IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/elcore/v16y2016i4d10.1007_s10660-016-9220-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of information cascades on online purchase behaviors of search and experience products

Author

Listed:
  • Qihua Liu

    (Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics)

  • Shan Huang

    (Wuhan University)

  • Liyi Zhang

    (Wuhan University)

Abstract

Online users usually observe or refer to others’ behaviors and discount their own information when purchasing products online. This research employed a fixed-effect regression model to elucidate how information cascades could influence online purchase behaviors and how they moderated the influence of online word-of-mouth and product prices. To uncover the underlying mechanisms behind informational cascades, we compare search products and experience products. In particular, we utilize publicly available data from a B2C e-commerce site in China, i.e., Tmall.com. Our results indicate that online users’ choice of products was heavily driven by changes in product rankings after controlling for cumulative sales, online user reviews and product price, as predicted by informational cascades theory. Due to the information cascades effect, review volume had no impact on online users’ choice of products with high rankings, whereas it did exert a significant positive impact on consumer purchase decisions of products with low rankings. User rating had no impact on online users’ purchase decisions. Product price had a significant and negative impact for products with high rankings, but had a significant and positive influence on users’ choice for products with low rankings. Moreover, information cascades were more prominent for experience goods than for search goods.

Suggested Citation

  • Qihua Liu & Shan Huang & Liyi Zhang, 2016. "The influence of information cascades on online purchase behaviors of search and experience products," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 553-580, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:elcore:v:16:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s10660-016-9220-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10660-016-9220-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10660-016-9220-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10660-016-9220-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Herzenstein, Michal & Dholakia, Utpal M. & Andrews, Rick L., 2011. "Strategic Herding Behavior in Peer-to-Peer Loan Auctions," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 27-36.
    2. Lones Smith & Peter Sorensen, 2000. "Pathological Outcomes of Observational Learning," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(2), pages 371-398, March.
    3. Gautam Gowrisankaran & Joanna Stavins, 2004. "Network Externalities and Technology Adoption: Lessons from Electronic Payments," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(2), pages 260-276, Summer.
    4. James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Optimal Defaults," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 180-185, May.
    5. Park, Cheol & Lee, Thae Min, 2009. "Information direction, website reputation and eWOM effect: A moderating role of product type," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 61-67, January.
    6. Marco Cipriani & Antonio Guarino, 2005. "Herd Behavior in a Laboratory Financial Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1427-1443, December.
    7. Atip Asvanund & Karen Clay & Ramayya Krishnan & Michael D. Smith, 2004. "An Empirical Analysis of Network Externalities in Peer-to-Peer Music-Sharing Networks," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 15(2), pages 155-174, June.
    8. Bogaçhan Çelen & Shachar Kariv, 2004. "Distinguishing Informational Cascades from Herd Behavior in the Laboratory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 484-498, June.
    9. Ori Heffetz & Moses Shayo, 2009. "How Large Are Non-Budget-Constraint Effects of Prices on Demand?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 170-199, October.
    10. Jiménez, Fernando R. & Mendoza, Norma A., 2013. "Too Popular to Ignore: The Influence of Online Reviews on Purchase Intentions of Search and Experience Products," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 226-235.
    11. Avery, Christopher & Zemsky, Peter, 1998. "Multidimensional Uncertainty and Herd Behavior in Financial Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(4), pages 724-748, September.
    12. Sushil Bikhchandani & Sunil Sharma, 2001. "Herd Behavior in Financial Markets," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 47(3), pages 1-1.
