The Impact of Information Presentation Format on User Purchase Decision-Making

<p>Online reviews have garnered considerable attention, especially in recent years, from scholars in various domains (such as information systems and marketing) seeking to understand their role in purchase decision-making. With the growing popularity of online review videos, however, understanding the role of information presentation format in online decision-making becomes crucial. While prior research has explored how presentation formats affect users’ perceptions differently, the extent of these differences and their implications in purchase decision-making stages are not yet fully understood. Specifically, this dissertation work examines the role of presentation format of online reviews in two decision-making stages: 1) choice-reduction stage, which involves shortlisting a large number of alternatives and 2) choice-selection stage, which involves choosing one from fewer alternatives. This work not only examines whether one presentation format may be more suitable than the other but also considers the fit between the presentation format and the decision-making stage, and the role of type of good under consideration. By introducing the novel concept of format-stage fit, I examine the differential impact of reviews’ presentation formats on consumers perceptions when the consumers are in different decision stages of an online purchase. The theoretical foundation of the research model is based on vividness, information foraging, and cognitive-fit theories. The research model is tested empirically with a set of complementary factorial survey-based studies. The findings indicate that video-based reviews are perceived as higher quality and more useful for decision-making. However, simply having more video-based reviews may not improve decision performance and instead video-based reviews must be used in the right stage as indicated by format-stage fit. In other words, text-based reviews may be a better fit in choice-reduction stage whereas a video-based reviews may be a better fit in choice-selection stage. Also, because of their higher experiential attributes, experience goods (e.g., smartphone covers) are more likely to exhibit these effects as compared with search goods (e.g., digital cameras). These findings enhance our understanding of information presentation and decision making in online commerce, spur new avenues of research in IS, marketing and other related domains and have implications for the online retailers, system designers and managers.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Business

Grantor

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Jawad, Muhammad

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Raquel Benbunan-Fich

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Nanda Kumar
• Lauren Block
• Kevin Craig

• Management Information Systems
• Marketing
• Technology and Innovation
• information presentation format
• online reviews
• consumer decision-making
• video reviews

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4510

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-5583