Innocent Until Proven Guilty: Suspicion of Deception in Online Reviews

- Purpose: This study formulates a new framework for identifying deception in consumer reviews through the lens of Interpersonal Deception Theory and the Persuasion Knowledge Model. It evaluates variables contributing to consumer intentions to purchase after reading deceptive reviews and proposes deception identification cues to be incorporated into the interpersonal communication theoretical framework. - Methodology: The first study is qualitative and quantitative, based on sentiment and lexical analysis of 1000 consumer reviews. The second study employs a USA national consumer survey with a PLS-SEM and a Process-based mediation-moderation analysis. - Findings: The study shows deceptive characteristics that cannot be dissimulated by reviewing consumers that represent review legitimacy based on review valence, authenticity, formalism, and analytical writing. The results also support the central role of consumer suspicion of an ulterior motive, with a direct and mediation effect regarding consumer emotions and intentions, including brand trust and purchase intentions. - Research implications: This paper presents a new framework for identifying deception in consumer reviews based on IDT and PKM, adding new theoretical elements that help adapt these theories to written digital communication specificities. The study clarifies the role of suspicion in a deceptive communication context and shows the variables contributing to consumers’ purchase intention after reading deceptive reviews. The results also emphasize the benefits of lexical analysis in identifying deceptive characteristics of reviews. - Practical implications: Companies can consider the vulnerability of certain generations based on lower levels of suspicions and different linguistic cues to detect deception in reviews. Long-term, marketers can also implement deception identification practices as potential new business models and opportunities. - Social implications: Policymakers and regulators need to consider critical deception cues and the differences in suspicion levels among segments of consumers in the formulation of preventative and deception management measures. - Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by formulating a new framework for identifying deception in consumer reviews, adapted to the characteristics of written digital communication. The study emphasizes deception cues in eWOM and provides additional opportunities for theorizing deception in electronic communication

Consumer Initial Trust towards Internet-Only Banks in France?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate internet-only banks’ (IOBs) adoption by French consumers and attempt to understand the factors that influence consumers’ initial trust in this type of service. Design/methodology/approach A non-probability convenience sample of potential IOBs adopters from France was used to test a structural equation model that analyzed the antecedents of initial trust and usage intentions of IOBs. Findings The study shows that trust is a major influencer in IOBs’ adoption in France. It has also been found that consumer familiarity with internet banking, high perceived structural assurance, perceived website quality, bank reputation and relative advantage are critical factors influencing IOBs’ initial trust formation. Research limitations/implications This study shows the applicability of the initial trust-building model in the context of IOBs and underlines the importance of factors such as familiarity, reputation and perceived quality in the context of online banking services in France. Practical implications This paper provides e-banking companies with the most important factors that contribute to build the initial trust of customers. E-banks need to focus on making themselves known and promoting their brand more effectively through advertising and advocacy. Originality/value This study contributes significantly to the marketing research related to consumer trust and brand reputation, as well as to the electronic banking literature. The results show the importance of initial trust in the context of services and the main factors that influence it, including a key branding variable such as reputation. The paper also focuses on the IOBs’ adoption in France, a market understudied compared to the USA, and seeks to understand the mechanisms associated with the initial formation of French consumers’ trust toward it

Reciprocal Influences and Effects of Viral NWOM Campaigns in Social Media

Negative perceptions of United Airlines’ corporate reputation increased 500% after an event regarding the forcible removal of a ticketed passenger in April 2017, a video that became viral and traveled the world first-class through social media. This study explores the way consumers interact online during a significant negative word-of-mouth social media event for a service company. It analyzes how different negative word-of-mouth events interact and affect each other regarding social media and the public’s attention. The paper then focuses on the long-term relationship between negative word-of-mouth and fluctuations in the stock market price. Results show the reciprocal influence effect between social media NWOM events promoted by consumers, and the effect that informational social influence has on the development of negative social media firestorms for a service. Findings also emphasize consumer focus on comparing negative experiences and events between brands, including those competing in the marketplace. This study can contribute to the word-of-mouth literature by providing a more precise picture regarding consumers’ reaction to adverse brand events for a service as opposed to a product, and their responses in social media

Are brand benefits perceived differently in less developed economies ? A scale development and validation

International audienceThe purpose of this paper is to develop a scale measuring consumers’ brand benefits in less developed economies. Based on the literature, items have been generated in qualitative and quantitative studies and tested by using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The findings show that brand benefits converge into a two-factor structure (functional and symbolic) instead of three (functional, experiential and symbolic). These findings can be justified by the fact that consumers in developing economies do not have as much experience with brands as the ones from developed economies. The results also relate to previous literature findings on the topic of utilitarian and affective brand relationships. This scale can be used to advance the domain of brand benefits in a cross-cultural environment and can be employed by marketers when businesses plan to brand their products in developed economies

Incentivized Reviews: Promising the Moon for a Few Stars

This paper studies the motivations behind incentivized consumer reviews generated via influencer marketing campaigns. Exchange theory is applied as a theoretical framework to analyze, in a qualitative and a quantitative study, the relationship between incentivized reviews and the satisfaction ratings assigned by consumers to a product. The main contributions of the study find that incentivized campaigns can contribute to a sustained increase in the number of reviews and have the potential to lead to higher purchase potential. Moreover, this study also uncovers that incentivized electronic word-of-mouth, in the form of consumer reviews, leads to increased consumer interest and desire to find out more about the product through search engines. Our findings also show that the scope of exchange theory can be broader, from an exchange between two parties to more complex relationships, between brands, influencers, and consumers, through an emerging, specialized word-of-mouth technique