    13. Welch, Ivo, 2000. "Herding among security analysts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 369-396, December.
    14. Formisano, Roger A & Olshavsky, Richard W & Tapp, Shelley, 1982. "Choice Strategy in a Difficult Task Environment," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 8(4), pages 474-479, March.
    15. Mastrobuoni, Giovanni & Peracchi, Franco & Tetenov, Aleksey, 2014. "Price as a Signal of Product Quality: Some Experimental Evidence," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 135-152, August.
    16. Nelson, Philip, 1974. "Advertising as Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 729-754, July/Aug..
    17. Bajari, Patrick & Hortacsu, Ali, 2003. "The Winner's Curse, Reserve Prices, and Endogenous Entry: Empirical Insights from eBay Auctions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(2), pages 329-355, Summer.
    18. Ginger Zhe Jin & Andrew Kato, 2006. "Price, quality, and reputation: evidence from an online field experiment," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(4), pages 983-1005, December.
    19. Ginger Zhe Jin & Andrew Kato, 2006. "Price, quality, and reputation: evidence from an online field experiment," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(4), pages 983-1005, December.
    20. Bikhchandani, Sushil & Hirshleifer, David & Welch, Ivo, 1992. "A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change in Informational Cascades," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 992-1026, October.
    21. Grinblatt, Mark & Titman, Sheridan & Wermers, Russ, 1995. "Momentum Investment Strategies, Portfolio Performance, and Herding: A Study of Mutual Fund Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1088-1105, December.
    22. Michael L. Katz & Carl Shapiro, 1994. "Systems Competition and Network Effects," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 93-115, Spring.
    23. Juanjuan Zhang & Peng Liu, 2012. "Rational Herding in Microloan Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(5), pages 892-912, May.
    24. Robert E. Kennedy, 2002. "Strategy Fads and Competitive Convergence: An Empirical Test for Herd Behavior in Prime‐Time Television Programming," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 57-84, March.
    25. Xinxin Li & Lorin M. Hitt, 2008. "Self-Selection and Information Role of Online Product Reviews," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(4), pages 456-474, December.
    26. Abhijit V. Banerjee, 1992. "A Simple Model of Herd Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 797-817.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. G. Rejikumar & Aswathy Asokan-Ajitha & Sofi Dinesh & Ajay Jose, 2022. "The role of cognitive complexity and risk aversion in online herd behavior," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 585-621, June.
    2. Ali, Mazhar & Amir, Dr.Huma & Shamsi, Dr.Aamir, 2021. "Consumer Herding Behavior in Online Buying: A Literature Review," MPRA Paper 107435, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Tibert Verhagen & Daniel Bloemers, 2018. "Exploring the cognitive and affective bases of online purchase intentions: a hierarchical test across product types," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 537-561, September.
    4. Qihua Liu & Xiaoyu Zhang & Liyi Zhang & Yang Zhao, 2019. "The interaction effects of information cascades, word of mouth and recommendation systems on online reading behavior: an empirical investigation," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 521-547, September.
    5. Huan Liu & Qiang Chen & Richard Evans, 2022. "How Official Social Media Affected the Infodemic among Adults during the First Wave of COVID-19 in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Yang, Xiao & Liu, Ying & Dong, Jichang & Li, Sirui, 2023. "Impact of streamers’ characteristics on sales performance of search and experience products: Evidence from Douyin," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    7. Sarah Bayer & Henner Gimpel & Daniel Rau, 2021. "IoT-commerce - opportunities for customers through an affordance lens," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 31(1), pages 27-50, March.
    8. Lu, Jian & Su, Xiang & Diao, Yajing & Wang, Nianxin & Zhou, Bin, 2021. "Does online observational learning matter? Empirical evidence from panel data," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    9. Cuixia Jiang & Jun Zhu & Qifa Xu, 2022. "Dissecting click farming on the Taobao platform in China via PU learning and weighted logistic regression," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 157-176, March.
    10. Plotkina, Daria & Munzel, Andreas & Pallud, Jessie, 2020. "Illusions of truth—Experimental insights into human and algorithmic detections of fake online reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 511-523.
