Consumers' intentions to remain loyal to online reputation systems

The implications of recent consumer research for information system usage in the e‐marketplace are still poorly understood. However, understanding consumers' intentions to continue to use these systems remains a priority in practical marketing management, as leading marketplaces such as Amazon.com have widely embraced online reputation systems as a useful tactic in online marketing. The re‐ported study proposes an approach that differs from past research on this theme by incorporating Foxall's style/involvement model, which relates innovative behavior to cognitive style and involve‐ment in the product area. Based on a sample of 387 buyers from a top e‐marketplace in Taiwan, the findings indicate that consumers' underlying style/involvement levels significantly shape their continuance use intentions toward online reputation systems. The paper argues that consumers' cognitive styles and involvement levels should be adopted by researchers as major influences on system users' decision making in virtual purchase environments. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.