ALWAYS TRUST IN YOUR FRIENDS? CROSS-CULTURAL EFFECTS OF REVIEW SOURCE AND INCENTIVES ON TRUSTWORTHINESS AND PURCHASE INTENTION

Dionysius Ang 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2018 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2018 No.07

Introduction User-generated online reviews have become an essential part of consumer decisionmaking process (Mayzlin, Dover, & Chevalier, 2014) affecting product attitudes (Schlosser, 2005), purchase intentions (Ba & Pavlou, 2002), sales (Babi? Rosario, Sotgiu, De Vlack, & Bijmolt, 2016), as well as price and quantity of transactions (Berger, Sorensen, & Rasmussen, 2010). For instance, 58% of consumers prefer sites with peer reviews, and nearly all consumers (98%) reported reading peer review before making purchases online (eMarketer, 2010). Given the reach and influence of user-generated content (UGC), it is unsurprising that companies offer numerous incentives such as coupons, rebates, free samples, and monetary payments to encourage user-generated online reviews. In 2012, Tesco, a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer, ran a “Share & Earn” scheme where the retailer gave loyalty points to Facebook fans sharing products. Since such reviewers are more like friends than random strangers, how does the review source and incentives affect reviewer trustworthiness and purchase intentions? Would these effects differ across individualistic and collectivistic cultures? Our research examines the cross-cultural differences in the effects of review source and incentives on reviewer trustworthiness and purchase intentions between Americans and Taiwanese. Review Source and Trustworthiness Extant research has shown that reviews from friends are usually more persuasive than reviews from strangers (Huang, Zhang, Liu, & Liang, 2014). Dubois et al. (2016) revealed that high levels of interpersonal closeness increased the negativity of reviews shared, whereas low levels of interpersonal closeness increased the positivity of reviews shared. Correspondingly, individuals tend to perceive friendly review sources as being more trustworthy and honest (Ben-Ner & Halldorsson, 2010). The circulation for UGC online reviews on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram could also make the review source appear like a friend. Since user-generated online reviews appear on the user’s own profile page as well as newsfeeds of each friend connected to that user (Chatterjee, 2011), individuals could easily perceive review sources as friendly and trustworthy. Given that online trust often increases purchase intention (Bart, Shankar, Urban, & Sultan, 2005), we posit that reviews from friends increase reviewer trustworthiness, which, in turn, increase purchase intentions. Incentives While online reviews from friends could be deemed as more trustworthy, incentives could muddy the waters. Sterling (2013) showed that over 40% of consumers in a survey reported some level of doubt in the credibility of UGC, fueled by reports of firms posting “fake” positive reviews, deleting negative reviews, or manipulating consumers into making positive statements that might not be a true representation of their options (Mayzlin et al., 2014). Given the level of distrust, the Federal Trade Commission sent out more than 90 letters reminding influencers and marketers that they required to clearly and conspicuously disclose their relationships with brands when promoting or endorsing products on social media (FTC, 2017). Relatedly, in 2012, the UK Advertising Standards Authority ruled that travel website TripAdvisor must cease claiming that it offers “honest, real, or trusted” reviews from “real travelers” since they are unable to assure consumers that all review content was genuine. Even when incentives are disclosed, incentivized reviews are often viewed with suspicion and are discounted as a means of correcting for presumed reviewer bias, even if the reviewer was not biased by the incentive (Du Plessis, Stephen, Bart, & Gonclaves, 2016). Taken together, we argue that incentivized reviews will decrease reviewer trustworthiness, and consequently, purchase intentions. Cultural Differences Existing work on the effects of review source and incentives have, at least implicitly, assumed that its effects hold globally and failed to consider individual or cultural moderating factors. In particular, individualistic and collectivistic cultures differ in their perceptions of trust violations: collectivists tend to become less trusting after experiencing a violation from in-group