Journal of International Consumer Marketing

ISSN: 0896-1530 (Print) 1528-7068 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wicm20

The Effects of Online Reviews, Perceived Value,

and Gender on Continuance Intention to Use
International Online Outshopping Website: An
Elaboration Likelihood Model Perspective

Yumei Luo & Qiongwei Ye

To cite this article: Yumei Luo & Qiongwei Ye (2019) The Effects of Online Reviews, Perceived
Value, and Gender on Continuance Intention to Use International Online Outshopping Website:
An Elaboration Likelihood Model Perspective, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 31:3,
250-269, DOI: 10.1080/08961530.2018.1503987

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/08961530.2018.1503987

Published online: 14 Jan 2019.

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JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING
2019, VOL. 31, NO. 3, 250–269
https://doi.org/10.1080/08961530.2018.1503987

The Effects of Online Reviews, Perceived Value, and Gender on Continuance

Intention to Use International Online Outshopping Website: An Elaboration
Likelihood Model Perspective
Yumei Luoa and Qiongwei Yea,b
a
College of Business and Tourism Management, Yunnan University, Yunnan, China; bBusiness School, Yunnan University of Finance
and Economics, Yunnan, China

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Based on the elaboration likelihood model, means-end chain theory, and gender, this study IOO; perceived value; online
investigates the effects of the quantity and quality of online reviews, which are mediated by review; continuance
two types of perceived values (utilitarian and hedonic values), on continuance intention to intention; gender
use IOO websites. We further argue that these relationships are moderated by gender.
Based on a survey of 291 IOO customers in China, the results suggest that (1) perceived
utilitarian and hedonic value completely mediate the positive relationship between online
reviews and consumers’ continuance intention; (2) through perceived utilitarian value, the
indirect effect of the quantity of online reviews on consumers’ continuance intention is
stronger for females, while the quality of online reviews on consumers’ continuance inten-
tion is stronger for males; and (3) through perceived hedonic value, the indirect effect of
the quantity and quality of online reviews on consumers’ continuance intention have no sig-
nificant difference.

1. Introduction Besides North American and other Western soci-

The international online outshopping (IOO) mar-
ket has undergone tremendous growth in recent
years. In 2015, global cross-border sales exceeded
$1 trillion, and this number is forecasted to
nearly double by 2018 (Fredrick 2015). Almost
half of global online consumers will have pur-
chased from overseas websites by 2020 (Tong
2015). Realizing the opportunities in the IOO
market, a number of e-tailers such as Amazon,
Alibaba, and eBay, expand their already growing
domestic ecommerce business to international
markets. For example, China’s Alibaba Group,
the fastest growing e-commerce company in
the world, filed paperwork to sell stock publicly
and is expected to outpace traditional e-com-
merce powers in market value, such as Facebook
and Amazon.com (Goel, de la Merced, and
Gough 2014).
Simultaneously, the competition to gain global
market shares in the IOO market is increasing.
eties, the emerging group of online consumers
from Eastern nations, such as China and Korea,
has shown great potential through its fast devel-
opment. Approximately half of the world’s
Internet users already hail from Asia (Internet
World Stats 2018). Thus, for IOO e-tailers, how
to motivate consumers to purchase repeatedly
through their channels has become more import-
ant. Due to the nature of cross-border, differen-
ces between online consumers in different
countries appear likely. For example, Asian con-
sumers tend to share more product information
online than do North American consumers (Fong
and Burton 2008). Lee et al. (2009) suggested
that factors influencing consumers’ intention to
engage in IOO be significantly different among
American, Indian, and Korean consumers.
Accordingly, it is important for IOO e-tailers to
understand how cultural factors influence con-
sumers’ decision-making.

CONTACT Qiongwei Ye yeqiongwei@163.com Business School, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Yunnan 650091, China.
ß 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Online reviews are increasingly treated as an
importance information source that facilitates
consumers’ purchasing decisions and has
attracted a great deal of attention from scholars
(Cheung and Thadani 2012; King, Racherla, and
Bush 2014). Many studies have acknowledged the
effect of online reviews on consumers’ intention
and behavior at the individual level (Gong,
Zhang, and Zhang 2016). According to Cheung
and Thadani (2012), research at the individual
level investigates the relationship between online
reviews and consumers’ decision-making, such as
the adoption of online reviews, product attitude,
and purchase intention. From cross-cultural per-
spective, some studies found that it is signifi-
cantly different to use the online reviews among
different countries’ consumers. Obal and Kunz
(2016) revealed that Asian are more likely to rely
on advice from an online reviewer, while North
Americans are more skeptical of and less reliant
on non-expert reviewers. Goodrich and de Mooij
(2014) used cultural dimensions to compare the
use information sources for consumer decision-
making across 50 countries and found that the
use of information sources that influence online
purchase decisions strongly varies by culture.
However, the research about how online reviews
influence consumers’ continuance behavior is
rare. Compared with the initial use of IOO,
repeat consumers accumulate shopping experi-
ence by consuming and form quite a different
motivation to continue to use the IOO website.
The influence of online reviews on customers’
attitudes and behavior may be different between
the initial and repeat uses. Therefore, this
research focuses on the influence of online
reviews on consumers’ continuance intention to
use IOO websites.
Some researchers suggested that the elabor-
ation likelihood model (ELM) is helpful to
inform our understanding of the influence proc-
esses of online reviews on consumers’ attitudes
and behaviors (Park, Lee, and Han 2007; Zhang
et al. 2014). Drawing on the ELM, influence
routes are classified into central and peripheral
types based on the type of information processed
by a given user (e.g., the content of the reviews
or the number of reviews). In addition, the ELM
also explains the circumstances under which that
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING 251
user may be more influenced by one route than
another and discusses the long-term effects of
each influence route (Petty and Cacioppo 1986).
Based on the theoretical perspective from the
ELM, two research questions were examined in
this study.
RQ1. Which influence processes shape consumer’
continued use of the IOO website and how?
RQ2. Do the effects of these influence processes vary
across a consumer population and if so, how?
First, the quantity and quality of online
reviews are important characteristics affecting
consumer information-processing (Park, Lee, and
Han 2007). The quantity of online reviews is the
summary data of how many times users release
their comments, which represents the product’s
popularity. The quality, as an inherent feature,
considers the content of online reviews. High-
quality reviews are more logical, comprehensive,
and persuasive. The differences may engender
different influence processes for consumers.
Second, consumer behavior is generally goal
oriented (Pieters, Baumgartner, and Allen 1995).
Obtaining values (e.g., utilitarian and hedonic
values) has been depicted as his/her shopping
goals (Jones, Reynolds, and Arnold 2006).
According to the means-end chain (MEC) theory,
perceived value is considered the final motivation
directly influencing consumers’ behavior
(Gutman 1997). A number of empirical studies
have confirmed the relationship between value
and continued behavior and divided the value
into utilitarian and hedonic value (e.g. Jones,
Reynolds, and Arnold 2006; Chiu et al. 2014).
€
Ozen and Kodaz (2016) examines the roles of
hedonic and utilitarian values on online shopping
by comparing cross culturally the Turkish and
US consumers. Findings showed that Turkish
and US consumers differ according to their
hedonic and utilitarian values in online shopping.
While Turkish consumers use online retailers to
socialize with others, the US people use it to
relax. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider per-
ceived value (i.e., utilitarian and hedonic values)
to mediate the relationship between the online
review and consumers’ continuance intention to
use IOO websites. It is also consistent with the
252 Y. LUO AND Q. YE
S-O-R Model (Mehrabian and Russell 1974),
which illustrates that stimuli (S) in the environ-
ment affect internal affective states (O), which in
turn evoke behavioral responses (R). That is, in
the IOO context, online reviews such as stimuli
influence consumers’ perceived value, which in
turn evokes their intention to continue to use
IOO websites.
Third, the issue of gender becomes another
point of emphasis in this paper. Gender repre-
sents a key aspect of culture, and differences in
culture affect individual behavior differences
(Gefen and Straub 1997). Due to its accessibility
and identifiability, gender is an important stra-
tegic tool that is applied to market segmentation
(Simon 2001). Gender produces different influen-
ces because of differences in social roles and
information processing patterns. Females are
characterized as more communal, while males as
more agentic (Eagly and Wood 1991). With
regard to information processing patterns, males
are more analytical and logical, while females are
characterized as more subjective and intuitive
(Broverman, Klaiber, and Kobayashi 1968; Darley
and Smith 1995). In the IOO context, however,
few studies have paid attention to the interaction
effect between gender and the different character-
istics of online reviews. In this research, we fill
this gap and examine whether female and male
consumers respond to different characteristics
of online reviews differently. Therefore, we
incorporate gender into the research model and
examine its role through this study.
Overall, this research explores why and how
online reviews influence consumers’ continuance
intention to use IOO websites. More specifically,
drawing on the ELM, we examine the quantity
and quality of online reviews, as peripheral and
central cues, respectively, and their impact on the
consumers’ behavior intention through perceived
value (i.e., utilitarian and hedonic values).
Meanwhile, gender, as an important cultural
factor, moderates these relationships. The study
helps us to gain a better understanding of how
the quantity and quality of online reviews, the
utilitarian value, the hedonic value and gender
differ with regard to their effects on the continu-
ance intention of IOO consumers.
2. Theory background
2.1. Elaboration likelihood model
One theoretical perspective that can provide
a useful framework to understand the influence
processes on the continued intention to use IOO
websites is the ELM. The ELM is suitable for this
study for two reasons. First, the ELM directly
involves the influence processes on human
perceptions and behaviors from external informa-
tion. In the IOO context, online reviews are
useful, persuasive information and they influence
e-commerce sales and customers’ awareness of
the product (Kim, Mattila, and Baloglu 2011).
Second, the ELM also explains why a given influ-
ence process may lead to differential outcomes
across different users in a given setting. For
online reviews, it is useful to explain how differ-
ent characteristics of online reviews (e.g., quantity
and quality) influence different perceived values
across different consumers.
Drawing on the ELM, the persuasive mecha-
nisms or routes include central and peripheral
types, which differ in the amount of thoughtful
information processing or “elaboration”
demanded of the individual subjects (Petty and
Cacioppo 1986). The central route of information
processing requires a person to think deliberately
about issue-related information and scrutinize the
pros and cons of an issue prior to forming an
informed judgment about the target behavior. In
the peripheral route of information processing,
however, individuals tend to devote less cognitive
effort; subjects rely on cues regarding the target
behavior, such as the number of prior customers
or the endorser of an issue, rather than on the
quality of the issue in persuasive processing.
For online reviews, Park, Lee, and Han (2007)
and Zhang et al. (2014) referred to the quality of
reviews as the central factor and the quantity of
reviews as a peripheral factor. Surely, an individ-
ual influenced via the central or peripheral routes
may arrive at the same conclusion (e.g., contin-
ued use of a website). In the IOO context, we
propose that customers who adopt the central
route of online reviews focus on the content and
quality of the online reviews and involve more
cognitive effort to scrutinize the potential benefits
of choosing the IOO website, a comparison of

