Herd behavior in purchasing books online

• Published in: Computers in human behavior Vol. 24; no. 5; pp. 1977 - 1992
• Main Author: Chen, Yi-Fen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2008; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Applied psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Herd behavior; Informational influence; Internet bookstore; Miscellaneous; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social interactions. Communication. Group processes; Social psychology; Informational influence; Internet bookstore; Herd behavior; Human; Social influence; Decision making; Book; Purchases; Internet
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2007.08.004

Previous studies on informational cascades have stressed the importance of informational social influences in decision-making. When people use the product evaluations of others to indicate product quality on the Internet, online herd behavior occurs. This work presents four studies examining herd behavior of online book purchasing. The first two studies addressed how two cues frequently found on the Internet, i.e., star ratings and sales volume, influence consumer online product choices. The last two studies investigated the relative effectiveness of different recommendation sources. The experimental results demonstrated that subjects use the product evaluations and choices of others as cues in making purchasing book decisions on the Internet bookstore. Additionally, recommendations of other consumers exerted a greater influence on subject choices than recommendations of an expert. Finally, recommendations from recommender system influenced online consumer choices more than those from website owners. The results and implications of this research are discussed.