VIETNAM GENERAL CONFEDERATION OF LABOUR

TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF BUSSINESS ADMINISTRATION

RESEARCH METHODS IN BUSINESS

THE INFORMATIONAL AND NORMATIVE INFLUENCES OF

INFORMATION DIAGNOSTICITY IN E-WOM AND ITS CONNECTIONS
WITH CONSUMERS' PURCHASING COSMETICS BEHAVIOR IN HO
CHI MINH CITY

Lecturer: PROFESSOR. TRAN TRONG THUY

Students: LE NGUYEN ANH KIET-719V0088
NGUYEN TRAN LE ANH-719V0070
NGUYEN THI PHUONG TRANG-719K0287
NGUYEN HONG NGAN-719K0212
Class: 19K70401
Major: Marketing

HO CHI MINH CITY, YEAR 2021

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
During the course Research Method in Business, we have experienced a variety of
new and useful knowledge. It has given us the opportunities to freely explore and
absorb so much research comprehension both in fundamental and complex, through
that we will have the basis to improve ourselves. The journey by which we carry out
this research proposal is a highly arduous one, requiring lots of effort in finding,
processing as well as applying all the information into the proposal. We can
consider this must be one of the most difficult exercises that we have ever done
before, however, we have never stopped putting our attempts into it in order to
make it as good as possible. Although this study just contributes an extremely
insignificant value in the world’s scientific repertory, we are very pleased and
appreciate the given values of this proposal. The values it provides are not only
academic scientific knowledge but also the most general methods of accessing and
analyzing data. Despite the fact that making this research proposal is definitely
tough, we all find it deserves all the effort which we have put in. 
But for the dedicated help of our teacher - Professor Lobel Trong Thuy Tran, we
will not be able to do this research. In terms of that, we would like to express our
most profound gratitude to our professor who has always accompanied us in the
period of our completing research proposal. Since this is the first time we have done
a research proposal, we have lack of experience and cannot avoid making minor and
silly mistakes.  He has patiently and conscientiously instructed us to fix the
inaccuracies, even if they are unnecessary mistakes. Fortunately, we have a chance
to study with Professor Lobel who is fully experienced in specialized knowledge.
On our first day attending in Research Methods In Business class, Professor Lobel
has left an impression on us of a rigorous person. Towards the development of
students, his desire is to ensure that the students can completely absorb the
knowledge in detail. Besides theoretical knowledge, he has also taught us about soft
skills, moral lessons which will be actually essential for us in future, especially in
the working environment. Moreover, what makes us not distract ourselves when we
study in class is not only the helpful lessons, but also the humorous real-life stories.
Those stories are really beneficial and memorable, which creates the strong
relationship between teacher and students. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, we could
not come to school as usual and we had online lessons instead. It was only 3 weeks
that we did not have face-to-face lectures but it caused us lots of difficulties. We
were not used to online learning and hardly followed the whole session. Regardless
of facing such difficulties, Professor Lobel has spent his time helping us to get
knowledge completely. He also provided us with a huge amount of scientific papers
and sample proposals through the online classes that are valuable for us to complete
the proposal. During the process of implementing this research study, he has always
shown himself as a tough but very dedicated person in transmitting the direction of
finishing the research. Research Methods In Business is such a difficult subject, but
we are fully confident to carry out the research because we know that he is always
here to guide us through the implementation of the proposal. Once again we would
like to show our most sincere appreciation to our teacher - Professor Lobel Trong
Thuy Tran.
Lastly, we would like to give thorough thanks to authors providing us so much
valuable information from scientific articles to complete our research. Also we
greatly appreciate the lecturers of Business Administration and Ton Duc Thang
University to give us an opportunity to implementate this research. This confession
can be just simple words, but it contains the sincerity and love we want to send to
our dedicated teacher - Professor Lobel Trong Thuy Tran and all the lecturers of
Business Administration in Ton Duc Thang University for supporting us. Sincerely
thank
 Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..........................................................................7

1.1 Research Background...................................................................................7

1.2 Research Objective.......................................................................................8

1.3 Research Significance...................................................................................9

1.3.1 Scientific Significance........................................................................................9

1.3.2 Practical Significance.........................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................10

2.1 WOM and e-WOM.....................................................................................10

2.1.1Wom.................................................................................................................10
2.1.2 E-Wom.............................................................................................................10
2.2 Cosmetics Products.....................................................................................12

2.3 Information Diagnosticity...........................................................................12

2.4 Informational influences.............................................................................13

2.5 Normative influences..................................................................................13

2.6 Previous Research.......................................................................................13

2.6.1 Research 1.......................................................................................................13

2.6.2 Research 2.......................................................................................................14
2.7 Research Model..........................................................................................15