rather than out-group members; individualists’ trust levels are less affected by violations from in-group members (Fulmer, Gelfand, 2010; van Hoorn, 2015). In the context of our research, incentivized reviews could be regarded as trust violation, where reviewers no longer act altruistically to provide honest reviews. Thus, we posit that incentives could moderate the effects that reviews from friends have on perceived trustworthiness, and consequently, purchase intention in collective cultures (i.e. Taiwanese participants). In contrast, we expect to replicate the results of previous research where reviews from friends increases reviewer trustworthiness and purchase intentions; while incentivized reviews decreases reviewer trustworthiness and purchase intentions. Formally, we hypothesize that: Hypothesis 1a (H1a): Reviews from friends will be considered as more trustworthy than review from strangers amongst American participants. Hypothesis 1b (H1b): American participants will be more likely to purchase products reviewed by friends than strangers. Hypothesis 2a (H2a): Amongst American participants, reviewers providing incentivized reviews will be perceived as less trustworthy than reviewers providing non-incentivized reviews. Hypothesis 2b (H2b): American participants will be less likely to purchase products from incentivized reviews than non-incentivized reviews. Hypothesis 3a (H3a): Amongst Taiwanese participants, when reviews are not incentivized, reviews from friends will be considered more trustworthy than reviews from strangers. The effect will be attenuated when reviews are incentivized. Hypothesis 3b (H3b): Taiwanese participants will be more willing to purchase products reviewed by friends than strangers when the reviews are not incentivized. The effect will be attenuated when reviews are incentivized. Method Participants and Design Three hundred and sixteen participants (50% female, 18-85 years old) were recruited on Qualtrics for nominal payment. Half of the participants were American and completed the survey in English while the rest were Taiwanese and completed the survey in Mandarin. A 2 (review source: stranger vs. friend) x 2 (incentive: no incentive vs. incentivized review) x 2 (nationality: USA vs. Taiwan) mixed design was adopted with source and incentive manipulated within-subject and nationality manipulated between-subjects. Procedure All participants were instructed to assume that they were travelling to London, and was searching for a hotel to stay for a couple of days. They were then presented with four hotel reviews. Both source and incentive were manipulated within-subjects. Source of the reviews was either a friend or a stranger. Reviews were either not incentivized or incentivized where the reviewer was given discount on their stay for leaving a review. To prevent order effects, the reviews were presented in random order. All reviews were 4 out 5 stars reviews, were generally positive, and were dated at a similar time. Measures After every review, participants indicated purchase intention on two items (e.g. “After reading this review, I feel like booking this hotel.”; “If there is a chance, I will book this hotel.”) on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree)(Kim, Park, & Lee, 2013). Participants also rated how much they trusted the reviewer on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) on three items (e.g. “I trust this reviewer to choose a hotel for me.”; “I have confidence in this reviewer.”; “I believe this reviewer is being honest.”) (Smith, Menon, & Sivakumar, 2005). Individualism/collectivism as well as uncertainty avoidance was assessed using a 3-item measure (e.g. “Individuals should stick with the group even through difficulties.”; “It’s important to closely follow instruction and procedures.”) (Yoo, Donthu, & Lenartowicz, 2011) with a 7-point Likert scale (1= strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) Results Outliers were removed using Stem and Leaf plots, leaving 295 participants, 148 Taiwanese participants and 149 American participants (50% female, 18 to 85 years old). Contrary to previous research (Hofstede Insights, 2018), American participants (M = 6.07, SD = 0.96) scored significantly higher on the uncertainty avoidance scale than their Taiwanese counterparts (M = 5.56, SD = 1.01). In addition, American participants (M = 5.00, SD = 1.35) did not score significantly higher on the individualism/collectivism scale than their Taiwanese counterparts (M = 5.08, SD = 1.23). As predicted in Hypothesis 1a, a 2 (review