Third Party Product Reviews and Consumer Behaviour

Third-Party Product Reviews (TPPRs) are neutral (as far as the producers' interests are concerned) and consumer-orientated product tests that are carried out by experts. The reviews are published in special interest magazines like PC-World, Runner's World, Decanter or Wine Advocate and on the magazines' web pages respectively. Market observations provide strong evidence that Third-Party Product Reviews (TPPRs) significantly influence the success or failure of the products evaluated. Apart from purely descriptive contributions, however, there have not been any studies so far that examine the impact of such test information on purchase behaviour. This work aims at diminishing this gap in marketing research by theoretically and experimentally studying the relevance or TPPRs for product choice decisions on the one hand and for perceived quality, perceived value and purchase intentions on the other hand.