The Influence of the Big Five Personality Traits and Propensity to Trust on Online Review Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Gender

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of the Big Five personality traits and propensity to trust on the use and writing of online reviews. Additionally, this study examines how gender moderates these impacts. Results of a survey (n = 840) show that openness to experience and conscientiousness positively influence online review use, while openness to experience and extraversion positively influence online review writing. Moreover, gender moderates the impacts of extraversion, openness to experience, and agreeableness on online review writing, with no moderating effect observed for online review use. Our findings contribute to the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) literature and offer important practical insights for eWOM platforms.

Keywords

• online reviews
• electronic word-of-mouth
• personality characteristics
• propensity to trust
• gender