Effect Of Online Reviews And Social Media Recommendations On Consumer Purchase Decisions

Nupur Srivastava

doi:10.69968/ijisem.2025v4i4140-145

Authors

Nupur Srivastava Research Scholar, Department of Management, Nehru Gram Bharati University, Prayagraj

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69968/ijisem.2025v4i4140-145

Keywords:

Online Reviews, Social Media Recommendations, Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM), Digital Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Consumer Behaviour

Abstract

Purchasing behaviour among consumers has been overhauled by the high rate at which digital technologies and social networking platforms are evolving. This paper investigates the impact of the online reviews and social media recommendations on consumers buying decisions through a descriptive and analytical research methodology based on secondary data collected. The analysis will be organized on a standardized set of 100 digital purchase cases to investigate the relative role of various sources of information, review valence, decision-making stages, and social media types of influence. The results showed that online reviews can and do have the greatest impact on the decision to buy, then social media recommendations, and finally, traditional advertising has a relatively weak influence. Favorable reviews greatly improve the probability of buying and unfavourable reviews discourage consumers to carry out the purchases. It is also found that digital recommendations have the most significant influence on the information search and evaluation phases of the consumer decision-making process. The endorsement of influencers and peer recommendations is more convincing compared to brand-created content, which speaks of the need to be credible and authentic in digital communication.

References

[1] Kwahk, K. Y., & Kim, B. (2017). Effects of social media on consumers’ purchase decisions: evidence from Taobao. Service Business, 11(4), 803-829.

[2] Constantinides, E., & Holleschovsky, N. I. (2016, April). Impact of online product reviews on purchasing decisions. In International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies (Vol. 2, pp. 271-278). SCITEPRESS.

[3] Ibrahim, S. A. N. S. (2023). Impact of online reviews on consumer purchase decisions in E-commerce platforms. IJFMR-International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research, 5(3), 3687.

[4] Elwalda, A., & Lu, K. (2016). The impact of online customer reviews (OCRs) on customers' purchase decisions: An exploration of the main dimensions of OCRs. Journal of customer Behaviour, 15(2), 123-152.

[5] Pauliene, R., & Sedneva, K. (2019). The influence of recommendations in social media on purchase intentions of generations Y and Z. Organizations and markets in emerging economies, 10(2), 227-256.

[6] Torabi, M., & Bélanger, C. H. (2022). Influence of social media and online reviews on university students' purchasing decisions. International journal of internet marketing and advertising, 16(1-2), 98-119.

[7] Erkan, I., & Evans, C. (2018). Social media or shopping websites? The influence of eWOM on consumers’ online purchase intentions. Journal of marketing communications, 24(6), 617-632.

[8] Fernandes, S., Panda, R., Venkatesh, V. G., Swar, B. N., & Shi, Y. (2022). Measuring the impact of online reviews on consumer purchase decisions–A scale development study. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 68, 103066.

[9] Godara, R. S., Yadav, D., Sagar, M., & Disari, R. (2024). Impact of customer reviews on purchase decision of a brand: A study of online shopping. International Research Journal of Economics and Management Studies IRJEMS, 3(4).

[10] Kang, M., Sun, B., Liang, T., & Mao, H. Y. (2022). A study on the influence of online reviews of new products on consumers’ purchase decisions: An empirical study on JD. com. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 983060.

[11] Boon-Long, S., & Wongsurawat, W. (2015). Social media marketing evaluation using social network comments as an indicator for identifying consumer purchasing decision effectiveness. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(2), 130-149.

[12] Tanuwijaya, C. K., Ellitan, L., & Lukito, R. S. H. (2023). The effect of online customer reviews on purchase intention with customer trust as a variable in purchase decision on Sociolla consumers. Journal of Entrepreneurship & Business, 4(3), 192-203.

[13] Poturak, M., & Turkyilmaz, M. (2018). The impact of eWOM in social media on consumer purchase decisions: A comparative study between Romanian and Bosnian consumers. Management and Economic Review, 3(2), 138-160.

[14] Bo, L., Chen, Y., & Yang, X. (2023). The Impact of Contradictory Online Reviews on Consumer Online Purchase Decision: Experimental Evidence From China. Sage Open, 13(2), 21582440231180107.

[15] Orfanidou, M. (2024). E-commerce and the influence of social media and online reviews on customer purchase decisions.