An integrated model of online rating decision : role of pre-purchase expectation and post-purchase experience

• Main Author: Soumya Mukhopadhyay
• Other Authors: Chung Tuck Siong
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Marketing::Internet
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62247
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The current literature mostly treats the rating decisions as a function of the concurrent rating environment characteristics and product experience without explicitly accounting for the discrepancy between a consumers’ expected and realized perceptions of product quality. To fill this literature gap, I developed a three stage sequential decision model that links expectation disconfirmation with post consumption rating decisions in the online context. I empirically examine the proposed model in a controlled laboratory setting where I was able to observe how individuals consume available product related information (rating) and how this information influences their product choice and subsequent rating decisions. I find that expectation disconfirmation play an important role in dictating individual level incidence decision as well as their evaluation decision. Using a number of simulated studies I show that the proposed model can successfully recreate a range of unique distributional (U-shaped or J-shaped distribution) and evolutionary characteristics (temporal change of valence and variance) of online rating environment that are commonly found across various contexts and platforms.