The effect of product review balance and volume on online Shoppers' risk perception and purchase intention

Online reviews are viewed as an important source of information enabling online shoppers to assess the quality of products/services. An important function of reviews is to reduce the risk and uncertainty that online buyers perceive relating to the product purchase. There are many aspects of reviews that may influence risk perception. This study examines the effect of social consensus in product reviews, represented by review balance and volume, on online shoppers' risk perception, uncertainty, attitude and subsequent purchase intention, using a quasi-experimental design and online questionnaires. Results show that the four proposed risk concerns are good predictors of online shoppers' overall risk in e-commerce; perceived risk is a major determinant of online shoppers' attitude toward purchasing, which in turn determines their purchase intention. However, no significant causal effect between perceived uncertainty and purchase intention was found. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.