alternative websites, the availability and quality of
the products and service support, and/or the
costs of and returns from the IOO websites.
While customers who adopt the peripheral route
of online reviews select heuristic cues, such as the
quantity of online reviews.
The ELM posits that perception change is con-
tingent on the elaboration likelihood (Petty,
Cacioppo, and Schumann 1983). Elaboration
refers to the amount of adding something of
their own in thinking about a given issue. That
is, some may seek out detailed cues in a given
informational message, while others may tend to
search for peripheral information in that same
message. It does imply that (1) different individu-
als can engender very different responses to
common information and (2) an individual may
engender varied responses to common informa-
tion if her elaboration likelihood fluctuates with
the situational context. When elaboration is high,
the recipient is experiencing a central route
of persuasion, but when elaboration is low,
a peripheral route is present. In short, elaboration
likelihood moderates the effects of the quality
and quantity of online reviews on the perceived
value change.
Motivation and the ability to process infor-
mation determine the extent of an individual’s
elaboration likelihood. When individuals are
motivated and able to scrutinize information,
they are high in elaboration and tend to experi-
ence a central route of persuasion. In contrast,
individuals who have little motivation and abil-
ity are low in elaboration and may not be will-
ing to spend the time and effort to analyze that
information, and instead, they rely mostly on
peripheral cues to frame their perceptions. In
prior studies, the perceived relevance of infor-
mation (Bhattacherjee and Sanford 2006),
involvement (Petty and Cacioppo 1984; Park,
Lee, and Han 2007), and inconsistent online
reviews (Zhang, Cheung, and Lee 2014) oper-
ated as motivational factors, and prior expertise
or experience with the attitude object
(Bhattacherjee and Sanford 2006; Alba and
Hutchinson 1987) operated as ability factors,
which all influence the extent of an individual’s
elaboration.
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING 253
2.2. Perceived value
Compared with the initial use of an IOO website,
continued customers have quite a different
motivation to use IOO websites. Through experi-
ence, customers can better comprehend and
evaluate the information and update their evalu-
ation criteria (Parasuraman 1997). Means-end
chain (MEC) theory provides a suitable theoret-
ical lens for connecting consumer value to
continuance behavior. According to Gutman
(1997), an MEC includes three hierarchical levels
of cognitive abstraction, attributes, consequences
and values, in which higher-level abstraction
represents a deeper layer of consumer motivation.
In such a hierarchy, values can be considered
the final abstraction that motivate consumers
to engage in continuance behavior, that is,
consumer behavior is value driven. Therefore,
it is reasonable to relate directly the perceived
value and customers’ continuance behavior.
A number of empirical studies have confirmed
the relationship between value and continued
behavior (e.g., Jones, Reynolds, and Arnold 2006;
Chiu et al. 2014).
Perceived value refers to the consumer’s overall
assessment of the difference between perceived
costs and perceive quality (Zeithaml 1988).
Walter, Ritter, and Gem€ unden (2001) defined
value as a perceived tradeoff between multiple
benefits and sacrifices. Liljander and Strandvik
(1993) adopted the perceived benefits and
perceived price. Afuah (2002) believed that value
is a function of the extent to which it contributes
to the customer’s utility or pleasure. Although
there are different operationalizations, a general
consensus has emerged that customers’ value can
be divided to two distinct dimensions: hedonic
value and utilitarian value (Batra and Ahtola
1991; Dhar and Wertenbroch 2000; Kakar 2017;
Hong, Lin, and Hsieh 2017). Utilitarian value
refers to the functional, goal, and rational
oriented purpose of using a product or service,
while hedonic value suggests the multisensory,
novelty, fantastic, and emotive aspects of the
shopping experience (Hirschman and Holbrook
1982). Arnold and Reynolds (2003) provided six
dimensions of hedonic value: adventure, social,
gratification, idea, role, and value.
254 Y. LUO AND Q. YE
Hedonic and utilitarian attributes together cap-
ture the essential facets of a product or service
and are understood in the same way across the
literature, such as the hedonic and pragmatic
quality in the human computer interaction (HCI)
literature (Diefenbach, Kolb, and Hassenzahl
2014), the perceived usefulness and perceived
enjoyment in the technology acceptance model
literature (Davis 1989; Venkatesh 1999; Van der
Heijden 2004), and the extrinsic motivation (e.g.,
perceived usefulness) and intrinsic motivation
(e.g., perceived enjoyment, playfulness, and flow)
in the self-determination theory literature (Deci
and Ryan 1985; Shang, Chen, and Shen 2005). In
addition, utilitarian and hedonic values are
always present in all types of consumption
(Hirschman and Holbrook 1982; Babin, Darden,
and Griffin 1994; Childers et al. 2001; Jones,
Reynolds, and Arnold 2006; Bridges and
Florsheim 2008), and it has been confirmed that
both are important in driving loyalty and con-
tinuance purchase intention (Jones, Reynolds,
and Arnold 2006; Overby and Lee 2006). Thus,
this study considers the utilitarian and hedonic
values of using IOO.
2.3. Gender
Gender has been long recognized as an important
issue in online behavior research. Many research-
ers have posited that gender plays an important
moderating role in various aspects of online
behavior, such as switching behavior (Zhang
et al. 2009), acceptance of information technology
(Ahuja and Thatcher 2005; Gefen and Straub
1997), e-loyalty (Melnyk, Van Osselaer, and
Bijmolt 2009), online shopping (Zhang, Cheung,
and Lee 2014), and online reviews (Bae and Lee
2011). Thus, an important question is whether
the influence of online reviews on perceived value
is the same for both male and female subgroups
in the context of IOOs.
Social role theory (SRT) proposed that gender
differences in social behavior stem from the
socialization process (Eagly and Wood 1991).
Females are characterized as more communal
while males are characterized as more agentic
(Chai, Das, and Rao 2011). As a consequence, the
behaviors of males tend to focus on outcomes,
independence, efficiency, and instrumental com-
petence, whereas those of females focus on inter-
personal relationships and emotional expression
(Chai, Das, and Rao 2011; Eagly and Wood
1991). In other words, it can be said that the dif-
ference in socialization might influence the way
males and females address recommendations
from others. Fan and Miao (2012) showed that
females communicate differently than males,
which in turn moderates the influence of rapport
on social networks and expertise on electronic
word-of-mouth credibility.
Furthermore, according to the selectivity
hypothesis perspective, females and males have
different information processing patterns
(Richard et al. 2010). This perspective refers to
males as selective processors and females as com-
prehensive processors (Meyers-Levy and Sternthal
1991). Males prefer to process the information
that they are most interested in and believe to be
important, while females tend to treat all pieces
of information equally and comprehensively.
These facts imply that the perception of the
value of online reviews may vary from males to
females. Therefore, in this study, we tend to focus
on the moderating effect of gender on the
relationship among the quantity and quality of
online reviews and the perceived value of IOOs.
3. Research model and hypotheses
In this research, we build a research model to
examine how the quantity and quality of online
reviews impact customers’ continuance intention
with regard to using IOO websites through per-
ceived hedonic value and utilitarian value, and
these relationships are contingent on gender.
First, based on the ELM, we proposed that the
quantity and quality of online reviews are periph-
eral and central cues, respectively, which influ-
ence consumers’ continuance intention to use the
IOO website. Second, we suggested that perceived
value (i.e., utilitarian and hedonic values) medi-
ates the effect of the quantity and quality of
online reviews on the continuance intention.
Finally, we further considered cultural factors
(i.e., gender) as a moderator to moderate these
relationships. Figure 1 depicts our research model
and hypotheses.

