yields a rich set
of insights. Firstly, one question of concern in the current study was whether or not the
eWOM quality affects its credibility. The results revealed that eWOM quality has a
positive influence on eWOM credibility, suggesting that a high-quality review will
possibly improve its credibility. This insightful result further supports the idea of
Park et al. (2007) who claim that that a high-quality review is likely to improve the
persuasiveness of such a review.
Secondly, eWOM quality and credibility were conceptualised in this study as
affecting attitudes towards eWOM. Major theatrical findings of the present study
acknowledge the relationship between quality and credibility of eWOM and attitudes, as
it was suggested that attitude was part of IAM. To the extent of our knowledge, such
relationships have not been considered in the literature. The results report significant
associations between eWOM quality and credibility and customer attitudes towards
eWOM. Consistent with the TRA, we provide evidence that the beliefs of the results of
performing behaviour are the base of performing an attitude towards an object. When
12 I. Erkan and A. Elwalda

individuals are exposed to high-quality and credibility reviews, they are likely to have a
positive attitude towards eWOM. Our work fills the gap in the literature and suggests that
attitudes are affected by quality and credibility, proposing that customer attitudes need to
be considered in IAM.
A further key theoretical result of this study is the relationships between attitudes and
eWOM usefulness and adoption. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to
show the influence of customer attitude on usefulness and adoption of eWOM. The
results suggest that customers’ perception of eWOM usefulness is significantly affected
by their attitudes towards eWOM. Furthermore, interestingly, this study shows that
customer adoption of eWOM is also impacted by their attitudes towards eWOM. Such
results are better explained in the light of the notion that individuals process information
more deeply and closely when they have a favourable attitude (Celsi and Olson, 1988;
Holbrook et al., 2005). Once customers have a favourable attitude towards eWOM, they
tend to pay more attention to the information presented, and process it more closely.
Such results, additionally, propose extraordinarily that customers do not focus on all
online information that is presented by customers equally; they rather pay attention to the
information or reviews that are relevant to their attitudes.
Furthermore, we evidently found that information usefulness had a strong effect on
information adoption. Previous work such as Cheung et al. (2008), and Sussman and
Siegal (2003) report similar results. However, the present study expands their work to
establish that eWOM adoption is significantly affected by eWOM usefulness. The results
also yield that both eWOM usefulness and eWOM adoption have a significant impact on
consumers’ purchase intentions. This suggests that comparable to the idea of Ajzen
(1991) and Cheung and Thadani (2012) information provided by OCRs as an outside
source affect behavioural intention.
Several theoretical implications are drawn from the findings of the present study.
Firstly, this study introduces OCRs adoption model for understanding the adoption
behaviour. The OCRs adoption model advances our understanding of customer adoption
of online information and extends the current adoption models to investigate the role of
OCRs adoption in affecting behavioural intention. Secondly, the present study
empirically examined the relationship between quality and credibility. To the best of our
knowledge, it is the first attempt to investigate this relationship. Another major
contribution is that attitude was employed as an antecedent for both information
usefulness and information adoption. Attitudes were relatively ignored in the literature of
information adoption, particularly in the field of eWOM adoption. The results show that
attitude significantly affects both usefulness and adoption. Furthermore, OCRs adoption
model explains the influence of eWOM usefulness and adoption on behavioural
intention.
Results from this study also offer important managerial implications. Firstly, this
study helps companies to understand customers’ attitudes towards eWOM and how it
develops eWOM adoption. Therefore, companies need to, first, encourage their customer
to post positive reviews, and, second, to have a special unit within the company
concerned with eWOM to enable them to build their marketing strategies according to
the customer’s feedback. Secondly, as this study shows that quality and credibility
reviews significantly affect customer attitude, marketers should encourage customers to
post high-quality, credible and trustworthy reviews. Companies might achieve that by,
 Your comments are important to me 13

for example, building a tool that enables high level of two-way communication between
themselves and their customers, which in turn can lead customers to post honest,
trustworthy, and high-quality reviews. Thirdly, the results of this study reveal that
eWOM adoption leads consumers to purchase intention. These results suggest that firms
and marketers must take eWOM adoption factors into account when deciding marketing
strategies. Finally, attributes such as quality, credibility and usefulness are the key drivers
for developing eWOM adoption. Thus, reviews which hold such attributes should be
encouraged.

6.1 Limitations and further research

The study proposes a new model in order to understand the determinants of eWOM in
shopping websites which influence consumers’ purchase intentions; nonetheless, the
generalisability of the results is subject to some limitations. Firstly, although younger age
groups are more familiar with online shopping websites; university students might not
represent the whole population who use these websites. Therefore, future studies could
use a larger data set with different groups of participants. Besides, the present study was
conducted in the UK, where the lifestyle and culture differ from that of other countries.
Henceforward, it is recommended to test the research model in different countries.
Furthermore, a questionnaire method was believed to be appropriate for the present
study. However, a controlled experiment, for instance, may further be used in the future
studies to examine the research model.

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