2.7.1 Information quality and perceived information diagnosticity........................17

2.7.2 Information quality and source credibility......................................................17
2.7.3 Source credibility and perceived information diagnosticity...........................18
2.7.4 Information quantity and information diagnosticity......................................18
2.7.5 Overall product ranking and perceived information diagnosticity.................19
2.7.6 Customer ratings and perceived information diagnosticity...........................19
2.7.7 Perceived information diagnosticity and information adoption....................20
2.7.8 Information adoption and purchase intention...............................................20
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD...................................................................21
 3.1 Development of Measurement....................................................................21

3.1.1 Research Process.............................................................................................21

3.1.2 Establishment of variables..............................................................................22
3.1.3 Measurement Scale........................................................................................26
3.2 Research Design.........................................................................................29

Objective..................................................................................................................29
3.2.2 How to access the survey audience................................................................29
3.3 Information collection.................................................................................30

3.3.1 Sample.............................................................................................................30
3.3.2 Data description..............................................................................................31
3.4 Questionnaire..............................................................................................31

REFERENCES....................................................................................................32

English References...........................................................................................32

Vietnamese References:....................................................................................34
THE INFORMATIONAL AND NORMATIVE INFLUENCES OF
INFORMATION DIAGNOSTICITY IN E-WOM AND ITS CONNECTIONS
WITH CONSUMERS' PURCHASING COSMETICS BEHAVIOR IN HO
CHI MINH CITY

Abstract: The purpose of this research proposal is the influence of online consumer
reviews (OCRs) on the Internet such as apps, blogs, video and how this evaluation
affects their decisions. This study investigates the informational and normative of
information diagnosticity which has seen the relative connections with consumer’s
purchasing intentions through the variables of OCRs, then, points out the
importance of evaluation of reviews. Besides, it also contributes in terms of
identifying and analyzing the benefits as well as limitations of online reviews, so as
to provide businesses with effective solutions.
Keywords: informational, normative, influence of information diagnosticity, e-
wom, consumer’s purchasing
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Background
Currently, technology devices and the Internet have become very familiar to
everyone. As a result, e-commerce has also increasingly developed. Selling and
buying goods online are more and more convenient than exchanging directly. The
transformation from offline shopping into online shopping is also clearly reflected
in the purchase behaviour of consumers. According to statistics from
BrandsVietNam, consumers' online shopping demand also increases from 57% in
2019 to 63% in early 2020. The online marketplaces such as Shopee, Lazada, Tiki
have gained their reputation among sellers and consumers as well. And this also
leads to a tendency to read online reviews before making a purchase. Consumers are
likely to share their experiences, opinions, and feedback regarding products,
services, or brands in the form of online reviews for other consumers. There have
been many studies giving the evidences that online consumer reviews exert a strong
influence on the purchase decisions of consumers (Filieri & McLeay, 2014; Senecal
& Nantel, 2004; Smith, Menon, & Sivakumar, 2005) and on the sales of products in
different categories (e.g., books, movies, and hotel rooms) (Cui, Lui, & Guo, 2012;
Dellarocas, Zhang, & Awad, 2007; Godes & Mayzlin, 2004; Liu, 2006; Ye, Law, &
Gu, 2009; Zhu & Zhang, 2010). The E-market newspaper reports that the number of
online shoppers who value the reviews that consumers have left online has
increased significantly, to 91% in 2012. According to Edu2Reviews, 95% of
respondents say they have consulted with reviews which were created by previous
purchasers. Therefore, it is obvious that electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) stands
an important location in forming consumers’ purchase intentions.
However, we hardly find out the researches that analyze the informational and
normative predictors of information diagnosticity and its links with consumers'
information adoption. In e-WOM settings, informational influence may refer to the
quality of information in online consumer reviews, the source credibility (which is
assessed using information on the web profile of the reviewer), and the quantity of
information (reviews) available for a product; by contrast, normative influences
may refer to overall product rankings and customer ratings (crowd opinion
information). The overall ranking is generally displayed by the number of stars or
by the overall consumer evaluation of the products available in a category (e.g.,
accommodations in a destination), whereas the rating provides information about
reviewers' evaluations of the specific features of a product (e.g., accommodation
cleanliness, location, breakfast quality). In addition to the popularity of consumer
review platforms, little is known about how consumers assess the diagnosticity of
the information that is available on those websites and their influence on consumers'
decisions (Pan & Zhang, 2011). Information in online reviews is diagnostic if
consumers perceive such information to be helpful for understanding and evaluating
the standard and performance of products sold online (Jiang & Benbasat, 2004).
Many websites that publish consumer reviews provide normative evaluations, such
as overall product rankings and product feature ratings, to help consumers assess
product quality. To date, little is known about whether the normative evaluations
generated within these websites actually affect consumers' perceived diagnosticity
of information from online consumer reviews, in addition to the informational
influences (e.g., information quality, quantity, source credibility).
As a result, this research will focus on investigating the effect of informational and
normative influences on consumers' perceived diagnosticity of information from
online consumer reviews and the influence of these perceptions on consumers'
adoption of information, which ultimately impacts on the cosmetics purchase
intentions of consumers.
1.2 Research Objective
The growing popularity and importance of online reviews has received substantial
attention from both practitioners and scholars. From a managerial perspective, the
eWOM phenomenon helps businesses to better capture consumer buying behavior,
shopping experiences and expectations, then develop optimal business strategies
(Constantinides & Fountain, 2008). However, little is known how both of the
informational and normative cues are essential to consumers in evaluating the
quality and performance of products through online reviews, as well as how
information diagnosticity ultimately influences consumers' information adoption.
Consequently, the main purpose of this research is to emphasize the determinants of
informational and normative cues on consumer perceptions of information
diagnosticity and on the adoption of information from online consumer reviews.
 Evaluation of Informational and Normative variables exert influence on
Information Diagnosticity.
 Discovery of the impact of these variables affects purchase cosmetics
intention of consumers living in HCMC.