Figure 1. Research model and hypotheses.
3.1. Online reviews and continuance intention
Compared with the offline environment, online
reviews are far more voluminous in quantity
(Chatterjee 2001; Dellarocas 2003). Thus, we
follow the research by Park, Lee, and Han (2007)
to define the perceived quantity of online reviews
as consumers’ perceptions regarding the volume
of reviews to make a decision. Review quality
refers to the quality of a review’s content from
the perspective of information characteristics (i.e.,
understandability, sufficiency, and timelessness)
(Mahmood and Medewitz 1985; Lee, Park, and
Han 2008; Park, Lee, and Han 2007).
According to the ELM, persuasive information
impacts customers’ perception by two mecha-
nisms: centrality and periphery. For online
reviews, a number of scholars have adopted the
ELM to investigate the phenomenon. Park, Lee,
and Han (2007) found that online reviews posi-
tively affect consumers’ purchase intention with
quality operating as a central cue and quantity
as a peripheral cue. Cheung, Lee, and Rabjohn
(2008) proved that the relevance and compre-
hensiveness of information quality, as central
factors, and source expertise and source trust-
worthiness, as peripheral route factors, have sig-
nificant impacts on information adoption. Park
and Kim (2008) also used the ELM and exam-
ined the significant influence of the type and
number of reviews on purchase intention.
Zhang, Cheung, and Lee (2014) suggested that
the quality of online reviews is a systematic
factor, while the quantity of reviews is a heuris-
tic factor, and both have direct impacts on
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING 255
purchase intention. Thus, in the IOO context,
we proposed the consistent hypotheses that the
quantity of online reviews, as peripheral routes,
and quality of online reviews, as central routes,
facilitate consumers’ continuance intention to
shop on the IOO website.
H1a: The quantity of online reviews has positive
effect on the continuance intention of use for the
IOO website.
H1b: The quality of online reviews has positive effect
on the continuance intention of use for the
IOO website.
3.2. Online reviews and perceived value
3.2.1. Quantity of online reviews and perceived
value
The number of online reviews may be taken
as representing the popularity of the product
since it is reasonable to assume that the number
of reviews is related to the number of consumers
who have bought the product and use the IOO
website. Customers prefer to choose popular
products since they believe that popularity
represents better quality. More reviews reduce
customers’ decision cost and facilitate customers’
perception of utility (Ye et al. 2016). Thus, the
perceived quantity of reviews is applicable
as a heuristic cue for consumers’ perceived
utilitarian value of the IOO.
H2a: The quantity of online reviews has positive
effect on the utilitarian value of the IOO website.
The number of online reviews also infers the
extent to which other consumers have
256 Y. LUO AND Q. YE
consistently chosen the product before.
“Consensus opinions are correct” is a useful and
common decision rule for people (Todorov,
Chaiken, and Henderson 2002) and is referred to
as a risk reduction strategy to reduce or eliminate
the uncomfortable feeling of risk exposure (Buttle
1998). It is plausible that the number of reviews
is related to the number of consumers who have
similar interests. Both the lower perceived risk
and the greater consensus among consumers
facilitate consumers’ shopping experience. Thus,
the quantity of online reviews is also a heuristic
cue for consumers’ perceived hedonic value of
the IOO website.
H2b: The quantity of online reviews has positive
effect on the hedonic value of the IOO website.
3.2.2. Quality of online reviews and perceived value
Quality is an inherent feature of online reviews,
and we propose that it influences customers’
perceived utilitarian and hedonic value through
the central route since review quality is mani-
pulated as high-effort processing (Lee, Park, and
Han 2008) and requires consumers’ careful
reading and understanding (Chen et al. 2016). In
the context of a network without actual product
perception, especially for the products with high
quality and price on IOO websites, high-quality
reviews become more important to consumers’
perception of products or services.
If a review contains more understandable and
objective comments with sufficient reasons for
the recommendation, it is relatively more persua-
sive than a review that expresses feelings and
recommendations without specific reasons (Park,
Lee, and Han 2007). Since most reviews on IOO
websites are anonymous, people generally will
not easily accept or believe a review posted on
a website if it does not provide enough informa-
tion. That is, low-quality reviews reduce the
perceived usability of online reviews. In contrast,
high-quality reviews are more logical and give
reasons based on specific facts, and it is helpful
for consumers to know the functional benefits of
products and brands (Li and Wang 2015). These
are benefits that help consumers to make deci-
sions efficiently and effectively. Thus, we believe
that the higher the quality of the online reviews
the more utilitarian value of the IOO website
customers will perceive.
H3a: The quality of online reviews has positive effect
on the perceived utilitarian value of IOO websites.
Compared with utilitarian value, hedonic
value focuses on customers’ experience of the
shopping process. The reason that hedonic con-
sumers love to shop is because they enjoy the
shopping process. In general, consumers treat
reviews as a source of supplementary informa-
tion during the shopping process. Reading
reviews not only facilitates the selection process
in the pre-decision stage but also supports con-
sumers’ decision in the post-decision period
(Liang 2016). Thus, reading online reviews as a
part of the shopping process is an important
factor influencing consumers’ purchasing experi-
ence. More logical and understandable high-
quality reviews can be read more effectively, and
from them, consumers can easily find useful
cues about products or services. In contrast, if a
review contains confused and illogical com-
ments, it hinders consumers’ understanding of
the content and reduces efficiency in acquiring
information about product features in a short
time, which in turn weakens consumers’ experience
value of the IOO website.
H3b: The quality of online reviews has positive effect
on the perceived hedonic value of IOO websites.
3.3. Perceived value and continuance intention
Values are motivational constructs that serve as
a standard or criterion for guiding the selection
or evaluation of actions or things. According to
the MEC hierarchy, values are the highest-level
goals that motivate and direct customers’ behav-
ior and decision-making (Gutman 1997). The
decision to repeat shop is primarily based on
a value judgment resulting from whether or not
a past consumption experience helped consumers
achieve their goals (Chiu et al. 2014).
According to Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2001),
consumers’ online shopping includes hedonic
and utilitarian motivations. Utilitarian and hedonic
values are the online shopping goals that guide
consumer behavior (Bridges and Florsheim 2008).
Hong, Lin, and Hsieh (2017) revealed that

