인터넷이 발달하고 대중화됨에 따라 소비자들은 지출에 앞서 온라인 내 타인의 정보를 반영하고 활용한다. 본 연구에서는 사회과학 실험을 통해, 레스토랑 방문 계획을 가진 소비자들이 인터넷에서 1) 정보의 작성자가 누구인지에 따라(일반 익명의 소비자 또는 전문가), 2) 정보의 방향성에 따라(긍정적인 것 또는 부정적인 것) 레스토랑 방문의도와 정보의 신뢰도에 차이가 있는지를 알아보았다. 연구목적에 부합되도록 4개의 시나리오를 작성하였다. SPSS WIN(v.16.0)을 이용하여 빈도분석과 t-test등으로 분석하였다. 2(긍정적 정보vs. 부정적 정보)*2(소비자 작성 정보 vs. 전문가 작성 정보) 실험디자인을 통해 본 연구에서는 정보 작성자에 따른 레스토랑 방문의도(p<.001)와 정보의 신뢰정도(p<.001)에 유의한 차이가 있음을 보였다. 또한 각각 긍정적 정보와 부정적 정보를 읽은 실험참가자 사이에 레스토랑 방문의도 (p<.001)와 정보의 신뢰도(p<.01)에는 유의한 차이가 있음을 확인하였다. 그 밖의 연구 결과와 한계점, 후속 연구의 방향에 대해서도 논의하였다.
The arrival and expansion of the Internet has extended consumers' options and has provided consumers' opportunities to offer their own consumption. Through a laboratory experiment, we investigated questions: 1)do consumers trust the accuracy of reviews posted by anonymous reviewers or experts and 2) do readers trust negative and positive reviews equally? The messages were created as a form of 4 scenarios for this study. The statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS Win(v.16.0) for descriptive analysis, and t-test. Our results from a 2(positive reviews vs. negative reviews)*2(consumer vs. expert) experiment design showed that there was a significant difference between consumers' review and experts' one in restaurant visit intention(p<.001) and information credibility(p<.001). Also, between positive review and negative one, significant difference was found in restaurant visit intention(p<.001) and information credibility(p<.01). Other results, limitations and future research directions were also discussed.
The arrival and expansion of the Internet has extended consumers' options and has provided consumers' opportunities to offer their own consumption. Through a laboratory experiment, we investigated questions: 1)do consumers trust the accuracy of reviews posted by anonymous reviewers or experts and 2) do readers trust negative and positive reviews equally? The messages were created as a form of 4 scenarios for this study. The statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS Win(v.16.0) for descriptive analysis, and t-test. Our results from a 2(positive reviews vs. negative reviews)*2(consumer vs. expert) experiment design showed that there was a significant difference between consumers' review and experts' one in restaurant visit intention(p<.001) and information credibility(p<.001). Also, between positive review and negative one, significant difference was found in restaurant visit intention(p<.001) and information credibility(p<.01). Other results, limitations and future research directions were also discussed.
