The Impact of Online Review Information Overload on Platform Churn Intention: The Serial Mediating Role of Cognitive Fatigue and Decision Postponement

This study investigates how online review information overload is associated with platform churn intention through the serial mediating roles of cognitive fatigue and decision postponement. Drawing on Cognitive Load Theory and Ego Depletion Theory, the study proposes that excessive volume and complexity of online reviews are associated with cognitive fatigue, which is in turn associated with decision postponement and, ultimately, with review-engaged consumers’ intention to direct future purchases away from the platform. Survey data were collected from 350 consumers of an online cosmetics shopping platform and analyzed using OLS regression and bootstrap-based serial mediation analysis (PROCESS Model 6, 5000 resamples), controlling for user interface complexity. Results show that information overload was positively associated with cognitive fatigue (beta = 0.482, p < 0.001), cognitive fatigue with decision postponement (beta = 0.534, p < 0.001), and decision postponement with platform churn intention (beta = 0.512, p < 0.001). The serial indirect effect of information overload on churn intention through cognitive fatigue and decision postponement was significant (effect = 0.132, 95% CI [0.075, 0.210]), while the direct effect was not significant (beta = 0.031, p = 0.540). Because all constructs were measured concurrently in a single cross-sectional survey, these results indicate that the data are consistent with the proposed sequence rather than that the sequence is causal or temporally ordered. These findings extend information overload research by identifying a serial indirect association between review overload and provider-level exit intention through cognitive fatigue and decision postponement, after accounting for user interface complexity. Implications for review interface design are offered as recommendations that require further validation. These estimates describe review-engaged consumers in a high-density product category and should not be generalized to platform users who do not consult the review corpus before purchase.