utilitarian and hedonic value had significant
effects on consumers’ continuance intention to
use Smartwatch. In the mobile instant messaging
market, Oghuma et al. (2016) showed that
perceived usefulness, as a utilitarian factor, and
perceived enjoyment, as a hedonic factor, signifi-
cantly affect users’ continuance intention to
use. Similarly, an investigation that involved
understanding the repurchase of online shopping
conducted by Fang et al. (2016) and Chiu et al.
(2014) illustrated that perceived value (utilitarian
and hedonic values) significantly influenced
consumers’ continued shopping. In the IS
continuance use literature, several lines of evi-
dence reveal that utilitarian value (e.g., perceived
usefulness), as extrinsic motivation, is strongly
related to the effective and efficient use of IT
(Jasperson, Carter, and Zmud 2005; Kim, Chan,
and Chan 2007). Hedonic value (e.g., perceived
playfulness and perceived enjoyability), as
intrinsic motivation, is also expected to determine
users’ continuance intentions (Davis, Bagozzi,
and Warshaw 1992; Lin, Wu, and Tsai
2005). Therefore, this study proposes that con-
sumers’ utilitarian and hedonic values positively
influence their continuance intention to shop on
IOO websites.
H4a: Hedonic value has positive effect on the
continuance intention of IOO.
H4b: Utilitarian value has positive effect on the
continuance intention of IOO.
3.4. The mediating role of perceived value
A previous study identified that online reviews
can lead to higher shopping intention through
internal mechanisms such as perceived usefulness
(Hong and Kim 2016). We suggest that perceived
value plays a mediating role in the relationship
among the quantity and quality of online reviews
and continuance intention.
Many studies of the online environment have
found that stimuli on websites influence consum-
ers’ affective states, which in turn influence
behavioral responses (Ha and Lennon 2010, Kim
and Lennon 2010; Kim, Kim, and Lennon 2009).
In the online reviews context, Eroglu, Machleit,
and Davis (2003) proposed that website cues
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING 257
such as product reviews act as stimuli to influ-
ence consumers’ affective states and behaviors.
Cheung, Lee, and Rabjohn (2008) tested whether
information quality and source credibility impact
information adoption through the perceived use-
fulness of information. Zhou, Lu, and Wang
(2016) had the same results that trust mediates
the relationship among argument quality, source
credibility and purchase intention. Thus, online
reviews as external cues affect internal affective
states (i.e., perceived value), which in turn evoke
behavioral intentions.
H5a: The relationships among the quantity and
quality of online reviews and continuance intention
are mediated by the perceived utilitarian value.
H5b: The relationships among the quantity and
quality of online reviews and continuance intention
are mediated by the perceived hedonic value.
3.5. The moderating role of gender
As suggested by social role theory (Eagly and
Wood 1991), gender differences will impact peo-
ple’s social behavior due to the different socializa-
tion processes of males and females (Zhang et al.
2009). Prior studies have found that gender dif-
ferences plays a vital role in determining individ-
uals’ behavior in the online context since males
and females have different decision-making proc-
esses (Zhou, Jin, and Fang 2014). Thus, an
important question is whether the influence of
online reviews on perceived value is the same for
both male and female subgroups in the context
of IOO.
Based on SRT, females are more socially
focused, more aware of others’ feelings, and more
likely to maintain interpersonal relationships with
others (Chai, Das, and Rao 2011; Zhang et al.
2009). Bae and Lee (2011) believed that females
tend to be relational processors because they can
perceive more risk of online shopping. This is in
line with prior literature that suggests that
females tend to care about interpersonal and
emotional aspects (Zhang et al. 2009). In addition,
female consumers tend to use electronic
communication more for rapport building than
male consumers (Gefen and Straub 1997). In the
context of IOO, the quantity of online reviews
258 Y. LUO AND Q. YE
represents the popularity of a product or website
and the number of consumers who have similar
interests. In other words, the quantity of reviews
is also claimed as a social capital factor. Thus, it
is reasonable to believe that the impact of the
quantity of online reviews on the perceived utili-
tarian value of an IOO website will be greater for
females than males. This leads to the follow-
ing hypothesis.
H6a: The effect of the quantity of online reviews on
the perceived utilitarian value of an IOO website is
greater for females than for males.
H6b: The effect of the quantity of online reviews on
the perceived hedonic value of an IOO website is
greater for females than for males.
Compared to females, males as more analytical
and logical in their processing orientation
(Broverman, Klaiber, and Kobayashi 1968). This is
consistent with the selective hypothesis perspective.
Haas (1979) reported that males’ language reflects
a selective mode that is readily available and
objective, while females’ language reflects an inter-
pretive mode that concentrates on subjective and
evaluative states. Darley and Smith (1995) found
that males respond more favorably to objective
advertising claims and females will respond more
favorably to subjective advertising. Moreover, males
are encouraged to be independent (Spence and
Helmreich 1979) and tend to rely on themselves
(Kim, Mattila, and Baloglu 2011). Males prefer to
view things as separate, unique, and independent
from the collective (Bae and Lee 2011). Thus, it is
plausible that males prefer to high-quality online
reviews. In the IOO context, high-quality online
reviews refers to reviews that are understandable
and available for valuable cues. Based on the pref-
erence of males’ information processing, we may
thus expect that the quality of online reviews will
exert a stronger influence on the perceived value
(i.e., utilitarian value and hedonic value) of an IOO
website for males than for females.
H7a: The effect of the quality of online reviews has a
stronger effect on the perceived utilitarian value of
IOO websites for males than for females.
H7b: The effect of the quality of online reviews has a
stronger effect on the perceived hedonic value of IOO
websites for males than for females.
4. Methods
4.1. Measurement
A survey study was conducted in China. The meas-
urement of each construct is from the maturity
scale in previous literatures and was translated and
back-translated between English and Chinese by
two independent certified professional translators
and verified by the author. To ensure content and
face validity of the measure, a pretest of the ques-
tionnaire was conducted to assess the face validity
of the measurement scales. The pretest was carried
out using two academics and five undergraduate
students with IOO experience from Yunnan
Province in China, who are specialized in e-com-
merce. Based on their feedback, the questionnaire
was revised and finalized.
Among the constructs, the characteristics of
online reviews include the quantity and quality of
the reviews. The design of the scales measuring the
online reviews’ quantity is adapted from Park, Lee,
and Han (2007) including two measuring items: (1)
the number of reviews is enough and (2) the number
is enough to make a consumption decision.
Understandability, sufficiency and timelessness were
chosen as the criteria for review quality, which were
adapted from Park, Lee, and Han (2007).
Following Chiu, Hsu, and Wang (2006), this
study adopts six components of hedonic value
(i.e., adventure, social, gratification, idea, role,
and value), which were adapted from Arnold and
Reynolds (2003) to fit the context of IOO.
Perceived utilitarian value is measured by three
items adapted from Chiu, Hsu, and Wang (2006),
which include convenience, product offerings,
and monetary savings. Two items of consumers’
continuance intention are adapted from Gefen
(2002). In addition, this research uses age,
income and education as control variables. These
items and their sources are listed in Appendix A.
4.2. Data collection
All respondents are consumers with IOO experi-
ence. This research mainly targets IOO user
groups of transactional visual communities,
including Kaola.com, Meilishuo HIGO, Ymatou,
Xiaohongshu, Tmall.HK, Amazon Global, JD.HK,
and VIP International. Four hundred and nine
 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING 259

