104
Copyright © 2019, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Chapter 7
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-8535-0.ch007
ABSTRACT
As consumers increasingly rely on user-generated online reviews to make purchase decisions, the
prevalence of fake entries camouflaged among authentic ones has become a growing concern. On the
scholarly front, this has given rise to two disparate research strands. The first focuses on ways to distin-
guish between authentic and fake reviews but ignores consumers’ perceptions. The second deals with
consumers’ perceptions of reviews without delving into their ability to discern review authenticity in
the first place. As a result of the fragmented literature, what has eluded scholarly attention is the extent
to which consumers are able to perceive actual differences between authentic and fake reviews. To this
end, the chapter highlights the theoretical value of weaving the two research strands together. With the
aim to contribute to the theoretical discussion surrounding the problem, it specifically develops what
is referred as the Theoretical model of Authentic and Fake reviews (the TAF). New research directions
are identified based on the TAF.
Toward a Theoretical Model
of Authentic and Fake User-
Generated Online Reviews
Snehasish Banerjee
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6355-0470
University of York, UK
Alton Y. K. Chua
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore