Customer satisfaction and loyalty with online consumer reviews : factors affecting revisit intentions

Abstract

While previous research investigated the effects of online consumer reviews on purchase behaviors, currently, there is still a lack of knowledge on the impact of the reviews' credibility, content quality and information usefulness on the customers’ satisfaction levels with them. Data were gathered from a sample of 512 participants. A partial least squares approach was utilized to evaluate the reliability and validity of the constructs and to identify the causal effects in this contribution’s structured model. The findings reveal that information usefulness is a very strong predictor of satisfaction. They also confirm highly significant indirect effects, between information quality and customer satisfaction, when information usefulness meditates this link. This study suggests that prospective customers appreciate quality reviews of consumers who have already experienced the hospitality services. It raises awareness about the usefulness of review sites as online users refer to their content before committing themselves to purchasing products and services.