Table 1. Demographics of respondents (N ¼ 291).

Item Category Males N ¼ 116, no. (frequency) Females N ¼ 175, no. (frequency)
Age Under 25 19 (16.4%) 19 (10.9%)
26–30 31 (26.7%) 72 (41.1%)
31–35 30 (25.9%) 53 (30.3%)
36–40 17 (14.7%) 21 (12%)
Above 40 19 (16.4%) 10 (5.7%)
Education High school 14 (12.1%) 18 (10.3%)
Undergraduate 96 (82.8%) 145 (82.9%)
Postgraduate and above 6 (5.2%) 12 (6.9%)
Income Below 2,000 RMB 3 (2.6%) 8 (4.6%)
2,000–5,000 RMB 9 (7.8%) 43 (24.6%)
5,000–8,000 RMB 52 (44.8%) 69 (39.4%)
8,000–15,000 RMB 35 (30.2%) 44 (25.1%)
Above 15,000 RMB 17 (14.7%) 11 (6.3%)
The number of times respondents 1 time 3 (2.6%) 2 (1.1%)
shopped on an IOO/per year 2 times 9 (7.8%) 19 (10.9%)
3–5 times 52 (44.8%) 71 (40.6%)
6–10 times 35 (30.2%) 45 (25.7%)
>10 times 17 (14.7%) 38 (21.7%)

questionnaires were released through Sojump. To
ensure validity, we deleted the questionnaires that
(1) were incomplete; (2) had the same answers
to all the questions; and (3) were completed
in a very short time. Finally, we got 291 valid
questionnaires with a valid response rate of
71.1%. Among them, 39.9% of respondents were
male, 77% were younger than 35, and 89% had
at least an undergraduate education. The
demographic information of the respondents is
shown in Table 1.
4.3. Data analysis
SmartPLS 3.0 was used because it allows latent
constructs to be modeled as formative or reflect-
ive indicators. Hedonic value is a second-order
construct, so this research uses the approach of
repeated indicators or repeated manifest variables
because the approach is easiest to implement
(Chin, Marcolin, and Newsted 2003). With this
approach, a second-order construct is directly
measured by observed variables for all of the
first-order constructs. While this approach
repeats the number of manifest variables used,
the model can be estimated by the standard PLS
algorithm (Chin, Marcolin, and Newsted 2003).
Other studies have also implemented the repeated
indicators approach (e.g., Chiu et al. 2014).
4.3.1. Reliability and validity test
To confirm the adequacy of the measurement
model, reliability and validity analyses were
conducted. Reliability was examined using the
composite reliability values. As shown in Tables 2a
and 2b, all the composite reliability values were
above 0.70, indicating adequate internal consistency
(Fornell and Larcker 1981). In addition, Fornell
and Larcker (1981) suggested that convergent val-
idity exists when all indicator factor loadings
exceed 0.7 and the average variance extracted
(AVE) by each construct exceeds the variance due
to the measurement error for that construct (i.e.,
should exceed 0.50). Tables 2a and 2b show that
most items exhibited loadings higher than 0.7 on
their respective constructs, except for the second
item of Social (SO2) in the male group and the
first item of Social (SO1) in the female group scale
whose factor loadings were slightly below the
required minimum loading criteria of 0.7 (0.67 and
0.68, respectively). Tables 2a and 2b show that all
the AVEs were greater than 0.53, indicating good
convergent validity of the measurement.
Discriminant validity was tested using the
criteria outlined by Fornell and Larcker (1981):
The square root of the AVE should exceed the
correlation shared between the construct and
other constructs in the model.
Table 3 shows the correlation coefficients for
all constructs and the square roots of the AVE
for the constructs on the diagonal. The results
indicate that the diagonal values exceed the
inter-construct correlations, meaning there is
acceptable discriminant validity.
4.3.2. Structural model
To estimate the significance of the hypothesized
relationships in the model, we first created a
260 Y. LUO AND Q. YE

Table 2a. AVE, CR, and cross loading of males (N ¼ 116).

Constructs AVE CR Items AD BD GR ID RO SO UV Quality Quantity CI
Adventure 0.70 0.83 AD1 0.76 0.00 0.28 0.41 0.31 0.27 0.18 0.35 0.36 0.27
AD2 0.91 0.19 0.49 0.47 0.49 0.49 0.35 0.39 0.40 0.42
Best deal 0.77 0.87 BD1 0.13 0.81 0.08 0.22 0.29 0.20 0.22 0.10 0.16 0.18
BD2 0.12 0.94 0.17 0.22 0.34 0.25 0.31 0.20 0.20 0.30
Gratification 0.66 0.85 GR1 0.43 0.13 0.91 0.50 0.60 0.61 0.46 0.48 0.44 0.58
GR2 0.47 0.15 0.76 0.43 0.53 0.47 0.32 0.45 0.63 0.35
GR3 0.27 0.10 0.76 0.44 0.45 0.54 0.37 0.50 0.41 0.37
Idea 0.78 0.88 ID1 0.49 0.19 0.48 0.87 0.48 0.51 0.28 0.49 0.35 0.44
ID2 0.43 0.24 0.51 0.90 0.47 0.65 0.35 0.45 0.42 0.50
Role 0.60 0.86 RO1 0.24 0.33 0.47 0.41 0.81 0.47 0.54 0.44 0.30 0.53
RO2 0.48 0.31 0.57 0.43 0.78 0.50 0.52 0.46 0.49 0.48
RO3 0.41 0.26 0.46 0.44 0.74 0.45 0.37 0.32 0.34 0.40
RO4 0.41 0.21 0.52 0.39 0.76 0.46 0.51 0.45 0.43 0.47
Social 0.61 0.83 SO1 0.35 0.17 0.49 0.51 0.47 0.82 0.48 0.55 0.42 0.47
SO2 0.41 0.13 0.43 0.52 0.45 0.67 0.21 0.42 0.24 0.34
SO3 0.41 0.31 0.51 0.53 0.51 0.85 0.50 0.58 0.44 0.60
Utilitarian value 0.59 0.81 UV1 0.22 0.25 0.35 0.30 0.46 0.37 0.73 0.38 0.43 0.36
UV2 0.34 0.20 0.39 0.26 0.47 0.39 0.74 0.51 0.32 0.44
UV3 0.21 0.28 0.38 0.28 0.53 0.48 0.83 0.44 0.35 0.63
Perceived quality 0.59 0.81 Quality1 0.34 0.26 0.46 0.41 0.36 0.54 0.40 0.75 0.43 0.50
Quality2 0.34 0.01 0.39 0.39 0.47 0.48 0.40 0.72 0.37 0.37
Quality3 0.34 0.16 0.47 0.42 0.42 0.51 0.50 0.83 0.47 0.45
Perceived quantity 0.68 0.81 Quantity1 0.33 0.10 0.48 0.33 0.38 0.46 0.35 0.38 0.79 0.35
Quantity2 0.41 0.23 0.50 0.39 0.45 0.40 0.42 0.52 0.86 0.39
Continuance intention 0.75 0.86 CI1 0.41 0.16 0.48 0.52 0.54 0.59 0.50 0.51 0.36 0.87
CI2 0.32 0.34 0.47 0.40 0.51 0.52 0.59 0.49 0.42 0.86
The bold values are loading on their respective constructs.

