Factors Influencing Consumer Choice of a "Rating Web Site": An Experimental Investigation of an Online Interactive Decision Aid

This study examines consumer choice of Rating Web Sites as online, interactive, decision aids. A series of studies, including qualitative research and a laboratory experiment, investigate factors that infiuence consumer choice of Rating Web Sites. The context for the quantitative research is information search on laptop computers. Based on in-depth interviews, importance ratings, and binomial logistic regression analysis, the final results show that credibility of the Rating Web Site is the most important attribute, followed by the opportunity for customization of information. In contrast, having information on many alternatives is not as important; instead, reducing risk and saving search effort appear to be the ultimate underlying motives for using Rating Web Sites.