Major and Classification
Psychology
Faculty Mentor
- Lars Perner, Ph.D.
Department
- Business
McNair Project
Online Peer Recommendations and Their Effects on Consumer Decision-Making
The current study focused on the effects different peer recommendations have on consumer decision-making. Participants were sent an email with a link to an online survey. The researcher created a website with a list of movies and movie reviews from a peer recommender. The main hypothesis was that participants who saw a high review with comments would choose the recommended movie most often. There were four experimental conditions and one control condition. Experimental conditions varied in the type of review present. A five star rating level of movies was used. Condition One had four stars, Condition Two had two stars, Condition Three had four stars with comments, and Condition Four had two stars with comments. The control group did not have a review. Participants’ level of information sought from outside sources about movies was collected in order to term movies as an experience product. The current study sought to expand the research concerning hedonic shopping and hybrid decision-making. The information learned from the current study has theoretical and managerial implications for companies that make use of online recommendations as well as for consumers.