Online Reviews and Consumer Return Intention: Multiple Mediating Effects of Cognitive Dissonance

Abstract

[Purpose/significance] Online reviews play an important role on decision-making for consumers, which not only boost sales but also reduce the probability of product returns. Exploring the effect of online reviews on consumers' return intention will help to find the value of online reviews. [Method/process] In this paper, a conceptual model between online reviews and consumers' return intention was proposed based on SOR and cognitive dissonance theory. We explored the impact of online reviews on return intention using structural equation modeling and tested the multiple mediating effects of cognitive dissonance and moderating effects of product involvement by bootstrap. [Result/conclusion] The results show that the few, low quality or low reliability online reviews have significant positive effects on return intention. The emotion dissonance and product dissonance play a parallel and serial mediating role between online reviews and return intention, the mediating effect of emotion dissonance is greater than product dissonance does. But the product involvement has no significant moderating effect on mediation path.

Keywords

• online reviews