The Suspicious Factors in Electronic Word-of-Mouth Communication

Abstract

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become influential on the Internet. As more incidents of using fake eWOM have been exposed, Internet users have developed various levels of suspicion toward eWOM communications. This exploratory study investigated Internet users’ perceptions under the scope of suspicion and distrust. We were interested in how eWOM skepticism influences Internet users’ selection of factors that indicate fake reviews. The findings reveal that Internet users with higher levels of eWOM skepticism are more likely to perceive more factors as indicators of fake reviews and tend to choose the conditions that are not very intuitive.