A strategic analysis of electronic marketplaces
MIS Quarterly - Special issue on the strategic use of information systems
RE-Thinking the Network Economy: The True Forces That Drive the Digital Marketplace
RE-Thinking the Network Economy: The True Forces That Drive the Digital Marketplace
Opening the "Black Box" of Network Externalities in Network Adoption
Information Systems Research
Web Site Usability, Design, and Performance Metrics
Information Systems Research
Frictionless Commerce? A Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers
Management Science
Informational cascades in IT adoption
Communications of the ACM - Human-computer etiquette
An Empirical Analysis of Network Externalities in Peer-to-Peer Music-Sharing Networks
Information Systems Research
EC '06 Proceedings of the 7th ACM conference on Electronic commerce
Using Online Conversations to Study Word-of-Mouth Communication
Marketing Science
Should We Wait? Network Externalities, Compatibility, and Electronic Billing Adoption
Journal of Management Information Systems
Innovating mindfully with information technology
MIS Quarterly
Do online reviews matter? - An empirical investigation of panel data
Decision Support Systems
Ballot box communication in online communities
Communications of the ACM - The Status of the P versus NP Problem
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Impact of network effects and diffusion channels on home computer adoption
Decision Support Systems
Are Consumers More Likely to Contribute Online Reviews for Hit or Niche Products?
Journal of Management Information Systems
What drives global ICT adoption? Analysis and research directions
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
International Journal of Electronic Commerce
Information Systems Research
Sequential and Temporal Dynamics of Online Opinion
Marketing Science
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
Influences on standards adoption in de facto standardization
Information Technology and Management - Special issue on New Theories and Methods for Technology Adoption Research
Herding behavior in online P2P lending: An empirical investigation
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
Social Media and Firm Equity Value
Information Systems Research
The Effects of Rewarding User Engagement: The Case of Facebook Apps
Information Systems Research
The Effect of Online Consumer Reviews on New Product Sales
International Journal of Electronic Commerce
Do starting and ending effects in fixed-price group-buying differ?
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
The impact of social and conventional media on firm equity value: A sentiment analysis approach
Decision Support Systems
Cognitive-based evaluation of consumption fads: An analytical approach
Decision Support Systems
The influence of online word-of-mouth on long tail formation
Decision Support Systems
Learning from other buyers: The effect of purchase history records in online marketplaces
Decision Support Systems
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Online users often need to make adoption decisions without accurate information about the product values. An informational cascade occurs when it is optimal for an online user, having observed others' actions, to follow the adoption decision of the preceding individual without regard to his own information. Informational cascades are often rational for individual decision making; however, it may lead to adoption of inferior products. With easy availability of information about other users' choices, the Internet offers an ideal environment for informational cascades. In this paper, we empirically examine informational cascades in the context of online software adoption. We find user behavior in adopting software products is consistent with the predictions of the informational cascades literature. Our results demonstrate that online users' choices of software products exhibit distinct jumps and drops with changes in download ranking, as predicted by informational cascades theory. Furthermore, we find that user reviews have no impact on user adoption of the most popular product, while having an increasingly positive impact on the adoption of lower ranking products. The phenomenon persists after controlling for alternative explanations such as network effects, word-of-mouth effects, and product diffusion. Our results validate informational cascades as an important driver for decision making on the Internet. The finding also offers an explanation for the mixed results reported in prior studies with regard to the influence of online user reviews on product sales. We show that the mixed results could be due to the moderating effect of informational cascades.