1.3 Research Significance

1.3.1 Scientific Significance
This research evaluates whether informational and normative influences generated
within online review platforms actually affect consumers' ability to perceive
diagnosticity of information and analyze its relevance to cosmetics purchasing
decisions.
1.3.2 Practical Significance
The study below shows the importance of understanding in-depth the factors
affecting the purchasing decisions of consumers. Based on that, marketers will have
an ability to know what makes online reviews helpful to consumers, which helps
them to build the most effective marketing strategies.
The experiences gained from this study can be the basis for the completion of other
research activities on the factors influencing e-WOM.
 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 WOM and e-WOM

2.1.1 Wom
For official definition, this means that the attention of consumers about firm’s goods
and services should be reflected in their daily conversations. WOM is a form of
communication between Customer to Customer ( C to C ) which is direct or indirect
throughout non-commercial based on mobile phone, conversations,… Thanks to
WOM, the information is transferred quickly in society
Traditional word-of-mouth (WOM) was originally defined as an oral form of
interpersonal non-commercial communication among acquaintances (Cheung et al,
2010) and is actually the oldest form of promoting products and services known to
have been happening offline.
Based on Contagious: Why Things Catch on of Jonah Berger, he concludes 6
factors to encourage the spread out of information.
Social Currency: if your product is prettier, more luxury or maybe it's very
knowledge, in many factors this product will be admitted by the society
Triggers: the things which people can remember immediately
Emotion: the things which can help them to share their story, express their
feeling
Public: like trending
Practical Value: people will share the information to help others
Stories: people create a story with their product to spread the meaning
 2.1.2 E-Wom
Similar ro WOM, however, E-Wom spread the information through the Internet
E-WOM refers to ‘any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual or
former consumers about a product or company, which is made available to a
multitude of people and institutions via the Internet’ (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner,
Walsh, & Gremler, 2004, p. 39).
E-Wom is consumer-generated, consumption-related communication that employs
digital tools and is directed primarily to other consumers
Here is the table that compare the differencies between wom and E-Wom

  WOM E-WOM

Communication directly, face Communicate through on the

Form
to face Internet such as blog, wedsite
Information is collected from
family members or friends
Sources of
((Ratchford, Talukdar & Lee, Information is collected from
information
2001) strangers so it’s hard to confirm
and
So that the receiver will easily reliability of information
reliability
confirm reliability of
information

e-WOM is easy to measure base

on presentation, quantity,
Measurement Difficult to measure stability (Lee, Park and Hen,
2008; Park and Kim, 2008)

Live chat is possible in real The information is always

Privacy
life, taking place at the time of public on the internet, people
security
meeting can see it at any time

