Influence of Fake Online Product Reviews on Consumer Purchase Decisions Among Students of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree

Abstract

The growing reliance on online reviews in e-commerce has increased the susceptibility of the consumers to misleading information. This paper examines how fake online product reviews affect customer buying behaviours among the Osun State Polytechnic students, Iree. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey. Grounded on the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Stratified sampling technique was used to select a sample of 370 students out of 10,103 students. The structured questionnaire was used to gather data and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the collected data. The study found that fake reviews were significantly exposed to by respondents, which further indicates that fake reviews played a significant role in the buying behaviour. The research suggests enhancing digital literacy and refining the review verification system. However, the use of descriptive analysis and one institutional environment only, restricts the generalizability of the results.