The power of eWOM: A re-examination of online student evaluations of their professors

Cong Li; Xiuli Wang

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.01.007

The power of eWOM: A re-examination of online student evaluations of their professors

Cong Li, Xiuli Wang

Strategic Communication

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Over the past few years, a number of studies have examined the impact of the Rate My Professors (RMP) website (RateMyProfessors.com) on higher education. The focal area of examination is whether students' evaluations of their professors on RMP are valid. The current study attempts to push the RMP discussions to a deeper level through two studies. Study 1 illustrates that students rely on the valence of review information on RMP to make their course selection decisions without considering its validity. Study 2 shows that students' decision-making process tends to be biased as a result of review information available. The results of both studies suggest it is necessary for institutions to test new teaching evaluation models online.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1350-1357
Number of pages	8
Journal	Computers in Human Behavior
Volume	29
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.01.007
State	Published - Mar 15 2013

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Keywords

Ease-of-retrieval effect
Electronic word-of-mouth
Online student evaluations
RMP
RateMyProfessors.com
eWOM

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Human-Computer Interaction
Psychology(all)

Cite this

Li, C., & Wang, X. (2013). The power of eWOM: A re-examination of online student evaluations of their professors. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1350-1357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.01.007

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Access to Document

10.1016/j.chb.2013.01.007