Speed of Information spreads slowly and Information spread rapidly at

spreading must be said to be spread any given moment

Difficult to access and collect Easy to access and collect

Accessibility 
information information
2.2 Cosmetics Products
Cosmetics are a kind of wellbeing and magnificence item that is utilized to really
focus on the face and body, just as to highlight or modify the appearance of a
person. Beautifiers can allude to an assortment of items used to really focus on the
skin and body, just as those used to add scent to it. While cosmetics are for the most
part considered as cosmetics used to change an individual's look, beautifiers can
likewise allude to an assortment of items used to really focus on the skin and body,
just as those used to add scent to it. Inside these different kinds, a huge scope of
makeup are accessible, each intended for a specific use and with various attributes.
2.3 Information Diagnosticity
Jiang and Benbasat (2004) defined information diagnosticity as consumers'
perceptions of the ability of a website to convey relevant product information that
can assist them in understanding and evaluating the quality and performance of
products sold online. The more online retailers provide signals that help consumers
overcome the barrier arising from the lack of physical inspection of products on the
Internet (Kirmani & Rao, 2000), the more that the information provided will be
perceived as diagnostic because of its ability to enable an adequate evaluation of the
true quality of the products sold (Jiang & Benbasat, 2004). Information
diagnosticity refers to a consumer's improved understanding or knowledge about a
product and how it works as a consequence of adopting information from a specific
website. Diagnosticity is determined by the perceived correlation between the
information available to a consumer and the decision-making process and is often
conceptualised as the degree of helpfulness of information (Dick, Chakravarti, &
Biehal, 1990; Qiu, Pang, & Lim, 2012; Skowronski & Carlston, 1987). Research in
online settings primarily focuses on the diagnosticity of both products and retailer
websites, which is assumed to mitigate the negative effect of uncertainty on e-
commerce adoption (Pavlou, Liang, & Xue, 2007).
2.4 Informational influences
Informational influence refers to new information or arguments provided in a group
discussion that change a group member’s attitudes, beliefs, or behavior.
Informational influence is likely to be stronger when a person is uncertain about the
correct interpretation of reality and/or the correct behavior in a given context and
therefore looks to other group members for guidance (Vohs, Kathleen D., &
Baumeister, Roy F. (Eds), 2011).
2.5 Normative influences
Normative influence refers to the fact that people sometimes change their behavior,
thoughts, or values to be liked and accepted by others. This results in conformity, in
the form of individuals altering their utterances or demeanor to be more like what
they perceive to be the norm (Vohs, Kathleen D., & Baumeister, Roy F. (Eds),
2011).
2.6 Previous Research
2.6.1 Research 1
One previous study has investigated about the determinants that influence in e-
WOM, namely, What makes online reviews helpful? A diagnosticity-adoption
framework to explain informational and normative influences in e-WOM.
Contribution: According to this study, the informational influence of e-WOM is
stronger than the normative influence as well as information quality represents the
most important antecedent of information diagnosticity in e-WOM. Also, it found
that the normative cues such as overall product rankings and customer ratings, show
a major, strong, and positive relationship with information diagnosticity; source
credibility was detected to exhibit a weak but significant relationship; and
information quantity does not appear to influence the dependent variable. Therefore,
it can be concluded that the normative influence also operates in the online
environment even when ‘the others’ are not physically present and not easily
identifiable. This finding implies that reviews with the highest level of information
quality and crowd opinions are perceived by consumers to be the most helpful
information when becoming familiarised with a product and assessing its quality
and performance.
Limitations: Firstly, it will be hard to determine if the results of this research can
be applied for other products because it only focuses on analyzing the use of online
consumer reviews of tourism-related products. Secondly, the sample was primarily
composed of respondents from the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Although this
type of sample responds to the need to widen the geographic scope of e-WOM
research (Chan & Ngai, 2011) it could be useful to replicate the study in other
contexts.
Remedy from author’s perspective: Based on the limitations, the authors have
made some recommendations as follows. Future research could test the proposed
model across different product types, such as utilitarian products (e.g., smartphones,
vehicles) to generalise the results of this study. Additional research is also needed to
identify other antecedents of review diagnosticity. For instance, scholars could
consider new constructs, such as the vividness of information (e.g., customer
pictures or videos of a product), website recommendations and the like, which could
improve the predictive power of the model. Moreover, in this study, they found that
information diagnosticity leads to information adoption; however, future research
could test whether information diagnosticity is also an important antecedent of
customer purchase intentions or loyalty.
2.6.2 Research 2
Another research is named Determinants Of Electronic Word Of Mouth Perceived
Credibility which found contributory perspective on other aspects of a consumer’s
online review experience.
Contribution: The role of argument strength was confirmed due to the outcomes of
the research with the perceived credibility of receivers, especially online cosmetic
reviews. Accordingly, if the review contains both strengths and weaknesses about a
product, it will be considered as more credible and trusted. It also aims to determine
the factors that influence a consumer’s perceived online review credibility as
predictors of online reviews influence, including purchase intention, especially
when buying cosmetics. Survey results do not support the arguments by Cheung and
colleagues (2009; 2012), in terms of the effect of normative factors. The analysis
outcomes indicate that the relationship between normative factors and review
perceived credibility was not significant (H5: β=0.044, p=0.389; H4b: β=0.057,
p=0.279). This suggests that the two constructs Review Consistency and Review
Rating are unrelated with the consumers´ perception of review credibility.
Limitations: First, the collected data were conducted on only one online consumer
review website - Makeupalley.com. The survey is also focused on cosmetic
reviews. Therefore, the generalizability of results to other review sites (e.g. different
types of products) is restricted. In addition, Makeupalley.com has a reputation for a
review site; the assumptions of members about review credibility may be different
with other sites with lower popularity. The research outcomes are needed to be
tested in different research contexts. Secondly, because of the limited time, the data
was only collected in the duration of two weeks. There were 396 respondents,
compared with the population size (over two million). This affects the
representative of the outcomes. With the collected sample, it is recorded that there is
a high unevenness in the number of case distributions between different
respondent’s groups (genders, age groups). Some respondent groups (male
respondents or respondents under 18 years old) are two small. 
Remedy from author’s perspective: Beside those recommendations for research
in the future (e.g. expand the scope of the survey) in which could improve the result
quality of this study, there are several more suggestions to further extend the current
model. First, the difference between different groups of respondents (female and
male, different age groups) could be examined. Also, the research model can be
tested in different culture environments and investigates if people of different
cultural backgrounds may assess the online review in different ways.
2.7 Research Model
 Customer Overall Product
Ratings Ranking

