This is a repository copy of Do online reviews still matter post-purchase?. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/150098/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Liu, H., Jayawardhena, C., Osburg, V.-S. et al. (1 more author) (2019) Do online reviews still matter post-purchase? Internet Research. ISSN 1066-2243 https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-07-2018-0331 © 2019 Emerald Publishing. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Internet Research. This version is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. Reuse This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) licence. 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Journal: Internet Research Manuscript ID IntR-07-2018-0331.R4 Manuscript InternetType: Research Paper Research Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM), Online reviews, Post-purchase Keywords: evaluation, Social comparison, Polarisation effects http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/intr Page 1 of 71 Internet Research 1 2 3 Do Online Reviews Still Matter Post-Purchase? 4 5 6 7 8 Abstract 9 10 Purpose – The influence of eWOM information, such as online reviews, on consumers’ 11 12 decision making is well documented, but it is unclear if online reviews still matter in post- 13 purchase evaluation and behaviours. We therefore examine the extent to which online reviews 14 15 (aggregate rating and individual reviews) influence consumers’ evaluation and post-purchase 16 17 behaviour by considering the valence congruence of online reviews and consumption 18 19 experience. 20 Internet Research 21 22 23 Design/methodology/approach – Following social comparison theory and relevant literature, 24 25 we conduct an online experiment (pre-test: n = 180; main study: n = 347). We rely on a 2 26 27 (consumption experience valence) ! 2 (aggregated rating valence) ! 2 (individual review 28 valence) between-subjects design. 29 30 31 32 33 Findings – Congruence/incongruence between the valences of consumption experience, 34 aggregated rating and individual reviews affects consumers’ post-purchase evaluation at the 35 36 emotional, brand and media levels, and review-writing behaviour. In comparison to aggregated 37 38 rating, individual reviews are more important in the post-purchase stage. Similarly, consumers 39 40 have a higher eWOM-writing intention when there is congruence between the valences of 41 consumption experience, aggregated rating and individual reviews. 42 43 44 45 46 Practical implications – We demonstrate the importance of service providers continually 47 48 monitoring their business profiles on review sites to ensure consistency of review information, 49 as these influence consumers’ post-purchase evaluation and behaviours. For this reason, we 50 51 illustrate the utility of why media owners of review sites should support the monitoring process 52 53 to facilitate the engagement of both businesses and customers. 54 55 56 57 Originality/value – We break new ground by empirically testing the impact of online review 58 59 information post-purchase seen through the theoretical lens of social comparison. Our approach 60 1 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/intr Internet Research Page 2 of 71 1 2 3 is novel in breaking down and testing the dimensions of post-purchase evaluation and 4 5 behavioural intentions in understanding the social comparison elicited by online reviews in the 6 7 post-purchase phase. 8 9 10 11 Key words: Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), Online reviews, Post-purchase evaluation, 12 13 Social comparison, Polarisation effects 14 15 16 17 Paper type: Research paper 18 19 20 Internet Research 21 22 1. Introduction 23 24 25 For over half a century, practitioners and academic literature alike have established word-of- 26 mouth (WOM) as a direct determinant of consumption behaviour. With the advent of electronic 27 28 platforms, electronic WOM (eWOM) has revolutionised consumers’ decision-making 29 30 processes (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004). In practice, eWOM frequently refers to online reviews 31 32 (Filieri and McLeay, 2014; Sotiriadis and Van Zyl, 2013). Previous studies have demonstrated 33 that online reviews are important to consumers’ purchase decision making, especially for 34 35 services (e.g. hotels and restaurants) (Tsao et al., 2015; Yen and Tang, 2015). In this context, 36 37 two types of eWOM are usually distinguished: base rate information (i.e. aggregated rating - 38 AR) and individuating information (i.e. individual reviews - IR), which in combination form a 39 40 persuasive online environment, and are often jointly provided on review platforms (Lpez- 41 42 Lpez and Parra, 2016; Qiu et al., 2012). Aggregated rating refers to the rating that reflects 43 44 former consumers’ overall evaluation of a service provider, while individual reviews usually 45 include the rating that a single consumer gives to a service provider, aligned with descriptive 46 47 texts and, sometimes, images (see the example in Figure 1). These two types of eWOM 48 49 information in the context of review sites are thought to influence both consumers’ decision 50 51 making and business growth (Luca, 2011; Xun and Guo, 2017). 