Navigating by the Stars: Investigating the Actual and Perceived Validity of Online User Ratings
de Langhe, Fernbach and Lichtenstein document a disconnect between the objective quality information online user ratings convey and the extent to which consumers trust them. Analysing 1,272 products across 120 vertically differentiated categories, they report that average user ratings lack convergence with Consumer Reports scores, the standard measure of objective quality in this literature; are often based on sample sizes too small to be informative; do not predict resale prices in the used-product marketplace; and are higher for more expensive products and premium brands even controlling for Consumer Reports scores. When forming quality inferences and purchase intentions, consumers heavily weight the average rating relative to other cues including price and the number of ratings, and fail to moderate that reliance according to sample size sufficiency. The authors describe the resulting trust as resting on an illusion of validity.
de Langhe, Fernbach and Lichtenstein document a disconnect between the objective quality information online user ratings convey and the extent to which consumers trust them. Analysing 1,272 products across 120 vertically differentiated categories, they report that average user ratings lack convergence with Consumer Reports scores, the standard measure of objective quality in this literature; are often based on sample sizes too small to be informative; do not predict resale prices in the used-product marketplace; and are higher for more expensive products and premium brands even controlling for Consumer Reports scores. When forming quality inferences and purchase intentions, consumers heavily weight the average rating relative to other cues including price and the number of ratings, and fail to moderate that reliance according to sample size sufficiency. The authors describe the resulting trust as resting on an illusion of validity.
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de Langhe, B., Fernbach, P. M., & Lichtenstein, D. R. (2016). 'Navigating by the stars: investigating the actual and perceived validity of online user ratings.' Journal of Consumer Research, 42(6), 817-833. Analyses of 1,272 products across 120 vertically differentiated categories; average user ratings lack convergence with Consumer Reports scores, are often based on insufficient sample sizes, do not predict resale prices, and are higher for more expensive products and premium brands controlling for Consumer Reports scores. Consumers heavily weight the average rating against other cues and fail to moderate reliance as a function of sample size sufficiency, which the authors describe as an illusion of validity. doi:10.1093/jcr/ucv047
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https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucv047
DOI: 10.1093/jcr/ucv047