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.