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The conclusions of studies on the factors correlated with the perceived usefulness of online reviews are inconsistent due to differences in research perspectives, research objects, research methods and data types. This study conducted a meta-analysis to verify a proposed model of perceived usefulness to obtain general conclusions.

A meta-analysis was conducted to study the factors correlated with the perceived usefulness of online reviews based on 51 studies.

The results indicate that, with the exception of negative reviews, the order of relevance for the perceived usefulness of online reviews is as follows: the trust tendency of review readers, review replies, review depth, review pictures, reviewer trustworthiness, positive reviews, reviewer expertise, review time and reviewer information disclosure. Perceived usefulness was significantly positively correlated with purchase intention. Review time, positive reviews and negative reviews were also more significantly correlated with perceived usefulness for search products than for experiential products. Review depth, reviewer trustworthiness, reviewer expertise and purchase intention had greater positive correlations with perceived usefulness for experiential products than for search products.

This study proposes an extended information adoption model based on argument quality and source credibility. The model includes personal factors such as the trust tendency of review readers, constructs a theoretical model of the factors correlated with the perceived usefulness of online reviews and considers the moderating effects of product type.

As technology has increasingly disrupted traditional commerce, there is a need for inclusive growth to ensure that no group – particularly the underprivileged – is left behind. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to shed light on mobile commerce (m-commerce) adoption among street vendors. This study conducts an experiment to investigate the contribution of online reviews and relevant factors in enhancing the perceived usefulness and adoption of m-commerce.

This study used a 2 (perceived ease of use: high vs low) × 2 (trust in service provider: high vs low) × 2 (online review: positive vs negative) between-subjects design, resulting in eight experimental groups. The level of the online review was manipulated, and the degrees of perceived ease of use and trust were measured.

Perceived usefulness depends on online reviews when users perceive incongruent information (e.g. high ease of use but low trust); that is, users who saw positive reviews more strongly perceived the usefulness of m-commerce. On the contrary, perceived usefulness does not vary based on online reviews if users perceive congruent information (e.g. high ease of use and high trust).

This research advances the knowledge of m-commerce adoption by exploring the interaction of perceived ease of use, trust and online reviews, a combination that has not been addressed in previous empirical studies.

This study aims to assess the relative importance of the argument strength, argument sidedness, writing quality, number of arguments, rated review usefulness, summary review rating and number of reviews in determining the perceived usefulness and credibility of an online review. Additionally, the authors use insights from the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to explore the effect of consumers' product category involvement on the cues' relative importance.

A conjoint analysis (N = 287) is used to study the relative importance of the seven previously mentioned attributes. A balanced orthogonal design generated eight cards that correspond to individual reviews. Respondents scored all eight cards in a random order for perceived usefulness and credibility.

Overall, argument strength is the most important cue, while summary review rating and the number of reviews are the least important for perceived review usefulness and credibility. The number of arguments is more important for people who are more highly involved with the product, while writing quality and rated review usefulness are relatively more important for the low-involvement group.

This study provides a comprehensive test of how consumers perceive online reviews, as it the first to the authors’ knowledge to simultaneously investigate a large set of cues using conjoint analysis. This method allows for the implicit valuation (utility) of the individual cues, revealing the cues' relative importance, in a setting that comes close to a real-life context. Besides, insights of the ELM are used to understand how the relative importance of cues differs depending on the level of review readers' product category involvement.

The study aims to explore the effects of photograph quality on visual appeal, perceived usefulness and viewers' travel intentions from rational and irrational perspectives while simultaneously providing some references for the management and marketing of tourism destinations.

The study comprises four experiments combined with structural equation modeling to explore the influence mechanism of photograph quality on travel intentions.

(1) Higher-quality photographs offer greater visual appeal and perceived usefulness to viewers, and these relationships are moderated by the photograph source. Specifically, high-quality photographs generated by other tourists have more visual appeal and perceived usefulness to viewers. However, there are no significant differences in the impact of low-quality photographs generated by other tourists and destination marketing organizations (DMOs) on visual appeal and perceived usefulness. (2) Visual appeal and perceived usefulness significantly affect viewers' travel intentions, and visual appeal positively affects perceived usefulness. (3) Travel experience positively moderates the effects of visual appeal and perceived usefulness on viewers' travel intentions.

