Perceived credibility of Facebook reviews and start-ups: the effect of the quantity of reviews and the profile of reviewers in aggregate on the perceived credibility of reviews

Abstract

Objectives

The main objectives of this study were (1) to explore the effect of the quantity of reviews on the perceived credibility of reviews and (2) to explore the effect of the reviewer profile in aggregate on the perceived credibility of reviews

Summary

Nowadays, consumers often rely on customer reviews to make purchase decisions because it saves time in making purchase decisions and lower purchase risks. Therefore, the credibility of companies will increase if customers recommend their products, which increases profits for the companies. However, consumers may not completely believe in online reviews because they are aware that reviews may be generated or manipulated by marketers (Kulmala et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2015). To increase the credibility of reviews, enterprises should manage these customer feedbacks. They should pay attention to not only the quality of reviews but also the quantity of reviews and the collection of the profile of reviewers to have the most effective action.

Conclusions

If the number of reviews is smaller than what consumers expected, the credibility of these reviews is likely to be suspected as being created by the start-ups themselves. Furthermore, reviews seem more credible if the collection of reviewers is socially diversified regarding age, education level, lifestyle and content on their Facebook profile. In general, if consumers perceive positive reviews as lowly credible, the start-ups are highly likely to lose credibility. Therefore, rather than creating fake reviews, start-ups should employ methods to encourage customers to leave feedbacks and manage the diversity of the collection of reviewers.