The Addition of Images to eWOM in the Travel Industry: An Examination of Hotels, Cruise Ships and Fast Food Reviews

Extensive research has examined the influence of online product reviews on consumer behavior. However, few have investigated the influence of reviewer submitted images on consumer attitudes. This research examines consumer perceptions of trust, information quality and valence disparity using three simulated online reviews appearing on TripAdvisor.com: one for a hotel, one for a cruise ship and one for a fast food restaurant. Findings reveal that reviews with images are seen as more trustworthy, and that consumers perceive reviews with images as possessing higher information quality than reviews containing text only. Likewise, the findings showed that effective images should be consistent with review text (e.g., reviewers do not respond positively to negative reviews linked with positive images, or vice versa).

Automated summary

This research reveals that consumer perceptions of trust and information quality are higher for reviews with images compared to text-only reviews. Additionally, the study shows that effective images should align with the review text to avoid consumer backlash.