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The Influence of Online Ratings and Reviews in Consumer Buying Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review

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Digital Economy. Emerging Technologies and Business Innovation (ICDEc 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 485))

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Abstract

This paper presents a systematic literature review of the influence of online ratings and reviews in consumer buying behavior with the purpose of finding out trends, themes, directions, research problems, and potential future research avenues how ratings and reviews affect online consumer buying decision-making behavior. The only systematic literature review on online consumer reviews had presented the existing studies in relation to the communication model. The review found that no prior studies had focused on buying decision making. This study analyzes and discusses 63 papers published in the last three decades in international scientific journals indexed in Web of Science and Scopus grouped under four main themes: 1) quality of ratings and reviews; 2) sales and consumer behavior; 3) quality of products; and 4) ratings and reviews trustworthiness and credibility. A framework is proposed showing the five-stage model of the consumer buying decision-making process influenced by review ratings, aggregate ratings, review variance, rating volume, rating length, review ranking, top reviewers’ reviews, average ratings, and review history. This influence is mediated by behavioral constructs. This study aims at contributing both to the understanding of online consumer buying decision making process and e-business literature expanding the knowledge on online ratings and reviews.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    Saleh Kutabish, Ana Maria Soares & Beatriz Casais

  2. CICS.NOVA.Uminho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    Ana Maria Soares & Beatriz Casais

Authors
  1. Saleh Kutabish
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  2. Ana Maria Soares
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  3. Beatriz Casais
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Correspondence to Beatriz Casais .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. ESEN, University of Manouba, Manouba, Tunisia

    Rim Jallouli

  2. ESEN, University of Manouba, Manouba, Tunisia

    Mohamed Anis Bach Tobji

  3. University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia

    Meriam Belkhir

  4. University of Minho, CICS.NOVA, Braga, Portugal

    Ana Maria Soares

  5. University of Minho, CICS.NOVA, Braga, Portugal

    Beatriz Casais

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Kutabish, S., Soares, A.M., Casais, B. (2023). The Influence of Online Ratings and Reviews in Consumer Buying Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review. In: Jallouli, R., Bach Tobji, M.A., Belkhir, M., Soares, A.M., Casais, B. (eds) Digital Economy. Emerging Technologies and Business Innovation. ICDEc 2023. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 485. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42788-6_8

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