single-item measure for HV without overesti-
mated explained variance because HV is a
second-order formative construct in the model.
Following Hair, Hult, and Ringle (2014) sugges-
tion, we used a two-stage approach where a sin-
gle-item measure should be employed. These
single-item measures used latent variable scores,
which were obtained through PLS algorithm
results in SmartPLS. Thus, the explained variance
for the HV construct and the endogenous con-
struct (i.e., the quantity and the quality of online
reviews) could then be examined.
Then, we estimated the direct effect model,
which only includes the independent variables
(i.e., the quantity and quality of online reviews)
and the dependent variable (i.e., continuance
intention). Following Preacher and Hayes (2008)
procedure using bootstrapping, we examined the
indirect effect using the path coefficients when
the mediator perceived utilitarian and hedonic
values were included in the model.
Finally, to check the moderator, we adopted
multigroup PLS analysis (Qureshi and Compeau
2009) for the subgroups (i.e., females and males)
and compared the influence of gender on the
relationship between the characteristics of online
reviews and perceived value. A summary of these
results is presented in Figures 2 and 3 and
Table 4.
As shown in Figure 2, the quantity and quality
of online reviews did exert significant influence
on the continuance intention of using IOO
websites (b ¼ 0.333, p < 0.001; b ¼ 0.312,
p < 0.001, respectively), meaning H1a and H1b
are supported. Figure 2 shows that the structural
model could explain 31.5% of the variance for
continuance intention.
Figure 3 shows the results when we added
the perceived utilitarian and hedonic values to
the model. As expected, the perceived quantity
of online reviews was positively associated
with utilitarian and hedonic values (b ¼ 0.401,
p < 0.001; b ¼ 0.373, p < 0.001, respectively),
which supports H2a and H2b. Furthermore, the
perceived quality of online reviews had a signifi-
cant effect on utilitarian and hedonic values
(b ¼ 0.303, p < 0.001; b ¼ 0.614, p < 0.001,
respectively). Consequently, H3a and H3b
were supported.
With regard to the mediating effect of
utilitarian and hedonic values, when we added
the perceived utilitarian and hedonic values to
the model, the relationship among the quantity
and quality of online reviews and the
 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING 261

Table 2b. AVE, CR, and cross loading of females (N ¼ 175).

Constructs AVE CR Items AD BD GR ID RO SO UV Quality Quantity CI
Adventure 0.73 0.84 AD1 0.77 0.15 0.32 0.40 0.28 0.32 0.18 0.25 0.25 0.21
AD2 0.93 0.14 0.38 0.37 0.48 0.39 0.40 0.38 0.39 0.37
Best deal 0.81 0.89 BD1 0.21 0.93 0.20 0.26 0.25 0.24 0.39 0.35 0.27 0.24
BD2 0.06 0.86 0.10 0.13 0.19 0.14 0.26 0.19 0.22 0.17
Gratification 0.61 0.82 GR1 0.33 0.16 0.78 0.28 0.33 0.44 0.29 0.37 0.30 0.34
GR2 0.44 0.14 0.77 0.36 0.36 0.44 0.24 0.39 0.23 0.28
GR3 0.23 0.12 0.78 0.42 0.46 0.42 0.33 0.37 0.29 0.44
Idea 0.76 0.87 ID1 0.35 0.15 0.37 0.88 0.35 0.43 0.35 0.24 0.29 0.41
ID2 0.42 0.25 0.44 0.87 0.48 0.38 0.37 0.32 0.35 0.40
Role 0.56 0.84 RO1 0.38 0.18 0.35 0.39 0.77 0.45 0.52 0.32 0.39 0.52
RO2 0.29 0.21 0.38 0.29 0.70 0.35 0.46 0.31 0.41 0.42
RO3 0.37 0.10 0.44 0.32 0.75 0.38 0.36 0.33 0.40 0.51
RO4 0.35 0.27 0.34 0.40 0.78 0.45 0.40 0.27 0.40 0.52
Social 0.56 0.79 SO1 0.29 0.15 0.27 0.37 0.33 0.68 0.32 0.34 0.33 0.32
SO2 0.45 0.07 0.36 0.40 0.40 0.76 0.29 0.37 0.35 0.37
SO3 0.24 0.29 0.49 0.34 0.46 0.79 0.50 0.48 0.45 0.48
Utilitarian value 0.53 0.77 UV1 0.26 0.30 0.30 0.26 0.46 0.40 0.74 0.26 0.47 0.47
UV2 0.36 0.23 0.32 0.35 0.38 0.36 0.71 0.45 0.47 0.44
UV3 0.17 0.28 0.18 0.29 0.43 0.29 0.74 0.31 0.40 0.39
Perceived quality 0.58 0.81 Quality1 0.34 0.19 0.26 0.30 0.28 0.42 0.33 0.75 0.30 0.29
Quality2 0.29 0.27 0.32 0.22 0.29 0.42 0.36 0.79 0.39 0.27
Quality3 0.26 0.26 0.51 0.22 0.38 0.40 0.38 0.75 0.41 0.39
Perceived quantity 0.65 0.79 Quantity1 0.32 0.20 0.32 0.27 0.43 0.41 0.49 0.43 0.80 0.38
Quantity2 0.30 0.24 0.25 0.32 0.43 0.40 0.50 0.35 0.81 0.44
Continuance 0.72 0.84 CI1 0.38 0.17 0.41 0.44 0.58 0.47 0.53 0.41 0.40 0.87
intention CI2 0.22 0.24 0.38 0.34 0.54 0.40 0.48 0.30 0.47 0.83
The bold values are loading on their respective constructs.
AD, adventure; BD, best deal; GA, gratification; ID, ideal; RO, role; SO, social; UV, utilitarian value; Quality, perceived quality of online reviews; Quantity,
perceived quantity of online reviews; CI, continuance intention.