H5 H4

Information Information Purchase

H6 H7
Diagnosticity Adoption Intention

Information
H3
Quantity

Information
H1a
Quality

H1b

Source Credibility H2

Figure 1. The connections of the informational and normative influences of information diagnosticity in E-Wom with consumers’ purchasing
behavior

2.7.1 Information quality and perceived information diagnosticity

One research has stated information quality as ‘the quality of the content of a consumer
review from the perspective of information characteristics’ (Park et al., 2007, p. 128).
However, many researchers have described information quality in e-WOM in different
ways. For example, Cheung et al. (2008) considered review quality in terms of
completeness, timeliness, consistency, and significance, while Park et al. (2007) defined
it as credibility, objectivity, consistency, clarity and logic. In e-WOM field, a variety of
researches have proved that the quality of arguments included in online consumer
reviews influence consumer purchase intentions in high-involvement conditions (Lee et
al., 2007; Park et al., 2007). In this study, we determine that purchasers will perceive
information to be more diagnostic in their decision-making process if the online reviews
appear to be high quality. As long as an online review is more detailed and complete,
accurate, based on facts, and relevant to consumer needs, the consumers will find such
information to be more helpful in assessing the quality and performance of the
product/service that they are planning to purchase. Thus, we hypothesize as follows:

H1a. Information quality significantly and positively influences perceived information

diagnosticity.

2.7.2 Information quality and source credibility

In addition, consumers' perception of the credibility of a source can be affected by the
quality of the information which may signal the expertise and/or trustworthiness of the
source of information in online consumer reviews. A reviewer will be more credible if
he/she provides accurate, factual, and detailed information regarding the relevant features
of a product/service By contrast, if an information source provides a brief, superficial,
and subjective description of a product/service, consumers is not likely to be persuaded.
As a result, we hypothesize as follows:
H1b. Information quality significantly and positively influences perceived source
credibility.
2.7.3 Source credibility and perceived information diagnosticity
Credibility and trustworthiness of source are considered to be fundamental predictors of
consumers' acceptance of a message in traditional WOM (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993;
Hovland, Janis, & Kelley, 1953; McGinnies & Ward, 1980). The source credibility
theory as propounded by Hovland, Ja-nis and Kelly (1963) stated that when the source
presents itself as credible, people or receivers intend to be more convinced. The study
was done by giving the comparison between credible and non-credible sources using
same persuasive message to test if the sources seen as credible could influence opinions
change in the message receivers more than the non-credible source. It, then, confirmed
the assumption that credible sources tend to create the positive impact on the audience.
We hypothesize that perceived source credibility influences consumer perceptions of
information diagnosticity, as follows:
H2. Source credibility significantly and positively influences information diagnosticity.
 2.7.4 Information quantity and information diagnosticity
Information quantity (or volume) is determined as the number of online reviews
published by consumers about a product or service. In WOM research, information
volume is considered to be a strong predictor of consumer behaviour (Anderson &
Salisbury, 2003; Bowman & Narayandas, 2001) because more discussion surrounding a
product leads to higher awareness of the product and thus generates greater sales (Liu,
2006). In the field of e-WOM, studies have revealed that information quantity influences
the purchase intentions of consumers in low- and high-involvement conditions (Park et
al., 2007), enables the effect of valence and consensus information (Khare, Labrecque, &
Asare, 2011), and predicts the sales of books and movies (Dellarocas et al., 2007; Liu,
2006). However, previous e-WOM research has not investigated the links between
information quantity and review diagnosticity. In fact, the larger number of information
available in a consumer review platforms is associated with a greater likelihood that
consumers will find the type of information they are seeking. Thus, a higher volume of
reviews may be more helpful for consumers to familiarize with a product’s performance
and quality than a small number of reviews. Therefore, we hypothesize as follows:
H3. Information quantity significantly and positively influences perceived information
diagnosticity.
2.7.5 Overall product ranking and perceived information diagnosticity
As a familiar characteristic of e-WOM, the overall product ranking is normally shown as
the mean star ratings beside the product photos. Moreover, it is considered as the overall
evaluation of the reviewers of a product in a specific category.
The current study claims that the influence of overall product rankings on perceived
information diagnosticity in OCRs, which has less awareness in literature. It is believed
that consumers gain benefits from the accumulation of individual review ratings into
summary statistics (rankings), which are seen as useful information. According to social
cognition theorists, consumers tend to underuse ranking information such as summary
statistics in favour of more individuating information whenever they make a decision
(Bar-Hillel, 1980; Borgida & Nisbett, 1977; Nisbett & Ross,1980). The huge amount of
reviewers are able to create implicit thoughts by classifying the products from worst to
best. It is easier for buyers for the reason that product ranking is reducing the amount of
alternatives during the shopping process. Accordingly, we hypothesize that:
H4. Overall product rankings significantly and positively influence information
diagnosticity.
2.7.6 Customer ratings and perceived information diagnosticity
Customer ratings are a distinctive characteristic of e-WOM. Not only do they figure out
the average of evaluation from reviewers about different types of products or services,
but they also summarize critics' assessments of a product's core characteristics. Moreover,
customer ratings enable buyers to understand more about its efficiency. Take Reviewty as
an example, reviewers can attribute a rating by different features of cosmetics: skin type,
cleansing,... By this way, the process of determining product information which includes
its strengths and weaknesses is becoming easier. As a result, we hypothesize as follows:
H5. Consumer ratings significantly and positively influence perceived information
diagnosticity.
2.7.7 Perceived information diagnosticity and information adoption
Information adoption is the process by which people purposefully engage in using
information (Cheung et al., 2008; Sussman & Siegal, 2003). This study determine that
consumers who adopt information from online reviews would accept the suggestions and
subsequently take action by following them. In another words, information adoption may
reflect the informational influence of e-WOM. The users of online review platforms
would consider whether the information contained in online reviews is helpful to them to
become familiarised with a product and to evaluate its quality and performance.
Therefore, in case purchasers believe that online consumer reviews are helpful, then users
will be more likely to consider the recommendations from these reviews in their decision
making. Thus, we hypothesise as follows:
H6. Information diagnosticity significantly and positively influences information
adoption.
 2.7.8 Information adoption and purchase intention
The adoption of information is commonly conceded as a notion which would eventually
make the decision in favor or against something. The fundamental theory of the
information adoption process states that information cannot be attained without the
absence of certain core metrics i.e., argument quality, source credibility and information
usefulness (Zhang, Ito, Wu & Li, 2017). The systematic implementation of all these three
components would eventually consult in the information adoption protocols. (Khwaja,
Mahmood & Zaman, 2020)
H7. Information adoption has a significant positive effect on purchase intention.
 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Development of Measurement

