eWOM overload and its effect on consumer behavioral intention depending on consumer involvement

Online consumer reviews involving experiences, evaluations and opinions on products from previous consumers play two roles - an informant and a recommender. These two roles affect a consumer's intention. However, there is a conflict between two roles when a large number of reviews are offered. From the perspective of the recommender role, consumers have more favorable attitude toward a product as a greater number of positive reviews are offered while consumers may be confronted with too much information, which results in information overload. This study investigates what consequences the tradeoff between two roles has on purchasing intention depending on consumer involvement. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.