Table 3. Correlations and the square root of the AVE of the latent variables.
Mean (SD) AD BD GR ID RO SO UV Quality Quantity CI
Males
AD 3.57 (0.71) 0.84
BD 3.99 (0.68) 0.14 0.87
GA 3.66 (0.69) 0.48 0.15 0.81
ID 3.70 (0.73) 0.52 0.24 0.56 0.88
RO 3.92 (0.57) 0.49 0.36 0.65 0.53 0.77
SO 3.82 (0.58) 0.49 0.28 0.61 0.65 0.61 0.78
UV 3.92 (0.55) 0.33 0.31 0.48 0.36 0.63 0.53 0.77
Quality 3.71 (0.55) 0.44 0.19 0.58 0.53 0.55 0.67 0.57 0.77
Quantity 3.8 (0.61) 0.45 0.21 0.59 0.44 0.51 0.49 0.47 0.55 0.82
CI 3.98 (0.59) 0.42 0.29 0.55 0.53 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.58 0.45 0.87
Females
AD 3.61 (0.73) 0.85
BD 3.92 (0.74) 0.16 0.90
GA 3.83 (0.65) 0.41 0.18 0.78
ID 3.79 (0.71) 0.44 0.23 0.46 0.87
RO 4.02 (0.54) 0.47 0.25 0.50 0.47 0.75
SO 3.86 (0.56) 0.42 0.24 0.51 0.49 0.54 0.75
UV 3.95 (0.52) 0.37 0.37 0.38 0.41 0.58 0.51 0.73
Quality 3.75 (0.55) 0.39 0.31 0.48 0.32 0.41 0.54 0.47 0.76
Quantity 3.90 (0.59) 0.38 0.27 0.36 0.36 0.54 0.51 0.61 0.48 0.81
CI 4.07 (0.60) 0.36 0.23 0.46 0.46 0.66 0.53 0.60 0.42 0.51 0.85
AD, adventure; BD, best deal; GA, gratification; ID, ideal; RO, role; SO, social; UV, utilitarian value; quality, perceived quality of online reviews; Quantity,
perceived quantity of online reviews; CI, continuance intention; the diagonal line is the square root of the AVE.

continuance intention became weak and non-

Figure 2. The direct effect model (full sample).
significant (b ¼ 0.051, ns; b ¼ 0.034, ns, respect-
ively). We concluded that the perceived
utilitarian and hedonic values fully mediated the
relationship among the quantity and quality of
online reviews and continuance intention, which
supports H4a and H4b. Finally, Figure 3 also
shows that our structural model could explain
262 Y. LUO AND Q. YE
Figure 3. The indirect effect model (full sample).
Table 4. Statistical comparison of paths.
Males (N ¼ 116)
Paths Standardized path coefficient
Quantity -> UV 0.24
Quantity -> HV 0.35
Quality -> UV 0.43
Quality -> HV 0.49
Notes:
p < 0.05.
p < 0.01.
p < 0.001.
UV, utilitarian value; HV, hedonic value.
51.1% of the variance for continuance intention,
38.1% of the variance for utilitarian value and
51.0% of the variance for hedonic value. These
results indicated that the explanatory power of
the structural model was acceptable, as the vari-
ance in each endogenous construct exceeds 10%
(Falk and Miller 1992).
On the other hand, Table 4 shows that the
perceived quantity of online reviews had signifi-
cant effects on the utilitarian value for both the
male and female subgroups (b ¼ 0.24, 0.50;
t ¼ 2.71, 5.70, respectively) and on hedonic value
for both the male and female subgroups
(b ¼ 0.35, 0.39; t ¼ 5.18, 5.16, respectively),
and these path coefficients were stronger for the
female subgroup. The results also indicated
that these path coefficients from the quantity of
online reviews to utilitarian value for the two
subgroups are significantly different (t ¼ 2.00,
p < 0.05), while the path coefficients from the
quantity of online reviews to hedonic value for
the two subgroups does not significantly differ
(t ¼ 0.66, ns). Thus, H4a is supported, while H4b
is not supported.
Finally, the results shown in Table 4 also
indicate that the paths from the perceived quality
Females (N ¼ 175)
Statistical comparison of paths
t value Standardized path coefficient t value t value
2.71 0.50 5.70 2.00
5.18 0.39 5.16 0.66
5.10 0.23 3.49 1.98
6.71 0.39 5.64 0.98
of online reviews to utilitarian value (b ¼ 0.43,
0.23; t ¼ 5.10, 3.49, respectively) and hedonic
value (b ¼ 0.49, 0.39; t ¼ 6.71, 5.64, respectively)
are significant and are stronger for the male
subgroup. The results also show that these path
coefficients from the quality of online reviews to
utilitarian value for the two subgroups signifi-
cantly differ (t ¼ 1.98, p < 0.05), while the path
coefficients from the quality of online reviews
to hedonic value for the two subgroups do not
significantly differ (t ¼ 0.98, ns). Thus, H5a is
supported, while H5b is not supported.
5. Conclusion and discussions
5.1. Conclusion
The study aimed to investigate how the charac-
teristics of online reviews impact the continuance
intention to use the IOO website. First, the ELM
was applied within the IOO context to explore
the characteristics (i.e., the quantity and the qual-
ity) of online reviews that impact on consumers’
perceived value of and continuance intention for
IOO websites through peripheral and central
routes. Then, perceived value (i.e., utilitarian
value and hedonic value), as an internal affective

