Do others' opinion matter? investigating the impact of gender differences on trustworthiness of e-WOM

Fei Liu, Bo Xiao, Eric T.K. Lim, Chee Wee Tan

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceedingConference article published in proceeding or bookAcademic researchpeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The maturing of Web 2.0 infrastructure fosters the rapid generation and dissemination of electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM). The abundance of e-WOM allows online service providers to facilitate consumers' trust building. However, due to the often coexistence of two forms of e-WOM, namely numerical rating and opinionated review, consumers can perceive cognitive dissonance between the former and the latter. This cognitive dissonance can hinder the formation of consumers' trust and compel them to resolve the conflict. Guided by confirmation bias theory, we propose that, to maintain trusting beliefs when experiencing dissonance in e-WOM, male consumers value opinionated review over numerical rating and vice versa for their female counterparts. The results of our field survey on a custom developed website with 115 college students empirically validated our hypothesized relationships and also unveiled male's general bias towards opinionated review. Our findings can contribute to both research and practice.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 49th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2016
EditorsRalph H. Sprague, Tung X. Bui
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages909-918
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9780769556703
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Mar 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event49th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2016 - Koloa, United States
Duration: 5 Jan 20168 Jan 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Volume2016-March
ISSN (Print)1530-1605

Conference

Conference49th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityKoloa
Period5/01/168/01/16

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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