The study explores the effects of the visual appeal (irrational factor) and perceived usefulness (rational factor) associated with photograph quality on viewers' travel intentions. Photograph source and travel experiences have moderating effects on this influence mechanism.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of perceived usefulness of online reviews and crowd cues on restaurant selection. In addition, the authors also examine the moderating role of perceived crowding and gender in this process.

The proposed hypotheses were tested with survey data (N = 200) collected from customers visiting full-service restaurants in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using SEM through Smart PLS.

The findings supported that the perceived usefulness of online reviews and perceived crowding have a positive effect on a consumer's purchase intentions, i.e. their decision of restaurant selection. Besides, a higher level of perceived crowding strengthens the relationship between the perceived usefulness of online reviews and their purchase intentions. This finding delineates that consumers prefer to dine in a crowded place with useful online reviews in an unfamiliar place. Finally, the results show that the effect of the usefulness of online reviews on purchase intentions does not vary with respect to gender (no significant contingent effect). However, the effect of perceived crowding varies with respect to gender – male customers have higher intentions to join crowded restaurants as compared to females.

Limitation of this study is its cross-sectional research design; data were collected in a single time frame. Longitudinal research design can be used to get in-depth knowledge of this phenomenon. Secondly, a non-probability sampling technique was used in this study, future research can used probability sampling technique to enhance generalizability of the study. Moreover, this study focused on the human crowding aspect, future studies can cover both aspects of crowding (human crowding and spatial crowding) in retailing or other service sectors (Blut and Iyer, 2020).

This study has multiple practical implications.

This study extends the current research on usefulness of online reviews and perceived crowding by investigating its direct and conditional effects. Specifically, the authors contribute in extant research by explaining its differential effects for male and female customers, when they select which restaurants to dine.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between five characteristics of social shoppers’ online reviews (the number of all reviews made by a reviewer, the number of friends of a reviewer, the review score, the number of review words, and images/photos) and the usefulness, funniness, and coolness to viewers for the restaurant businesses and the health and wellness businesses.

A sample of 1,114 online reviews of social shoppers was collected from Yelp.com. A zero-inflated Poisson regression was used due to a high number of zero votes in the dependent variables for usefulness, funniness, and coolness. The regression identified the review characteristics that are strongly associated with the number of usefulness, funniness, and coolness votes made by viewers.

The analysis shows that for the health and wellness businesses, all three dependent variables (usefulness, funniness, and coolness) have the number of reviews, the number of friends, and the number of words as significant independent variables. The results indicate that a reviewer who has more friends and is more experienced in giving reviews is likely to be more influential in generating a perceived value of the online review. The analysis also shows that all three dependent variables of the restaurant businesses have the number of words as a significant independent variable. It is found that there is a negative relationship between the review score and the usefulness votes for both restaurant businesses and health and wellness businesses. The effect of the review score on the coolness votes was not consistent.

This study is the first research attempt in understanding social shoppers’ online reviews and their usefulness, funniness, and coolness to viewers, and therefore makes significant contributions to research and practice. The comparison was made between restaurant businesses and health and wellness businesses. The result indicates that for the health and wellness businesses, managers need to pay attention to social shoppers with a high number of friends and high number of words in a review. It is also noted that it is necessary to analyze review characteristics separately for each business type. However, as is typical in many empirical studies, this study is not without limitations. While the author limited the analysis of social shoppers’ online reviews to the five characteristics, additional variables may influence the number of votes, too. This study is limited to social shoppers’ reviews and the findings may not be generalized to regular customers’ online reviews. Future research should also examine whether similar results can be obtained at other review sites such as TripAdvisor and Zagat.

Despite the potential significance of social shoppers’ online reviews, the critical mass of empirical studies still lacks in this area. For a more comprehensive interpretation of review characteristics, this study develops hypotheses based on the literature review on electronic word of mouth and source credibility models and investigates the effect of the five review characteristics on the viewers’ perceived usefulness, funniness, and coolness. Unlike previous studies focused on a single business type, this study compares the results obtained for restaurant businesses and health and wellness businesses and demonstrates that viewers in each business type respond differently to social shoppers’ online reviews.