state, mediated the online reviews, as website
environmental factors, on the continuance inten-
tion, as a behavior intention. Finally, gender,
as cultural factor, moderates the relationship
between online reviews and perceived value.
Overall, this study provides a comprehensive
understanding of IOO consumers’ continuance
intention in light of these contextual cues.
First, this study showed that the quantity and
quality of online reviews on IOO websites have
a positive influence on continuance intention.
This result was similar to that of previous studies
(Park, Lee, and Han 2007). Customers adopted
different persuasive routes to change their
attitude and behavior intention. Thus, both the
quantity and quality of online reviews are
important information impacting customers’
behavior intention.
Our study also confirmed that the quantity
and quality of online reviews influenced
perceived value. When the amount of reviews is
perceived to be sufficient to make a purchase
decision, consumers consider the IOO website to
be valuable. The existence of many reviews
indicates that the IOO website is popular, and
this is what increases consumers’ experience
value. Meanwhile, reviews that are timely and
comprehensive, with sufficient reasons based on
specific facts about the product, have a strong
persuasive effect since customers can easily find
usable cues to make decisions, which in turn
produces more utilitarian value for consumers.
The understandability and accuracy improve
consumers’ ability to read the content of online
reviews. When consumers are able to easily
understand and find what they want, they can
obtain a better experience in the shop-
ping process.
Meanwhile, perceived values, as higher-level
goals, directly influence customers’ behavior
intentions. The results suggested that if consum-
ers perceive greater utilitarian and hedonic value
from past consumption experiences, they will be
more willing to continually use and recommend
the IOO website.
In addition, we found that the effect of the
quantity and quality of online reviews on the
continuance intention are mediated completely
by the perceived value, including utilitarian value
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING 263
and hedonic value. This proved that online
reviews are stimuli in the IOO environment that
first affect consumers’ internal affective states,
which in turn evoke their continuance intention.
When consumers perceive that the quality and
number of online reviews are sufficient, it will
increase their favorable feelings toward the IOO
website, and they will believe the IOO website
will bring them greater utilitarian value and
hedonic value. Conclusively, consumers will
increase their likelihood of using and recom-
mending the IOO website.
Interestingly, our results further showed that
gender produces a different moderate effect to
the relationship between online reviews and per-
ceived value. In all, male consumers are affected
more by review quality, while female consumers
are affected more by review quantity. But for dif-
ferent values, we found inconsistent results. For
utilitarian value, the quantity of online reviews
has a stronger effect for females, while the quality
of online reviews has a stronger effect for males.
In contrast, for hedonic value, the relationship
with quantity and quality for males and females
has no significant difference.
These results showed that male consumers are
more likely to adopt central cues, while female
consumers are more likely to find peripheral cues
to improve their utilitarian value. However, this
kind of mechanism is not steady. When male and
female consumers pursue a shopping experience
(i.e., hedonic value), they will adopt similar per-
suasive mechanisms. That is, male and female
consumers will utilize peripheral and central cues
equally to realize hedonic value.
5.2. Theoretical implications
The contribution of this study to customers’ con-
tinuance behavior research is multifold. First, draw-
ing on ELM, this study used an information
processing perspective in examining perceived value
and continuance intention in the IOO context. In
particular, in the IOO context, this study proposed
that the effect of the quantity and quality of online
reviews are important cues on consumers’ behavior
through different persuasive routes, i.e., peripheral
and central. We further examine whether the ELM
is usable in the IOO context.
264 Y. LUO AND Q. YE
Second, this study provides a better under-
standing of consumers’ continuance intention in
the IOO context. This study identified some con-
textual cues and process factors and constructed
a mediation model to examine how two charac-
teristics of online reviews (i.e., quantity and qual-
ity) influence consumers’ continuance intention
through consumers’ perceived value. We
provided empirical evidence to show that the
perceived value (i.e., utilitarian and hedonic
value) mediates completely the effect of online
reviews on consumers’ continuance intention.
Third, this study enriches the understanding of
gender differences in the e-commerce literature,
especially for IOO. Gender differences have been
found to exist in a number of e-commerce stud-
ies (Zhang, Cheung, and Lee 2014; Garbarino
and Strahilevitz 2004). In the IOO context,
however, few studies have paid attention to the
interaction effect between gender and different
characteristics of online reviews. We derived the
theoretical perspective of social role theory and
the selectivity hypothesis from the information
processing literature (Meyers-Levy and Sternthal
1991). We found that the moderating effect of
the quantity of online reviews is more likely to
increase for female consumers than for males,
while the moderating effect of the quality of
online reviews is more likely to increase for male
consumers than for females. Further, interest-
ingly, from perceived value perspective, we find
there are no differences between male and female
for hedonic value. From cross-culture perspective,
gender as a culture-related factor shows that in
IOO context, it is more important to consider
cultural-related factors to understand consumers’
difference in decision-making. We believe that
these findings can broaden out understandings of
the cross-culture differences in IOO.
5.3. Practical implications
This study also offers some insights for IOO website
retailers and designers regarding their understanding
of online reviews on IOO. The influence of online
reviews is still very important in the IOO context. In
the IOO context, there are more risks and chal-
lenges. Consumers will find more related informa-
tion to help them make a shopping decision. Online
reviews provide important information that signifi-
cantly influence consumers’ perceived value. Thus,
IOO website retailers should pay attention to both
the quantity and quality of online reviews. In add-
ition, IOO website designers should consider how to
improve the interactive interface of online reviews
for consumers to encourage them to write high-
quality online reviews.
Perceived value, including utilitarian and
hedonic values, as the highest motivation, directly
impacts consumers’ continuance intention. Thus,
IOO website retailers should increase the quantity
and quality of online reviews as well as product or
service information to improve consumers’ per-
ceived value. Web designers should provide func-
tions to improve consumers’ shopping experience.
With regard to consumers of different genders,
they have different information processing
procedures. However, this study also noted that
the difference between male and female consum-
ers is not absolute but relative. For experienced
value, male and female have similar information
processing procedures to obtain experienced
value, while for utilitarian value, it is different.
Thus, in the global market context, IOO retailers
provide different information or services through
considering both culture and product-related
factors to maximize consumers’ perceived value.
Females within certain cultures have widely dif-
ferent preferences form their male counterparts
regarding web site attributions. Asian consumers
tend to grant more value to lower quality service
providers but less value to high-quality service
providers than do U.S. (Laroche et al. 2004).
5.4. Limitations and future research
We have to note that this study has several limi-
tations and provides future research opportuni-
ties. First, we invited experienced IOO consumers
to participate in the survey, but we do not con-
sider the characteristics of the IOO platform. In
the information system continuance use litera-
ture, many researchers have found that the char-
acteristics of the information system and the task
influence users’ continuance intention of IS.
Thus, in future studies, these characteristics of
the IOO platform should be included to examine
whether there would be different findings.

Second, this research only discussed online
reviews’ quantity and quality. Although quantity
and quality are the two most important factors
and have received much attention, previous stud-
ies proposed that other features of online reviews
still have various impacts on user behaviors, such
as review effectiveness and reliability. Therefore,
different features of online reviews should be fur-
ther discussed in future studies.
Third, this research only discussed the media-
ting impacts of online reviews’ quantity and qual-
ity on consumers’ continuance intention. Other
studies have demonstrated that the effect of mod-
erator variables should be considered, such as
product features, consumers’ involvement, and
consumers’ cognitive needs.
Finally, although gender is closely related to
culture, the moderating effects of gender may not
be generalized to other regions (e.g., from eastern
to western regions) (Zhang et al. 2009). Bagozzi,
Wong, and Yi (1999) proposed that culture and
gender interact to produce fundamentally differ-
ent patterns of association between positive and
negative emotions. To generalize these findings,
more user characteristics—including race, educa-
tional background, age, geographic area, and per-
sonality—need to be considered.
Funding
This research project is supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (71402159); Natural Science
Foundation of Yunnan Province (2014FB116, 2017FA034);
Yunnan Provincial E-Business Entrepreneur Innovation
Interactive Space (2017DS012); and Yunnan Provincial
E-Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship Key Laboratory
of colleges and universities (YES 2014 [16]).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
ORCID
Yumei Luo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5397-7769
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 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER MARKETING 269

Appendix A. Measurement Items.

Adventure (AD) (adapted from Arnold and Reynolds 2003)

AD1 I find shopping on this IOO stimulating
AD2 shopping on this website is a thrill for me
Best deal (BD) (adapted from Arnold and Reynolds 2003)
BD1 I enjoy looking for discounts when I shop on this website
BD2 I enjoy hunting for bargains when I shop on this website
Gratification (GR) (adapted from Arnold and Reynolds 2003)
GR1 When I Am In A Low Mood, I Go Shopping On This Website To Make Myself Feel Better
GR2 To me, shopping on this website is a way of relieving stress
GR3 I go shopping on this website when I want to treat myself to something special
Idea (ID) (adapted from Arnold and Reynolds 2003)
ID1 I go shopping on this website to keep up with the trends
ID2 I go shopping on this website to keep up with new fashions
Role (RO) (adapted from Arnold and Reynolds 2003)
RO1 I like shopping on this website for my family and friends because they feel happy, and I feel happy
RO2 I feel good when I buy products on this website for the important people in my life
RO3 I enjoy shopping on this website for my family and friends
RO4 I enjoy shopping around on this website to find the perfect gift for someone
Social (SO) (adapted from Arnold and Reynolds 2003)
SO1 I go shopping on this website with my friend and family in order to socialize
SO2 I like communicating with others when I shop on this website
SO3 shopping on this website with others is a bonding experience
Utilitarian value (UV) (adapted from Chiu et al. 2014)
UV1 This IOO website provided a variety of product offerings
UV2 I got my purchases cheaper via this website than I have elsewhere
UV3 I can shop on this website anywhere and anytime
Perceived quality (Quality) (adapted from Park, Lee, and Han 2007)
Quality1 The reviews on the IOO are understandable
Quality2 The reviews on the IOO are sufficient
Quality3 The reviews on the IOO are timeliness
Perceived quantity (Quantity) (adapted from Park, Lee, and Han 2007)
Quanity1 The number of reviews on the IOO is enough
Quanity2 The number of reviews on the IOO is enough for consumption decisions
Continuance intention (CI) (adapted from Chiu et al. 2014)
CI1 I would encourage and recommend others to use the website
CI2 I plan to continue using the website to purchase products