Reviews and reputation · Meta-analysis
A Meta-analysis of Antecedents and Consequences of eWOM Credibility: Investigation of Moderating Role of Culture and Platform Type
Verma, D., Dewani, P. P., Behl, A., Pereira, V., Dwivedi, Y., & Del Giudice, M. (2023). Journal of Business Research, 154, 113292.
Plain-English take
Review- and reviewer-related characteristics were positively associated with online word of mouth credibility, which in turn related to purchase intention, online word of mouth adoption, and product attitude. For your marketing: This may be useful for thinking about trust signals and why a testimonial's source, context, and platform matter.
How much weight to give this
3.5/5 Useful evidence with meaningful caveats
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
A synthesis can show patterns across studies; its strength depends on the included evidence.
A usable sample size is not stated in the profile's accessible source.
No single control group; check inclusion criteria, study quality, and variation across settings.
This profile could be checked against an abstract or metadata, not the full paper.
Double-blind? Not applicable in the same way as a participant-treatment experiment.
Research question
What the authors investigated
Which message- and reviewer-related factors shape eWOM credibility, and how does credibility relate to consumer responses?
Design
Meta-analysis of 51 primary studies comprising 124 effect sizes, examining cultural and platform moderators.
Sample and setting
Published empirical studies of electronic word of mouth across cultures and platform types.
Reported result
What the study found
Review- and reviewer-related characteristics were positively associated with eWOM credibility, which in turn related to purchase intention, eWOM adoption, and product attitude. Culture, product type, and platform type moderated relationships.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
The authors could not conduct comprehensive meta-analytic structural equation modeling or test all moderators simultaneously because primary studies reported limited statistical data; national cultural dimensions may miss within-country variation.
Possible founder application
Useful for thinking about trust signals and why a testimonial's source, context, and platform matter. It synthesizes consumer eWOM literature, not B2B SaaS review outcomes specifically.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract; full text may require access
ScienceDirect publisher abstract retrieved with Firecrawl; included-study count and stated limitations were checked on the page.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.