Abstract

Online word-of-mouth (eWOM) such as online review is important in reducing shopping uncertainty in e-commerce context. Current literature mainly examines the perceived quality of eWOM in terms of helpfulness and trustworthiness of the review content, while the study of how readers’ trust in the source – the reviewer – is influenced by peripheral, contextual factors such as certification badges receives little attention. This paper integrates the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and the IS Trust Model perspective to introduce a comprehensive model to assess how peripheral cues of badges that convey reviewer information would influence eWOM readers’ trust on the reviewer. An experimental design is also proposed to empirically assess the model’s hypotheses.

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Trust in Online Reviews: Integrating the Elaboration Likelihood Model and IS Trust

Online word-of-mouth (eWOM) such as online review is important in reducing shopping uncertainty in e-commerce context. Current literature mainly examines the perceived quality of eWOM in terms of helpfulness and trustworthiness of the review content, while the study of how readers’ trust in the source – the reviewer – is influenced by peripheral, contextual factors such as certification badges receives little attention. This paper integrates the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and the IS Trust Model perspective to introduce a comprehensive model to assess how peripheral cues of badges that convey reviewer information would influence eWOM readers’ trust on the reviewer. An experimental design is also proposed to empirically assess the model’s hypotheses.