The Influence of Online User Reviews on Consumer Purchase Intentions: An Empirical Study in the Indian Context

Abstract

Rising reliance on user reviews has transformed the way e-commerce purchase decisions are made, particularly in developing nations such as India. The Indian consumer’s purchase intention is shaped by review quality, trust, perceived risk, and internet literacy, according to this study. From 86 internet customers, a structured questionnaire was used to get the data. A reliability study showed that every construct had a fair level of internal consistency. According to descriptive statistics, the respondents’ purchase intent, online literacy, and levels of trust were all quite high. Review quality, trust, and online literacy were shown to be strongly and positively correlated with purchase intention in Pearson correlation analysis; perceived risk was not significantly associated with purchase intention. Multiple regression analysis showed that trust and online literacy were the best indicators of purchase intention, accounting for 63.3% of the variance. Review quality had a negative suppressor effect, while perceived risk had a tiny positive effect. Further study of independent samples t-test analysis showed no notable difference in purchase intent between urban and Tier-2 consumers, suggesting a convergence in internet purchasing behaviour across residential segments. The findings have major consequences for Indian digital marketers and e-commerce companies as they underline how crucial trust and internet literacy are to consumers’ online buying intentions.