    11. Hongpeng Wang & Rong Du & Jin Li & Weiguo Fan, 2020. "Subdivided or aggregated online review systems: Which is better for online takeaway vendors?," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 915-944, December.
    12. Li, Kunlin & Chen, Yuhan & Zhang, Liyi, 2020. "Exploring the influence of online reviews and motivating factors on sales: A meta-analytic study and the moderating role of product category," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2008. "Thought and Behavior Contagion in Capital Markets," MPRA Paper 9142, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Puput Tri Komalasari & Marwan Asri & Bernardinus M. Purwanto & Bowo Setiyono, 2022. "Herding behaviour in the capital market: What do we know and what is next?," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 745-787, September.
    3. Marco Cipriani & Antonio Guarino, 2009. "Herd Behavior in Financial Markets: An Experiment with Financial Market Professionals," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(1), pages 206-233, March.
    4. Marco Cipriani & Antonio Guarino, 2014. "Estimating a Structural Model of Herd Behavior in Financial Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(1), pages 224-251, January.
    5. David Hirshleifer & Siew Hong Teoh, 2003. "Herd Behaviour and Cascading in Capital Markets: a Review and Synthesis," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 9(1), pages 25-66, March.
    6. Feri, Francesco & Meléndez-Jiménez, Miguel A. & Ponti, Giovanni & Vega-Redondo, Fernando, 2011. "Error cascades in observational learning: An experiment on the Chinos game," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 136-146, September.
    7. Jonathan E. Alevy & Michael S. Haigh & John List, 2006. "Information Cascades: Evidence from An Experiment with Financial Market Professionals," NBER Working Papers 12767, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Stephanie De Mel & Kaivan Munshi & Soenje Reiche & Hamid Sabourian, 2021. "Herding with Heterogeneous Ability: An Application to Organ Transplantation," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2308, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    9. Liangfei Qiu & Arunima Chhikara & Asoo Vakharia, 2021. "Multidimensional Observational Learning in Social Networks: Theory and Experimental Evidence," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 876-894, September.
    10. Thomas Stebro & Manuel Fernnndez Sierra & Stefano Lovo & Nir Vulkan, 2017. "Herding in Equity Crowdfunding," Working Papers hal-01970724, HAL.
    11. Marco Cipriani & Antonio Guarino, 2005. "Herd Behavior in a Laboratory Financial Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1427-1443, December.
    12. Simões Vieira, Elisabete F. & Valente Pereira, Márcia S., 2015. "Herding behaviour and sentiment: Evidence in a small European market," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 78-86.
    13. Pastine, Tuvana, 2005. "Social Learning in Continuous Time: When are Informational Cascades More Likely to be Inefficient?," CEPR Discussion Papers 5120, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Ye Hu & Kitty Wang & Ming Chen & Sam Hui, 2021. "Herding Among Retail Shoppers: the Case of Television Shopping Network," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 8(1), pages 27-40, June.
    15. Christophe Bisière & Jean-Paul Décamps & Stefano Lovo, 2015. "Risk Attitude, Beliefs Updating, and the Information Content of Trades: An Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(6), pages 1378-1397, June.
    16. Yang, Xiaolan & Gao, Mei & Wu, Yun & Jin, Xuejun, 2018. "Performance evaluation and herd behavior in a laboratory financial market," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 45-54.
    17. Chmura, Thorsten & Le, Hang & Nguyen, Kim, 2022. "Herding with leading traders: Evidence from a laboratory social trading platform," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 93-106.
    18. Morone, Andrea & Sandri, Serena & Fiore, Annamaria, 2009. "On the absorbability of informational cascades in the laboratory," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 728-738, October.
    19. Bikhchandani, Sushil & Hirshleifer, David & Welch, Ivo, 2005. "Information Cascades and Observational Learning," Working Paper Series 2005-22, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    20. Wang, Peiwen & Chen, Minghua & Wu, Ji & Yan, Yuanyun, 2023. "Do peer effects matter in bank risk? Some cross-country evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:elcore:v:16:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s10660-016-9220-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.