Impact of Online Reviews on Consumer based Brand Equity Dimensions and their Effects on Purchase Intention of Electronic Products in India

Abstract

Consumers are using online social media to gain and share knowledge on brands. In this virtual platform, consumers are exposed to various online reviews on brands that leave an impression of the brands on the minds of the consumers. The present study integrates three theories altogether, namely, Yale attitude change model, attribution theory and consumer based brand equity (CBBE) model proposed by Aaker (1991) to examine the factors that have an impact on perceived credible online reviews, which in turn affects CBBE dimensions, which ultimately affects consumer's purchase intention. The present study views, through the lens of Yale attitude change model, the various factors that affect perceived credible online reviews. Further, attribution theory is used as the theoretical backbone to analyze the effects of perceived credible online reviews on CBBE dimensions and finally, their effect on consumer's purchase intention. The study uses structural equation modeling to determine the measurement model, structural model and to test the hypotheses. Results indicate that source and receiver have a positive effect on perceived credible online reviews. In the context of message determinants, two out of three, namely, review quality and review consistency have a statistically significant positive effect on perceived credible online reviews. Further, perceived credible online reviews have a statistically significant positive effect on all the CBBE dimensions, namely, brand awareness, perceived value, brand personality, organization associations and perceived quality. Furthermore, all the CBBE dimensions have statistically significant positive impact on consumer's purchase intention.