The Addition of Images to eWOM in the Travel Industry: An Examination of Hotels, Cruise Ships and Fast Food Reviews Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Extensive research has examined the influence of online product reviews on consumer behavior. However, few have investigated the influence of reviewer submitted images on consumer attitudes. This research examines consumer perceptions of trust, information quality and valence disparity using three simulated online reviews appearing on TripAdvisor.com: one for a hotel, one for a cruise ship and one for a fast food restaurant. Findings reveal that reviews with images are seen as more trustworthy, and that consumers perceive reviews with images as possessing higher information quality than reviews containing text only. Likewise, the findings showed that effective images should be consistent with review text (e.g., reviewers do not respond positively to negative reviews linked with positive images, or vice versa).

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED ELECTRONIC COMMERCE RESEARCH

altmetric score

  • 1

author list (cited authors)

  • Zinko, R., Furner, C. P., de Burgh-Woodman, H., Johnson, P., & Sluhan, A.

citation count

  • 8

complete list of authors

  • Zinko, Robert||Furner, Christopher P||de Burgh-Woodman, Helene||Johnson, Patricia||Sluhan, Anne

publication date

  • December 2021

publisher