3.1.1 Research Process
The connections of the informational and normative influences of information
diagnosticity in E-Wom with consumers’ purchasing cosmetics behavior in Ho Chi Minh
City consists of ten steps, starting with the theoretical basis and the presentation of the
results as the final stage. The first step in the process is to learn and have a theoretical
basis for consumer diagnostic cognitive abilities and to analyze how they relate to
purchasing intentions. Then, the researchers determine the influencing variables,
including product ranking, customer ratings, information quality, source credibility,
information quantity, information diagnosticity, information adoption and purchase
intention. The third step will create relationships model among those variables, then,
building up a sample scale will be in the fourth step. After having the measurement,
pretest and adjustment steps, it will be conducted to establish the official measurement
scale. Quantitative research is determined to be the seventh stage, which includes 500
samples (N = 500). After completing the survey and data collection, data will be analyzed
through the Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis method. Next, it will be presenting
results steps and adding suggestions and recommendations as the final one.
 Creating
Absorbing Determining the Building sample
relationships
theoretical basis variables scale
model

Analyzing data Doing quantitative Establishing Making pretest

through PLS research official scale and adjustment

Presenting results Giving suggestions

Figure 2. Researching Process

3.1.2 Establishment of variables

The more comprehensive and informative an online review tends to be, the more reliable,
fact-based, and responsive to customer needs it appears to be, the more consumers may
find it useful in judging the consistency and efficiency of the product/service they are
considering buying. Consumer buying intentions in high-involvement contexts are
affected by the content of claims in OCRs, according to e-WOM researchers (Lee et al.,
2007; Park et al., 2007). If the information found in OCRs is determined to be of good
quality, customers would consider it as more diagnostic in their decision-making stages.
Thus, the hypothesis is set as information quality significantly and positively influences
perceived information diagnosticity.
In addition, Dellarocas (2003) and Sen & Lerman (2007) found that OCRs was
generated by confidential sources without direct knowledge of the recipient. In this case,
assessing a source's reputation is challenging (Chatterjee, 2001; Park & Lee, 2008).
However, customers may determine a reviewer's credibility by analyzing the facts found
in his or her web profile. In reality, a source that is deemed reliable is more likely to be
viewed as a source that would offer useful information by the recipient of e-WOM.
Accordingly, the hypothesis was recognized that perceived source credibility market
perceptions of information diagnosticity are influenced by assumed source credibility.
Scholars have discovered that knowledge quantity affects customers' purchasing
decisions in low- and high-involvement contexts (Park et al., 2007), enables the effect of
valence and agreement information (Khare, Labrecque, & Asare, 2011), and forecasts
book and movie sales (Dellarocas et al.,2007; Liu, 2006). Previous e-WOM studies have
dealt with the relationship between information quantity and analysis diagnosticity. As a
result, consumers increasingly find that a huge number of reviews is more beneficial
than a limited number of reviews in familiarizing themselves with the product and better
understanding its performance and quality. Therefore, the proposed hypothesis is that the
amount of information has an important and beneficial impact on the diagnosticity of the
information received.
Moreover, the social cognition theorists by Bar-Hillel (1980); Borgida & Nisbett (1977);
Nisbett & Ross (1980) indicate that consumers tend to underuse base-rate information
such as summary data more individuating information when making judgments. The
crowd of reviewers makes a tacit argument about the level of consistency of all goods in
a category by categorizing them from best to worst. The rating will also minimize the
number of options so that it will be easier for buyers to make comparison and decide
what to purchase. rankings have an important and optimistic effect on information
diagnosticity.
Ratings are numeric summary figures that encapsulate reviewers' general evaluations of
the product that are frequently prominently shown in the form of five-point star
recommendations at the surface level of the rating. Most review sites also publish scores
that show user reviews in addition to reviewer ratings. The presumed utility of a review is
the key metric for the consumers to judge it. The perceived usefulness of reviews
exists alongside the product scores at the surface level of the article, demonstrated by an
annotation such as ‘10 out of 12 people find the following review helpful. Therefore,
consumer ratings have a positive and significant impact on perceived information
diagnosis.
 Variables Contents
RANK1 Has reduced the number of alternative
products/services that I was considering buying 

