FAKE REVIEWS IN E-COMMERCE MARKETING

Online reviews have shown to be a significant source of information in the purchase decision process. The deceptive manipulation of reviews has become a substantial chal­lenge for both the research and e-commerce industry. In this regard, scholars made the first attempts to analyze the motives and causes of these so-called fake reviews. However, there is still a lack of a comprehensive and differentiated overview on this topic. The present article seeks to fill this gap by reviewing the current state of research on user-related and supplier-related causes as well as the effects of fake reviews from the pers­pective of the recipient, supplier, and platform. Therefore, we contribute by deriving key research gaps.