Smart card-based E-payment systems are receiving increasing attention as the number of implementations is witnessed on the rise globally. Understanding of user adoption behavior of E-payment systems that employ smart card technology becomes a research area that is of particular value and interest to both IS researchers and professionals. However, research interest focuses mostly on why a smart card-based E-payment system results in a failure or how the system could have grown into a success. This signals the fact that researchers have not had much opportunity to critically review a smart card-based E-payment system that has gained wide support and overcome the hurdle of critical mass adoption. The Octopus in Hong Kong has provided a rare opportunity for investigating smart card-based E-payment system because of its unprecedented success. This research seeks to thoroughly analyze the Octopus from technology adoption behavior perspectives.

Cultural impacts on adoption behavior are one of the key areas that this research posits to investigate. Since the present research is conducted in Hong Kong where a majority of population is Chinese ethnicity and yet is westernized in a number of aspects, assuming that users in Hong Kong are characterized by eastern or western culture is less useful. Explicit cultural characteristics at individual level are tapped into here instead of applying generalization of cultural beliefs to users to more accurately reflect cultural bias. In this vein, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is adapted, extended, and tested for its applicability cross-culturally in Hong Kong on the Octopus. Four cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede are included in this study, namely uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and Confucian Dynamism (long-term orientation), to explore their influence on usage behavior through the mediation of perceived usefulness.

TAM is also integrated with the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to borrow two constructs in relation to innovative characteristics, namely relative advantage and compatibility, in order to enhance the explanatory power of the proposed research model. Besides, the normative accountability of the research model is strengthened by embracing two social influences, namely subjective norm and image. As the last antecedent to perceived usefulness, prior experience serves to bring in the time variation factor to allow level of prior experience to exert both direct and moderating effects on perceived usefulness.

The resulting research model is analyzed by partial least squares (PLS)-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The research findings reveal that all cultural dimensions demonstrate direct effect on perceived usefulness though the influence of uncertainty avoidance is found marginally significant. Other constructs on innovative characteristics and social influences are validated to be significant as hypothesized. Prior experience does indeed significantly moderate the two influences that perceived usefulness receives from relative advantage and compatibility, respectively. The research model has demonstrated convincing explanatory power and so may be employed for further studies in other contexts. In particular, cultural effects play a key role in contributing to the uniqueness of the model, enabling it to be an effective tool to help critically understand increasingly internationalized IS system development and implementation efforts. This research also suggests several practical implications in view of the findings that could better inform managerial decisions for designing, implementing, or promoting smart card-based E-payment system.

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

This study aims to investigate the promoting effects of the quantity and quality of online review user-generated photos (UGPs) on perceived review usefulness. The research further tests the hindering effect of human facial presence in review photos on review usefulness.

Based on review samples of restaurants in a tourist destination Las Vegas, this study used an integrated method combining a machine learning algorithm and econometric modeling.

Results indicate that the number of UGPs depicting a restaurant’s food, drink, menu and physical environment has positive impacts on perceived review usefulness. The quality of online review UGPs can also enhance perceived review usefulness, whereas facial presence in these UGPs hinders perceived review usefulness.

Findings suggest that practitioners can implement certain tactics to potentially improve consumers’ willingness to share more UGPs and UGPs with higher quality. Review websites could develop image-processing algorithms for identifying and presenting UGPs containing core attributes in prominent positions on the site.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to present a comprehensive analytical framework investigating the enhancing or hindering roles of review photo quantity, photo quality and facial presence in online review UGPs on review usefulness. Using the heuristic-systematic model as a theoretical foundation, this study verifies the additivity effect and attenuation effect of UGPs’ visual elements on judgements of online review usefulness. Furthermore, it extends scalable image data analysis by adopting a deep transfer learning algorithm in hospitality and tourism.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among the quality of word‐of‐mouth (WOM), online trust, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and online shopping intention in the online shopping mall. This study presented participation and response of others on bulletin boards or product review sections as the factors that affect the quality of WOM through literature review.

A theoretical review and an empirical study were conducted and the hypotheses were tested through the empirical analysis.

The paper finds that participation and response of others on bulletin board or product review section have positive effects on the quality of WOM. It was revealed that the quality of WOM has positive effects on online trust, and online trust has positive effects on perceived usefulness, shopping intension and perceived ease of use. In addition, the results demonstrated that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have positive effects on shopping intention.

Many studies on online shopping malls are mostly focused on the effects of following the action by positive or negative WOM. This study examines the factors that determine the quality of online WOM, and it seeks to examine the effects of such WOM on the following actions such as online trust and purchase intention.