52 53 54 55 <Insert Figure 1 here> 56 57 58 59 60 2 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/intr Page 3 of 71 Internet Research 1 2 3 eWOM researchers recognise the significance of understanding how different types of eWOM 4 5 information, specifically AR and IR, on review sites, and the valence congruence/incongruence 6 7 between them, influence consumer perception and behaviour at different stages of the decision- 8 9 making process, particularly in service settings (Aggarwal and Singh, 2013; Chen et al., 2015; 10 Qiu et al., 2012). However, the investigation of such effects has largely focused on the pre- 11 12 purchase stage, leaving the influence of online reviews on the post-purchase period under- 13 14 explored (Lpez-Lpez and Parra, 2016; Qiu et al., 2012). This is surprising since, due to the 15 ever-popular eWOM media and smart devices, consumers now have opportunities to access 16 17 and receive an abundant amount of eWOM information across different media at any stage of 18 19 the decision-making process, including the post-purchase evaluation stage. More importantly, 20 Internet Research 21 the influence of online reviews post-purchase can be expected to significantly differ from the 22 pre-purchase stage, not least due to the consumption experience customers have formed (Hess 23 24 and Ring, 2016; Ranaweera and Jayawardhena, 2014). Based on Kardes (1994), Figure 2 25 26 conceptualises the eWOM information involvement in the consumers’ decision-making 27 process from an information-receiving perspective and clarifies the positioning of the current 28 29 study, i.e. addressing the literature gap on consumer reactions towards online reviews post- 30 31 purchase. 32 33 34 35 <Insert Figure 2 here> 36 37 38 39 40 More precisely, unlike the pre-purchase stage where consumers have limited knowledge and 41 42 experience about the product/service, consumers have acquired their own consumption 43 experience by the time they encounter online reviews in the post-purchase stage (Car and 44 45 Cova, 2003); thus, making the online review reception post-purchase fundamentally different 46 47 from pre-purchase stages. The involvement of personal consumption experiences creates new 48 dynamics in post-purchase evaluation, together with online review information received (Hess 49 50 and Ring, 2016). Such new dynamics allow consumers to compare their own experiences with 51 52 eWOM information on the review sites in which others’ experiences with the same company 53 54 are being shared. Such comparisons might confirm their own beliefs of the consumption 55 experience in the post-purchase phase, or they might trigger the consumers’ re-evaluation of 56 57 multiple aspects related to the consumption (Bearden and Rose, 1990; Dahl, 2013; Smeesters 58 59 et al., 2009). This unique phenomenon reflects the consumers’ social comparison (Liu and 60 3 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/intr Internet Research Page 4 of 71 1 2 3 Keng, 2014). Social comparison theory asserts that individuals constantly confirm their 4 5 understanding and perceptions with those of other people (Festinger, 1954). Nevertheless, the 6 7 social comparison drawn from the interaction between personal experience and online reviews 8 9 in the post-purchase stage has not been fully examined in the literature. More specifically, 10 compared to vertical social comparison (i.e. better vs. worse), horizontal social comparison 11 12 (i.e. similar vs. different) is often neglected (Locke, 2003; 2005). This calls for an 13 14 understanding of the impact of horizontal social comparison on consumers’ post-purchase 15 evaluations. 16 17 18 With regard to the potential outcomes of social comparisons elicited by eWOM information 19 post-purchase, the literature suggests that consumers not only form cognitive and emotional 20 Internet Research 21 evaluations towards a product/service at this stage, but also adjust their brand perception (Bigne 22 23 et al., 2001; Grace and O’Cass, 2004; Kuo et al., 2009).