The Effects of Online Rating Validity on Decision Performance

Abstract

Rating schemes are designed as tools to aid Web users in decision making. To help users assess rating validity, online Web sites provide users with rating source credibility indicators—additional information beyond the ratings to guide decisions on how much to rely on the ratings. This paper examines how online users use varying levels of rating validity and rating source credibility to perform a simple decision task. In complex decision tasks, decision theory suggests people are reliant upon potentially invalid information because they need help with their decisions. We propose that the limitations of the online environment make it difficult for users to properly assess information validity even when given straightforward, objective criteria upon which to base their assessment. The findings of this study suggest online users have a difficult time ignoring misleading ratings even in a simple decision task. Only when rating source credibility indicators suggesting low credibility were located immediately adjacent to the related ratings did some users properly discount ratings low in validity. Implications for theory and practice are

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