A critical review of determinants of information search behavior and utilization of online reviews in decision making process (invited paper for 'luminaries' special issue of International Journal of Hospitality Management).

Abstract This conceptual paper provides a brief review of hospitality consumers' information search behavior and the factors that are likely to influence their information search behavior and their utilization and processing of online reviews. This study focuses on the factors such as information overload, confusion, information processing, information presentation format, trust and evaluation mode that has not received much attention from hospitality scholars in addition to discussing the impacts of perceived risk and familiarity on information search and information processing approaches utilized by hospitality consumers. This study also discusses opportunities for hospitality researchers to empirically examine the extent to which each of the factors discussed might influence hospitality consumers information search, information processing and especially their utilization of online reviews in their decision making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]