Consumers' perceived usefulness of online reviews: Effects of emotional certainty and product involvement

In this study I examined 2 products for the effects of the level of consumers' involvement on their perception of the usefulness of online reviews from the perspective of emotional certainty. I used the experimental method of scene simulation verification with a sample comprising 727 participants. Results show that for both low- and high-involvement products, a review in which a positive emotion that is certain (happiness) is expressed is perceived as more useful than one expressed with an uncertain positive emotion (hope); for low-involvement products, the reviews in which a negative emotion that is certain is expressed (anger) are perceived as more useful than those with an uncertain negative emotion (worry); when emotions expressed in the reviews are the same but level of involvement with the products differs, compared with high-involvement products, consumers perceive online reviews of low-involvement products as being more useful. This study enriches the research on the content structure of online reviews and provides a reference platform to optimize the evaluation system.