The effects of education and income on consumers' motivation to read online hotel reviews

Abstract

An increasing number of consumers are using the Internet for online advice and recommendations. Consumers read these electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) comments for various reasons. The current study is an extension to that of Kim, Mattila, and Baloglu (2011)¹, with the aim of measuring the effects of income and education on eight motives for reading online reviews as described by Hennig-Thurau and Walsh (2003)². A 20-item survey was administered to a sample of 56 Dutch respondents. The results indicate that income and education do have an effect on some of the motives. It has been found that more highly educated individuals tend to be less influenced by eWOM, and people with a lower income tend to use eWOM particularly for dissonance reduction. However, results should be interpreted with caution as not all educational levels and income categories were equally represented. ¹

Kim EEK, Mattila AS, Baloglu, S. 2011. Effects of gender and expertise on consumers' motivation to read online hotel reviews. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly 52: 399–406.

²

Hennig-Thurau T, Walsh G. 2003. Electronic word-of-mouth: motives for and consequences of reading customer articulations on the Internet. International Journal of Electronic Commerce 8: 51–74.