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Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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Reviews

Assertions of Expertise in Online Product Reviews

Jo Mackiewicz

Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, mackiewicz{at}auburn.edu

In online consumer reviews on Web sites such as Epinions, laypeople write and post their evaluations of technical products. But how do they get readers to take their opinions seriously? One way that online reviewers establish credibility is to assert expertise. This article describes 10 types of assertions that online reviewers used (along with the three broader categories of these types), explaining the method used to test the types for reliability. This testing revealed that the types are reliable. This study lays the groundwork for understanding how reviewers construct expertise and, therefore, credibility and for gauging readers' perceptions of reviews that contain these assertions.

Key Words: consumer reviews • credibility • expertise • online reviews • product reviews

This version was published on January 1, 2010

Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Vol. 24, No. 1, 3-28 (2010)
DOI: 10.1177/1050651909346929
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