Description

The increased reliance of customers on online reviews and the unique characteristics of the Internet (anonymity, digital environment, spatial separation, and low entry barrier) make a fertile ground for e-commerce sellers to engage in online reviews fraud and manipulation. Platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, and Yelp are engaging big time to fight review manipulation. With the increase in sensitivity towards fake reviews, the academic research community still lacks interest in studying the phenomenon of review manipulation. This research aims to fill this lacuna by answering the following research question: How do fake reviews influence customers? To investigate this research question, we conduct three studies.