The Impact of Customer Engagement in Online Reviews on the Credibility of Shopping Sites and Customer Purchase Intentions

Abstract

Online reviews have become an important source of information when online shoppers purchase products on shopping sites. Many researchers examined how online reviews affect the credibility of website and shopper’s purchase intentions. However, minimal studies have been conducted regarding how the credibility of website and purchase intentions are differently affected by the extent to which customers are engaged in online reviews. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the impact of customer engagement in online reviews on website credibility and purchase intentions. A total of 403 students completed questionnaires measuring Customer Engagement in Online Reviews, Website Credibility, and Online Purchase Intentions. One-way MANOVA was conducted to test how website credibility and online purchase intentions are affected by a level (low, medium, and high) of customer engagement in online reviews. The results of the study revealed that there were significant multivariate effects of the level of customer engagement in online reviews on website credibility and online purchase intentions. The study also found customer engagement in online reviews positively predicted website credibility, and website credibility significantly predicted online purchase intentions. This study provides online retailers and marketers with practical implications regarding relationship management through online reviews.

Keywords: Customer engagement, online reviews, website credibility, purchase intentions

DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/76-03

Publication date: February 28^th 2021