RANK2 Has helped me to rapidly identify the best (and the

worst) products/services 
Overall Product
RANK3 Has guided my purchase decision to a specific
Ranking
product/service 
(RANK)
RANK4 Has facilitated my purchase decision

RANK5 Has enabled me to identify the product/service

that could satisfy my needs 

RATING1 Customer ratings have helped me to learn about

Customer the product 
Ratings RATINGS2 Have improved my understanding of the quality
(RATINGS) of the product's features

RATINGS3 Were useful in order to evaluate the quality of

product specifications/features 
Information INFOQUAL1 The information from online reviews was
quality credible   
(INFOQUAL) INFOQUAL2 The information from online reviews was relevant
to my needs
INFOQUAL3 The information from online reviews was based
on facts 

INFOQUAL4 The information from online reviews was of

sufficient depth (degree of detail) 
INFOQUAL5 The information from online reviews was of
 sufficient breadth (spanning different subject
areas) 
SC1 The reviewers were credible 
Source
SC2 The reviewers were experienced 
Credibility (SC)
SC3 The reviewers were trustworthy 

SC4 The reviewers were reliable 

INFOQUANT There quantity of information was sufficient to
Information
1 satisfy my needs 
Quantity
INFOQUANT The quantity of review information is large 
(INFOQUANT)
2
DIA1 The information provided in online reviews was
helpful for me to evaluate the product 

Information DIA2 The information provided in online reviews was

Diagnosticity helpful in familiarising me with the product 
(DIA) DIA3 The information provided in online reviews was
helpful for me to understand the performance of
the product  

ADO1 Review made it easier for me to make purchase

decision. (e.g., purchase or not purchase). 
ADO2 Online reviews have enhanced my effectiveness in
making purchase decision  
Information
ADO3 Online reviews have motivated me to make a
Adoption (ADO)
purchase decision 
ADO4 The last time I read online reviews I adopted
consumers' recommendations and purchased (or
not purchased) the recommended product/service 
 PI1 It is very likely that I will buy the product

Purchase PI2 I will purchase the product next time I need a

Intentions product
(PI) PI3 I will definitely try the product
PI4 I will recommend the product to my friends

3.1.3 Measurement Scale

All items that are used to measure are for research variables in the model are designed in
the form of Yasin scale with 7 levels from "1-strongly disagree" to "7-completely agree".
The scale is the set of a group of questions referenced with word modifications
previously published studies aimed to increase the reliability as well as the measurement
value. Specifically, the procedure suggested by Gerbing and Anderson (1988) and
Churchill (1979) was used to develop three variables for assessing customer ratings,
rankings, and information quality in this analysis. Two items derived from Park et al.
(2007) were used to measure information quantity, and three components derived from
Jiang and Benbasat (2007) were used to measure information diagnosticity. A scale used
in previous research was used to assess consumer information adoption (Cheung et al.,
2009; Sussman & Siegal, 2003).  A scale was developed by Ohanian (1990) and currently
used by Senecal and Nantel (2004) to determine source credibility and trustworthiness.
From the built-in variables, below is the measurement of each variable developed with its
items.

