Examining Biased Assimilation of Brand-related Online Reviews

This paper examines the impact of pre-existing brand attitudes on consumer processing of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). This topic is particularly important for brands that simultaneously possess strongly pronounced proponents as well as opponents. Two experimental studies using univalent (study 1, N=538) and mixed (study 2, N=262) sets of online reviews find indications for biased assimilation effects of eWOM processing. Consumers perceive positive (negative) arguments in online reviews as more (less) persuasive when having a positive (negative) attitude towards the brand. Perceived persuasiveness in turn influences behavioral intentions and acts as a mediator on the relationship between attitude and behavioral intentions. We examine two moderators of this effect. When priming individuals to focus on other consumers (vs. a self-focus prime), the biased assimilation effect is weaker (study 3a, N=131). In contrast, we show that biased assimilation becomes stronger under conditions of high (vs. low) cognitive impairment (study 3b, N=124). Our findings contribute to the literature on the relationship between eWOM and brands and advance our understanding of potential outcomes of brand polarization. •We examine the impact of existing brand attitudes on consumer processing of online reviews.•Four empirical studies find evidence for a biased assimilation effect of consumer processing of brand-related information.•Consumers accept belief-confirming reviews and rate them as more persuasive but discount belief-disconfirming reviews.•We study different online review settings and identify boundary conditions of this effect.•Other-focus and cognitive impairment serve as moderators that can alter the intensity of the biased assimilation effect.