source: stranger vs. friend) x 2 (incentive: no incentive vs. incentivized review) on reviewer trustworthiness revealed a significant main effect of review source, F(1, 146) = 25.34, p =.00, where friends (M = 5.34, SD = 1.19) were significantly more trustworthy than strangers (M = 4.97, SD =1.24) amongst USA participants. In line with H2a, there was also a significant main effect of incentive, where non-incentivized reviews (M = 5.24, SD = 1.21) were considered more trustworthy than incentivized reviews (M = 5.07, SD = 1.22), F(1,146)=6.43, p =.01. There was no significant interaction effect, F <1. Amongst the Taiwanese participants, a 2 (review source: stranger vs. friend) x 2 (incentive: no incentive vs. incentivized review) on reviewer trustworthiness revealed a significant main effect of review source, F(1, 147) = 13.02, p =.00, and incentive, F(1,147)=6.43, p =.01, qualified by the predicted interaction, F(1,147)=3.77, p =.05. Consistent with our predictions (H3a), when reviews were not incentivized, friends (M = 5.41, SD = 1.08) were significantly more trustworthy than strangers (M = 5.15, SD = 1.10), F(1,147)=15.63, p=.00. However, when reviewers were incentivized, friends (M = 5.20, SD = 1.05) were just as trustworthy as strangers (M = 5.09, SD = 1.15, F(1,147) = 1.85, p =.18. As predicted (H1b), amongst USA participants, a 2 (review source: stranger vs. friend) x 2 (incentive: no incentive vs. incentivized review) on purchase intention revealed a significant main effect of review source, F(1, 146) = 4.46, p =.04, where reviews from friends (M = 5.40, SD = 1.20) elicited higher purchase intentions than reviews from strangers (M = 5.27, SD =1.20). Contrary to Hypothesis 2b, there was no main effect of incentive, F(1,146) = 1.34, p =.25, nor interaction, F<1. Amongst Taiwanese participants, a 2 (review source: stranger vs. friend) x 2 (incentive: no incentive vs. incentivized review) on purchase intention revealed a significant main effect of incentive where non-incentivized reviews (M = 5.49, SD = 0.94) elicited greater purchase intentions than incentivized reviews (M = 5.39, SD = 0.98), F(1,147) =3.74, p=.06. There was no main effect of source, F(1,147)= 2.31, p = .13 nor an interaction effect, F(1,147) = 1.81, p =.18. In line with our hypothesis (H3b), planned contrasts revealed that when reviews are not incentivized, friends (M = 5.55, SD = 0.96) elicited significantly higher purchase intention than strangers (M = 5.42, SD = 0.95), F(1,147) = 5.73, p =.01. In contrast, when reviews were incentivized, friends (M = 5.40, SD = 0.94) elicited as much purchase intention as strangers (M = 5.38, SD = 1.02), F<1. Discussion Given the ever-important role of user-generated online reviews in consumer decisionmaking, it is necessary to understand how review sources and incentives affects perceptions of trust and purchase intentions, especially across cultures. Our study demonstrates how review sources and incentives affect reviewer trustworthiness and purchase intentions differently across individualistic versus collectivistic cultures. Specifically, review source and incentives affect reviewer trustworthiness independently in Americans. Friends are considered more trustworthy than strangers, and non-incentivized reviews are considered more trustworthy than incentivized reviews. In contrast, the effect of review source on reviewer trustworthiness is moderated by incentive in Taiwanese participants. In particular, friends are considered more trustworthy than stranger only when reviews are not incentivized. When reviews are incentivized, trust seems to be violated, and friends are regarded as just as trustworthy as random strangers. Our contributions to the UGC literature are twofold. To date, research on UGC have largely ignored the role of culture and nationality (as well as individual differences, more broadly) can play. This potentially concerning since the proliferation of UGC are not limited to a Western sample. Our work highlights how culture can complicate findings in the UGC literature, and suggests a need to better consider the role culture plays. In addition, our research specifies the specific mechanism through which culture might influence the effect of review source and incentives affect purchase intention, trustworthiness. Additional studies will be conducted to examine how and why incentives are deemed as trust violations and reduce purchase intentions when accepted by friendly reviewers in collectivist cultures. Moreover, we will attempt to detangle trust in the reviewer versus review.

ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM OF SUPERCRITICAL HEAT TRANSFER RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

Groeneveld, Dionysius C.,Tavoularis, Stavros,Raogudla, Prassada,Yang, Sun-Kyu,Leung, Laurence K.H. Korean Nuclear Society 2008 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.40 No.2

The present paper describes the preliminary compilation, assessment and examination of the supercritical heat transfer(SCHT) database. The availability and reliability of the SCHT data are discussed. Similarities in thermodynamic supercritical properties and SCHT behaviour of water, $CO_{2}$ and R-134a have been examined and some tentative conclusions are made. Finally, the future experimental and analytical program at the University of Ottawa is described.

키틀러 이후

베르나르트 디오니시우스 게오그헤간(Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan),정찬철 문화과학사 2018 문화과학 Vol.- No.94

OPINIONS FOR YOU, NOT FOR ME: SELF-OTHER ASYMMETRY IN PERSUASIVENESS OF SUBJECTIVE VS. OBJECTIVE REVIEWS

Nahid Ibrahim,Dionysius Ang 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2023 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2023 No.07

Consumers often read and write reviews about their experiences. Do people share and rely on the same type of reviews when making experiential purchases? Two studies show that people believe that subjective (vs. objective) reviews are more persuasive for others than themselves. Consequently, while they are more likely to share subjective reviews to facilitate others’ decisions, they are less likely to rely on the same review for their own decisions. Our work provides insight into the self-other discrepancy i

The needs for advanced sensor technologies in risk assessment of civil infrastructures

Yozo Fujino,Dionysius M. Siringoringo,Masato Abe 국제구조공학회 2009 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.5 No.2

Civil infrastructures are always subjected to various types of hazard and deterioration. These conditions require systematic efforts to assess the exposure and vulnerability of infrastructure, as well as producing strategic countermeasures to reduce the risks. This paper describes the needs for and concept of advanced sensor technologies for risk assessment of civil infrastructure in Japan. Backgrounds of the infrastructure problems such as natural disasters, difficult environment, limited resource for maintenance, and increasing requirement for safety are discussed. The paper presents a concept of risk assessment, which is defined as a combination of hazard and structural vulnerability assessment. An overview of current practices and research activities toward implementing the concept is presented. This includes implementation of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems for environment and natural disaster prevention, improvement of stock management, and prevention of structural failure.

THE IMPACT OF 'MAGIC VS SCIENTIFIC' AI FRAMING ON PRODUCT EVALUATIONS

Jungsik Son,Yeyi Liu,Dionysius Ang,Aristeidis Theotokis 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2023 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2023 No.07

This paper aims to examine the effect of AI framing (i.e., Scientific AI vs Magic AI) on consumers' product evaluation. This study shows that magically framed AI technology may be more beneficial to appeal to product innovativeness when subjective product properties (e.g., personal taste) becomes important. On the contrary, when objective product properties (e.g., functionality) becomes important, scientifically framed AI technology is more likely to generate higher perceived product attractiveness and purchase intention.

The anti-Alzheimer compounds from tempeh oil in LPS-induced neuronal Schwann cells

Limanjaya Eileen C.,SUBALI DIONYSIUS,Yanti Yanti 한국식품연구원 2022 Journal of Ethnic Foods Vol.9 No.-

Tempeh is a traditional fermented Indonesian food from white soybean. Tempe has better nutritional value than non-fermented white soybean. The aim of this study was to extract tempeh oil and analyze the inhibitory potency of Alzheimer-related gene expression in LPS-induced neuronal Schwann cells. Tempeh oil was extracted with Bligh Dyer method and was analyzed with PUFA identification, anticholinesterase activity, antioxidant activity, and quantitative PCR. Tempeh oil had a total yield of 7.14%, and PUFA identification found 8.37% omega-3. The anti-acetylcholinesterase activity showed that tempeh oil 25 µg/mL had the highest activity and 500 µg/mL in anti-butyrylcholinesterase activity. The quantitative PCR showed that tempeh oil had downregulated the gene expression of PSEN1, Gsk3b, cdk5,andTNF. From this study, tempeh oil may have the potential to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by regulating certain gene traits.

Implementation of video motion magnification technique for non-contact operational modal analysis of light poles

Jothi S. Thiyagarajan,Dionysius M. Siringoringo,Samten Wangchuk,Yozo Fujino 국제구조공학회 2021 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.27 No.2

Damages on lights and utility poles mounted on the elevated highway or railway bridges were observed in the past several large earthquakes. The damages could have serious consequences to public safety, travelling vehicles or trains, and nearby properties. A previous study shows that the damages were caused by buckling and yielding of the pole due to excessive response amplification during large earthquake. Such amplification occurs when the bridge's natural frequency is close to the light pole's fundamental frequency. An investigation of the seismic performance of existing light pole mounted on elevated highway bridges is needed to avoid the response amplification. This includes the identification of the light pole's natural frequency and damping ratio. Vibration testing of the light pole using conventional contact sensors individually would require enormous effort and is time-consuming. Moreover, such vibration testing on a highway bridge deck would require traffic disruption to provide access. Video camera-based non-contact vision sensing is seen as a promising alternative to the conventional contact sensors for this purpose. The objective of this paper is to explore the use of non-contact vision sensing for operational modal analysis of light pole on highway viaduct. The phase-based video motion magnification method is implemented to obtain the light pole response in an ambient condition. Using this method, small and invisible displacement is magnified for a certain range of frequency of interest. Based on the magnified video frames, structural displacement is extracted using the image processing technique. The natural frequency and damping ratio of the light pole are estimated using the random decrement technique. The method is verified in a laboratory-scale experiment and implemented to practical field measurements of a light pole on a highway viaduct in Kanagawa, Japan. The results are compared with measurement by Laser Doppler Vibrometer. Both experiments suggest that the method could effectively obtain the natural frequency and damping ratio of the structures under the ambient condition where vibration amplitudes are very small and invisible with reasonable accuracy.

The needs for advanced sensor technologies in risk assessment of civil infrastructures

Fujino, Yozo,Siringoringo, Dionysius M.,Abe, Masato Techno-Press 2009 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.5 No.2

Civil infrastructures are always subjected to various types of hazard and deterioration. These conditions require systematic efforts to assess the exposure and vulnerability of infrastructure, as well as producing strategic countermeasures to reduce the risks. This paper describes the needs for and concept of advanced sensor technologies for risk assessment of civil infrastructure in Japan. Backgrounds of the infrastructure problems such as natural disasters, difficult environment, limited resource for maintenance, and increasing requirement for safety are discussed. The paper presents a concept of risk assessment, which is defined as a combination of hazard and structural vulnerability assessment. An overview of current practices and research activities toward implementing the concept is presented. This includes implementation of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems for environment and natural disaster prevention, improvement of stock management, and prevention of structural failure.

Japan's experience on long-span bridges monitoring

Fujino, Yozo,Siringoringo, Dionysius M.,Abe, Masato Techno-Press 2016 Structural monitoring and maintenance Vol.3 No.3

This paper provides an overview on development of long-span bridges monitoring in Japan, with emphasis on monitoring strategies, types of monitoring system, and effective utilization of monitoring data. Because of severe environment condition such as high seismic activity and strong wind, bridge monitoring systems in Japan historically put more emphasis on structural evaluation against extreme events. Monitoring data were used to verify design assumptions, update specifications, and facilitate the efficacy of vibration control system. These were among the first objectives of instrumentation of long-span bridges in a framework of monitoring system in Japan. Later, monitoring systems were also utilized to evaluate structural performance under various environment and loading conditions, and to detect the possible structural deterioration over the age of structures. Monitoring systems are also employed as the basis of investigation and decision making for structural repair and/or retrofit when required. More recent interest has been to further extend application of monitoring to facilitate operation and maintenance, through rationalization of risk and asset management by utilizing monitoring data. The paper describes strategies and several examples of monitoring system and lessons learned from structural monitoring of long-span bridges in Japan.