Overall Has reduced the number of alternative

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Product products/services that I was considering buying 
Ranking Has guided my purchase decision to a specific
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
product/service

Has facilitated my purchase decision 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Has enabled me to identify the product/service that 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
 could satisfy my needs 
Customer ratings have helped me to learn about the
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
product 

Customer Have improved my understanding of the quality of

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ratings the product's features
Were useful in order to evaluate the quality of
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
product specifications/features 

The information from online reviews was credible 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The information from online reviews was relevant to

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
my needs

The information from online reviews was based on

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
facts 
The information from online reviews was of
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
sufficient depth (degree of detail) 

The information from online reviews was of

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
sufficient breadth (spanning different subject areas) 
The reviewers were credible  1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The reviewers were experienced  1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The reviewers were trustworthy  1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The reviewers were reliable  1 2 3 4 5 6 7

There quantity of information was sufficient to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
satisfy my needs 

The quantity of review information is large  1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The information provided in online reviews was 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
helpful for me to evaluate the product 
 The information provided in online reviews was 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
helpful in familiarizing me with the product 
The information provided in online reviews was 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
helpful for me to understand the performance of the
product  

Review made it easier for me to make purchase 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

decision. (e.g., purchase or not purchase). 
Online reviews have enhanced my effectiveness in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
making purchase decision  

Online reviews have motivated me to make a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

purchase decision 
The last time I read online reviews I adopted 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
consumers' recommendations and purchased (or not
purchased) the recommended product/service 

If I were going to buy this product, I would consider 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

the ratings regarding this product.
At the ratings shows, I would consider buying this 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
product.
It is possible that I would buy this product. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
If I am in need, I would buy this (product). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Likelihood of purchasing this product is high.  1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3.2 Research Design

3.2.1 Objective
 Respondents are individuals who live and work in Ho Chi Minh City who consume
cosmetics through e-wom. It does not matter whether these people are men or women,
and what their job is.. As long as they are customers who consume cosmetics through e-
wom and live in Ho Chi Minh City.  
3.2.2 How to access the survey audience
This study will be based on primary data sources, the researchers will collect data from
many different sources of information. This is the direct and initial data source from the
survey respondents. Therefore, qualitative and quantitative methods are the two methods
planned to  cover these survey subjects: 
3.2.2.1 Qualitative Research Method
Qualitative research is an approach to explore, describe and explain, based on
investigating experiences, perceptions, motivations, behaviors, attitudes and support,
which the researcher gained in building hypotheses This method is suitable for answering
the questions "How", "Why", "What". The researchers will directly interview the sampled
object and follow up interview questions prepared to collect information that customers
are unwilling to provide (if not asked), thereby finding the hidden problems within
customers, which may support other scales.
3.2.2.2 Quantitative research
Quantitative research is often applied to phenomena that can be expressed or converted
numerically. This method is often associated with a test of hypothesis based on the
deductive method. It can be said that quantitative research is a study that uses different
methods to quantify, measure, reflect and interpret relationships among variables.
Building online questionnaires to reach those who are inconvenienced to do face-to-face
personal interviews, information and results can be represented in the form of graphs,
tables, because it is more intuitive and easy to understand, making the display clear and
easy to analyze.
3.3 Information collection
3.3.1 Sample
The research is mainly done by the quantitative method using qualitative methods in the
design of the scale. An internet transect survey was conducted to collect primary data.
Observation samples are identified as individuals who often use social networks and
purchase or select cosmetics through online reviews on the internet in Ho Chi Minh City
who are from 14 to 60 years old and do not matter whether they are male or female and
what their job is.
According to research by Q&Me newspaper, 73% of cosmetic consumers have used e-
commerce sites to buy cosmetics because of the reasonable price and can refer to many
reviews. Especially during the Covid epidemic, this number increased to 79%. Also, most
of the main sources of information consumers refer to about makeup are from Facebook,
friends, websites, Youtube,... And the information they receive about cosmetics is mainly
through the pages. The brand's website, online news sites such as Eva.vn, Phunutoday.vn,
... also according to the statistics of this newspaper, the age of starting to use and buy
cosmetics is now from 15 years old. Because in the age of development, adolescents tend
to beautify and nurture beauty from a young age. Besides, in the 4.0 era, children
increasingly develop and learn new things as well as their hobbies much earlier than in
the previous era.
From here, it shows that the author's sampling as the class of people according to the
above criteria will help the collected data to be more accurate and realistic, at the same
time consistent with reality and bring about comprehensive results.
3.3.2 Data description
From the data collected in quantitative format, the results will be analyzed and plotted in
the form of graphs to evaluate the results and movement trends of the data. Therefore, it
will make practical judgments and judgments. After evaluating data, it is necessary to
identify which information is influenced by which variable is most powerful among
information quantity, information quality, source credibility, overall ranking, consumer
ratings, information diagnosticity, information adoption and purchase intention.
3.4 Questionnaire
The questionnaires will be designed on Google Form. In the online form, the
questionnaire will be posted and shared on social networking communities Facebook, in
live form, the researcher will invite any respondents to public places such as schools,
public places. companies, cultural centers, and homes, who used to purchase cosmetics
through internet reviews. The survey still focuses more on online questionnaire
interviews because of its convenience and quickness. Despite that, the survey also
welcomes and participates people who have the ability to join in-person interviews.
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