Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

Participants were asked to rate to what extent they perceive the 
traveler reviews favors the hotel of interest (1=very much against Hotel X, 9=very much in favor of Hotel X). 
Control variables 
Self-reported expertise
. Expertise was measured through two items “How much do you know about the online hotel 
bookings compared to most people/compared to your friends and acquaintances?” on a 9-point scale. The correlation 
between the two measures was .71 (p<0.001). The two items were combined to form an expertise index.
RESULTS 
Manipulation checks 
The manipulation of presence or absence of cues to induce varying level of perceived salience of cues was 
successful. Respondents in the presence condition perceived the cues more salient than those in the absence 
condition (
96
.
6
=
presence
X
vs.
23
.
2
=
absence
X
, t=-21.42, df=272, p<0.01).
Manipulation of the non-diagnosticity of the online traveler reviews was also judged to be successful. In 
response to the question “based on your personal judgment, the traveler reviews you just read are very much against 
Hotel X / very much in favor of Hotel X” on a 9-point scale, the mean score for this measure was 4.58, near the 
midpoint of the scale. In addition, respondents in the presence of source cues condition exhibited similar level of 

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