Paper Details

Name: Kratika Yadav, Piyush Kendurkar
Country: India

Year: 2026
Volume: Volume-13, Issue-2, Year-2026 ( July- Dec)
Page Number: 78-89
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23185276

Online reviews shape digital purchase decisions, yet research often studies source cues, review-content cues and downstream consumer responses in separate models. This study integrates these stages by examining which reviewer-side and content-side cues retain unique associations with perceived review helpfulness and whether helpfulness is linked to purchase decision through consumer trust and purchase intention. Survey data from 379 adult online consumers in India were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The model jointly estimates four reviewer-side cues and five content-side cues within an integrated Elaboration Likelihood Model, Source Credibility Theory and Information Adoption Model framework. Reviewer trustworthiness (β = 0.136, p = .021), review depth (β = 0.165, p = .002) and review clarity (β = 0.138, p = .010) were positively associated with perceived helpfulness. Review extremity showed a small positive coefficient (β = 0.106, p = .038), contrary to the hypothesised negative direction. Perceived helpfulness was positively associated with consumer trust (β = 0.243, p < .001), trust with purchase intention (β = 0.306, p < .001), and purchase intention with purchase decision (β = 0.127, p = .015). The sequential indirect association was significant (β = 0.030, 95% bias-corrected CI [0.011, 0.059], p = .001). The findings show that content diagnosticity and source trustworthiness provide distinct incremental information when review cues are evaluated jointly, while the positive extremity coefficient identifies an important boundary condition for future research.

Keywords: Online Reviews; Review Helpfulness; Reviewer Trustworthiness; Consumer Trust; Purchase Intention; Purchase Decision